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[Ed]

well AMD/ATI it has to be said are pretty smart, and quick off the mark , seeing that Nvidia neglected to introduce a 256mb version of their new GT range,  AMD has produced an equivalent (or near as dammit) for £110.
heres the review
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/AMD-Radeon-HD-3800,review-29753.html
heres the card
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4SRY&CategorySelectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137,4294953243

now this makes me really really want to upgrade my rig... i reckon it will cost me about £334 to get a rig together that will play all the latest games at reasonable quality.
Here is the set up (canabalising my present rig for the remainder of the parts.)
mobo
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128047/show_product_specifications
processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130484/show_product_specifications
memory
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/116755/show_product_specifications



as you can see the HD 3850 has slightly less performance than the nvidia 8800GTS 320 (which is still retailing at 160-180 quid)
Radeon HD 3850 has about 75% of the performance of the nvidia 6800GT at 67% of the price

this picture is a benchmark from tomshardware site


i have to say its very tempting to think i could be playing Crysis and COD4 maxed out for the price of my Xbox 

[Ctulu]

I'm gonna wait a bit for an afordable 8800 gtx or so ... my 6800 still hold's fairly well atm ...

[keasy]

That is a good bang for buck, no doubt about it.

[Wooster]

Most definitely..

Look at this setup with 3870's
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/593/1/
Maxing out CoD4 on the 3850 is a bit optimistic though, even at 1024x768 the 2900PRO is a bit glitchy with everything maxed out on Vista


I just ordered an 8 pin power adapter to clock my 2900Pro up to XT speeds, but then found this guide..
http://nickfire.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=29

I could have saved myself some cash..

[Ctulu]

what is all this hardware mumbojumbo!
speak english or die!

[keasy]

what is all this hardware mumbojumbo!
speak english or die!

Good grief, let up with the metal band puns

[Wooster]

Maybe I did the right thing...it turns out that you get better results out of the PRO Bios than the XT Bios..

[Stevie]

Well, if i do get a ps3 for christmas and it lives up to expectations i will be saying goodbye to PC gaming for good.




































who am i trying to kid.

[Wooster]

No-one! 

With the PS3 you are sort of restricted to gaming on the best TV in the house when all the soaps and reality shows have finished and she's away to her kip.
With the PC though you can sneak away to the sanctum of solitude (aka spare bedroom, attic, or if you are Ed..the washing machine) and play to your hearts content. 

[Wooster]

I couldn't resist chucking 3D Mark in there and with a modest overclock I went from 9180 to 10300..

..now to uninstall 3D mark..(that's the fekin road to madness that app.. )

[Stevie]

3dmark 03?

[Wooster]

3D Mark06..

*edit*

Right, I'm definitely uninstalling it now before I break something..


http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/6261/2900prodq7.jpg

Maybe once I try it with my memory running on Single Channel Mode (I read in THG that Dual Channel doesn't make much difference now that there are large caches on the CPU's and I'm curious). 

*edit#2*
Result on Single Channel Mode = 10619

Looks like THG are right enough, Dual Channel Mode has just about had its day. 

[Stevie]

Wow. What's your system specs?

[edit] i see em.

[Wooster]

Ran it with the memory on single channel mode and saw only a slight drop  (added edit to last post).