"Upgrade" from HD3850 512MB Suggestions

[nickd_101]

I got a Gecube HD3850 from ebuyer a few months back, and I recently I decided it was too loud so opted to change the cooler on the card. Well now I have a quiet graphics card that doesn't work anymore! I was wondering if anyone could suggest a replacement for the card, I figure I may as well upgrade a little too (to appease my suffering from this one breaking). Just looking to spend around £100 give or take. My main display is a 22" Neovo which goes up to 1680x1050 so amazing resolution isn't imperative, though I did have it hooked up to my LCD tv which would do 1080p so I wouldn't mind using it if possible for the budget. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume you want a quiet graphics card?

The Asus 9800GT Hybridpower is supposed to be very quiet:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149247

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=771&p=13

http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/articl...&pagenumber=12

[nickd_101]

Thanks for the reply. At the moment I'm looking at the best performance that I can get for around £100, then I'll investigate noise reduction options depending on the sort of cards that I would be able to get. I've got an Accelero Twin Turbo that was originally going to go on the HD3850, but that's sat in the box now so I could potentially use that depending on what I get.

[cptwhite_uk]

I'd have thought a HD4850 would've been your best bet, bit more than £100 though, probably more like £100

Below that you have the HD4830 (£90) and 9800GT (£100), but both have a drop in performance which would make me think it's not worth upgrading to them.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

As far as I know you will invalidate your warranty if you change the cooler within the warranty period.

[Webby]

As far as I know you will invalidate your warranty if you change the cooler within the warranty period.

Normally yes with the notable exception of EVGA they are the only manufacturer (that I know of) that say it is fine for you to swap off the cooler but if you damage the card in the process or the chip is damaged by heat its your fault and you are not covered.

As to the OPs question if your limit really is £100 I would get a 4830 or a 9800GT if you can stretch for the extra £15 then the 4850 is another big step up on them both.

[sjhujh]

The 9800gt is essentially a 8800gt which is what I'm running and it works pretty well at 1680*1050 (which is the same resolution i'm using) Now the 4850 I've linked bellow is probbaly a better bet in terms of longevity i would have thought and is considered by many to be one of the best mainstream cards you can get but is a tad over budget..

I'd say a 9800gt which can be had for under 90 delivered:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...html?NOV-98GT5

or

If ATi is still your preferred then 14 over budget will get you (also delivered):

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?NOV-4850

[nickd_101]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like it'll be the HD4850 then, since I only paid £50 for the original HD3850, I'd rather pay the little extra and get something that has a noticeable performance boost. Is there a particular brand that I should favour over another and do NVidia do anything that offers similar performance for around that price range?

At the moment I'm considering one of the following cards:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146705 or
perhaps http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148468

Also my PSU is a 350W bog standard in a Dell inspiron 530 - would an upgrade on this be advisable too? I tried the extreme Power Supply Calculator which says 328W would be ok

Thanks again,

Nick

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The first is quiet at idle but gets quite noisy at load. Also the card runs VERY hot. Reviews have stated that the card idles at above 70C!! The second card has a better cooler but is very noisy. In both cases it would be better to get an aftermarket cooler eventually.

[cptwhite_uk]

It is worth noting the 4*** generation of ATI cards tend to be slightly more power hungry than the 9* series from Nvidia, especially at desktop. Although the difference at peak loads (during a game) is not so pronounced.

I'd say you're cutting it pretty fine with a 350W PSU. 328W is an estimated value and it wouldn't take much to push it over the edge...I'd google some power usage values for the 9800GT and HD4850 before you make your decision.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For graphics card power consumption have a look at the techPowerUp graphics card reviews. They list idle,average and full power consumption for many graphics cards in their reviews.

Here is the power consumption figures for some newer cards:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...D_4850/24.html

A 8800gt/9800gt at standard clocks has very similiar average and full power consumption to the HD3850 512mb. At idle it is somewhat higher.

[Webby]

What it is important to note from the Techpowerup reviews is also that the power consumptions are no where near those calculated by PSU calculators, those values are also "from the wall" so PSU efficiency has not been factored in (and its delivered power that they are rated for not consumed) so you can knock a bit more off of those numbers probably in the region of 15% (and you would still be over estimating as the 700W PSU is unlikely to be 85% efficient at less than 20% load).

[shadowmaster]

To be on the safe side, I would buy a new psu. Something within the range of 400watt to 500watt should do you fine. If you give us a budget, one of us should be able to find a good one.

In regard to the gfx card, the 4850 is a fine choice and should provide a noticeable boost over your 3850. If you get the standard cooler, first of all its not that noisy (depends on how fussy you are), and I would not worry about the temps reaching 70C. It can run fine at that temp, after all my 3870X2 hits 80C at load and has never given me any trouble during my long gaming sessions

[Pob255]

Which GuCube card was it? I ask because GeCube made *the* best coolers for the 3850 and 3870
namely this cooler.
http://www.gecube.com/cms_file.php?id=3097

For 1680x1050 the 9800gt and 4830 are fine and perform around the same
That Novatech 9800gt nickd_101 linked to is a great bargin
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...html?NOV-98GT5

[nickd_101]

It was this http://www.gecube.com/products-detai...prod_id=382009 version of the HD3850. The cooler on that was pretty loud, audible over the case fans and PSU. I'm just looking to get it was quiet as possible as I use the machine as a media center as well as for the odd game too. My budget would be about £150ish all in, for PSU and graphics, I would be willing to stretch to a certain degree, but lower would be better!

Thanks,
Nick

[Pob255]

Ok well if you have space (ie not a small media case) and reasonable airflow you could look at passive.
http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...mpaign=VGA5048
£115 for a passive 9800gt

for more power but still under £150 but also higher power consumption.
ati 4850 £122
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150577
Not sure what the cooler is like on that gainward 4850 (note that looks like the golden sample version but it's not and a distanct lack of heat pipes sticking out of the cooler)

nvidia 9800gtx+ £134
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?NOV-98GTXP
The stock coolers on the 9800gtx is very good and quiet. (one area nvidia tend to beat ati every time seems to be in better stock coolers)