ATI Radeon HD 3870 & 3850: A Return to Competition
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on November 15, 2007 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Let's Get It Out of the Way: Radeon HD 3870 vs. GeForce 8800 GT
The question on everyone's mind is how well does the 3870 stack up to the recently launched GeForce 8800 GT? If you haven't been noticing our hints throughout the review, AMD doesn't win this one, but since the 3870 is supposed to be cheaper a performance disadvantage is fine so long as it is justified by the price.
Does the 3870 deliver competitive performance given its price point? Let's find out.
Honestly, the Radeon HD 3870 stays very close to the 8800 GT, much closer than AMD's previous attempts to touch the 8800 series. But is the price low enough to justify the performance difference? For that we must do a little numerical analysis; the table below shows you what percentage of the 8800 GT's performance the Radeon HD 3870 delivers:
| 3870: % of GeForce 8800 GT Performance | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 | 1920 x 1200 | 2560 x 1600 |
| Bioshock | 84.4% | 82.4% | 87.9% | 93.9% |
| Unreal Tournament 3 | 87.8% | 85.8% | 89.6% | 91.6% |
| ET: Quake Wars | 80.5% | 95.9% | 96.8% | 103% |
| Oblivion | 66.7% | 74.1% | 74.4% | 71.5% |
| Oblivion (4X AA) | 70.5% | 77.7% | 80.2% | 82.6% |
| Half Life 2: Episode 2 | 101% | 95% | 91% | 86.7% |
| World in Conflict | 81.5% | 85.7% | 84.9% | 89.2% |
| Call of Duty 4 | 103% | 98.3% | 92.3% | 82.1% |
| Crysis | 72.4% | 73.3% | 75.5% | - |
| Average | 83.1% | 85.3% | 85.8% | 87.6% |
Here's what's really interesting, on average the Radeon HD 3870 offers around 85% of the performance of the 8800 GT, and if we assume that you can purchase an 8800 GT 512MB at $250, the 3870 manages to do so at 87% of the price of the 8800 GT. The Radeon HD 3870 becomes even more attractive the more expensive the 8800 GT is and the opposite is true the cheaper it gets; if the 8800 GT 512MB was available at $219, then the 3870 doesn't stand a chance.
If AMD can actually meet its price expectations then it looks like the 3870 is actually competitive. It's slower than the 8800 GT, but the price compensates.
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nowayout99 - Friday, November 16, 2007 - link
I don't see a noise slide...But actually, Anand, noise may be a deciding factor for me. I'd really like to know what the cards sound like vs. the GT8800, particularly the 3870, if you guys could come back to it.
starjax - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
What about testing with updated drivers? I understand that the HIS HD3870 cards are shipping with catalyst 8.43 drivers.Comdrpopnfresh - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
How do you guys decide the intermediate slopes of the graphs between them? Some of them look like cubic regressions...Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Just one thing i want to add.I think the last year AMD is really screwing up... dunno what there doing, but they aren't able to beat Intel, they aren't able to beat nVidia. Something went totally wrong over there. Marketing, Financial, Corporate launching strategies whatever... their screwing up.
Leadthorns - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Anand,How about the image quality? Some reviews claim its marginally better on the ati card than the 8800gt. Whats your take?
Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Best Anand, and other readers.I find it startling to see you making an assumption that's already a fact: "The Radeon HD 3870 becomes even more attractive the more expensive the 8800 GT is and the opposite is true the cheaper it gets; if the 8800 GT 512MB was available at $219, then the 3870 doesn't stand a chance."
I'm allready able to order Club3D 8800GT's 512MB for 208,- EURO's and even XFX's for about 212,45 EURO's... so thats even less in dollars. CLub3D is a company that builds good quality reference cards, so no suprises afterwards and XFX you all know.
So... for such a good site as Anand's i find it a bit strange you are not aware of this, and living by the quote stated above... this allready blows away the 3870... though luck again AMD.
Anyone interested in these cards haha, check out BEE-CT
Regards,
a Dutch bloke.
MrKaz - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
There are rumors that in my country the ATI 3850 256MB version will cost 140€.160€ for the 512MB and around 200€ for the 3870.
So this is in line with what you say.
(all values have VAT)
About the good luck, I think even with the slightly slower card the DX10.1 capabilities will be a selling point.
Just ask the guys that bought the faster X800 over the 6800 and now can’t play some SM3 games.
jcromano - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
One Euro is worth about 1.46 USD these days, no?So the 208 Euro card would cost about 304 USD, right?
Jim
Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Hmmm. back to school...That would mean 208/1.46 = 142 something...
Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
but it's not like that... damn.. ur right... that's pretty expensive...I was wrong... sry.