Alright guys so I got my new video card up and running and I'm currently getting 15,130ish in 3Dmark06.
Alright on stock speeds I was getting something around 13k. Ok so now that I've overclocked it to 781/1891/2000 I'm getting 15352 in 3DMark06. I could probably adjust the OC even more but I'm going to leave it at this speed for a while.
That's with a quad core right? That performance difference really shows how much Quad core CPUs nullify 3dmark scores.
Just thought I'd add a note here to signify that I've stopped recommending the HD3870 and HD3850 graphics cards, and will now solely be advising nvidia products in the high end sector. I've been using the cards for a while and recommending them on the basis that the issues I had were easily fixed, but they aren't. I'm sick of the card really, the software is terrible, the coolers are dire and the customer support is non-existent. I sincerely hope the 4870 is better.
:O well i never! for budget, the 3850 is must for recomendation, but the 3870 and to an extent x2 are outclassed at the same level and pricerange by their nvidia counterparts
It's not the price and performance that's really the problem, it's that the cards just don't bloody work. 3dmark scores were fine, pushing 11500 single and 13800 crossfire (CPU limited), but more impressively 12800 at 1920x1200 with crossfire enabled. Performance was sometimes an issue, but it's the BSODs I can't deal with, they just never stop. Abuzar: nor me really, you tried one, it didn't turn out, at least then you know for next time. And yes, before anyone mentions it, I do feel like a mug for sticking up for the 3800s so hard.
I'm still hangin' in the ATi boat, and if the 4870X2's are any good I think that will be my next upgrade. My 3870s have had some problems from time to time, but now they're workin fine (hey, it rhymes!). So unless my 3870s start to randomly act up, I will be here for a while.
i meant azubar wasted hismoney on a 1GB 8800GT. its weird, i get more BSODs with nvidia drivers, then ATI.
Why did he? Everybody seems to be of the opinion that the memory interface will limit the card before the amount of memory does, not so. nvidia cards fall flat on their face as soon as they run out of memory, they need as much as they can get. If the 4870s aren't dogs like the 3870s, I'll be interested, but it's going to be unlikely methinks. The great shame is that my X1900XT was brilliant, rock solid. The HD3870s aren't too bad for crashes when singular, it's mainly microstutter and clock speed problems that are the bad things. It's BSOD-o-rama as soon as you enable crossfire though. When I first installed the card, drivers and checked the enable crossfire box for the first time I got one. That should really have set the scene.
sorry m8, didnt quite understand that, explain please? and yeah, that 256 bit interface will limit him. hes only gaming a 1600x1200, there will be no bottlenecking by 512 ram. its a waste, unless realisticly your looking at a 30" screen. the 8800GTX bests the 9800GTX at 1920 and 2560 with AA/AF (and most w.o) becuase of the higher interface.
All the benchmarks I've seen indicate that when the card runs out of memory (running Crysis at 1920x1200 with AA on a card with 512MB for example) the ATI cards drop in performance significantly, from for example 50fps down to say 25, but the nvidia ones seem to just completely collapse, say from 50fps down to 7 or 8. At 1600x1200, however, you're possibly right, I doubt you could max 512MB unless you were running Crysis in DX10.1 mode so you could have AA and very high settings - to my knowledge this isn't yet possible. In my mind the 8800 should beat the 9800 for both memory and bus width reasons because the 9800 is, after all an uprated GTS.