Quote Originally Posted by v_rr View Post
Dont forget that the HD 3850 used was 256Mb, and they should use HD 3850 512Mb instead.
There are large diferences between HD 3850 256Mb and HD 3850 512Mb as you can see in this review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/472/1

you can get PowerColor HD3850 PCS 512MB GDDR3 for 179$, and you can get it now (not 1 month like 9600GT) with suport for DX_10.1/SM4.1, HDMI/HDMI-Sound and a fancy cooler.

Also HD 3850 can get lower prices by february time. The core is smaller then 9600GT and uses GDDR3 more slower/cheaper, also by that time AIB partners will have their custom PCBīs more cheaper and donīt use ATI reference PCB.

Saphire and other partners allready started to show their custom PCB in CES with expected cheaper prices.
9600GT will have a very hard time to get this segment of market

In case of Saphire is a blue PCB:


Palit:

Gigabyte:
yes but look at the lower resolutions. the 256mb on the 3850 has no negative effect on it and it still gets beat out by the 9600gt. and also look at the current price of 8600gt's it will not be long until the 9600gt falls into the $120-100 range. the thing that will set one better than the other is overclocking. which can go farther? also the 9600gt may use less power even though it is 65nm it has a greatly reduced amount of shadders.

if the 9600gt can oc well it will beat the 3850 as features like HDMI sound, DX10.1 and SM4.1 are all but useless at the moment.