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3870 performance vs X1800XT

D

DFinan

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Messages
124
So I am still tyring to decide what card to upgrade to, and now that the 3870 is out, how would it perform compared to an X1800XT. I was thinking of picking 2 of them up and running them in crossfire mode.
 
That would be a NICE upgrade from a X1800XT! Look at it this way, one 3870 will kill one X1800XT so two is even better.
 
you wont be disappointed with that upgrade at all. if the crossfireX benchies turn out like i imagine they're going to.... egads, you'll already be 2 cards up in the quest for 4!

:D
 
I used to own an x1800xt and i'm getting the 3870. :) you're not alone!
 
I had a 1950XT and replaced it with a 3850 as a slight upgrade, it doesn't "kill" the 1950XT but it certainly performs better. I recently got a 42" westy and the resolution is what killed my old card. The 3850 brings it back into playable frames. So my point is, if the 3850 increases my performance from a 1950XT, I'm sure it will be a big jump for you if you grab a 3870.
 
Basically the 3870 is anywhere on average from 5 to 20%+ faster than a 2900XT with slightly less than half the power consumption. BUY THEM!!! :D

If you decide to get a Sapphire card, be prepared to have massive headaches trying to get RMA replacements. Check around on the forums and you'll see why.
 
i have an x1800xt and want to upgrade to one of the hd 38xx also.. :) I just need the money. Does anyone know of any reviews of playing cyris in dx9 mode with these cards?
 
am trying to dicide to
i got a X1800 XT 512MB :p
38x0 got UVD and thats a big plus
i think its around 40-50% faster
 
I had a x1800gto, and just got the 3870 and holy crap is it worth every penny and dime I put into it, I see like at least a 100% improvement over the gto. Before I couldnt play BF2 or COD4 at medium settings and medium res with out so much clipping or the frame rates dropping below 15fps. Now I can do max settings on 1680x1050 res and get 45+ fps with 2xaa on cod and maxed aa on bf2. Trust me you will be glad you got one, its one hell of a card for the money. :D
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
Basically the 3870 is anywhere on average from 5 to 20%+ faster than a 2900XT with slightly less than half the power consumption. BUY THEM!!! :D

If you decide to get a Sapphire card, be prepared to have massive headaches trying to get RMA replacements. Check around on the forums and you'll see why.
Click to expand...

quite right. go with the power color.
 
i might get two of them after chirstmas including phenom and 790FX mb :D
 
I think a 3800 is an easily worthwhile and justifiable upgrade for anything less than an x1900. I'm holding out until at least the next generation. I want a jump like the guy with the x1800gto.

Right now I get 20-30 fps playing crysis on medium. I'd like 50-60fps on high/very high for my next card and won't spend $1000 on multiple videocards to get there. I know I'll be waiting probably until at least next spring if not summer. Using a modest resolution, I don't think that's too much to ask of a new flagship card. The new 3870 X2 will be awesome but it probably takes two of them to maintain 60fps in Crysis on high.
 
the problem with these new gen ATI Cards, the AA is horrible. so if you turn it on, your wont see a huge jump in performance
 
thats becose the driver is in beta (as in the CD driver)
it was relesed before the driver was fully optimized
ati has allways been know for making huge improvments to AA performace in drivers
look out for catalyst 7.11 here http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx
;)

3850 is faster than x1950 so 3870 should be around 50% fastert than x1800 ^^
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=9

update:
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4311&Itemid=1
says that
Our sources also tell us that we should expect further performance enhancements to the ATI drivers around the same time that the first patch for Crysis is released. The first driver hotfix that was already released increased AA performance by 5-10 percent.

If the last hotfix was any indication, we are expecting another leap in performance on ATI hardware, as well.
Click to expand...
 
wiak said:
thats becose the driver is in beta (as in the CD driver)
it was relesed before the driver was fully optimized
ati has allways been know for making huge improvments to AA performace in drivers
look out for catalyst 7.11 here http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx
;)
Click to expand...

They said the exact same thing about the 2900 series too and that turned out to be bullshit. Im willing to bet its no different with the 3800 series as well. If your expecting magical drivers that improve the performance of these cards prepare to be disappointed.
 
Does anyone think I would see a performance boost if I got a 3870 coming from a 7900 GT SLI? That Vision Tek one on newegg is looking good with the life time warranty.
 
Thanks a lot :D. I never saw any charts comparing the 7900 GT SLI to current gen cards. And that chart was before driver improvements. I guess I should maybe see a 15-20% increase. More stable frames too. I'll try ordering if newegg has any in stock tomorrow.
 
wiak said:
UVD is worth half the price of the card alone
Click to expand...
That's only if you have a HD video player that supports UVD...

I tried playing an WMV-HD file in Windows Media player with and without the WMV acceleration setting turned on in the WMP11 and it made no difference. Both CPU cores were >30% utilization when playing the file on my HD3870 with the Crysis Patch drivers in 64-Bit Vista.
 
Jumped from a X1800XT to a X3850 yesterday.
Awesome upgrade. Crysis on high at 1280 x 1024 at a reasonable frame rate a great jump from all medium/low on my X1800XT. COD4 at same res with 8xAAA and 16AF at great!!! frames. Worth the price for that card your 3870s will be amazing.
 
bbf said:
That's only if you have a HD video player that supports UVD...

I tried playing an WMV-HD file in Windows Media player with and without the WMV acceleration setting turned on in the WMP11 and it made no difference. Both CPU cores were >30% utilization when playing the file on my HD3870 with the Crysis Patch drivers in 64-Bit Vista.
Click to expand...
only VC-1 and H264 is decoded in hardware and it depends on what software you use
CyberLink PowerDVD will decode using the Unified Video Decoder (UVD)
i get like 3-10% cpu when watching H264 & VC-1 1080p HD DVDs

yes 3870 is so much better than X1800, way better colors, hdmi out with audio, play crysis at very high :p

i got my Club 3D Radeon 3870 yesterday and here is some pictures dont mind the mess :p
3870 and x1800 compared
http://nwgat.net/woot/files/1/DSC_0221.jpg

Installed
http://nwgat.net/woot/files/1/DSC_0241.jpg

UVD is awesome
and HD DVD playing in PowerDVD using ATI's awesome Unified Video Decoder (UVD) + Half-Life 2: Episode Two
to give you a hint, Athlon X2 5000+, 4GB DDR2 6400, 74GB raptor with X1800 XT decodes the HD DVD at 100%, no HL2 with 3870 it decodes around 3-10% and even let you play HL2:EP2 at around 50-90fps with everything at very high with AA & AF max
http://nwgat.net/woot/files/1/motion_radeon_3770_1080p.h264.powerdvd.UVD.jpg <- dont mind the motion blur, it was in motion
http://nwgat.net/woot/files/1/hddvd_and_hl2ep2_ati_uvd_3870.jpg

Crysis DX10 64-bit Very High no AA/AF
ATI Crysis hotfix driver
System: X2 5000+, 4GB DDR2, 74GB Raptor, Vista SP1 v658 x64
Radeon 3870 @ 845/1251 via ATI OverDrive, 1280x1024
Code: 
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
    Play Time: 149.52s, Average FPS: 13.38
    Min FPS: 0.32 at frame 556, Max FPS: 18.43 at frame 862
    Average Tri/Sec: -8891278, Tri/Frame: -664701
    Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -1.38
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
    Play Time: 137.56s, Average FPS: 14.54
    Min FPS: 0.32 at frame 556, Max FPS: 18.43 at frame 862
    Average Tri/Sec: -9508083, Tri/Frame: -653984
    Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -1.40
 
I upgraded from an x1800xt 512MB to a 3870 and I am happy as a clam. Its about twice as fast as the x1800xt, almost as fast at an 8800GT and costs less. Great upgrade.
 
pfunkman said:
They said the exact same thing about the 2900 series too and that turned out to be bullshit. Im willing to bet its no different with the 3800 series as well. If your expecting magical drivers that improve the performance of these cards prepare to be disappointed.
Click to expand...

umm.. oblivion went from unplayable to outing the 8800GTS by 15% across the board (sans AA, lol). It went from medeocre farcry performance to wtf powerful farcry performance (seriously it pwns the GTX in farcry). Lost planet was almost unplable, now its alright.

morfinx said:
One must wonder though, why IS the clam so happy? :confused:
Click to expand...

YES! I have been wondering that same thing for years!

anyways, the HD 3k series in crossfire seems to absolutly own SLI
 
I just went from an x1800xt (256mb) to a 3850 and I've seen quite a nice jump in perfomance. Case in point with the x1800xt I couldn't play with full dynamic lighting in Stalker and had choppy play. With the new card I can turn all the eye candy on (including dynamic lights!) and play pretty smooth. Haven't seen the fps drop below 35ish in awhile (I play at 1440x900)

CoD4 is pretty sweet now, and I can play crysis at 1440x400 with a mix of medium and high settings at a pretty smooth fps (dips below 30, but my system aint exactly high end)

I will say though that my 3850 hates either my A8N32-SLI deluxe or my X-FI sound card. Have had some weird stability issues, but not with the cheapo foxconn nforce 4 board. Odd
 
[Paragon];1031744449 said:
I just went from an x1800xt (256mb) to a 3850 and I've seen quite a nice jump in perfomance. Case in point with the x1800xt I couldn't play with full dynamic lighting in Stalker and had choppy play. With the new card I can turn all the eye candy on (including dynamic lights!) and play pretty smooth. Haven't seen the fps drop below 35ish in awhile (I play at 1440x900)

CoD4 is pretty sweet now, and I can play crysis at 1440x400 with a mix of medium and high settings at a pretty smooth fps (dips below 30, but my system aint exactly high end)

I will say though that my 3850 hates either my A8N32-SLI deluxe or my X-FI sound card. Have had some weird stability issues, but not with the cheapo foxconn nforce 4 board. Odd
Click to expand...
must be the creative card
try remove it
btw here is my 3dmark06 x1800 xt 512mb vs 3870 512mb
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/m...+x64&t=MultiCompare&k=14&s=1&l=1&c=-527000845
its a around 100% faster :p
 
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