ATI 1900xtx Crossfire vs 3850 HD

Cheif1101 · November 20th, 2007, 10:16 PM

I have an ATI 1900xtx card in my PC right now, and Im looking to upgrade. I've been looking around for a 1900xtx to buy to possibly go Crossfire, but I cant find them anywhere. The 1950 is the closest I can find. If it turns out that I cant find one anywhere, I was looking at the 3850 HD. Is it worth getting one, or even two right now? And does anyone know about the performance of two 3850s in a crossfire setup versus either an 8800 GT 512 or an 8800 GTS 320, which is comparable to the price of 2 3850s. I want to try to spend no more than $360.

Also, whats the deal with dual GPU cards? Is it worth waiting for one to come out?

I'm currently running XP with 1.5gb DDR ram, AMD 4200+ 2.2gHz dual core. Im looking to upgrade to 4gb DDR2 with an AMD 6000+ 3.0gHz dual core.

EXreaction · November 20th, 2007, 11:07 PM

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/591/3/

With Crossfire you'll want a good power supply as well. I'd definitely go with a good 600W or better power supply, which would cost in the neighborhood of $80-120.

What power supply do you currently have?

Cheif1101 · November 20th, 2007, 11:12 PM

Thanks a bunch, I looked around for a conclusive review and comparison for a while but I couldn't find one.

EXreaction · November 20th, 2007, 11:21 PM

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3850%20crossfire

Cheif1101 · November 20th, 2007, 11:32 PM

I fail

EXreaction · November 20th, 2007, 11:35 PM

Well, searching for the 3850 seems to be hit or miss (I had some problems searching for it a few days ago with google). Like if you search for X3850 there are no decent returns.

KarmaKiller · November 20th, 2007, 11:57 PM

With a budget of $360, I'd get a 8800gt and call it a day..

Cheif1101 · November 21st, 2007, 12:03 AM

Kinda forgot to mention that I want to be able to run a third monitor. Would it still be worth getting the 8800GT and using my current 1900xtx for the non-gaming monitor(s)?

KarmaKiller · November 21st, 2007, 12:11 AM

You could do that.
The main reason I recommend the 8800gt card, is it will use less power then the crossfire setup would. But if you plan on using your 1900, that defeats the purpose really. But the 8800 still performs well as a single card. Beat the crossfire setup in many benchmarks...
If JLK was on here, he could guide you better. He's got a 1900 crossfire setup. I know he's taken some hits in some of the newer games that don't support crossfire though...

Ryan220587 · November 21st, 2007, 03:21 AM

yeah, 8800gt would be the safest option, then again, if i remember the 1900xtx's from a statistical standpoint they are quite good and in a crossfire setup should perform quite well. as karma said though, probably going to suck a lot of juice using crossfire.