[six trees]

I think my choice will be one of these cards

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814241050

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161211

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814241063

So it's between the HD3850, x1950 Pro, x1950xtx.
They all cost about the same.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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I also would recommend the HD3850

[Troy]

I also would recommend the HD3850

[SOORENA]

I have the 1950 XTX and I love it, but I would go with the HD3850 for the DX10 support.

Soorena

[james_8970]

Just to convince you which card it the best of your options.
The HD3850 has DX10.1 support
The good thing about this card is that it has UVD support. Basically the HD decoding process (when you watch HD movies) is very taxing on your hardware and in most cases the workload is placed soley onto the CPU. With UVD, this workload is placed primarily onto your GPU, which is much more powerful then your CPU at performing these tasks, though your CPU does still get part of the work load. Though it works at <30% compared to 100%. Without UVD support, the video usually will become choppy and therefor ruin the enjoyable movie.
-Next the power requirements are much lower.
-Because it consumes less power, it generates less heat, therefor the fan operates at a slower speed and therefor it is quieter then other cards.
James

[six trees]

OK, you all have convinced me, I will get either a HD 3850 or HD 3870. There is only a $40 difference.
Now, my question is should I wait until HIS releases one with a ICEQ cooler?
This review says it will be released later this month, on Page 8.

http://www.guru3d.co...ideocards/472/1

I have noticed that the 3870 has sold out, but the 3850 is availiable.
Thanks for all the input.

[james_8970]

I'd go with HIS, as my experience has only been positive. The only real ATI brand to avoid is Sapphire, I have very rude support from them as of late.
Not to mention if you RMA a card they give you one back thats worse, unacceptable.
O lets not forget that they banned people for bringing it up.
James

[Troy]

This is an interesting comment, James. My previous graphics card was manufactured by Sapphire and I was very happy with the quality of the card. However, I never did have to contact their support, (I only dealt with the local shop and they took care of all my needs ) so that may be a not-so-good point about the manufacturer.

It's very important when looking to purchase a product, to research as much information as you can about the product and the company itself. If Sapphire have been giving poor support, it may well pay to look elsewhere.

[james_8970]

What I saw here was unacceptable by all standards.
http://www.sapphiret...ad.php?p=101076
If you pay for a card you should get a card the performs the equivalent or better, not the "next model up". What happened here, theoretically means that if you bought a x1950xt and it was defective, they might replace your card with a HD2400, just because it's newer. If that happened to anyone I'd hope Sapphire would fail as a company, this company did not back up their product and buy doing so wll never get a suggestion by me nor will they ever get a penny from me. Also, many people were banned from backing up the OP and their posts removed.

This same guy (Gr33nGecko) also said johnny guru is an idiot when in comes to PSU's, but thats another story all together.....

If you plan on purchasing the HD3850 let me know, also I need you motherboards model number. There seems to be a imcompatibility with some older PCIe versions. I plan on contacting the manufactures this week to find some information.

James

Edited by james_8970, 19 November 2007 - 09:27 AM.

[six trees]

Yes, customer service is a very large part of the decision making process. That is why I will use newegg, not tigerdirect.
Reading reviews of both stores was eye opening. I will not buy sapphire. Because I have read their cooling fans are either, very loud or don't cool very well. Poor customer service is the icing on the cake.

James, ATI's upgrade advisor, lists both the HD3850 & HD3870 as compatiable cards. I won't know my motherboard's # until my PSU arrives and I open my case up.

Thanks everyone

[Titan8990]

Most of the time Everest will tell your MOBOs model #.

Download and install Everest Home Edition

Run the programme, click + next to computer then summary

Motherboard Name should be listed under this tab.

[six trees]

Thanks, Titan.
This is what it shows.

Motherboard ID 05/06/2005-RS480-SB400-6A666M4HC-00

[james_8970]

Yes, customer service is a very large part of the decision making process. That is why I will use newegg, not tigerdirect.
Reading reviews of both stores was eye opening. I will not buy sapphire. Because I have read their cooling fans are either, very loud or don't cool very well. Poor customer service is the icing on the cake.

James, ATI's upgrade advisor, lists both the HD3850 & HD3870 as compatiable cards. I won't know my motherboard's # until my PSU arrives and I open my case up.

Thanks everyone

Can you tell me were you got this? I'm not second guessing you or anything, I'm just trying to investigate whats going on between PCIe 1.x and PCIe 2.0.
James

[six trees]

Here it is.

http://www.amdcompar...isorFilter.aspx

And after I input my info.

http://www.amdcompar...sorResults.aspx

What have you heard about the compatiability issue?

[james_8970]

Some motherboards with PCIe 1.0a slots don't work with PCIe 2.0 cards, it seems to be hit and miss. If you have PCIe 1.1, you seem to be good to go and fully backwards compatible. Someone brought this issue up on these froums to be 2 days ago and I'm looking into it with my spare time, the thing that annoys me is that at the beginning PCIe 2.0 was said to be fully backwards compatible with PCIe 1.x, regardless of the versions. I know that PCIe 1.x will become a bottleneck in the near future, but everything should be backwards compatible.
Then again, that just makes to much sense
Thanx for the link.
James

Edited by james_8970, 19 November 2007 - 05:58 PM.

[six trees]

It looks like this is my motherboard.

MICRO-STAR MS-7145

ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (RS480) Chipset

Motherboard ID 05/06/2005-RS480-SB400-6A666M4HC-00

According to AMD's site it says this is compliant with the PCIe 1.0a specifications.
So, I am concerned. I will try to find out more about this before I buy anything.

Thanks, James