Is it worth getting a 8800GT?

[slypie]

I'm going to be updating my PC with a Q6600 and all the works but am thinking is it worth buying a 8800GT over the 3870. What slightly puts me off is the fact that the 8800GT isn't DX10.1 compatible whereas the 3870 is. Also is it just the drivers that are holding the 3870 back compared to the 8800GT as on paper the 3870 is better in most respects.

[Fraz]

I wouldn't worry too much about DX 10.1...

[Noxvayl]

You might want to wait for the Sapphire Atom HD3870 as that will be a great card. Its got some new heatsink that only uses up one slot but is super efficient and will be pre over clocked so will perform probably the same(if not better) as the 8800GT for a similar price. The bonus with the ATI card is that crossfire is better and can support 4 cards so will be better for upgradeability in the future. It also allows slower cards to be paired with the faster ones so the 3850 and 3870 can go together to provide increased performance.

But the 8800GT is worth the price over the normal HD3870 as it out performs it consistently above the price gap.

EDIT: oh and DX10.1 is nothing to get excited about I'm sure the nvidia cards support it... its just like DX9a/b/c nothing major has changed.

[MSIC]

Agree with the above, the 8800GT gives more frames per second at a given resolution than the Radeon 3870. However the 3870 uses less power, and so produces less heat also, so it depends on how important frame rates are to you.

[slypie]

The thing is that comparing the 8800Gt and 3870 pretty much the 3870 comes out on top so I'm wondering how much is down to drivers and if ATI improve the drivers how much will it close the gap and possibly overtake the 8800GT.

I also thought that DX10.1 was hardware related and not a software improvement?

I did also see about the Sapphire Atom HD3870 and might wait for the benchmarks on that. Does anyone know when it's coming out?

[MSIC]

DirectX 10.1 is an updated version of DX10. AMD have implemented it in the new Radeons, and nVidia will surely follow. But no games have been made for it yet to use these functions, and i'd personally rate it very, very low in a checklist. So it requires both hardware and software to know one to tell the other to do.
Also which games / benchmarks have you seen where the 3870 beats the 8800GT ?? I've seen the odd one or two in specific games, but overall it doesnt appear to be quicker.

[slypie]

Also which games / benchmarks have you seen where the 3870 beats the 8800GT ?? I've seen the odd one or two in specific games, but overall it doesnt appear to be quicker.

I have looked at the benchmarks and the 8800GT is faster in 95% of benchmarks what I was talking about is that the hardware looks on paper to be better and faster on the 3870 then the 8800GT's and was wondering if drivers for the 3870 were holding it back.

[Oldjim]

Looking at the Overclockers Club reviews Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 Review - Overclockers Club Palit GeForce 8800 GT Review - Overclockers Club
I am totally confused about the comparison when using the Phenom processor compared to the Intel processor. Also the results appear totally different to other reviews
Edit - just saw this in the review

The Palit GeForce 8800GT will be tested on two systems for this review, in the benchmarks you will see the 8800GT listed twice first for the AMD System and next on an Intel System. What many of you may have heard is true... there is a processor bottleneck in some games when using an nVidia card on a Phenom system utilizing the Spider Platform.

This explains the odd results

[TooNice]

Can't tell for sure - but it was noted in one of Anandtech's driver analysis article, that only the earlier drivers tend enhance performance in a significant manner, after that, they tend to focus on fixes (which sometime leads to image quality improvements but less so in performance). As I recall, Catalyst 5.11, which improved the X1800XT's OpenGL performance very significantly was released roughly at the same time as the card was released.

Personally, I don't pay attention to paper specs between two different architectures. I may note how the 8800GT differs with the GTS, GTX etc., and the 3870 with the 3850 - but between AMD and nVidia, I just look at direct measurable comparisons. Maybe it's a driver issue, but maybe it's an architectural issue - the one thing I would not suggest doing though, is to buy a card on the basis that it will become better with future drivers (or games, for that matter). Wait a month or two if you can/must to make sure, but unless the magic driver actually exist and you can obtain it, I'd stick with whatever is provide the best performance/bang for buck right now.

Edit: Yea, I saw that Overclockers Club review - it seems more favourable to the AMD than the review from Elite Bastards (which praise the Sapphire's innovation, but with benchmarks still favouring nVidia overall). Edit2: Wow, CPU bottleneck on a Phenom

[Wiczy]

Edit2: Wow, CPU bottleneck on a Phenom

Yes, late, flawed and slow too

[slypie]

Can't tell for sure - but it was noted in one of Anandtech's driver analysis article, that only the earlier drivers tend enhance performance in a significant manner, after that, they tend to focus on fixes (which sometime leads to image quality improvements but less so in performance). As I recall, Catalyst 5.11, which improved the X1800XT's OpenGL performance very significantly was released roughly at the same time as the card was released.

Personally, I don't pay attention to paper specs between two different architectures. I may note how the 8800GT differs with the GTS, GTX etc., and the 3870 with the 3850 - but between AMD and nVidia, I just look at direct measurable comparisons. Maybe it's a driver issue, but maybe it's an architectural issue - the one thing I would not suggest doing though, is to buy a card on the basis that it will become better with future drivers (or games, for that matter). Wait a month or two if you can/must to make sure, but unless the magic driver actually exist and you can obtain it, I'd stick with whatever is provide the best performance/bang for buck right now.

Edit: Yea, I saw that Overclockers Club review - it seems more favourable to the AMD than the review from Elite Bastards (which praise the Sapphire's innovation, but with benchmarks still favouring nVidia overall). Edit2: Wow, CPU bottleneck on a Phenom

Looking at the benchmarks I'm totally lost as it looks like the 3870 atomic kicks the 8800GT into touch. Then I look at the other link (Palite 8800GT review) and it's the opposite .

[TooNice]

Here's my humble opinion (might sound biased, but note that I am running an ATi card now): The Atomic does beat the GT in the OcC review in many places, but most of those instances are scenarios I find unacceptable anyway (e.g. 16fps vs 20 fps). The Atomic may be overclocked, but so are some GTs. So for me, so may main interest in the Atomic resides in it's cooler and cost. If the Atomic is competitive with cheaper GTs, then I might give it a second thought, though it would be nice to see a noise comparison of the Palit cooler vs the Sapphire cooler. If it is priced similar to oc GTs, then it's not as attractive in my opinion. If it's in between, perhaps look at the games each card excels in and pick accordingly.

[slypie]

Yeah it's a difficult choice but from what I've heard the Atomic 3870 is going to be priced similar to a 8800GT 512MB card so might opt for a 8800GT based on what people are saying.

[Noxvayl]

How much are you looking to spend btw? Cause if you spend about £220 you can get the 512Mb 8800GTS which is the fastest GFX out right now for resolutions below 1900x1200. It has more Shaders and a higher frequency than the 8800GT and beats the 8800GTX/Ultra at lower resolutions in every game benchmarked. It is pretty even footed when the resolution gets to 1900x1200 and then after that the GTX/Ultra comes out on top with the extra memory a wider interface.



Tech ARP - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB Review Rev. 2.0



As you can see its worth the extra money

This is the one I recently got>

[Noxvayl]

Useless bloody post won't show my links... WTF!

[Oldjim]

The annoying part is that the only game where it really matters is Crysis - even then it only gets the rates up to playable (just)