Thread: Needing a solution

Ok let me start of by saying that this is not a thread to say that ATI is better or Nvidia is better.
I do not want links to things like oh here is a better card etc etc.

I have made up my mind about buying either the 3870 or 3850.

What I need a solution to is which one to get.

The issue I am having is not being able to find charts or forums about the 3850 graphic setting benchmarks.

As of now I have the HD2600xt and when I am in TF2 I max out the settings at 8x and 16x.
The game runs fine with no problem BUT the actual image quality is lacking. For example the lines are smooth but there is room for improvement when looking at the HD2900.

Now I have seen FPS benchmarks between the 3870 and 3850 and the thing about the new ATI cards is that there is like 5-10 FPS difference. I have seen charts with the 8xAA and 16xAF turned on and they still get great frames.

There are however no side by side comparision pics to tell the level of detail difference between the 3850 and 3870.

That is what I need to know because on paper the numbers of the two are not that far apart but the image quality is unknown to me.

So I ask the mods of this hardware forum to help a bro out.

What resolution do you play at? And are you planning to get a bigger monitor in the near future?
if its 1280x1024 and will stay at that resolution for awhile the 3850 should be more than enough card for you, but if you can swing the price of the 3870 youll have more power to get you into the future

The image quality is going to be the same between the two cards at the same resolution and quality settings. In fact the image quality will be just about the same as your 2600 at the same settings and resolution - its just how fast they can run those settings that is going to be the difference.

As of now I have the HD2600xt and when I am in TF2 I max out the settings at 8x and 16x.
The game runs fine with no problem BUT the actual image quality is lacking. For example the lines are smooth but there is room for improvement when looking at the HD2900.

again the image quality should be exactly the same between the 2600 and the 2900 with all the settings the same. you might be able to bump up to 16x aa, but that isnt going to make a huge difference.
And from what I have seen the image quality does not improve in any real noticable way jumping to the 38xx - they are pretty much the same hardware technology, just an improved version of it.

I would recommend hanging onto the 2600 until the next run of cards comes out in the summer, if you feel you have to upgrade then either of the 38xx would be a fine choice, but I caution you that your not going to get much of a change in image quality, maybe a slight one, and more frames.

Thanks Mcstrange.

See bitch, I love me some ATI cards, and both the 38xx are smoking fast for the cash...

Jsut dont want you to plunk one in your system and be disapointed when you only see minor improvements to the image quality.
If your games are Source Based, and you can run them with all settings maxed + 8xAA and 16xAF then your looking at pretty much all the engine has to offer graphics wise no matter what card you throw in the mix.

settings are settings...the only difference between the two cards shoudl be in terms of framerate. Even between nvidia and ATI cards....compare image to image....and you'd have to be in the field to know which card made what (anandtech and hardocp do a lot of image comparisons between the two, especially when SM2, 3, and 4 were being released. Also with ATI's temporal antialiasing (which you can't exaclty screenshot)......

if one computer has max settings and another computer has max settings (meaning 1600x1200, 8XAA, 8XAF, HDR, etc).....then both images should be equivalent. Only difference will be the framerate.

The 3870 came home with me.

Theres a L4D1 DLC coming this late summer/fall.
A campaign showing the other side of "the passing" from L4D1's point of view.

hope this helps, hope your active.

Hopefully more L4D1 DLC will come out and a Mutation mode added to number one too.

DEATH TO L4D2!!!!!

Not really, but not even close to being as good.