HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 1 GB

[W1zzard]

if there was a cpu bottleneck in crysis why can other cards score higher?

the performance summary graphs are gone for now because i suspect a conceptual flaw in the calculation method

[pt]

good review
ATI FTW again
we just need to wait for some driver support

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

if there was a cpu bottleneck in crysis why can other cards score higher?

the performance summary graphs are gone for now because i suspect a conceptual flaw in the calculation method

the question i have is more along the lines of "if its this fast with a 2.2GHz core 2 - how fast is it on a 3-4GHz chip? Does it scale, or is this as fast as it gets?"

Not doubting you w1zz - you probably know more than us, and tested things that didnt make it into the final review, its just something i personally want to know.

[Laurijan]

Yet another ati product that does not live up to what it is on paper (2x 3870) - according to the 3DMark06 scores it performes like a single 8800GTS :-(

[Live OR Die]

ATI can't keep up with DX10 looks like it to me, the card would of been great when xp was still the leading OS

[Hawk1]

Excellent review! Thanks W1zzard. I will be picking up one of these (OK, maybe the ASUS dual fan one)

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by btarunr

The price of this card hasn't been decided/put-up yet. I guess W1zzard will put up those charts such as performance / dollar when definitively we know its price at least in the US markets. But still I wonder why Performance/Watt chart hasn't been put up.

These cards are on the sheves in the UK for around £300, thats $620 in US speak, they are very nice fast cards but in the UK....way too expensive IMO, yes across the board it is the fastest card on the market currently, for how long depends on the 9800 x2 but it does get beaten in a few tests by a single G92 8800GTS and in the UK one of those and £100 change to go back in the wallet may just be a little more inviting!

That said......I still like it! is it worth two 8800GT's (UK price)...........hmmmmm I dont know. I might just get one to have a play though

[mR Yellow]

Originally Posted by pt

good review
ATI FTW again
we just need to wait for some driver support

Not really. I'm gonna give this generation of cards a skip.
The 3870X2 is just another last ditch effort to out perform nVidia.

This doesn't impress me.

The best 2 graphics cards to date are:
ATi 9700 and nVdia 8800GTX.

[btarunr]

$620 in the UK

It's already into Newegg for $440.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by btarunr

$620 in the UK

It's already into Newegg for $440.

with improved drivers, $400 USD would make this fairly competitive.

I only say this because supreme commander and crysis were quite crap in the benchmarks - drives could fix this. For all we know, the 2nd GPU wasnt working properly in those titles.

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by btarunr

$620 in the UK

It's already into Newegg for $440.

Yup......thats £300, we get over $2 to the single £ these days whick makes this price even more insulting over here as the global prices are set in US $, take a look here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=416

[btarunr]

That's like 47% over the US rate. Now for an aready jacked up price, they add £50 as VAT what's the cause of such insane pricing? Import duty or the retailers playing foul?

Has it hit Oz shores yet?

[Mussels]

http://www.austin.net.au/PriceGuide/...0PCI%20EXPRESS

these guys are normally over priced anyway, $650 AU.

Their info is even totally wrong, saying 4x DVI

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

some models have 4 dvi teh asus model

[W1zzard]

added the "performance summary" page to the review .. ouch ..

[rampage]

great review w1zzard, but i think i will stick with my 8800gtx for now, it would be nice to see the benchies ran with a higher OC or ever a quadcore with a decent OC, because i know with my gtx there is quite a differance between a dualcore and quadcore cpu's, i know the drivers are in it early stages but it suprising the little gain 2 cores give over a single core (eg 8800gtx / gts) considering most people dont have the 24 inch monitors to to use the higher resioulitions it is almost defeating the point, then also when it comes to heat/ power usage i think most people are becoming more concious of how much electricty there systems are actualy using... just so people know im not bashing this card its just my opion that gfx designers are trying to come up with rush jobs the beat the compitition and have hit a wall when it comes to desigining the next big thing.....

[Blacklash]

Yeah you can get a 8800GTX for 399 with rebate @ Newegg and they are awesome high res cards with AA in DX10. You can get 8800GT 512Mb SLi for 29usd more than a 3870 X2, Newegg has those as low as 239usd each with rebate. The Anandtech review shows 8800GT SLi often walking all over the 3870 X2, save sometimes @ 2560x.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3209

If you something that works all the time, I'd say overclocked 8800 GTS 512Mb, 8800GT 512Mb or 8800GT. @ very high resolutions in DX 10 with AA piled on an overclocked 8800GTX is a solid choice too. It will often out perform the new nVidia cards in those cases.

We already know these cards are often going to be hurt badly by AA too. Not to mention they have some sort of odd min FPS issue. DH mentions it.

[btarunr]

Inference to be drawn: This is not going to compete with the GeForce 9800 GX2 considering it's only 5% faster to the 8800 GTX, also implies that NVIDIA will add another merciless price-tag to the 9800 GX2.

[trog100]

well.. its crossfire on a stick with all its limitations except taking up less space in your case..

supreme commander and the 3dmarks would benefit from a faster cpu.. no other real life game would..

and the bottom line is.. it backs up exactly why having tried crossfire .. i ditched it and went back to one 3870 card..

the one and only game that crossfire needs to work with at present dosnt support it.. its the game by the way not the ati drivers..

all the other games listed i can play quite nicely with just one 3870 card..

all in all a bigger power bill for no real life gain..

sorry guys but thats it.. thumbs down..

trog

[HookeyStreet]

Awesome review, but I think the tests would have been more accurate if a better CPU was used (IMHO, all of these current cards need a C2D/C2Q of at least 3.2Gz speed to push them along)

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by trog100

well.. its crossfire on a stick with all its limitations except taking up less space in your case..

supreme commander and the 3dmarks would benefit from a faster cpu.. no other real life game would..

and the bottom line is.. it backs up exactly why having tried crossfire .. i ditched it and went back to one 3870 card..

the one and only game that crossfire needs to work with at present dosnt support it.. its the game by the way not the ati drivers..

all the other games listed i can play quite nicely with just one 3870 card..

all in all a bigger power bill for no real life gain..

sorry guys but thats it.. thumbs down..

trog

if supreme commander is so CPU limited, why the heck is this ATI card so much slower than the other cards in teh comparison?? Perpaps this card uses a lot of CPU power for some reason

[Jelle Mees]

Guys, please stop talking about CPU bottleneck for Crysis.

People with a Q6600, test Crysis on 2.4Ghz, then test it on 3Ghz, framerate is almost identical.

Crysis is not a CPU game, it's a GPU game.

The only way to gain a lot of performance is a GPU upgrade, that's it.

[Mussels]

we arent talking about the GAME being CPU limited. we are talking about the CARD. Different cards need more powerful CPU's to bring out their full potential, being a dual card this may take more power from the system to reach its full potential.

We arent saying thats how it is, merely asking wizz to test and see if its true or not.

[Morgoth]

its nice to that hd3870x2 gives a solid fps on high aa and AF settings

[rampage]

Originally Posted by Jelle Mees

Guys, please stop talking about CPU bottleneck for Crysis.

People with a Q6600, test Crysis on 2.4Ghz, then test it on 3Ghz, framerate is almost identical.

Crysis is not a CPU game, it's a GPU game.

The only way to gain a lot of performance is a GPU upgrade, that's it.

yes i agree, crysis is very GPU limited and hence the need for a good card, im what i think most people are trying to get at is cpu speed has to have some effect in general gaming, or why do we all even bother overclocking our pc's if it dosnt help???

(im not trying to create a flame war, and im sorry if i do, but please correct me if i am wrong)

once again great review and my appoligies for stearing away from the main topic....