3870 and 8800gt prices

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PretzelB
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3870 and 8800gt prices

Post by PretzelB » Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:03 pm

What am I missing? I'm close to placing an order for my game rig and when looking at video card I'm not sure why the HD 3870 is similar in price to some 8800gt cards. From what I thought I read here the 3870 is a nice card but lags the 8800gt in performance. So why would I pay the same for a card that performs worse? I can see a Diamond 3870 at NewEgg for $239 and there's an EVGA 8800gt for $239, both with 512mb memory. I don't get it.

Vicotnik
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Post by Vicotnik » Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:17 pm

Raw performance is not everything. Imho HD3870 is better than a 8800GT mainly because of the lower power consumption. Also was there not reports about some shady driver tweaks on nVidias part? Something about sacrificing image quality for performance. Not that ATi have been an angel when it comes to that sort of things in the past..

Anyway, here in Sweden the prices are reversed it seems. Right now the prices are ~2k SEK for a 8800GT 512MB and ~1.7k SEK for a HD3870 512MB.

justlnluck
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Post by justlnluck » Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:53 am

I was going to get an HIS ICEQ3 3870. But because they are impossible to find for a decent price, I opted for the ECS 8800GT with Accelero S1 Rev2. The Direct X 10.1 on the ATI card was enticing though.

Jeff Cutsinger
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Post by Jeff Cutsinger » Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:55 am

I'm getting an ATI because they released hardware specs so open source drivers can be written for them.

PretzelB
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Post by PretzelB » Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:56 am

I might agree that raw performance isn't everything if the power consumption is dramatically different. The same would go for a cpu - you would only be tempted to get a slower cpu for the same price if the power or heat were significantly lower to justify the loss in performance. But I guess I never read a review saying the power consumption was significantly lower. In fact, I read a few reviews at NewEgg and found a few people complaining about the heat of the 3870 they bought - but you can't trust those reviews much.

I dunno, if I'm looking to buy a card for gaming I just can't shake the idea that performance scores ARE the most important factor when comparing liked priced cards. Maybe if all the 8800gt cards were dual slots with two fans instead of one I could see the value but when both the 8800gt and the hd 3750 appear to be the same size with the same loud stock fans I feel like it's all back to performance numbers.

I suppose I'm looking for an excuse to go with the hd 3870 but they're making it impossible for me.

KenAF
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Post by KenAF » Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:13 am

Power consumption @ Anandtech.com

Image

Power consumption under load is virtually identical. Click the link above to see.

If you run your PC 24/7, that extra 16W at idle would be a consideration. But if you only run your PC when you use it, there won't be much difference with your energy bill.

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:54 am

KenAF wrote:Power consumption under load is virtually identical. Click the link above to see.
To clarify, Ken means that the two cards have equivalent power consumptions (at least using Bioshock) under load, not that the rankings or power consumption of the cards listed stays the same.
Last edited by jhhoffma on Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

LaaG
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Post by LaaG » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:59 am

If they are both the same price, get the 8800GT. The HD3870 cant touch the performance of the 8800GT.

Only reason I got my 3870 was because it came with a better cooler and was cheaper.

power consumption on load are the same anyways.

At the end of the day, you're building a gaming rig, the 8800GT is better for games, Sorted, get the 8800gt.

seraphyn
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Post by seraphyn » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:05 am

LaaG wrote:At the end of the day, you're building a gaming rig, the 8800GT is better for games, Sorted, get the 8800gt.
What he said. For a gaming rig go 8800GT.

justlnluck
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Post by justlnluck » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:37 pm

Trust me, you won't notice a 16W difference even if you left your computer on 24/7. I switched all the lights in the house from 100W incandescents to 22W fluorescents and it barely made a dent in the bill.

From the reviews I've read, the majority of 3850s and 3870s are still annoyingly loud...combined with the fact that I couldn't buy a decent one for less than a 8800GT...or I would have to wait more than a month for them to get more in stock...so I called it a day and went with the passive ECS 8800GT.

PretzelB
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Post by PretzelB » Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:16 pm

Well, I waited too long. The two 8800GT cards I had my eye on both went out of stock while I dragged my feet. Oh well.

pingu666
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Post by pingu666 » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:09 pm

my 3870 stock fan wasnt too bad tbh, think it varies on the make, and possibly the bios on the card too.

i got the 3870 for two main reasons, 1 price (it was cheaper than a 8800gt by a reasonable for me, at the time) 2, p35 mobo was also cheap so in future i can crossfire :). normaly a 3870 edges the 8800gt for bang for buck, but theres huge sample varience with the 100 manufactures about now.

on the plus side, u cant go wrong either way :)

CA_Steve
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Post by CA_Steve » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:37 pm

justlnluck wrote:Trust me, you won't notice a 16W difference even if you left your computer on 24/7.
at $0.12/kW-hr, that's about $16/year. :D

moogaloo
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Post by moogaloo » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:08 am

On the power consumption thing every little counts and buying products whch have low power consumption sends a message to the manufacturers that you want performance and effeciency. Alot of these 'green' products make very little difference but if you think they are going in the right direction then vote with your wallet.

fwki
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Post by fwki » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:08 am

Microcenter has the EVGA stock-clocked 8800GT for $220 and the Super clocked for $230:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0279319

Also, Newegg has a two-day sale with OC'd Zotac 8800GT for $230 and the EVGA Superclocked for $250.

CA_Steve
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Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:07 am

this is my favorite line from the MicroCenter product page:
"Usually ships in 7-21 business days."

That's the equivalent of saying - "we don't have it"

PretzelB
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Post by PretzelB » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:02 am

CA_Steve wrote:this is my favorite line from the MicroCenter product page:
"Usually ships in 7-21 business days."

That's the equivalent of saying - "we don't have it"
It's even funnier when they give you the option for in store pickup yet keep that line about 7-21 days. I think you're right though, probably means out of stock. I was close to getting one too. I'm not sure I trust MicroCenter so much.

fwki
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Post by fwki » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:36 am

I got burned once by Microcenter for an in-store pickup, since then I've called ahead after ordering and they'll tell you if it's stocked at the location. It's a pain, but they will cancel the order over the phone if not in stock there. I ordered the EVGA SC for $250 from Newegg with free shipping & no tax. The SC version was right at the Microcenter price after local tax. I'll probably underclock it back to stock until I can find an Accelero S1 rev2 in stock somewhere.

pingu666
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Post by pingu666 » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:37 am

my rule of thumb is to never buy something thats down to a handful of units or "due soon", specialy if its time important :\.

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