3870 512MB vs 8800GT 256MB

G

GwarGor

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
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I'm helping a guy update his PC and just wanted a little input and opinions from some of you guys. If you're a fanboy of ATI or Nvidia at least admit it in your post. I could care less personally about who makes the chip. I buy what is the best performing GPU for the price at the time. I know that the 8800GT GPU is better hands down than the 3870. But at a resolution of 1280x1024(max res of LCD monitor) what do you think would be the better choice. Also consider the price difference of about of about $20-$30, the 3870 being the higher priced card.
 
I'd still opt for the 512mb 3870, because that whole "hands down" thing goes away rather quickly if he ever gets a real monitor.
 
I hear ya(that's why I asked the question), but he just got the monitor not long ago and is happy with it, so I don't think he'll be upgrading anytime soon. So do you think at just that resolution(1280x1024)the 8800GT 256MB is better or would the extra ram be worth having with the 3870?
 
You know that the 256mb 8800GT has a slower mem clock speed than the 512mb?
 
The one I was looking at had a faster core clock(650), but I didn't even look at the memory speed. I'll do that now :)

**Edit** the ram speed was the standard 1800mhz
 
I think I would go with the 8800 at that resolution. I have no evidence to support this though.
 
more aa/af/graphics I would go for the 3870

Call of Duty 4 = higher resolution of 1600x1200 with the 3870, which could potentially mean some AA for him at 1280x1024.

Crysis = 1024x768 for the GT 256 vs 1280x1024 for the 3870 = no brainer.

UT3 = same settings, higher FPS for 3870

All in all, I think it's clear that newer games need more than 256mb of video ram, go for the 3870.
 
Citizen86 said:
more aa/af/graphics I would go for the 3870

Call of Duty 4 = higher resolution of 1600x1200 with the 3870, which could potentially mean some AA for him at 1280x1024.

Crysis = 1024x768 for the GT 256 vs 1280x1024 for the 3870 = no brainer.

UT3 = same settings, higher FPS for 3870

All in all, I think it's clear that newer games need more than 256mb of video ram, go for the 3870.
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No offense, but those benchmarks don't help me much because I want to see what each card does at the same in-game settings(except UT3 and I want to see more than that 1 game) and same AA/AF and having some benchmarks with no AA/AF seems pointless to me. I never play a game with no AF(always 8x or 16x) and mostly use no or minimal(2x) with my X1900XT.
 
AMDXPCottonFire22 said:
512 8800GT?

They're not much more unless you have a deal on a 3870.
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If I could find one for no more than $250 shipped, when we order it in a week or so, I'll be getting that for sure, but am exploring all options and that's why I asked the question.

In my own experience with my X1900XT 256MB, I can run most games with high and normal settings with 2xAA/16xAF @ 1280x1024, but not 1600x1200 that the X1900XT 512MB card can. That's why the 8800GT 256MB card got my attention and curiosity.
 
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