The ultimate AGP video card today?

[evolucion8]

The HD 3800 series are far from being bottlenecked by the AGP bus, in the worst case scenario you may only loose a few fps (2-5fps at best). You will be CPU bottleneck, but you will still experience a nice boost in performance.

 

[Skunkwourk]

at least 30 minutes a day, I ask myself if I should get the 3850 since I don't plan to build a new rig till 2010.

 

[wanchan]

Originally posted by: m0mentary
at least 30 minutes a day, I ask myself if I should get the 3850 since I don't plan to build a new rig till 2010.

Let me come back and tell ya if it's worth it to get a 3850 AGP after I install and test the card LOL

I guess the video card upgrade will be worthwhile for me, as I am just a movie buff and I've never had good chemical with games.

 

[rcraig]

Originally posted by: m0mentary
at least 30 minutes a day, I ask myself if I should get the 3850 since I don't plan to build a new rig till 2010.

I, too, am considering the 3850 as a last hurrah for my agp system. I have an Opteron dual core running at 2.2, and an ATI X800XT PE, but would like to upgrade to play newer games that require the newer shaders. I would much rather upgrade my entire system, but to get what I would like would cost over $600. I am also looking to buy an LCD and ditch my 19 crt, because I need a monitor I can travel with to show video clips on while talking to people at a display table. I can't afford to buy the monitor and upgrade the entire system, so I thought the 3850 would get me by for another year or so. Since I have a dual core processor, shouldn't this card work well enough for a casual gamer?

Thanks,
RCraig

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: rcraig
Since I have a dual core processor, shouldn't this card work well enough for a casual gamer?

Yes, your CPU is more than twice as fast as his, and a 3850 would be a fairly good match for it.

 

[imported_Race]

FYI.......you can use an 8x card on your 4x system. It just runs at the slower 4x speed.

 

[OS]

i have a 2600XT with a 2.2 ghz AXP barton, i don't seem to have driver problems?

it runs most good, except being CPU bottlenecked and stuff in like crysis.

 

[wanchan]

I hope this bears some relevance to this thread, and I can get myself fixed in just one thread.

I got my HD3850 AGP card today. Boy, I've never held a card this heavy and long

Well, never had a new video card since my Radeon 9700 Pro, I have question about the video card power cable. It has 8-pin connector that goes to the card and two 4-pin ones that go to PSU. Details are shown in picture.

Do I have connect all those two 4-pin connectors to PSU or will connecting one be enough?


********PSU Specs********
Enermax (by Coolergiant) EG651P-VE V2.01 (24P) FM 24P Series 550W ATX Power Supply
ATX 12 Ver 2.01 SATA, PCI-Express, Dual Fan Quiet for Dual Xeon, AMD MP, Intel P4, AMD XP, K8 CPU: EG651P-VE (24P) (20/24 Pin, Retail)

Features:

*Low noise & Ultra Cool" thermal control power supply with dual fans solution recommended by "AMD? System Cooling Guidelines".
* Support dual Intel Xeon & AMD MP CPU Server/Workstation board.
* FM Function-allows system to monitor power supply for 8cm fan rpm.
* Thermal controlled8cm 9cm fan rpm auto adjusting bases on temp detected inside power supply.
* Support Intel P4 and AMD XP & K8 CPU wit Enhance +12V output +12V and Aux power connector
* Safety Approvals: UL, cUL,TUV, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO, FIMKO.
* EMC Approvals: CE, FCC, CNS directives.
* Dimension W150 x H86 x D140 (mm)
* Adapters for 3 in 1 (EPS +12V, ATX-GES, ATX):
- EPS12V To AMD ATX GES
- EPS12V To ATX 12V
--
Source: http://www.xpcgear.com/eg651pvefm24p.html

 

[rcraig]

...I got my HD3850 AGP card today. Boy, I've never held a card this heavy and long

Is it as long and as heavy as my Voodoo 5000 card (which I still have laying around)?!? ;0

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: wanchan
I hope this bears some relevance to this thread, and I can get myself fixed in just one thread.

I got my HD3850 AGP card today. Boy, I've never held a card this heavy and long

Well, never had a new video card since my Radeon 9700 Pro, I have question about the video card power cable. It has 8-pin connector that goes to the card and two 4-pin ones that go to PSU. Details are shown in picture.

Do I have connect all those two 4-pin connectors to PSU or will connecting one be enough?

You have to connect both 4 pin connectors from different 12V rails, otherwise the card will boot, but once you start to play games it will not work properly. Also if your PSU have a 6-pin PCI-E connector, you can directly plug it to the card, that's the way I have it, except that I'm using the 8-pin PCI-E connector.

 

[rcraig]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: rcraig
Since I have a dual core processor, shouldn't this card work well enough for a casual gamer?

Yes, your CPU is more than twice as fast as his, and a 3850 would be a fairly good match for it.

Ok. I am rethinking my upgrade path and time table. Will this card be good enough with my Opteron dual core at 2.2 to play the lastes games decently (excluding Crysis - that would be lower settings)? I am thinking that maybe I would go ahead and buy a new MB, 6600 quad, memory, and maybe a 8800GTS. This would mean staying with my old 19' CRT and holding off on the LCD (I really want the Doublesight DS-263N.) Should I get the monitor and this card or the MB/CPU/RAM/Vid upgrade and keep my CRT for now?

Thanks for your opinions.
RCraig

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: wanchan

Originally posted by: m0mentary
at least 30 minutes a day, I ask myself if I should get the 3850 since I don't plan to build a new rig till 2010.

Let me come back and tell ya if it's worth it to get a 3850 AGP after I install and test the card LOL

I guess the video card upgrade will be worthwhile for me, as I am just a movie buff and I've never had good chemical with games.

so whats the verdict?

 

[rcraig]

Ok. I am considering the 3850's on Newegg and would like a recomendation of which manufacturer.

Should I get the PowerColor AG3850 for $142 after MIR and shipping, or should I get the Sapphire 3850 for $147 after MIR and shipping?

I haven't dealt with either company, and both seem to be reference except the PowerColor's cooler isn't stock. I will probably get an aftermarket cooler that vents the air out of the case so that might not matter anyway.

So, what are the pros/cons of these companies or are they about the same?

Thanks,
RCraig

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: rcraig
Ok. I am considering the 3850's on Newegg and would like a recomendation of which manufacturer.

Should I get the PowerColor AG3850 for $142 after MIR and shipping, or should I get the Sapphire 3850 for $147 after MIR and shipping?

I haven't dealt with either company, and both seem to be reference except the PowerColor's cooler isn't stock. I will probably get an aftermarket cooler that vents the air out of the case so that might not matter anyway.

So, what are the pros/cons of these companies or are they about the same?

Thanks,
RCraig

Powercolor generally has a better bundle with their cards, and they have better customer support, so I would pick them.

 

[evolucion8]

Powercolor is better overall, but their cards tends to have more incompatability issues with motherboards than any other brand, seems that is some kind of BIOS issue, don't know if with the latest releases it got fixed, but it may worth the risk.

 

[rcraig]

Thanks for the advice. I went with the PowerColor because it has a better stock fan. NewEgg shipped the same day and it should be here tomorrow.

I would also like to get an aftermarket fan that vents the hot air out of the case. I have used those on the last two cards I purchased and they worked well, but I can't find one that states it is for the 3850. Has anyone purchased one for this card? Another option would be one of those slot fans that just install next to the card and vent air out of the case. Anyone use one of those?

The benefit of the slot fan would be the ease of installation and it can be used with many cards through the years. You also don't void your video card warranty by removing the stock fan, but do they work well?

Again, thanks,
RCraig

 

[rcraig]

I received the 3850 on Friday and installed it that night. I tried to install the cat 8.4 driver only, and the full package I downloaded from AMD, but they wouldn't install with this card either the normal way or using device manager. I then tried the drivers on the included CD and they installed without a problem. I'm waiting on a few new games to come in, then I'll see how well this works. With one of my old games (COD 2) I was able to increase the resolution from 1024x768 on medium settings to 1280 x 1024 with everything maxed out and it ran just fine. I can't wait to try some newer games.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: rcraig
I received the 3850 on Friday and installed it that night. I tried to install the cat 8.4 driver only, and the full package I downloaded from AMD, but they wouldn't install with this card either the normal way or using device manager. I then tried the drivers on the included CD and they installed without a problem. I'm waiting on a few new games to come in, then I'll see how well this works. With one of my old games (COD 2) I was able to increase the resolution from 1024x768 on medium settings to 1280 x 1024 with everything maxed out and it ran just fine. I can't wait to try some newer games.

I might be the only person who cares, but keep us posted. Right now I could go either way, stick with my current card to get the 3850 as well. Got a few questions if you wouldn't mind.

Did you try omega drivers?
Do you know what version the drivers on their cd are?
How are noise levels and temp?

 

[rcraig]

I might be the only person who cares, but keep us posted. Right now I could go either way, stick with my current card to get the 3850 as well. Got a few questions if you wouldn't mind.

Did you try omega drivers?
Do you know what version the drivers on their cd are?
How are noise levels and temp?

I didn't try the Omega drivers because when I went there, they were dated as January. I figured the 8.4's were newer. I jsut checked what I am running (installed from CD) and they are listed as the 8.4's with a date of January 9, 2008. I might try the Omega's in the next few days. I have used them in the past with my old cards and they worked well.

As for noise, I have other fans louder than this card, so I didn't notice the noise level going up or down. I haven't checked temp levels and am not totally sure how.

I did play some COD2 and noticed load times were less than half of what I had using my X800XT PE.

My thought is this card can tie me over until nehalim (or what ever the name is) comes out next year, then do a major upgrade then.

Hope this helps. I just loaded HL2 E2 so I'll report back on it tomorrow.
RCraig

 

[evolucion8]

It is strange that you were unable to install the drivers through the device manager. That's the way that I install the official ones since the hotfix is glitchy, I used the Force Install option. I select the option "I will choose the driver", then select Display Adapters, then I went to the driver directory and selected Radeon HD 3850, a display warning appeared about device driver compatability, installed it, then installed CCC and everything works like a charm.

All the Anti Aliasing modes, the Overdrive feature, the HDMI driver, all works without issues, the only thing that's missing is the SmartGart which is not necessary to operate the AGP card (There's an utility to remove it without removing your drivers on the ATi's website), also the SmartGart tests that it performs when the PC is booting makes your PC to take more time to boot. The Hotfix decreased considerably my benchmark scores and the Anti Aliasing modes only worked when they feel like to. So I'm currently using the official ones, if you want to try, install them like stated above.

 

[rcraig]

Originally posted by: evolucion8
It is strange that you were unable to install the drivers through the device manager. That's the way that I install the official ones since the hotfix is glitchy, I used the Force Install option. I select the option "I will choose the driver", then select Display Adapters, then I went to the driver directory and selected Radeon HD 3850, a display warning appeared about device driver compatability, installed it, then installed CCC and everything works like a charm...

That is the way I tried, but it stated it didn't find any compatible hardware. I'll try again if I have any problems.

HL2 E2 with all the eye candy turned on, looks much better than HL2 or HL2 E1. I'm not sure if that is my new card or the game. It seemed to play smooth enough for the first hour until the game glitched and my computer rebooted. It was too late at night, so I took that as a sign to get some sleep.

Tonight I will be able to see what this card can really do on my system. I just picked up Crysis from Circuit City for $20.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: rcraig

Originally posted by: evolucion8
It is strange that you were unable to install the drivers through the device manager. That's the way that I install the official ones since the hotfix is glitchy, I used the Force Install option. I select the option "I will choose the driver", then select Display Adapters, then I went to the driver directory and selected Radeon HD 3850, a display warning appeared about device driver compatability, installed it, then installed CCC and everything works like a charm...

That is the way I tried, but it stated it didn't find any compatible hardware. I'll try again if I have any problems.

HL2 E2 with all the eye candy turned on, looks much better than HL2 or HL2 E1. I'm not sure if that is my new card or the game. It seemed to play smooth enough for the first hour until the game glitched and my computer rebooted. It was too late at night, so I took that as a sign to get some sleep.

Tonight I will be able to see what this card can really do on my system. I just picked up Crysis from Circuit City for $20.

btw, you should probably look into increasing your ram from 1gb to 2. It makes a difference.

 

[rcraig]

Originally posted by: m0mentary
btw, you should probably look into increasing your ram from 1gb to 2. It makes a difference.

I've been thinkng that, but not sure about spending another $75. I guess I could sell my 1 gb. When playing HL2 E2, it keeps poping up in the upper right corner that the OS Page file is out of memory.

I started to play last night, then was going to load Crysis when a storm knocked out my power. Thankfully I recently replaced my old UPC. I was able to exit HL2 E2 and shut down without any problems.

 

[rcraig]

Ok. I upgraded my ram to 2gb and that took care of the problems in HL2E2. It plays well without any problems and everything turned all the way up. I also started playing MOH Airborne with everything on high and I haven't had any problems (except dying.) I have been holding off loading Crysis because I am runnign out of HD space. I either need to get a larger HD or delete something. I was going to order a new hd today that Newegg has had on sale, but this morning they raised the price. I'll wait and see if the price goes down again before I buy it. I'll see if I can make room for Crysis this weekend and then I'll report back.
RCraig

 

[Rottie]

my X1950 Pro is still kicking very strong and it is only almost 1 year old I don't plan to upgrade 3850 card until I give up skt 939 mobo/AGP.