HD 3800: AMD’s Midrange Rebuttal – benchmarks
It seems AMD is doing a good job. A 256 MB Radeon HD 3850 will retail for $179 and the 512 MB Radeon HD 3870 will sell for $219. Check out the benchmark results, they are pretty impressive. Now all those short of the “green” have something to look forward to.
Price per performance: what it really means
It was almost two weeks ago that Nvidia launched its G92 based GeForce 8800GT graphics boards into the midrange segment. On the same day Nvidia launched its product to market, we unveiled what Rick Bergman, Vice President of the Graphics Product Group at AMD shared with Tom’s Hardware about the HD 3800 series hardware. The performance of the GeForce 8800GT speaks for itself. It is almost as powerful as its bigger brothers yet offers a current selling price of $280-320 depending on the clock frequencies and features. Now we get to see AMD’s response on the high end.
Benchmark results here
The upcoming R680 in CrossFire mode. Each card has 2 graphics processing units.
Nvidia has owned the performance space for over a year with single and multi-GPU but this has always come at a premium. Based on forum posts, article comments and the emails we have received, there are some who think that the GeForce 8800GT is a bit expensive. Regardless of your view of “expensive and cheap” the GT opened up high performance gaming to a cost conscience consumer. This is exactly where AMD has targeted its newest graphics product code named RV670. It was reported on TG Daily that AMD would introduce the 3800 series for $180-220 depending on models. This is exactly on target as we were briefed that the 256 MB Radeon HD 3850 will retail for $179 and the 512 MB Radeon HD 3870 will sell for $219.
While marketing will spin off some metric like price per performance, what does that really mean? In essence, true midrange cards give gamers a “graphics card I can afford” yet at a “price I can actually afford.” This is a very attractive price point. As our preliminary benchmarks will show, it will allow even more gamers to experience high performance graphics within even tighter budgetary constraints.
AMD has not only reduced the GPU size by using a 55 nm process, but has updated its hardware to comply with Microsoft’s DirectX 10.1 specification. A 55 nm process means a lot for several reasons. RV670 requires half the silicon per wafer to produce than Nvidia’s 8800GT. This should translate directly into lower pricing, higher units per wafer (higher volume) and ultimately mean higher margins per wafer.
Continue reading entire article at TGD
Comments(33)
Ain’t that special! I need to get stuff like that!
@2 lol one nanosecond too late
When the 8800GT can play Crysis at 1600×1200 while the 3870 can only play it at 1280×1024… suddenly this price/FPS thing doesn’t sound so great. The 3870 is supposed to compete directly with the 8800GT, but it’s not even in the same class! The only advantages the 3870 has over the 8800GT is better availability and cheaper price.
The 3850, on the other hand, does a great job of beating the 8600GTS; the 3850 is ATI’s first solid win since… I dunno, 2005? I would actually recommend this card at its $180 pricepoint.
What is really killing ATi now though is warranty and support. You can get nVidia cards with lifetime warranties (eVGA and BFG), double-lifetime warranties (XFX) and step-up programs (eVGA that I know of). Do you get any of this with ATi cards? No… ATi partners have reduced their warranties to as little as 1 year. Have a little faith in your product, please?
But as a nvidia FAN / user, I just ordert my new CARD !
XFX GeForce 8800GT “XXX” 670M, 512MB DDR3, PCI-Express
Highest core speed so far out there: 670 MHz
Love that thing ! can´t wait to check it out !
Where?
No GT’s to be found.
no problem running crysis on my Nvidia’8800 gts 320 meg card.
I went into FutureShop yesterday just to look around and they had an 8800GT OC sitting on the shelf all by itself. Having been unemployed for the past 6 months I knew I couldn’t get it. So I headed over to customer service, applied for a FutureShop credit card, got approved on the spot and bought it with 90 days no interest! I couldn’t believe FS of all places actually had one.
@8
now ebay it and you’ll make a buck or two.
Well why not wait for the 9800GTX. 2x as fast as the 8800GTX Ultra. A bit $$ but NVIDIA still dominates the graphics market for single and SLI GPU’s. AMD is for people who want substandard graphics. Sure it’s cheaper but you do get what you pay for I guess.
G92 will be released in November 2007 timeframe in the form of “GeForce 9800″ series.
“G92″ GeForce 9800 GTX specs.
- 65nm process technology at TSMC.
- Over one billion transistors.
- Second Generation Unified Shader Architecture.
- Double precsion support (FP64).
- GPGPU native.
- Over one TeraFLOPS of shader processing power.
- MADD+ADD configuration for the shader untis (2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU)
- Fully Scalar design.
- 512-bit memory interface.
- 1024MB GDDR4 graphics memory.
- DirectX 10.1 support.
- OpenGL 3.0 Support.
- eDRAM die for “FREE 4xAA”.
- built in Audio Chip.
- built in tesselation unit (in the graphics core”
- Improved AA and AF quality levels
Pros.
65nm process will allow for better yields and better power consumption. power consumption will be lower than that of a GeForce 8800 GTX.
GeForce 9800 GTX will be over two times faster than a GeForce 8800 Ultra in real world games and applications.
Release date : November 2007. There will be TWO products at launch: The flagship GeForce 9800 GTX and the second fastest GeForce 9800 GTS.
price for the GeForce 9800 GTX will be 549-649 USD.
price for the GeForce 9800 GTS will be 399-449 USD.
Curious as to the heat of this chip. AMD has always turned me off due to its hell fire at the core. Anyone know how this runs, so I can be lazy and not look at tomshardware or other sites?
Thanks expert with electronics. I primarily use intel in the rigs I build cause of the lower temp rating on the majority (not all). I will check these out. I have been wanting to use one of these chips. I have not touched one since I used an old Athlon xp 1800.
this card is for budget only, the HD cards I mean.
the Geforce 8xxx series can run applications or games with antialiasing trilinear anisinoptric, and such settings. on. while the ati cards cannot. this is what i’ve heard, please do not flame me if i am incorrect
uhh #10, different range of cards (compete with SLI), and that’s rumor mill from last summer unfortunately
gief 9800GTX…
The 3850 beats the living sh*t out of the 8600GTS, there’s no doubt about that. The 3870 is slower than the 8800GT, but the prices speak for themselves. It’s ~$70 cheaper than the 8800GT not to mention that you can’t get the 8800GT from anywhere, it’s out of stock. Also there are some nasty rumours that say nV is not going to have enough cards for Christmas. AMD has stated they will have 400 000+ cards out on the market for X-mas.
AMD is surely not going to stop developing it’s architecture on gfx-cards. R680/R700 is coming, but it’s still a wild goose chase to say what’s in it.
i just finished crysis using an x1900xt. the card did great and it is crap compared to most of these cards.
dont get too caught up in the NEWEST TECH HYPE MARKETING.
both of these companies would like to a** f**k your bank account.
LOL
@14
Um, yes… ATI cards can run AA and anisotropic filtering…
Pretty damned sure of it.
Guess AMD are comming back.
.
I have an 8600GTS. Maybe I should of grabbed an ATI
Next time I probably will because these huge prices are not worth it in Australia where we have some seriously outrageous overpricing.
I have to kind of chuckle at this article and the idiotic “FPS Per Dollar” chart…… LOOL “FPS Per dollar” right good one. What exactly am i gaining FPS in? Was this tested with Diablo 2 or something? “Except 3dmark05 and Crysis”? a rather odd caveat.
AMD and ATI crap is for people that need absolute cheap parts and only cost is a concern. ~$575.00 for a 8800GT + Q6600 + after market cooler; that is a guaranteed 13000 on 3dmark06 right there. Whatever that chart means i can only glean from it that ATI cards have to resort to arcane-made up bullscheisse charts because they cant win any real benchmarking tests.
x3 8800GT 512mb in Tri-SLI + Yorkfield Q9700 + 3gb DDR3 memory is direction that i am heading for my 2008 build, but i still need to see what the nForce 7xx boards are gonna be about as well as what the new 9xxx series cards bring to the table.
Running a 1950 right now though unless Nvidia gets off there A** and gets a Dx10.1 by mid Dec AND is no more than $250 then it looks like I will pick up the 3870 (or the next up, not announced yet), then maybe a 3850 to SLI which is possible now, no more must match to molecular density stuff
Never base a graphics card purchase on a single benchmark (game or software), considering graphics card companies pay millions to be the official face of various big games nowdays.
The truth is, both the 8800GT and 3870 are kickass cards in the budget class, especially for the dx9 generation games.
8800GT isnt high end? what is?
8800GTX Ultra = BadMofo
Then:
GTX
GTS
Then lastly, the GT
i dont give so much about this info, the gts8800 I have plays good
There is one good thing abpout ATI card’s.
1) You can crossfire 3850 with the 3870
2) When ATI/AMD release their new motherboards you can have up to 4 GPU’s.
So I can purchase a 3870 this month, another in months, next month agian etc. This way I am getting DX10 & it does not hurt me budget.
And no, I cant save.
As long as they create prices in USA $ we all on Euro side could not be more than happy! Comparing to year 2004 this is cut in price of 46% right from the start!
@24
GT comes in over the GTS and under the GTX
The only thing keeping it from going over the GTX\\Ultra in performance is its memory bandwidth.
That and the Ultras are a joke. The amount you can overclock any of them is the same as the GTXs with the exception of those few freak chips that are hand selected to be pushed too far. An example would be the XFX 8800GTX Ultra ‘XXX’ Edition. 675mhz core speed and 2200mhz memory. That was more some form of stunt to grab more business on XFX’s part, but it also had its problems. Games like BF2 and Oblivion would not run correctly with the card clocked that high, and the GPU would have to be underclocked from its stock speed just to attain stable gameplay.
Slight failure.
The memory in the XFX 8800GTX Ultra XXX was running at 2.3GHz, not 2.2GHz.
Hi there,
I use an 8800GTX, all works fine, but how can I use DX10 under XP ???
Any links that prove 9800GTX will be available this or next month?
I can run all modern games at (AT LEAST) Medium settings, that means, sometimes its high, but its never low. And I always play at 1680 x 1050 resolution.
Crysis………..Smooth as silk
Gears of War…..Not too bad
BioShock………Smooth as silk
Episode 2……..Smooth as silk
And this is all with a ATI X1900xtx (a very old car), but top of the line at its time (year ago).
I am not going to be buying this line of video cards, because I feel my card is as good as can be for me right now.
I have a sli setup right now..
Two 7600GS 512meg cards
I’m awaiting my 8800GT I got from ZipZoomFly..
I got the eVGA8800GT with 512meg for $250
Once they get more in stock, I’ll surely be getting another to do some sli action..
ATI lost me as a consumer Years ago.. Back in the days of 8meg video cards.. I’ve never looked back. They have always had crappy drivers, and always will. Their hardware is cheap. You may get lucky and have a good card here or there, but over the years many of my buddys have gone with ATi.. mainly due to the price points.. They have all regretted it down the road.. Nvidia all the way for me.
The ONLY ATi setup I enjoy, is the one that is in my Xbox360…
-nuff said-
-TJW-
#20, do you game with 3d mark 2006? LOL! who cares about it! its the most useless benchmarking gauge tool out there.