3870 or 3850??

I'm ready to start messing around with my HTPC again.

I got a 8800GTS640 for quite a lot when it first came out and have an Opteron 185 OCto 2.8 with 4G ram (I know, it only sees 3G) running Vista32.

Before I go for a 6600 which will require MOBO,memory and the processor, I want to see if the 3850 or 3870 are a big improvement over the NVIdia card.

When the 8600 and 8500 came out everyone said how great they were and I got an overclocked 8600 but took it back cause the 8800 produced a better image IMHO.

that is the point of this post. I am leaning toward the 3870 because heat and noise do not matter to me. Image quality is the utmost and I feel that part of the reason my HTPC smokes all of the stand alone boxes I've seen is because of the AA settings on the 8800. And it's superior processing power.

I admit I am no computer geek. I like to learn though. If I am thinking wrongly here, would someone please gently educate on this matter?

I think I should get the 3870 series card with the most fastest memory available. Is this not good thinking?

thanks

ed

looks like I'm going with the 3870 then.

I wonder why I saw a difference in performance between the 8600 and the 8800?

You would think that the 8600 would actually be better at hd video, but that was not my experience.

So the extra memory and faster ddr4 memory is worthless for video quality and playback?

Appreciate the response Chris.

ed

Ordered my 3870 from Newegg today.

While I was trying to decide on manufacturers the decision was made for me because within a couple of hours two of the remaining 4 3870 cards (out of six or seven) sold out.

I guess the word is out that this card is worth even the price-gouging cost.

can't wait to see what it looks like compared to my 8800.