How Much better is the 3870 CF to the 9800 GTX solo?

Anyone have thoughts on how much better the 3870 CF is with gaming compared to the 9800 GTX solo? I'm torn between getting the OCZ and the Sager 5797... thoughts? Recommendations?
Thanks in advance!

 

From what I understand, ATI still hasn't gotten their act together in terms of providing drivers for the 3870 so it is still a little difficult to determine where they compare with other cards. Also, in terms of future upgrades, I believe the OCZ is going to be better than the 5797. Full disclosure, I own an OCZ.

 

As Luthi3n said, it has the potential but hasn't proven itself due to a need for better drivers. Updated drivers are supposed to be released this month, so if you can wait a bit you'll have a better comparison.

 

I looked at the Sagers too before I went with a Whitebook. The turnoff for me on that notebook is only one HDD, I believe.

The high end 9XXX Sagers can take 2-3 HDDs, but limited to DDR2 I recall. In any case, I went with the Whitebook for upgradeability and state-of-the-art.

If I was really into gaming I'd just throw two 9800 GTX superoverclocked cards in SLI in one of my desktop rigs (of which I have six leftover from my overclocking days). You can get two cards for around $380-400, which will get even cheaper as time goes on.

 

Why'd you get a whitebook if you weren't really into gaming?



At any rate, I would suspect that the crossover 3870 'should' be better than a single 9800M GTX as crossfire/sli are showing good gains over the single cards nowadays.

I think the OCZ is a great value right now. ATI is doing well with these new cards. The 4870 crossfire should really be a good solution, whenever it does come out.

Then again, it all comes down to drivers and 'supposedly' the ATI drivers are not very mature at the moment.

If I was buying a laptop right now, it would probably be the OCZ. but if you have a bit of extra money, the SLI 9800M GTX solution is not bad either...

 

ATI 48xx FTW

 

if i was buying right now it would be the 9262 if i had the money. next would be the ocz. dont get me wrong i like my 1730 but i dont think ill buy anything else for a while till the 4870's come or the next gen 9262 by then ill be ready if the gains are worth it

 

What turned me off on the 9262 is only DDR2 and no fingerprint reader. I know, I know, there is supposedly not much diff versus DDR3 and SLI is more fun than a fingerprint reader, but for that price . . .

IMO, when you are paying $2k plus for a laptop, it should have all the current bells-and-whistles such as Blueray, Bluetooth, 2.0 webcam, fingerprint reader, two HDDs minimum, 3-yr warrantee, etc. That's why I seriously considered the Asus G71G-A2. But the 9800M GS in it isn't upgradeable and it was supposed to come with 6 MB DDR3 but instead shipped with 800 mHZ DDR2. So the Whitebook was worth the extra money, in my book.

I would have preferred 9800M GTXs in SLi, but the Crossfire 3570s ain't shabby, and there's always the 4870 upgrade option later on.

I've been waiting on the sidelines three years wanting to purchase a notebook, and you can end up waiting forever with the newest technology around the corner. I would have preferred the option for 6 GB DDR3, but with the ability to run quad-cores, the OCZ looked like the best notebook on the market right now. The Toshibas have 9800M GSs in Sli (three cards actually) for $2k, but a non-WUXGA 17" screen (???), and there is no upgrade option for the better LCD.

 

You can get 8 Gigs of DDR3 with the OCZ whitebook. Mark offers it if you want to pay the price for it.

 

Yeah, I just noticed that on the OCZ website, and its 1333 Mhz too.

I would say the Whitebook technology will hold for maybe 1.5-2 years . Look at the newest cell phones in Japan - they come with 8 MP cameras.

I just sold an ATI XT850 PE video card on the used market in Akihabara, Japan. I got $80 for a card which cost me $600 around 3 years ago. I remember the days when the first 1X CD-ROM cost $400-500 and a scanner cost around $800 .