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New graphics card: ATI 3850/3870 or other 9600 series?

Discussion in 'Building a new PC' started by gibbey531, Feb 24, 2008.

  1. gibbey531

    gibbey531 Member

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    Okay, i'm looking at upping my graphics card, and my goal is to be able to play Crysis with Not drop dead graphics, but a simple wow(so above medium to high) I saw the new 3850/3870 cards that came out are pretty great in price/performance, but i also saw some Nvidia 9600 cards that didn't have too bad specs at all either. I would just like to know which card would be better for my system: 2.5g ram, AMD athlon x2 5000, and like a said, fun crysis on wow?

    thanks
     
  2. Waymon3X6

    Waymon3X6 Regular member

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    The 9600 will probably play Crysis at the same speed as a 3870, but the 3870 has newer features that make it more futureproof. The 9600 does not have support for DX10.1 - and comes with a single slot cooler which will most likely be loud and not cool the card that great (8800GT for example).
     
  3. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Either the 9600GT or HD3870 are suitable for the task. They perform very similarly, and will run the game maxed at 1152x864 resolution fine, and will at 1280x1024 if you're willing to live with a slightly lower frame rate. Personally, I think the shadows in Crysis are hideous, so I max all the settings EXCEPT shadows, which I leave low. This gives me great graphics without the jaggedy shadows and doubles my frame rate, makes playing at 1280x1024 no sweat, you could probably even turn on some AA.
     
  4. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    I would get the 3870. Make sure you get a dual slot version.
     
  5. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Agreed, the single slot 3870 is a whiney little thing...
     

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