Seriously thinking about the HD38xx Crossfires

[reverandmaynard]

I have my 8800GTS sold, and it will cover most of the cost of a new card(s). 2 HD38xx's or an 8800Ultra?

rig in sig.

[Snypynfool]

sounds like a good problem to have... XD

I say go with the 8800 Ultra.... but SLI HDs may kick some serious *** too.

[bfun]

I think crossfire would be better if it worked. It seems to take a long time to get working crossfire drivers.

[reverandmaynard]

got the GTS sold, should cover a good chunk. I had a bad experience with crossfire so I', a little tentative.

A huge plus for the ATi cards are the mixed crossfire mode that let's you use two different class cards in crossfire. That would make the upgrade transition a little smoother if I intend on staying with Ati, but **** nVidia has been just workin' it lately. Tough choice.

If I go 8800Ultra, then I'll probably stay single card for a long time. If I go crossfire, I open an upgrade path and actually use a function of my motherboard that I would just be wasting.

Leaning towards the HD's

Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by bfun

I think crossfire would be better if it worked. It seems to take a long time to get working crossfire drivers.

I did have a bad experience with Crossfire X1800XT's that completely did not work so that is one huge factor.

[b1lk1]

I had a great experience with X1800 Crossfire myself, and I am very much going to get another HD 2900 for Crossfire with my current setup. Crossfire wirked very well for me and I would most definitely jump on any HD arraingment over anything Nvidia anyway you look at it.

[Scubar]

Check out the new HD3870 reviews, it still gets its *** kicked by the 8800GT. I would definately say go with a GTX or Ultra.

[dccmadams]

crossfire hd 3870 scores over 20k 3dmark06 in review i saw...pretty good setup, really good if $200 each

[Scubar]

3dmark06 means squat though, its no longer a reliable means to test a graphics cards performance.

[reverandmaynard]

Not sure what scubar is saying cuz he's on my ignore list, but I'd take a guess and say that he thinks 06 is worthless...which is correct. Anyone who buys a card based on 3DMark benches should have someone more qualified to do their purchasing for them

All said and done, I'm getting an EVGA 8800Ultra Superclocked. I'd rather take one killer card, then two mediocre cards.

Thanks for the replies

[TrancE951]

On price per FPS, you're losing with that purchase.

Wait until the real post NDA tests, and then the real drivers in a week or two.

Price per FPS, the 3870 will not be beat.

In crossfire, these will kill anything near it's price point.

[Slizzo]

If the MSRP is truly $240 on the HD3870, and the MSRP on the 8800GT is $250, then I would handily give this to the 8800GT.

And besides, I would tend to rely on the current reviews out right now. They don't seem overly inflated or untrustworthy to me.

[TrancE951]

$219 and a hard launch for the 3870 (I've read all the reviews posted tonight, this is the MSRP)....versus $270-$300+ for the 8800GT - which you will not find in stock any time soon.

I'll take a 10% performance hit versus an 8800GT for that savings and "in my hand" any day.

In fact, I'll buy 2 3870's and smoke an 8800 Ultra for much less cash.

Don't worry. I read preorders for 8800GT's will be filled in January. Nvidia really screwed itself with this launch.

For the next few months, ATI is back on top. It was a long time coming.....can't wait for the next gen battle!

[SSPrncVegeta]

Yeah, nVidia really screwed themselves by having an overwhelmingly successful product that they had to meet the needs of AMD/ATi customers as well as their own. Why couldn't nVidia be more like ATi and have a bountiful of in-stock, unwanted products!? Back on top of what? There is no metaphorical crown for mid-range.

The title of "3800" symbolizes ATi's high-end series cards. I love how they use DX10.1 as a selling point when you need to Crossfire two just to outperform a single GTX in a DX10 game.

*ninja edit*
To think, if this is their top flag card for this series, that means there's going to be an HD3400 with DX10.1.

[dccmadams]

2 hd 3870s will be close to ultra for lots less money. the next g92 card from nvidia will prob beat the ultra outright. this should be out in less than 1 month. ultra would be a foolish purchase today.

[Scubar]

2x3870s will only just beat the 8800 Ultra in a game thats been opitmized for dual cards ( and i mean only just, the Ultra beat down Crossfired 2900s in nearly every test ),

Its ALWAYS best to have 1 powerful card rather than 2 mid range cards which is exactely what the 3870s are in comparison. The 8800GT although a fantastic card i still only consider as a mid range card. theres still 3 other nvidia cards more poweful than it. nVidia can charge the higher price because of the demand and performance of their product. Right now ATI are taking what ever sales they can get.

[reverandmaynard]

Found an XFX 8800Ultra for $600. According to anandtech (who I trust with reviews) shows the 8800GT to be 15% faster than the 3870, some instances it was 50% faster but as an average 15% better is a lot in my opinion. You guys can polish turds all day, but the 3870 even in crossfire would not be a reliable as 1 Ultra, hell even 1 GTS for that matter. SLI and Crossfire have and always will be riddled with problems and seeing that I'm using Vista, it's even worse. I will not argue that the 3870 is not a great midrange performance card, but looking at my system, they would definitely be the low point, and an Ultra in there would look much more at home.

But thanks for the replies, fanboy or not some interesting points have been made.

Crossfired 3870s just match a single 8800GTX lol/

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=10


Thanks,
Rev

[SSPrncVegeta]

Originally Posted by Scubar

2x3870s will only just beat the 8800 Ultra in a game thats been opitmized for dual cards ( and i mean only just, the Ultra beat down Crossfired 2900s in nearly every test ),

Its ALWAYS best to have 1 powerful card rather than 2 mid range cards which is exactely what the 3870s are in comparison. The 8800GT although a fantastic card i still only consider as a mid range card. theres still 3 other nvidia cards more poweful than it. nVidia can charge the higher price because of the demand and performance of their product. Right now ATI are taking what ever sales they can get.

Yeah but the key thing is the GTX has been available for a year. It's one of those cards that just won't go down in price, the same with the Ultra. If it did scale down, the GT would be the GTX but $250, and that's what the GT is meant to be. One thing to keep in mind is... this is all ATi had to offer. nVidia has a killer product, they just need to make more. Soon they will make a $200 9600GT or whatever and it will be on par with this HD3870 for less.

[cavfire]

Originally Posted by TrancE951

$219 and a hard launch for the 3870 (I've read all the reviews posted tonight, this is the MSRP)....versus $270-$300+ for the 8800GT - which you will not find in stock any time soon.

I'll take a 10% performance hit versus an 8800GT for that savings and "in my hand" any day.

In fact, I'll buy 2 3870's and smoke an 8800 Ultra for much less cash.

Don't worry. I read preorders for 8800GT's will be filled in January. Nvidia really screwed itself with this launch.

For the next few months, ATI is back on top. It was a long time coming.....can't wait for the next gen battle!

If $219 is really what the 3870s sell for then I think they are going to sell pretty good, and the 3850 should slaughter the midrange lineup from what few reviews/benchies I've seen in which the 3850 is even faster than the 79XX and x19XX cards.

What I'd really like to know is how the 3870 compares to the 8800gt with a 2.9ghz opty 170 and my 1280 X 1024 native resolution. All reviews are going to show them with much faster processors and higher res, but in my setup I don't think the gap would be very big between the two due to processor and resolution.

[Mindwarp]

Originally Posted by Scubar

Check out the new HD3870 reviews, it still gets its *** kicked by the 8800GT. I would definately say go with a GTX or Ultra.

Seems the standard for a$$ kicking keeps getting lower

[ythe1300]

Originally Posted by reverandmaynard

Found an XFX 8800Ultra for $600. According to anandtech (who I trust with reviews) shows the 8800GT to be 15% faster than the 3870, some instances it was 50% faster but as an average 15% better is a lot in my opinion. You guys can polish turds all day, but the 3870 even in crossfire would not be a reliable as 1 Ultra, hell even 1 GTS for that matter. SLI and Crossfire have and always will be riddled with problems and seeing that I'm using Vista, it's even worse. I will not argue that the 3870 is not a great midrange performance card, but looking at my system, they would definitely be the low point, and an Ultra in there would look much more at home.

But thanks for the replies, fanboy or not some interesting points have been made.

Crossfired 3870s just match a single 8800GTX lol/

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=10


Thanks,
Rev

I'm an nvidia fan boy ( waves green flag ) but your a little wrong here those are 3850's there and they are taking an 8800gtx I'd say that that is pretty good but let me do the math and see.

179.00
+ 179.00
---------
385

okay so the cheapest 8800gtx I could find on newegg is a foxconn for 454.99 (AFTER MIR)

so

454.99
- 385.00
-----------
69.00

yeah 69 dollars cheaper for the same performance.. those cards suck.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102714
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814186021