Hd3850 or 9600GT?

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sed8em

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I am looking for a budget card, and do not want to spend over $150.
It will be going into a budget build w/ a E2180, 2gigs RAM, SATA HD, in the on sale Lian Li case for $70 from Egg.

Which card would serve me best?
I enjoy Oblivion, Hellgate, BF2 and 2142, and HL2 series, and will probably look at buying some newer games like the new Far Cry 2 when it comes out, Starcraft 2, and not sure what else.

Oblivion is my favorite game of all time so far, and half the reason why I am building this comp instead of using my T61 to play it at low settings is cuz I want to install the new texture mods and run them at 1680x1050 res, so that is a consideration.

I guess I'm gonna try to decide between these cards:
HIS HD3850 - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161211

BFG 9600GT - $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143123

Being a college kid, that extra $30 is a big difference to me, so if its worth it I'd just as well get the HD3850.
 
The 9600GT is certainly faster, but the going rate seems to be about $170, not $150. Granted, the 512MB 3850s are near that. I'd definitely go with the 9600GT.
 
Does Oblivion favor ATI or nVidia?
Maybe I can find a 9600gt on sale if it comes to that.
 
I'd research the current 9600GT reviews. You'll see the 8800GT/HD3850/3870 matched up against it.
You can then make a better choice on budget vs. performance.
 
Kowan said:
I'd research the current 9600GT reviews. You'll see the 8800GT/HD3850/3870 matched up against it.
You can then make a better choice on budget vs. performance.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys! I think I may lean to the budget over performance for now, and when I graduate and get my job this summer I'll switch to something a little more extreme, like a 9800GTX if it is here or something like that.
 
Elder Scrolls maxes out at 2048x1536 4xaa, 16xaf on a 512mb 3850, with avg 31fps.

You should be able to max out oblivion on 1600x1050 with a 256mb 3850 and still get good frame rates.
 
Yep. No current GPU can saturate the 16x PCIe v1.1 bus, so nothing actually requires PCIe 2.0 for full performance yet. This may change, but I have a feeling it'll take a while. PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCIe 1.1, which is what P35s, 680is and similar use.

Those two will play nice just fine. However, you picked an AM2 board and you're looking at building Intel. Mistake? I hope so.
 
silent-circuit said:
Yep. No current GPU can saturate the 16x PCIe v1.1 bus, so nothing actually requires PCIe 2.0 for full performance yet. This may change, but I have a feeling it'll take a while. PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCIe 1.1, which is what P35s, 680is and similar use.

Those two will play nice just fine. However, you picked an AM2 board and you're looking at building Intel. Mistake? I hope so.
Click to expand...

Decided on an AM2 X2 processor instead, it was cheaper new than a used C2D.
If I need to do heavy CPU stuff I can still use the Thinkpad, I'm going for budget here for now. I"ll just OC the hell out of the X2.

Thanks for all the help guys!
 
OCed X2 will be slower than the $50 AR E2180 at Tigerdirect. Considerably slower. The E2180s will hit 3.0-3.2Ghz with ease with a reasonably good (~$25) HSF.
 
silent-circuit said:
OCed X2 will be slower than the $50 AR E2180 at Tigerdirect. Considerably slower. The E2180s will hit 3.0-3.2Ghz with ease with a reasonably good (~$25) HSF.
Click to expand...

Oh well, I can make it for a few months until I graduate and can afford quad core and all the goodies.
 
sprtnbsblplya said:
Oh well, I can make it for a few months until I graduate and can afford quad core and all the goodies.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the Intel quads are faster too, so you really don't want to be putting money in to an AMD rig right now, especially if you intend to upgrade in less than a year.
 
p35 chipset is an excellent chipset for overclocking.
A good p35-ds3l or ip35-e for about $80, and a e2180 should cost you about $160. Plus, with decent cooling, you should be able to get the e2180 to 3.0ghz.
Annnd if you have a p35 motherboard already, you can just pop a 45nm quad right in there when you want to upgrade, which is much more powerful than a amd phenom.
 
im debating going with the BFG 9600 or a radeon 3870. the thing about the BFG is it has a lifetime warranty, so im assuming their going to be using some high quality components on the board and good stock cooling.

i havent used a nvidia card in my system yet, and im worried about loosing some of the tv-out functionality i get with the radeon cards. with ati drivers i like how you can set tv-out to a lower resolution than my monitor and pan the screen around the desktop with the mouse. also, the bfg card only has svideo out.is it compatible with any s-video to composite dongles?
 
sprtnbsblplya said:
HIS HD3850 - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161211

BFG 9600GT - $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143123

Being a college kid, that extra $30 is a big difference to me, so if its worth it I'd just as well get the HD3850.
Click to expand...

8800GT with Zalman heatpipe cooler. $180 after rebate. Beats both cards to shame (although the 9600 is close, but totally neutered on the stream processors at almost only half the amount)
http://www.ncixus.com/products/27328/88YFF6HUFEXX/Galaxy Technology/
 
sprtnbsblplya said:
Thanks guys! I think I may lean to the budget over performance for now, and when I graduate and get my job this summer I'll switch to something a little more extreme, like a 9800GTX if it is here or something like that.
Click to expand...
Good luck in school and job hunting later. :)
 
blazemonkey said:
im debating going with the BFG 9600 or a radeon 3870. the thing about the BFG is it has a lifetime warranty, so im assuming their going to be using some high quality components on the board and good stock cooling.

i havent used a nvidia card in my system yet, and im worried about loosing some of the tv-out functionality i get with the radeon cards. with ati drivers i like how you can set tv-out to a lower resolution than my monitor and pan the screen around the desktop with the mouse. also, the bfg card only has svideo out.is it compatible with any s-video to composite dongles?
Click to expand...

The s-video to composite adapter should work just fine. The BFG 9600GT comes with an s-video to component dongle as well. The TV out you are talking about works the same on an nvidia card (at least, what you are describing works for me on my 7900GT)

The 9600GT is faster and cheaper than the 3870, and BFG is a great company - can't go wrong with a BFG 9600GT :)
 
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