Should I get a HD3850

[motorpotor]

So its time to update/reformat my computer and to do that I need a new hard drive, but I figured while Im doing that I should upgrade my video card. I currently have a ATi X1950 256 running its ok but gets bogged down alot.
My system is:
MSI P965 Neo
Core 2 Duo e6600
3 gigs of ram

I was thinking of upgrading to a HD3850 256, saw a pretty good deal on them at BestBuy.com for the Visiontek branded. I want to know if this is a good card and how the performance is.

[ghost_recon88]

It will be significantly faster than your X1950, heres a 512MB on sale @ newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103051

[motorpotor]

would it run Crysis a little better? I tried to do higher settings and the system got bogged down

[Albuquerque]

I have some single-card 3870 Crysis numbers elsewhere in this forum if you look, in both DX9 and DX10, and in both patched and unpatched versions of Crysis. It's like 10 posts down from yours in the ATI section...

A 3850 256mb would probably be about 15% slower than my 3870 card, so long as you don't run out of video memory. Of course, overclocking would certainly help at least part of that performance detriment.

Cliff notes: a single 3850 would probably be quite playable in Crysis in DX9 mode, as a single 3870 certainly is. Crossfire makes it lots better :D

[motorpotor]

heres another question then tho id need a new mobo to do it. Could I crossfire a 3850 and a x1950 together or do they have to be of the same gen and model?

[Albuquerque]

They won't crossfire together if that's what you're asking; it needs to be at least a 2900 in order to crossfire with the 38x0 series.

[dem0lish3r]

I may be mistaken, but doesn't your board run crossfire with the second pci-e slot running at 1x.

That will hinder your crossfire performance anyway. But from what i have seen, 2 3850 256mb cards are a really setup and performs really well. and won't cost too much either.

[kyussinchains]

I read on another forum that a guy managed to get his 3850 card to 840MHz GPU and 999MHz mem, on air, with a volt mod, so they can be pushed to 3870 stock levels or more. I'm in love with mine, so I'd say yeah go ahead and get one!

[ghost_recon88]

I read on another forum that a guy managed to get his 3850 card to 840MHz GPU and 999MHz mem, on air, with a volt mod, so they can be pushed to 3870 stock levels or more. I'm in love with mine, so I'd say yeah go ahead and get one!

Plus using an modified unlocked BIOS that doesn't have the GPU clock limit. :santa: Someone had their 512MB model up to 770/2200, and that was a GDDR3 model on stock cooling :eek:

[chrome-187]

where can i get these bio's and volt mods? i love my 3850...im thinking of getting the 512mb 3850...oh btw...yes get a 512mb 3850 =)...if you want to save pci slots get a single slot 3850...

[Albuquerque]

I haven't overclocked my 3870's yet, they're doing 800/2400 right out of the box so I'm not too worried about performance. Perhaps I'll give 'er a go this coming weekend when I have more time to play...

[T1GG4L4T0R]

I think it might have been me with the 840mhz core :santa:

http://img.techpowerup.org/080118/IMG_3170.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/080118/Untitled2.jpg

basically,the block with the trimmer on,plugs into the block on the card.there are two measure points on the trimmer block for measuring vgpu.I can disable it by just pulling off the trimmer block

That is my vmod,and here is my gpu-z validation at 840mhz.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/dee3a/

Heres my 3dmark 06 score.

http://img.techpowerup.org/080117/840.jpg

[sMaCk III]

so is it safe to pump up the gpu clock and memory clock to 720/880 straight outta the box?

[Albuquerque]

so is it safe to pump up the gpu clock and memory clock to 720/880 straight outta the box?

It's safe in terms of damaging the hardware; however it's not safe in terms of stability. Not all cards overclock the same; yours is just as different as anyone else's is.

Just like any overclocking endeavor, testing and patience is required. You don't start riding a bicycle by enrolling in a 100-mile ride; you start with very small steps in the driveway with your feet down and your parents holding you ;)

Overclock in bite-size increments, test at each incremental change. Once you think you've found a stable speed, test it thoroughly, and I don't mean a single run of 3DMark06 or ten minutes of Crysis. :D

[ghost_recon88]

and I don't mean a single run of 3DMark06 or ten minutes of Crysis. :D

What about 4 hours of Crysis? That way you get to play and test your card for stability at the same time :D :beer:

[sMaCk III]

my score was 8850 with everything at stock so is that a decent score?

now i have to start tweaking everything a lil bit to get some more performance...

[ghost_recon88]

With my CPU @ 4.32GHz and my 3850 @ 750/2000, I scored 11.5k in 3DMark06 @ default settings.

[sMaCk III]

how did u get ur memory speed up so high when i go to ati overdrive it only allows till like 880... im a newb if u havent noticed lol.. im prolly gonna oc my cpu 2.7 maybe 3ghz but i have no idea of how to over clock the gpu...
any help would be appreciated thanx in advance...

[Sentential]

how did u get ur memory speed up so high when i go to ati overdrive it only allows till like 880... im a newb if u havent noticed lol.. im prolly gonna oc my cpu 2.7 maybe 3ghz but i have no idea of how to over clock the gpu...
any help would be appreciated thanx in advance...

To give you a brief overview of overclocking in general, all hardware especially AIB (add in boards) like a graphics card come in two flavors; reference and non-reference. Reference refers to a bone stock graphics card that has no aftermarket modification to the PCB and uses the "reference" one that is provided to them by ATi.

That being said keep in mind alot of people here have the non-reference GDDR4 512mb versions and not the GDDR3 versions which have a much lower clock speed.

[sMaCk III]

To give you a brief overview of overclocking in general, all hardware especially AIB (add in boards) like a graphics card come in two flavors; reference and non-reference. Reference refers to a bone stock graphics card that has no aftermarket modification to the PCB and uses the "reference" one that is provided to them by ATi.

That being said keep in mind alot of people here have the non-reference GDDR4 512mb versions and not the GDDR3 versions which have a much lower clock speed.

thanks for the explanation of the gpu cards. the only reason i asked ghost was because he use to also have (or still does have ) the radeon hd 3850 512mb card by diamond.

[ghost_recon88]

thanks for the explanation of the gpu cards. the only reason i asked ghost was because he use to also have (or still does have ) the radeon hd 3850 512mb card by diamond.

Yep. The stock BIOS is locked so you can't overclock past a certain speed. In overdrive, it actually shows my RAM as 1000MHz, but since its DDR its really running 2000MHz. In order to be able to reach those clocks, you have to flash your card with the voltage modified BIOS I uploaded in this post here, http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=5442505&postcount=5

[DerekDRP]

Wait and get that New atomic card.