Visiontek HD3870 512MB or HD3650 1GB

[manjoe]

Howdy Folks.........

My quesion is very similar to that being addressed by the thread "Which Is Better", but I dont want to clutter up that thread.

So here goes...............Would you choose a higher quality 512MB that is twice the price of a lower quality 1GB card from the same company?

For example, you have a SPARE computer used strictly for TRAINZ, and the choice is, for example, the Visiontek HD3650 1GB, or the Visiontek HD3870 512MB. The 512MB costs twice as much as the 1GB. I have checked TomsHardware, and the 512 is heads and shoulders the better of the two, but in general, all other things being equal, would you go for the 1GB or the 512MB given the pricing???

Another way to phrase it......., "Should I always pursue quality over quantity from the same vendor, if quality is twice quantity?".

Gee, I hope this makes sense !!!!!! Thanks for any suggestions and feedback. Have a great day..:wave:

 

[GP_38-2]

If you have the money for the HD3870 get it
If you plan on gaming get the HD3870

The RAM is irrelevant. 1GB is all well and dandy, but if the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is slow the data only sits in the 1GB RAM. The HD3650 is a fairly slow card for gaming, it's well worth the extra money for the HD3870

 

[manjoe]

If you have the money for the HD3870 get it
If you plan on gaming get the HD3870

The RAM is irrelevant. 1GB is all well and dandy, but if the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is slow the data only sits in the 1GB RAM. The HD3650 is a fairly slow card for gaming, it's well worth the extra money for the HD3870

Thank you GP_38-2. I thought your answer would be what would be the general opinion. Quality is obviously always better. Thanks again.........:wave:

 

[GP_38-2]

Only if you don't need cannon fodder

Honestly though, when it comes to ATI card anything labeled with a 3, 6, or 7 is going to be a mid-range, non heavy card (I.E. X600, X1600, HD3650 etc.) will run games but reguardless of how much RAM they have will be slower. You get what you pay for as they say. I'm definately not saying the HD3650 is a bad card, it's not, UNLESS you plan on running high-end games.
one of my favorite sites is www.gpureview.com for card comparison, if you can't use or find someone that knows a lot about computers.
Here's the HD3870 and the HD3650 side-by-side
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=547&card2=554
The better is highlighted in bold. As you can see the HD3870 comes on top in every area. Like I said you get what you pay for.
If you want a good compromise the HD3850 is a good solid card. Good performance for the money.

 

[johnwhelan]

Howdy Folks.........

My quesion is very similar to that being addressed by the thread "Which Is Better", but I dont want to clutter up that thread.

So here goes...............Would you choose a higher quality 512MB that is twice the price of a lower quality 1GB card from the same company?

For example, you have a SPARE computer used strictly for TRAINZ, and the choice is, for example, the Visiontek HD3650 1GB, or the Visiontek HD3870 512MB. The 512MB costs twice as much as the 1GB. I have checked TomsHardware, and the 512 is heads and shoulders the better of the two, but in general, all other things being equal, would you go for the 1GB or the 512MB given the pricing???

Another way to phrase it......., "Should I always pursue quality over quantity from the same vendor, if quality is twice quantity?".

Gee, I hope this makes sense !!!!!! Thanks for any suggestions and feedback. Have a great day..:wave:

The 3870 would be my personal choice but depending on the layout the 1 gig memory might do a little better depending on the amount of textures involved. It's a sort of cache question, many people run 256 mb to be realistic so 512mb is a major improvement over that. Typically doubling the memory of a cache will not double the performance but should be better than 3850 with 512mb of memory.

I note that Newegg.com have the 3850 at $150 and the 3870 at $170 ASUS, Sapphire and the others these days are practically all the same reference design so the 3870 is only marginally more expensive.

Cheerio John

 

[manjoe]

Thanks GP 38-2 for both your additional input, and the pointers to those sites.

Many thanks to JohnWhelan for your input as well. You both clarified the questions for me. You both have a great day.:wave: