http://www.tigerdirect.com/app ... pNo=3855381&CatId=318

I've been looking at this card for a couple days (i've taken my recent hardware failure as a hint from my computer ). Will it be decent enough to glamourize LFS and rfactor, and finally stop some GTR 2 stutters? I also want to get decent performance on games like fallout 3 and other newer games on med quality.

Get the ATI-4770

Quote from Sueycide_FD :

http://www.tigerdirect.com/app ... pNo=3855381&CatId=318

I've been looking at this card for a couple days (i've taken my recent hardware failure as a hint from my computer ). Will it be decent enough to glamourize LFS and rfactor, and finally stop some GTR 2 stutters? I also want to get decent performance on games like fallout 3 and other newer games on med quality.

First off all what do you have AGP or PCI-E? what gfx card do you have now? whats the most you can spent?

Quote from rc10racer :

First off all what do you have AGP or PCI-E? what gfx card do you have now? whats the most you can spent?

Ahh yes, just noticed it was AGP. Pretty much screwed if AGP for choice and price/performance imho.

What system do you have running Sueycide_FD?

I have a 6200 right now by BFG. I'm running XP

I hate ATI lol

My 4850 is like 8-9 months old and (i think) that its decreasing in performance, in lfs i sometimes have serious FPS drops on blackwood.

I still have to try it on other games.

That card will give you a huge performance boost, yes. But that's as far as you can take it, it is (and will likely be) the last (and best) AGP card ever made. (why does the thread title say 3650?)

I was thinking about the 3650 at the time

spotted this news if your still after a card http://www.fudzilla.com/index. ... amp;id=13730&Itemid=1

I don't really like that new 4650 AGP card, it uses GDDR2 memory (according to the product page), whereas the Sapphire 3850 uses GDDR3 memory, which is much faster. The difference will be noticeable in games, but who knows, the newer 4000-series GPU architecture might make up for that weakness. Also, the 4650 would be a mid-range card according to the numbering, whereas the 3850 would be a high-end card. I'm not saying to get the 3850 per se, just comparing them so that you can get what you need. The 4650 may not be in stores for a while though, but when it does come out I predict it will be much cheaper than the 3850. So your choice all depends on how much gaming you will do and how much you're willing to spend to upgrade an dated computer.

Quote from G!NhO :

I hate ATI

** Shadowww befriends G!NhO

Quote from G!NhO :

I hate ATI lol

My 4850 is like 8-9 months old and (i think) that its decreasing in performance, in lfs i sometimes have serious FPS drops on blackwood.

I still have to try it on other games.

Thats not the card's fault, thats something you've installed or windows is running more tasks than before.

Hardware doesn't just magicaly perform worse over time, unless you realy abuse it. I had a Radeon 7000 in my oldschool rig that still runs the same it did when I bought it. But that computer was never abused and the case temp was so low it actualy made my room temp drop. When I finaly retired that computer, the card still worked like new, and still does in my friends oldschool rig.

It definately won't perform worse after one year, thats for sure.

No actually its not that bad.

It still has the same performance, but on blackwood the fps drops on certain parts of the track. Maybe its my CPU or something idk.

I just played around with my HD 3850 and realized that there is a bug in the bios for all first run 3850, 3870, and some 4xxx cards that causes the fan to stay at a certain speed all the time, mine never went above or below 47%, even though the bios chart says it should be much higher than that at the temps I was getting.

This bug has been fixed in the newer ones, but I suggest anyone who has one tests it. Just run GPU-Z and catalyst and test clocks in overdrive, if the fan speed doesn't change at all in GPU-Z it means you have a problem. Some people reported the sticker on the cooler falling off because the glue actualy melted.

There are a number of work arounds like using rivia tuner or some other tweaking program, but there is also a way to edit the bios yourself and put in a new temp/fan speed graph and switch graph modes to one that works. Which happens to be the recommended one in the program I used.

I just edited mine to go from 30% @ 30ºc to 100% @ 70ºc (and VOIDED THE WARANTY, unless I flash back to the old one :razz
It never gets to 70ºc now anyway.

I used TechPowerUp.com's RBE Radeon Bios Editor and used a boot disk with ATIflash and both bios files, old and new, just incase the new one didn't work. DON'T USE A WINDOWS BASED FLASHER! YOU WILL REGRET IT!

I'm not sure about mine, but some cards have three clock settings 2D, 3D low, and 3D high. Mine appearantly does, but they are all the same clocks in the stock bios, so I ignored them. If you do see different clocks, DON'T CHANGE THEM! It will just make the card generate more heat at idle, and has no effect on performance unless you experiance stuttering during switching from 2D to 3D, in which case, live with the stutter, its not worth the extra heat and power consumption. I woulden't suggest touching the clock settings at all even.

Flashing the bios isn't illegal, but I'm not sure if posting my edited Sapphire HD 3850 GDDR3 512mb bios is. Additionaly, this is the first time I have ever edited a bios, and other than fan speeds, its completely the same, including revision and dates. Infact, I doubt ATI would know the difference if you waranty or return the card.

There WAS a bios update offered from sapphire, but it required validating the card's Serial number and Part number, I don't know if it is still offered, but all it did was make the speed follow the original graph like it should. For me that wasn't enough, I wanted to set the graph for my temperature range because hitting 100% @ 105ºc is hardly ideal, and I didn't want to go through the trouble of signing up for the forums and locating the dev that has the fixed one.

If you do flash your card's bios, either with a fixed one, or a custom one, you need to know one thing. AGP cards have two device IDs in ATIflash. 0 is not the card, but a different chip, you need to flash ID 1.

Final note: don't ask me for help with using the programs I mentioned, if you can't figure it out you shouldent be using the program in the first place. Just Return the card and get the newest manufacture date available, it will have the fixed bios. I'm not calling anyone dumb, but you do need to know what you are doing. You also have to have the time to read alot, since you need to understand how the fan control works before you start changing all those crypticaly named variables.

If your card "never gets to 70C" then what's the point in messing with the card's bios? It clearly wasn't overheating.

I have a 4870 and it's at 80C all the time, with about 20% fan speed. This is normal. If the temps reached 100C then I would be worried.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but i take it the hd3850 will be a lot better than my current hd2600 card?

Im thinking of getting one, to make LFS look all nice and still have some FPS left!

Quote from shiny_red_cobra :

If your card "never gets to 70C" then what's the point in messing with the card's bios? It clearly wasn't overheating.

I have a 4870 and it's at 80C all the time, with about 20% fan speed. This is normal. If the temps reached 100C then I would be worried.

I said it never gets to 70ºc now anyway. meaning after the bios tweak.

Befor the tweak I hadn't realy used the card for graphics intensive applications, and it was getting to 70ºc+ temps, if I used the GPU alot it would have went higher, and the fan still would have stayed at 47%.

I only noticed it when I ran the test clocks setting in catalyst and it went up to 77ºc before I hit cancel. The default bios for this card has a messed up fan speed graph, it looks like a child just scribbled on paper and that was what they used as the graph.

I don't like running things hot, and 80ºc all the time is definately not good for the stuff around the GPU, even if the designer says the chip will be fine at 80ºc it doesn't mean it should be there all the time.

@danthebangerboy

The HD 3850 will most definately be an improvement over the HD 2600, I had a 2600 before I got mine and the difference is noticable.
However, if you do get a 3850 make sure it is one of the newest ones built, and get a sapphire, both of those will ensure it is the best 3850 you can get.

I just missed out on a 3850, by one pound. I bid £57, and it went for £58. Damnit!