Slappa

Definately the 8800GT at that price. It beats the 3870 and the rest of those cards. It overclocks to almost match the eprformance of the 8800GTX.

microman

well IMO if its going in your sig rig i would just grag a 512 2900pro because there is no sense in putting something any of the other cards you mentioned in that rig.

__________________

mazdabish

Actually, its going into a new rig

The key word is might, I might be able to get the 8800GT for $130, but there are also a few things I wanna buy.

My new rig consists of

Gigabyte P35C-DS3R Mobo
OCZ Gold 2GB of DDR2-800 Ram
Samsung 20x DVDRW Drive
Q6600 G0 Stepping
Tuniq Tower 120
Seasonic S12 550W
Hitachi Ultrastar 500GB 7200RPM 32mb Cache
Coolermaster RC-690

I've already priced it out to at least $750, and my budget is $1050 at the absolute maximum leaving me with roughly $300 for a GPU.

dankoni

Well if futureproofing is your goal, you should wait a few months for the 9x series cards.

__________________

mazdabish

I'm going to build a new rig in two weeks, and I'm not sure what exactly to get for a video card.

Either

1. BFG 8800GT OC, I might be able to get it for $130 from Best Buy after some gift cards

2. ATi HD3870

3. ATi 2900 Pro 1GB GDDR4, would it be as good as the 3870? I've looked at many comparisons with the 3870 and the 2900XT (I'm planning to flash it to the XT Bios) and the 2900XT is slightly worse (By 5-10%). But, to be fair they were comparing the 512mb GDDR3 version of the 2900XT with the 3870. Would another 512mb of ram and the addition of GDDR4 make it better than the 3870?

4. ATi 2900 Pro 512bit 512mb GDDR3, I'd get this most likely if I was short on my budget.

I don't know what video card to get, and I have a few other questions. I'm trying to get the best for now so this computer lasts me for a while (My Sig Rig lasted me five years, first two years it ran every game on high, next two medium, and now most things on low or barely running). Therefore, I kind of want to "futureproof" it if you will. Would the compatibility of DirectX 10.1 on the 3870 make it a better card?

Also, is there anything special about the 3850 512mb that would make me consider it?

Thanks Guys, I hope this is a good first post. I have been lurking Overclock.net for the last month and just now decided to register.

mazdabish

I also forgot to add, what would be better, an overclocked 8800GT, 3870, or 2900XT? I plan to do air cooling and i'm most likely gonna stay with the stock heatsink unless I can find a cheap aftermarket one.

microman

well IMO if its going in your sig rig i would just grag a 512 2900pro because there is no sense in putting something any of the other cards you mentioned in that rig.

__________________

cerealk1ll3r

OR you could just get a 3870. I bought mine for 211 on NCIXUS. It runs cool, at least for me. Wait, is 40C idle cool? Anyways, yeah the 8800GT is better, but apparently the 3870 has better quality? Your pick.

__________________

mazdabish

Well, to an extent. If I would wait, I would wait until 2009 when Intel's Nehalem platform comes out and with it a new socket. The new penryns aren't going to be worth it in my opinion (SSE4, 10% More Efficiency, and 45nm for better overclocks), not to mention I'd like to get it now. The Geforce 9000 Series is not going to be the best either, when it comes out the 8800GT and 8800GTS G92 will still dominate. IIRC The first cards in that series will be low end stuff. Who knows what could happen in the next few months, maybe even ATi will lower the price on the 3870 to the original $210 price point and the new 3870X2 will compete with the G92 8800GTS (From what I see the GTX is most likely gonna be phased out soon, now that the 8800GT was nipping at its heels and the GTS gives the same or better performance).

dankoni

Well of course you could wait for Nehalem, but that is a bit extreme. You can always wait for the next technology, but by the time Nehalem comes out, there will be something else on the horizon to wait for (Sandy Bridge?).

__________________