• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

3870 to 4850?

Soldato
Joined
7 May 2004
Posts
5,503
Location
Naked and afraid
I'm upgrading from a 17" TFT 1280x1024 to 24" 1920xsomething or other :D and wondered if the 4850 was capable of running max at that rez?

The 3870 runs max detail 2xAA and 16xAF without problem at vsynced 60fps for me so I'm hopeful the 4850 will carry to load at the higher rez?

I mainly play racing sims, Race07, GTL and iRacing.
 
I'd be focusing on the 4870 more at that resolution. Although the 4850 will be a definite upgrade to your 3870, increasing the resolution might not give you the wow factor at 1920x1200 that you'd like. The 4870 would cope a lot better with this.

If the 4870 is without your budget then I'd take the chance with it. Big.Wayne plays at 1920x1200 and informs of enjoying this card at this resolution.
 
Would 1680 on a 24" look ok still? Or would everyone recommend to push for native 1920?
 
Would 1680 on a 24" look ok still? Or would everyone recommend to push for native 1920?

It depends on the screen for resolution scaling. Some screens look great at just about any resolution whilst others will be the best at native. I run on a CRT Viewsonic that does 2048x1536 but I drop my resolution title dependant to what I find playable (I like silky smooth) without a thought and my gaming is exceptional.
 
I've just replaced my 3870crossfire for a couple of 4850's. I too run Race07, GTR2 & rFactor. Similar game engines. Res is 1920 x 1440 x4AA & x16AF with vsynch. They cope pretty well with most mods, however FSOne07 at some tracks I get stutter. My cpu is @ 3.9ghz at the moment too. I wouldn't recommend a single 4850, at least a 4870 or consider a crossfire solution.
 
I had a 3870 and went from a 17" 1280x1024 to a 20" Widescreen 1680x1050. I suddenly noticed I could still play at max settings, but now turning on AA was a big no no (especially in any source games, where the increase in resolution showed the descrese in performance best). Now got a 4870 (with a Vortexx cooler) and I happily play all my games with all the eye candy. Think this is mainly done to ATi finally sorting out AA after the mishaps with the 2 and 3 series...
 
I noticed in the benchmarks the 48xx cards were working much better with AA.

The thing is at 1920x do you really need AA?

My 24" will arrive tomorrow *unzips* so I'll see how the 3870 fairs at 1680x, I'm sure it'll be ok but I'd rather have card that run 60fps capped and solid to match vsync and hence the 4850, with a proper exhaust cooler, should be ideal (low power, less heat, should clock 10-15%)?
 
Just had a look at race07 @1920 without AA or AF with crossfire disabled. I didn't like it, ugly and a bit stuttery, guess that's because it's dropping below 60fps with vsynch on. Well on my system I need crossfire, hope that helps making your mind up.
 
Thanks for that.

I did think the 3870 would struggle at that rez, even without AA and AF.

1650x1020 might be a little better but scaling is ugly on TFT's so definitely need an upgrade to a 48xx.
 
Just had a look at race07 @1920 without AA or AF with crossfire disabled. I didn't like it, ugly and a bit stuttery, guess that's because it's dropping below 60fps with vsynch on. Well on my system I need crossfire, hope that helps making your mind up.

Just to be clear, sorry that was with a 4850 not 3870.. :o
 
I bit the bullet and just ordered a HIS 4870 from here. :D

24" VA should arrive tomorrow, should be good.
 
I bit the bullet and just ordered a HIS 4870 from here. :D

24" VA should arrive tomorrow, should be good.

:D Nice one. My HIS 4870 comes tomorrow also. My max resolution is 2048x1536 on my Viewsonic CRT but I don't think I'll get away with that with 512vram :D. 1920x1200 will do perfectly as I've seen from reviews so you will be perfect at native resolution and as I'm on CRT, I don't need to worry about that.

With the 4870 beating the X2 3870 at times I think you'll really enjoy the boost. Even at this bigger resolution. Does your card come tomorrow also?.
 
:(

In fact it might be a good thing. To see the power of the 3870 at 1900x1200 with some games for a night then next day, pop in the 4870 and be blown away as it will be a good step up from your 3870.
 
Back
Top Bottom