9600GT or 3870?

B

bazookaworm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
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Which video card will perform better at lower resolutions(nothing above 1280 x 1024). I am going to couple it with a 5000+ x2 BE @ 3.1ghz.

I am having a hard time deciding because I am also looking for some futureproofing, I am getting conflicting answers everywhere and seeing 9600gt beating 3870 at some benchie sites then 3870 beating the 9600gt at others. At the moment, the 3870 is only a tiny bit more expensive than the 3870, so price isn't a problem.

Opinions please?
Thanks
 
They seem to be about par in performance but if you look at everything else the 9600gt kills it.

9600gt runs cooler, overclocks better, has more raw sex appeal, and is getting great reviews on every site I have seen.

I have 0 complaints with my 9600gt runs at 750 plays crysis with everything on high at 1680x1050 with good frame speed.

I give one very bias vote to the 9600gt.

similar thread might give some info
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1291859
 
Thanks for the reply, do you think the 3870 performs better in shader heavy games though?(which seem to be the trend among newer games) I see that the 9600GT is a good bang for the buck but 3870 prices are getting very close to that of a 9600gt... I am leaning more towards a 9600gt right now because it runs cooler and oc's better though. I also hear it does filtering better.
 
i'm sorry op, but you won't be able to do much 'future proofing' when you buy from the lower midrange. that being said, a 3870 is capable of playing some of todays most popular fps'(xp) at 1920x1200, and crysis(xp) at 1200 resolutions with maximum in-game setting minus anti aliasing and very playable framerates.
 
Even loving ATI as I do, the 9600GT outperforms the 3870 one with a low price and is a better choice in this case.
 
bazookaworm said:
Thanks for the reply, do you think the 3870 performs better in shader heavy games though?(which seem to be the trend among newer games) I see that the 9600GT is a good bang for the buck but 3870 prices are getting very close to that of a 9600gt...
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At that resolution I don't think it really matters and for the same price as the 3870 you can get a 8800GT.

Not a Nvida fanboy.....but right now I don't see any reason to go ATI.

8800 gt = 160
9600 gt = 110
3870 = 140
 
lloose said:
I don't know what kind of girls you date.. I have never had a girl get turned on from looking at a graphics card.. : /
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O with a 9600GT you don't date girl they just stop by get 2 minutes of fast and the furious and then go.
 
stevedave said:
O with a 9600GT you don't date girl they just stop by get 2 minutes of fast and the furious and then go.
Click to expand...

Sometimes, I'm glad I leave the cave of Genmay.

:D

I vote for the 8800GT, btw. If you have the extra cash, that is.
 
Save now and buy a 9600gt its not worth the extra $100 for a 8800GT. Buy a big card this fall with the new lineup.
 
Well i think you are going to find the votes quite one sided for a 9600gt or 8800gt..... a few people might pop in to say 8800gts but I don't think you are really going to get many people to recommend the 3870.
 
LibertySyclone said:
Save now and buy a 9600gt its not worth the extra $100 for a 8800GT. Buy a big card this fall with the new lineup.
Click to expand...

Umm, an 8800GT is like $40 more after MIRs (which applies to the price of either anyway), maybe $50 tops unless you're looking at some highly OC'd 8800GT w/a game bundled... It's not a bad bump in performance for the money, depending on your monitor size/res. Now an 8800GTS would probably run ya like another $40-50 over that, probably not worth it.
 
Well first of all, im Canadian(no newegg!!! :mad:), and secondly, im talking about future-proofing at low rez, hell my old 7950 can still play most games at this resolution, this is going to go into a budget build afterall.

Prices around here are:

XFX 9600GT - $145 and $155 for extreme after MIR or Galaxy 9600GT for $136
Gigabyte 3870 512mb - $160 after MIR
EVGA 8800GT - $170 after MIR

My PSU is a OCZ StealthXStream 600w, Im not sure how well it will fare. Im probably going to get the 9600gt though. I have an 8800GT in my main rig, I think it will be pretty overkill for a system playing at low resolutions.
 
yeah I would get the 145 no reason for the OC you can do that yourself.

I think you will get a better gaming and future proofing my moving, you'll gain like 7fps once you cross the boarder.
 
Alright, im going to order the XFX 9600GT, I just remembered the overclocking advantage it had :)

thanks for all of the replies
 
yeah but the 3870 uses more power and creates more heat not that big of a deal to some but for me thats a deal breaker.
 
I picked up an XFX 9600 GT a couple days ago. Runs like a champ. You'll be pleased.
 
Wendig0 said:
the 3870 overclocks like a beast also. You just have to update the bios.
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How far? At least Palit 9600 GT goes to 760MHz which is over 15% increase. You'd need over 900MHz for cor with HD3870 to get similar update.
 
WhDemon said:
the 8800GT was worthing the extra bucks even @ 1024x768

Im serious.
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Have you directly compared it to an overclocked 9600gt? because that is 40 extra bucks which is like a 25% price increase for less than 25% gains.
 
..and what games doesn't run at 1024x768 resolution, but does with 8800 GT? Besides their performance difference will get smaller when you increase settings
 
bazookaworm said:
Which video card will perform better at lower resolutions(nothing above 1280 x 1024). I am going to couple it with a 5000+ x2 BE @ 3.1ghz.

I am having a hard time deciding because I am also looking for some futureproofing, I am getting conflicting answers everywhere and seeing 9600gt beating 3870 at some benchie sites then 3870 beating the 9600gt at others. At the moment, the 3870 is only a tiny bit more expensive than the 3870, so price isn't a problem.

Opinions please?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Well, they are mostly evenly matched, but the 9600 GT does have an edge over the HD 3870. And considering the GT is cheaper, there's not much more to say. Get the 9600 GT.
 
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