ATI Radeon HD 3870 & 3850: A Return to Competition
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on November 15, 2007 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Let's Get It Out of the Way: Radeon HD 3870 vs. GeForce 8800 GT
The question on everyone's mind is how well does the 3870 stack up to the recently launched GeForce 8800 GT? If you haven't been noticing our hints throughout the review, AMD doesn't win this one, but since the 3870 is supposed to be cheaper a performance disadvantage is fine so long as it is justified by the price.
Does the 3870 deliver competitive performance given its price point? Let's find out.
Honestly, the Radeon HD 3870 stays very close to the 8800 GT, much closer than AMD's previous attempts to touch the 8800 series. But is the price low enough to justify the performance difference? For that we must do a little numerical analysis; the table below shows you what percentage of the 8800 GT's performance the Radeon HD 3870 delivers:
| 3870: % of GeForce 8800 GT Performance | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 | 1920 x 1200 | 2560 x 1600 |
| Bioshock | 84.4% | 82.4% | 87.9% | 93.9% |
| Unreal Tournament 3 | 87.8% | 85.8% | 89.6% | 91.6% |
| ET: Quake Wars | 80.5% | 95.9% | 96.8% | 103% |
| Oblivion | 66.7% | 74.1% | 74.4% | 71.5% |
| Oblivion (4X AA) | 70.5% | 77.7% | 80.2% | 82.6% |
| Half Life 2: Episode 2 | 101% | 95% | 91% | 86.7% |
| World in Conflict | 81.5% | 85.7% | 84.9% | 89.2% |
| Call of Duty 4 | 103% | 98.3% | 92.3% | 82.1% |
| Crysis | 72.4% | 73.3% | 75.5% | - |
| Average | 83.1% | 85.3% | 85.8% | 87.6% |
Here's what's really interesting, on average the Radeon HD 3870 offers around 85% of the performance of the 8800 GT, and if we assume that you can purchase an 8800 GT 512MB at $250, the 3870 manages to do so at 87% of the price of the 8800 GT. The Radeon HD 3870 becomes even more attractive the more expensive the 8800 GT is and the opposite is true the cheaper it gets; if the 8800 GT 512MB was available at $219, then the 3870 doesn't stand a chance.
If AMD can actually meet its price expectations then it looks like the 3870 is actually competitive. It's slower than the 8800 GT, but the price compensates.
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
I was talking about http://anandtech.shopping.com">http://anandtech.shopping.com, currently working on getting a solution to the RTPE issues :)Take care,
Anand
dm0r - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Loved the review and also the 3850....this is the real midrange card ill buy...excellent power consumption.Just only 1 thing missing is the temperature of the gpu's, but anyway excellent review
Thanks
yacoub - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Why are you recommending people wait for the 256MB of the GT? That model has no bearing on anything for people playing Crysis, CoD4, World in Conflict, etc. All the testing done on the 512MB GT shows that 512MB is really the new minimum for vRAM for gamers running a 19" or larger display and the 256MB model is well and truly irrelevant to their purchase options.Instead, the reason they should wait a couple weeks is just to see how the 512MB's availability and pricing changes.
yacoub - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
I really really like the new style to the charts and graphs. Everything is very easy to read and understand! Much improved over some older review designs! =)Also, lol @ how pathetic the 8600GT performs! :D
Iger - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Actually, in terms of power consumption I would call this round a win for AMD. My home PC is on 24/7, but I really get to play on it for maybe a couple of hours a day at best (actually, probably, much less). AMD leads idle consumption by 40w, while losing the load power by 5. I think for pretty much every one 3870 will turn out cheaper than 8800GT. And I think it's important enough to be mentioned in article (no offence - just trying to be helpful).About prices - currently on overclocker.co.uk 8800GT 512 is preorderable for 350$, 8800GT 256 - for 290$, 3870 - for 320$ and 3850 - for 235$ (and AMD cards actually are listed in stock(!!) - impressive).
With such disposition I would be close to buying a 3850 atm, btw... But, anyway, europe's prices are terrible :(
Thanks very much for the article - it'll serve to satisfy at least some hunger before Phenom's ;)
Ilya.
Leadthorns - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Some review sights suggest that the IQ is marginally better on the 3870. Would be interested to know your take on thislux4424 - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
In 2006 there were number of articles and presentations about benefits of new WDDM (Windows Vista Driver Model). These also mentioned WDDM 2.1, coming with DX10.1, and the benefits it should bring. Couple of examples:Since then it's absolute silence on the matter. It would be really great if Anandtech would cover the promises made WRT WDDM 2.1 (DX10.1) or even WDDM 2.0 (DX10) after SP1 for Vista is released.
Regards
GTMan - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Sentence with no ending..."Hopefully with DX11 Microsoft will be a little more used to the"
Thanks for the article, interesting reading.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
eep, thanks :)Take care,
Anand
NullSubroutine - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
I am extremely disappointed in the review of the product.1) Only Vista was used, though XP has a lot larger user base.
2) Limited variety of games.
3) Limited variation of AF/AA
4) No UVD tests.
All could be forgiven if the title would have included First Look: DX10. I understand there is a limited time to do tests and it seems you had trouble getting your samples so this could lead to the problem. I usually look to anand for the most complete review of products (rather than having to look at many different incomplete ones sites use), but I believe this review to be incomplete and not what I expect from Anandtech.
I await follow up reviews to reinstate my faith in this site. (and yes I am sure I will modded down as I will probably been seen as a 'hater' rather than trying to give constructive critism.