HD 3850 - I haven't felt such value in years

Before any old idiot jumps in here to spam or claim I'm anti Nvidia - I will say this: Go get bummed.

..Alrighty! The topic at hand: I recently built a new rig. My past rig was actually better than what I am using now. I suffered a fire which destroyed everything I had, sadly. The rig I used to have was sitting there with an 8800gtx and a quad Core2.

When making my new rig I thought I should be a little more conservative. I didn't really have the cash to spend in general. I decided on the rig you see in my profile - I spent a month getting the best bargins I possibly could. An e6750 for under £100 - not using expensive RAM with the intent to OC. If I ever do O/C it'll probably be with a divider.

I built my rig as a gaming system for a mediocre amount of cash. Never expecting stellar results, simply "good" results. Yet when I replaced the 8500gt I had (as a stand in) I was suprised to the point of disbelief. This card eats games up, the games I used to play and newer ones. Stalker, Halo multi (yes, old game! =p), C&C3, WoW, Eve's new expansion. Everything I throw at it is just handled with ease.

I've played games on the PC for a long time, with my bouts of deciding to console game, then go back to pc's.. etc. Buying this 3850 just made me think "damn" - and of course made me type this thread up. It made me realise that perhaps PC gaming isn't as expensive as all that. If value cards come out like this in the future I will be a happy camper. I haven't known such good value for a graphics card capable of "running" games at good settings since the TI4200 and Ati 9500 pro days.

Forgive the long rant, had a drink, had a few games I've ran through, and I'm one happy camper. The 3850 is the best card I've used in years. I never expected to get what I have from it. While not as good as the GTX, it holds its own, and does it more than adequately.

 

Glad you are back up and running . Sure is a nice bargain for the little powerhouse it is.

 

great read
especially since my 3580 should be in the mail tomorrow :banana:

 

Just played Gothic3 with 4xAA and 16xAF 1280x960 and everything maxed.. I love this card.

 

It's nice I'm not the only one seeing just how good this card is for the money, it's definitely one of the most pleasing releases of the past year.

 

Sure is...I got 14,518 in 3dmark06 with a single one of these

 

I cant get last test workin... Broken pipes error =/

 

don't forget the latest.
http://www.lpstreetteam.com/CDA5240...ink.asp?guid=A2F2C5F75A8040619D67C22E6BDAE419

 

I hear nothing but good things about these babies, so tempted to get a couple and Crossfire them in my Shuttle, shame the 3870 is dual slot.

Still, very pleased for you, we're getting some really good performance for the money between the 3850, 3870 and 8800GT. Good time to buy.

 

It's a great buy. Just finished COD4 at 1280 max settings 4AA, smooth as you like. Crysis at 1280 high runs just a couple of frames slower than my 8800GTS 640 at home - stupendous value. What would £100 have brought you just a year ago in terms of performance, nothing like this.

Agreed, it's a gem like the 9500pro was.

 

Many reviews show 256MB is enough for most players. How many use 24" and above monitors ? 8800GT 256/512MB, ofcourse 512MB helps when 19x12, 4xAA, but the 512MB still get unplayable fps (15 vs 22fps ?) And ppl on forums want something new all the time, 8800GT/GTS 1GB...yea right, totally wasted money for many of those buyers.

Who plays a game with 15fps ? any card will do, simply lower the settings.

 

holy smokes...
My Club3D 3850 arrived today (my first ATi card ever)...
what can i say, you're absolutely right.
Crysis on High Settings @ 1280x1024 (no AA)->20something fps -> NICE
COD4 all maxed out -> ~50fps
I'm so happy right now

Can't wait for the new Catalyst Drivers since the current ones seem pretty buggy with some applications and games (in-game FMV, DiRT, 3DMark etc)
But well... time will fix this.

Oh and btw: I can't hear the fan noise over the sound of how awsome this card is (=pretty damn silent)

 

Yeah ATI did it right with these cards. I just hope the R700's are great as well.

 

For my next upgrade I was thinking of getting either two of the 3850 512's or two 3870's. Is there much of a difference between the two? How much extra performance does the gddr4 ram provide?

 

Hard to say since there are several differences between the 3870 and 3850. On average it looks like the 3870 is about 10-25% faster in modern games (CoD4, Crysis, etc).
The 3850 has more overclocking potential than the 3870 btw.

 

Hey thanks a lot, thats exactly what I wanted to know. :thumbup:

 

It should be pretty obvious that GDDR4 doesn't provide very much gain at all considering NVIDIA has still not started using it and the 8800 series is all around faster than anything from ATI. Many think NVIDIA will skip GDDR4 and go straight to GDDR5.

On the value subject I'd still say the 8800GT 256mb is a better value card than the 3850. The G92 can be overclocked up to over 900mhz with some more volts Also the 8800GT 256 beats out the 3870 unless you use over 256mb of VRAM even with the 8800GT at stock.

http://iax-tech.com/video/8800gt/8800gt01.htm

 

Find me an 8800gt which can be had for just over £90 and I might agree - otherwise I would think quite the opposite. Not to mention the fact that not everyone likes to O/C. I considered the 8800gt and decided that for the extra cash it simply wasn't worth it.

 

Here in the States the price difference between the 8800GT 256 and the 3850 is about the cost of a dinner for two ($20). Considering the fact that if you don't OC at all, the stock 8800GT 256 will still outperform the 3870. I'd still say the 8800GT is the better value.

 

Yeah £90 is an absolute steel for that card. It's definitely a great buy, and even though many think ATI are in the ****ter I tend to agree with the people in this thread. The 3850 just seems like a jem of a card. It's darn cheap, its a great performer and its quite. For the budget pc builder what more do you want.

Contrary to what ledhed states, the 8800GT is still quite expensive, especially for those that don't care about maxing every game. The 8800GT is the best bang for but card on the market, but if you don't have the buck then you have to get your bang from somewhere else. ATI is waiting at your doorstep