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3850 or 3870

IamMed

IamMed

IamMed

Associate
Joined
2 Oct 2003
Posts
1,161
Location
Porthcawl (S.Wales)
I ordered a 3870XT just over a week ago from a competitor who promised they'd have stock on the 21st and as of yet they still don't have it in.

I'm tempted to change my order to a 3850 but am worried about the performance lost due to having half the memory.

I currently have a 256mb X1950pro in one machine and a 512mb X1900XT in the other and the latter card seems to run games a lot better then the pro.

My main concern is wether the 3850pro will run BF3 when released at decent quality @ 1280x1024.

So should I keep waiting for the 3870XT or grab the 3850pro?
 
Don't get a 256MB 3850 given the price of the 512MB variants.

Personally I'd wait for the 3870, but if you do change, make sure its a 512MB PRO not a 256MB.
 
The 256mb 3850pro I'm looking at is £43 cheaper than the 512mb XT (£150), they don't do the 512mb pro's :(

I have a crossfire board, could always add another later?
 
IamMed said:
I have a crossfire board, could always add another later?
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I'm not 100% sure how it works with crossfire, but I would guess that 2x256Mb cards != 1x512Mb card. The textures will need to be loaded into both cards in order to render the scene so you'll still end up with memory thrashing - just twice as much.
 
OcUK dont have any in stock :p

Thought about canceling the order but then I need to wait a week for refund to show in bank, sods law they'll have stock in then lol

I want a card quickish as I've got a buyer for my 1950pro and they are in need of the card now.

Edit:

Decided to just get the 3850 for now and a hard drive with the change, can always sell it if I don't like it :)
 
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errm, the 3850 256mb should be £105, maybe £109, anymore is a rip, the 512mb versions mostly seem to be overclocked but shouldn't pay more than £130, in a few weeks hopefully they will back down to £120. but you can get a £140 3870 so i don't know why you'd pay anymore tbh. there are quite a few places that have them between £139-145 that have been going in and out of stock over the past week, if you order one, you should get one soon.

right after release waiting for actual stock is not likely to work so well, pre-ordering would have got you one for £139 about 3 days after release.
 
Can anyone say, does the 3850 basically overclock to the same performance as a 3870 or close to it at least. They have different memory types so a direct comparison doesnt work looking at specs alone
 
Gibbo> They are referring to the 3850 512mb version which you don't seemingly have in stock.

Flying Gribble > 2 x 256 = 256 total texture memory and not 512. The same textures have to be loaded onto both cards otherwise they cannot render the same scene. i.e. 2x512 cards = 512 total memory.

Matthew
 
drunkenmaster said:
but you can get a £140 3870 so i don't know why you'd pay anymore tbh. there are quite a few places that have them between £139-145 that have been going in and out of stock over the past week, if you order one, you should get one soon.
Click to expand...

Overclocked Powercolor model ;)

Gibbo said:
HI there

OcUK has both 3850 and 3870 in stock and has done for several days?
Click to expand...

When I was looking at ordering mate, no one had the 3870's including OcUK, went with a company that said they'd defineatly have stock on the 21st and they still haven't had them in, even though everyone else has had them since :p

Lesson learnt, they wont be having anymore money off me.
 
Scougar said:
Flying Gribble > 2 x 256 = 256 total texture memory and not 512. The same textures have to be loaded onto both cards otherwise they cannot render the same scene. i.e. 2x512 cards = 512 total memory.
Click to expand...
Cheers, that's what I figured. Been programming C++ all morning so the '!=' for 'does not equal' just slipped out :)
 
lol, the retailor has now emailed me to say that the card that I agreed to have instead of the one out of stock, is out of stock also, yet it was in stock yesterday after they had ammended my order.

Well that does it, demanded a full refund, just hope OcUK has some 3870's next week now lol
 
fraps said:
3850 pro 512 and over clock it:D
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Only reason I was considering a 3850 was the retailor I ordered from had no 3870's but as they are taking the mick so much I'll get refund and get the 3870 here like I originally planned lol
 
IamMed said:
Only reason I was considering a 3850 was the retailor I ordered from had no 3870's but as they are taking the mick so much I'll get refund and get the 3870 here like I originally planned lol
Click to expand...

3870 is even better! You have not followed the 8800GT band wagon:D
 
Not much difference between the 8800GT and the 3870XT from what I've seen, plus I have a crossfire board :D
 
Am intending to mate, been wanting to play with crossfire for awhile, proabably pick second card up about easter though as I imagine the one will do fine for awhile :)

TBH my X1900XT still runs everything I throw at it, I just fancy something new, plus TV-Out on it has never worked so might RMA it once new card comes :)
 
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