3870 vs 9600gt at low resolutions

[tufel]

ok so i hv narrwoed down to these two cards. i will be playing all the latest and the upcoming games with all the eye candy (aa and af) but at low resolutions.which wud be better.

i got a 400w plus psu

c2d 2.66ghz,4gb ram

i wanna play assassins creed, stranglehold, pure, gta4, left 4 dead, bioshock, dmc4, etc.

which card wud be better in the long term at low resolutions

i got an old 15" crt monitor...cannot afford a new one for an year

p.s. i wont be upgrading my pc for abt 2 yrs now and pls dont suggest any new cards.


thnx in advance....cheers

 

[coozie7]

You`ll almost certainly need a PSU upgrade for either as both need at least 400W according to most sites.
So, what is your PSU? If it lacks the power, then, obviously neither of the cards you`ve listed will work. If it does have the power, then buy the cheapest, either will drive a 1024x768 monitor perfectly.
But I`d really suggest this, it`ll use far less power and is cheaper than either while still giving enough performance to match your monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125244

 

[enforcer22]

Well since a 15" will be limited to a max of 1280x1024 at best it really doesnt matter which one you get. they will both give insane frames at such a low res.

Though like was said your PSU will be lacking.

Unless your planning on getting a 22" or higher lcd later the cards your looking at are kinda overkill unless thats what you want.

If your really stuck on those two cards i can only speak for the 3870 since i havent had a chance to use the nvidia card you mentioned. i played cod4 with that card in xfire mode and got 70 frames pretty much all the time. but that was at 2560x1600 im sure it will do what you want at the res youll be using it at.

 

[johnnyq1233]

I have a Palit 9600 gt sonic and @1680 x 1050 far cry 2 bench mark maxes @85 fps and bottoms out @48 fps.
CoD 5 averages around 48 fps....My brother has the 3870 and it's about 2-5 fps faster...
Hope this helps!

 

[tufel]

if i get both at the same price then which shud i go
and
does 3870 gv more frames than the 9600gt

this comparison is really confusing. dunno wich way to go

 

[tufel]

You`ll almost certainly need a PSU upgrade for either as both need at least 400W according to most sites.
So, what is your PSU? If it lacks the power, then, obviously neither of the cards you`ve listed will work. If it does have the power, then buy the cheapest, either will drive a 1024x768 monitor perfectly.
But I`d really suggest this, it`ll use far less power and is cheaper than either while still giving enough performance to match your monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125244

what when i upgrade to a new monitor? 4670 is just 128-bit which might prove to be bottleneck in the future. dont u thnk?

 

[idisarmu]

it COULD become a bottleneck... but it's still not a bad card...

It has more texture units than the 3870... which was the 3870's bottleneck..

yes, the 3870 IS better than the 4670... but it is better at different things. The 4670 doesn't suffer as much under AA

 

[the1tarheel]

Another feature of the 4670 is that the power requirements allow you to sell to basically anyone with a 250-300 watt PSU and a PCI-e slot. something to think about as most people will not have a PSU with a 6 pin connector

 

[coozie7]

@TUFEL; I reccomended the HD4670 because of its good performance but mainly its low power requirements. Even at 22" 16x10 resoloution it will play modern games but at reduced settings.
As you have stated in your other thread, you do not have a great deal of money so I`m suggesting the HD4670 because it WILL run on your system and not risk damaging the PSU by placing it under a heavy load, while the faster 9600GT and HD3870 MIGHT run on your system and will strain the PSU more.
Once again, we need to know exactly which PSU you have!