HD3870 vs 8800GT review @ legionhardware.com

[mwalt2]

The results kind of disappointing if you love AMD but a good review.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=703&p=0

 

[requiem1]

muuuhahahaha yes! Let the 8800GT remain KING! that performance if just tooo low to justify me buying a 3870, even with DX10.1 - especially at that price. Thank God i didn't cancel my order...my 8800GT should be here friday.

 

[Rusin]

8800 GT 512MB wins HD3870 in every game test with every resolution.

Weird thing: HD3870 runs as hot as 8800 GT on load! Both goes for 88C!
----

When DX10.1 games arrive these both cards won't be able to run them properly.. these cards have trouble already with current DX10 games. It's like having Ferrari with Lada's engine. Sure looks great, but doesn't run fast.

 

[thilanliyan]

Why did they use Catalyst 7.9 for the 3870 and 7.10 for the 2900XT?

 

[ayabe]

Weak, very weak sauce. Pathetic even.

 

[Rusin]

Thilan:
Don't know. That 7.9 -> 7.10 change didn't have any significant change on single card performance. If this would have been crossfire-test then that would be significant thing.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Feel better about getting my 8800GT SSC tomorrow.

 

[Arkaign]

More bad news for AMD Does it ever stop?

 

[fleshconsumed]

Man, this is a sad day. Legionhardware conclusion sums it up nicely. Sure, it runs quiter, consumes less wattage, and supposed to cost significantly less than 2900XT while performing on the same level. However, if it debutes at $240-260 it won't be as appealing as 8800GT at $270. Some people will buy it of course, but I don't see any significant sales unless 3870 will be sold closer to $200 while 8800GT prices remain as they are now.

On a related note it would seem 8800GT price gouging is here to stay.

On a related note 2 yes it is bad news for AMD/ATI, they are getting beat up by Intel/nVidia real bad.

 

[Rusin]

Weren't AMD supposed to release 7.11 drivers tomorrow? Let' hope it will narrow that gap.

edit:
It should do something since 7.11-drivers will be HD3870's launch drivers.

 

[Rusin]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Man, this is a sad day. Legionhardware conclusion sums it up nicely. Sure, it runs quiter, consumes less wattage, and supposed to cost significantly less than 2900XT while performing on the same level. However, if it debutes at $240-260 it won't be as appealing as 8800GT at $270. Some people will buy it of course, but I don't see any significant sales unless 3870 will be sold closer to $200 while 8800GT prices remain as they are now.

On a related note it would seem 8800GT price gouging is here to stay.

On a related note 2 yes it is bad news for AMD/ATI, they are getting beat up by Intel/nVidia real bad.

Well AMD's hope is that G92-supply problems continues. I mean that when those non-reference versions of 8800 GT arrives it will get ugly.

(On related note: HD3870 prices have gone up in Germany. Cheapest listed price is 228,4? (cheapest 8800 GT costs 197.61?..and is factory overclocked Zotac-model))

 

[nubian1]

I am very very disappointed with the benchmark results. What is AMD/ATI thinking?? I purposely held of on my 8800GT purchase to see what the 3870 was all about & now this. Given the 2900XT track record with respect to performance improvements with driver updates, I do not hold too much hope in the 3870 overtaking or even competing performance wise with the 8800GT now or in the future. Time will tell & with the very little hope I have left I will be looking to see if with the 7.11 driver release I should reconsider my 8800GT purchase. Somehow I think I'll be ordering an 8800GT in the very near future.

 

[SniperDaws]

Well im peeved now, the ATI card isnt worth buying so ill get the 8800GT oh wait i cant cos no bastards got em in stock.


Grrrrrrr i want to play WiC on full settings.

 

[s44]

Unless "$240" means $200, they're in trouble -- and we're screwed, as 8800GT price gouging continues.

 

[jonks]

When the 256mb GT drops in a couple weeks at $200 or less, and if it performs as close to its big brother as the two 320/640 GTS siblings performed, the 3870 looks like a nice paperweight.

I noticed the GT draws considerably less power than the GTS at idle, but draws slightly more at stress. Why's that?

 

[Rusin]

sirjonk:
Well.. HD3850 512MB could give some trouble for it. 8800 GT 512MB is slightly hold down because of it's small frame buffer.

 

[ItsAlive]

Im confused, I was under the impression that a die shrink and moving down in transistor count from 700 million to 666 million would decrease operating temps??? Those readings show an 18 degree increase in load temps.....

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
More bad news for AMD Does it ever stop?

Not that I was ever an AMD/ATI fanboy, but competition is good for us penny pinchers! This is discouraging news.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: ItsAlive
Im confused, I was under the impression that a die shrink and moving down in transistor count from 700 million to 666 million would decrease operating temps??? Those readings show an 18 degree increase in load temps.....

Must be the hellish temperatures generated by running the number 666

 

[Rusin]

Originally posted by: ItsAlive
Im confused, I was under the impression that a die shrink and moving down in transistor count from 700 million to 666 million would decrease operating temps??? Those readings show an 18 degree increase in load temps.....

Could be driver issue or it could have 8800 GT syndrome where fan controller doesn't work as supposed.. They have wanted to create ultra silent card and fan doesn't spin fast enough.

 

[AzN]

I suspected same. Crappy vista performance is no secret when it comes AMD new generations. AMD needs to keep the ball rolling with vista drivers.

 

[ItsAlive]

Originally posted by: Rusin

Originally posted by: ItsAlive
Im confused, I was under the impression that a die shrink and moving down in transistor count from 700 million to 666 million would decrease operating temps??? Those readings show an 18 degree increase in load temps.....

Could be driver issue or it could have 8800 GT syndrome where fan controller doesn't work as supposed.. They have wanted to create ultra silent card and fan doesn't spin fast enough.

I hope this is the issue. I was counting on atleast a good headroom for overclocking, I wasnt expecting tremendous performance increases, but with temps like this overclocking doesnt seem like much of a possiblity.

 

[Rusin]

Well that cooler is very silent right now so it's more than likely that you could manually increase fan rpm's with some program (don't know what is used for this with AMD cards)

 

[Kalessian]

I'm not trying to start anything... but a lot of the reviews I see have the 2900xt beating the GTS without AA turned on. This review has the GTS crushing the 2900xt.

Why do some sites have nvidia way out front while others have them neck and neck?

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3128&p=4

 

[wildstrike1516]

Isn't there supposed to be a new driver release tomorrow for ati? If so, it will be intresting to see how this would effect these benchmark numbers.