Radeon 3850 OEM video card "IN STOCK" at mwave

[IEC]

It's amusing how many people buy into the "256MB is not enough" BS.

Sure, it's definitely not enough at 2560x1600 16xAA.
Maybe not even at 1920x1080 4xAA.

Amusingly enough it's a moot point for a mid-range card because you're not going to be able to play those higher resolutions at acceptable frame rates anyways with AA disabled, much less enabled. If you need ultra high-res or high-res + massive AA, you should be buying a HIGH-END card.

The Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870 are perfect for their target mid-range market. For now they are cheaper than the 8800GT and perform just short of it. Also, don't forget that they both beat the 2900XT and the 8800GTS series...

 

[nyker96]

3850 is definitely the hottest product, nothing in its price range even come close to its performance. Added a new HDMI core. This card is red hot!

 

[jodhas]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner
It's amusing how many people buy into the "256MB is not enough" BS.

Sure, it's definitely not enough at 2560x1600 16xAA.
Maybe not even at 1920x1080 4xAA.

Amusingly enough it's a moot point for a mid-range card because you're not going to be able to play those higher resolutions at acceptable frame rates anyways with AA disabled, much less enabled. If you need ultra high-res or high-res + massive AA, you should be buying a HIGH-END card.

The Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870 are perfect for their target mid-range market. For now they are cheaper than the 8800GT and perform just short of it. Also, don't forget that they both beat the 2900XT and the 8800GTS series...

True that. No need to pay for 512MB only to gain the nominal performance gain.

 

[Creig]

If you are looking to buy a 3870 or 3850 and want a true "as long as I own the card" lifetime warranty, then purchase a Visiontek.

Visiontek Warranty page

Products Covered:
ATI Based Retail Packaged ?VisionTek? or ?VisionTek Xtasy? Brand 3D Graphics Accelerators except those covered under other VisionTek Warranty Policies

VisionTek Products LLC, (?VisionTek?) is pleased to warrant to the original purchaser (?Warrantee?) of the graphics card (?Product?), that the product will be free from manufacturing defects in material or workmanship for the lifetime of ownership of the product when given normal and proper usage.

VisionTek warrants the repaired or replaced Products will be free from manufacturing defects in material or workmanship for the remainder of the warranty period.

So your card and any card received from Visiontek through RMA will be covered under this warranty for as long as you own it.

 

[bamacre]

I used a Visiontek X800 Pro for a while, never had to use their warranty. Nice card.

 

[XNice]

Originally posted by: Teetu
I think this is a good deal considering you can't really get a 8800GT for less than $100 more. While the 8800GT is a better card (I have one), you don't get $100 more performance out of it. If you got the 8800GT for $235 from frys... now thats a differnt story.

Yea that's how my story is. It is so hard to be one of those $236 8800GT owners listening to all those sour grapes trying not to compare it to the 3870. Don't blame NV, blame the vendors, geniuses.... The best they can do is set the MSRP and try to lean on the vendors to not price rape too much.

But I will say this, after watching sales proceeding the 3800 series launch: They definitely have better inventory levels for the 3800 than they did for the 8800GT launch. I can still find a card at msrp, at many of my favorite retailers, and it's in stock. Compare that to the 8800GT which is grossly overpriced right now.

On second thought, NVIDIA does have some blame still. Manufacturing enough cards so that the Vendors aren't "forced" to raise the prices to keep stock.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: XNice

Originally posted by: Teetu
I think this is a good deal considering you can't really get a 8800GT for less than $100 more. While the 8800GT is a better card (I have one), you don't get $100 more performance out of it. If you got the 8800GT for $235 from frys... now thats a differnt story.

Yea that's how my story is. It is so hard to be one of those $236 8800GT owners listening to all those sour grapes trying not to compare it to the 3870. Don't blame NV, blame the vendors, geniuses.... The best they can do is set the MSRP and try to lean on the vendors to not price rape too much.

But I will say this, after watching sales proceeding the 3800 series launch: They definitely have better inventory levels for the 3800 than they did for the 8800GT launch. I can still find a card at msrp, at many of my favorite retailers, and it's in stock. Compare that to the 8800GT which is grossly overpriced right now.

On second thought, NVIDIA does have some blame still. Manufacturing enough cards so that the Vendors aren't "forced" to raise the prices to keep stock.

Really? Because I don't see any decent 3870's in stock anywhere. Just el cheapo vendor versions with 1yr warranties. Even those stocks are limited at a small number of online retailers.

 

[Karaktu]

Keep in mind that ATI changed their warranty to 1-year with the launch of the x1xxx series of cards. They were probably losing too much money on returns since they actually sell their own branded cards (Nvidia doesn't).

I am in total agreement that I'm not interested in a video card (or almost any component) that doesn't have at least a 3-year warranty. 1 year seems like a long time, but it really isn't.

 

[whistleclient]

Anyone know the ETA on the AGP version of the 3850?

 

[Tylanner]

If only AMD/ATI had released this before the 8800GT, these would be the hottest card by far....

 

[Jules]

Ill be getting my Powercolor HD 3850 on wensday. I already bought a 8800GT so i wont be needing this. Anyone want it for $175 shipped?

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: jodhas

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner
It's amusing how many people buy into the "256MB is not enough" BS.

Sure, it's definitely not enough at 2560x1600 16xAA.
Maybe not even at 1920x1080 4xAA.

Amusingly enough it's a moot point for a mid-range card because you're not going to be able to play those higher resolutions at acceptable frame rates anyways with AA disabled, much less enabled. If you need ultra high-res or high-res + massive AA, you should be buying a HIGH-END card.

The Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870 are perfect for their target mid-range market. For now they are cheaper than the 8800GT and perform just short of it. Also, don't forget that they both beat the 2900XT and the 8800GTS series...

True that. No need to pay for 512MB only to gain the nominal performance gain.

Resolution is only a secondary concern after textures. Paging to system memory can be a significant loss not just in performance, per se, but playability. Even tolerating insufficient VRAM supposes 'nuff system RAM to allow said paging and thereby precluding even worse paging to HDD in a dreaded cascade effect.