A warning about HD3870s

Lazzer408 · Jan 31, 2008

Warning: Diamond Multimedia HD3870 heatsink surface DOES NOT contact the memory.

I can see light between the heatsink and ram on BOTH cards. Diamond uses a heatpipe cooler which is a little bigger then the other 3870's I've seen so I can't say if it's limited to their card or others as well. Better check yours. These are boxed up and going back to the store. :banghead:

I can't see how something like that can be so easily overlooked especially with a card that flexes under it's own weight. Could they make the pcb any thinner?

erocker · Jan 31, 2008

Is it actually supposed to touch the memory? Is it missing the thermal pads?

Dr. Spankenstein · Jan 31, 2008

Pics please...

Darknova · Jan 31, 2008

Dr. Spankenstein said:
Pics please...

+1

And it's definately not a problem with my Powercolor 3870...

DaMulta · Jan 31, 2008

erocker said:
Is it actually supposed to touch the memory? Is it missing the thermal pads?

yep, thermal pads

panchoman · Jan 31, 2008

googled this.. found something interesting..

The cooler consists of three parts. The black metal heatsink base makes contact with the GPU core, but does not touch the memory.
-w1zzard, Diamon HD 3850 review

w1zz noticed that the hs on the diamon 3850 doesn't contact the memory either..

Lazzer408 · Jan 31, 2008

The first picture is the Diamond HD3870 itself. The second is light seen between the memory and heatsink. The third is a memory chip WITHOUT a thermal pad at all. This is taken with the weight of the heatsink resting on the pcb. With the card installed it gets worse as the heatsink tends to pull away further under it's own weight.

I did my best with the camera I have.

So bottom line, fix it, or be carefull with your memory overclock !!

EDIT - I was trying to get a better shot and I can't. After looking at this even further NONE OF THEM ARE TOUCHING. I can see light straight over the whole row of chips.

Darknova · Jan 31, 2008

Yeah...I'd send that back and get a replacement.

Lazzer408 · Jan 31, 2008

panchoman said:
googled this.. found something interesting..

w1zz noticed that the hs on the diamon 3850 doesn't contact the memory either..

It's definitely confirmed and not just a one-off production fluke.

DanishDevil · Jan 31, 2008

I'm going to be grabbing a Diamond 3870 tomorrow night, so when I get it I'll see if mine compares. I've currently got a Visiontek and if memory serves me right (it's at home, I'm at school) the cooler contacts all memory.

PS: Ca you run two differently branded 3870s in CF?

Lazzer408 · Jan 31, 2008

DanishDevil said:
I'm going to be grabbing a Diamond 3870 tomorrow night, so when I get it I'll see if mine compares. I've currently got a Visiontek and if memory serves me right (it's at home, I'm at school) the cooler contacts all memory.

PS: Ca you run two differently branded 3870s in CF?

As in a visiontech with a diamond? yes

Silverel · Jan 31, 2008

I've got a Visiontek 3850 512mb. Chips look pretty well covered to me. Can't see any light.

My silly ass went ahead on got my case a week after all my parts though, so I'm still modding it. Gotta take things slow, or I'll make mistakes I'd imagine. Having a kid and wife doesn't give me much free time either...

edit : I realize you guys are talking about the 3870, but my cooler is almost identical to the one in these pics.

DanishDevil · Jan 31, 2008

Lazzer408 said:
As in a visiontech with a diamond? yes

Sweet. I'm gonna be doing a lot of testing this weekend

I hope the Diamond I get OCs well. I got almost 900 core with my Visiontek :rockout:

If I decide to do a voltmod, I'll post pics and results in the topic.

intel igent · Jan 31, 2008

the thread title is misleading...........

definately not good for diamond :shadedshu

sorry to hear about it but im shure its isolated only to their cards

good luck with your RMA

DaMulta · Jan 31, 2008

Well maybe in their design they never were supposed to touch. Memory really doesn't need a heatsink.

KainXS · Jan 31, 2008

man, what a design fluke that as, without cooling the memory, the card would overclock like garbage, I would try to get a refund on that card since it seems those models are all like that.

DanishDevil · Jan 31, 2008

DaMulta said:
Well maybe in their design they never were supposed to touch. Memory really doesn't need a heatsink.

No, memory doesn't need a heatsink, but for a card that's costing over $200, you can bet a little more than a few users are going to want to overclock, and having to spend an extra $50 on an aftermarket cooler that does cool the ram well is not good for Diamond.

Like I said, I'll post some pics in the next few days of a soon-to-be-purchased Diamond 3870.

trog100 · Jan 31, 2008

DaMulta said:
Well maybe in their design they never were supposed to touch. Memory really doesn't need a heatsink.

i go along with that.. combined with the fact the cards are not designed to overclock just run as they come..

i did notice in your other 2006 thread the overdrive sets quite low limits.. both on core and memory..

i tend to think some of this fancy cooling and heat pipe stuff is a bit like go faster stripes on a car.. more for show than function..

still not a good advert for diamond cards thow..

trog

Crazyhorse · Jan 31, 2008

DanishDevil said:
No, memory doesn't need a heatsink, but for a card that's costing over $200, you can bet a little more than a few users are going to want to overclock, and having to spend an extra $50 on an aftermarket cooler that does cool the ram well is not good for Diamond.

Like I said, I'll post some pics in the next few days of a soon-to-be-purchased Diamond 3870.

I agree memory does not need a heatsink and even having heatsinks on the memory does not give you a huge gain on overclocking.

pt · Jan 31, 2008

Crazyhorse said:
I agree memory does not need a heatsink and even having heatsinks on the memory does not give you a huge gain on overclocking.

agreed
memory barely heats up

trog100 · Jan 31, 2008

my memory gets bloody hot.. least the heatsinks that actually touch it do.. it is running at 2550 mhz thow.. lets say memory didnt use to get hot.. he he he

running nearer default it probably tolerates being to hot to touch.. keeping it a bit cooler does help it overclock thow..

but as i said earlier they dont sell cards to overclock simply run at the speeds they come at.. we take far tooo much for granted it seems..

trog

Lazzer408 · Feb 1, 2008

Diamond also states their mem clock at 1400 on their website. Clicking the link further states 1200 but it was lower then that with their drivers or ATIs. I believe it was 1140? 1170? I can't remember now. Overclocked with CCC it went to 1180 but not the 1200 it was advertised to do. :rolleyes:

From Diamonds site: http://www.diamondmm.com/HD3800.php
Core Clock: 775 MHZ
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Configuration: 16Mx32 GDDR4
Memory Interface: 256-Bit
Memory Speed: 1.4 GHz <--------:shadedshu

Clicking the link to the HD3870: http://www.diamondmm.com/3870PE4512.php
Core Clock: 775 MHZ
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Configuration: 16Mx32 GDDR4
Memory Interface: 256-Bit
Memory Speed: 1.2 GHz <--------:shadedshu

They need to get their shit together.

I returned the cards and recieved a full refund. As far as memory needing a heatsink? Hell yes it needs a heatsink if your overclocking it which is just about a necessity with these if you plan on getting Crysis 'closer' to playable framerates. =) Why did they bother to put thermal pads on some of the memory but not all of it? Maybe they overlooked it and that's why they slowed down the mem clock lower then advertised. Their marketing strategy worked on me. I chose that card over another just because it's memory was rated at 1200.
Diamond :slap:

Me

DanishDevil · Feb 1, 2008

Lazzer408 said:
Diamond Me

Lmao. Hey don't always go for the higher-clocked cards, unless they're offered as an overclocked edition. If a card's only clocked 20-50 higher, it's just because they decided to do that to trick (sorry to say this) people like you who buy it because it's faster. I've found that unless you go for those "guaranteed overclockers" that come pre-OCed, you've got just about equal luck at a higher OC with any brand.

Go with a reliable brand that uses the reference PCB (unless there are plenty of reviews stating that the change from the reference PCB is benificial). And get the cheapest one doggonnit! That way you can spend more on aftermarket cooling the sucker :toast:

I'm actually going for the Diamond because it is the cheapest I've seen at a store locally near me as they're having a little BYOPC sale

I'll let you know how mine works.

tkpenalty · Feb 1, 2008

Lazzer408 said:
Diamond also states their mem clock at 1400 on their website. Clicking the link further states 1200 but it was lower then that with their drivers or ATIs. I believe it was 1140? 1170? I can't remember now. Overclocked with CCC it went to 1180 but not the 1200 it was advertised to do.

From Diamonds site: http://www.diamondmm.com/HD3800.php
Core Clock: 775 MHZ
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Configuration: 16Mx32 GDDR4
Memory Interface: 256-Bit
Memory Speed: 1.4 GHz <--------:shadedshu

Clicking the link to the HD3870: http://www.diamondmm.com/3870PE4512.php
Core Clock: 775 MHZ
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Configuration: 16Mx32 GDDR4
Memory Interface: 256-Bit
Memory Speed: 1.2 GHz <--------:shadedshu

They need to get their shit together.

I returned the cards and recieved a full refund. As far as memory needing a heatsink? Hell yes it needs a heatsink if your overclocking it which is just about a necessity with these if you plan on getting Crysis 'closer' to playable framerates. =) Why did they bother to put thermal pads on some of the memory but not all of it? Maybe they overlooked it and that's why they slowed down the mem clock lower then advertised. Their marketing strategy worked on me. I chose that card over another just because it's memory was rated at 1200.
Diamond Me

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa247/lazzer408/No_pad.jpg

Judging on the card the cooler wasnt secured properly.

Lazzer408 · Feb 1, 2008

It wasn't -just- the mem speed. This looked like it has a bigger fan as well. If you had a choice between two cards equally priced and one had faster memory and a larger fan what would you go for? Reguardless I chose not to upgrade at all. I can't justify the cost of components considering where the gaming industry is right now. DX-10 may be the begining of something great but when the "best cards on the market" can't pwn framerates in current dx-10 games (even in dx-9) I'll pass and wait for some that can. Otherwise I'm just throwing away money just to get 400fps in HL2. :laugh:

I'll give it a few months and see what happens. I'm getting too old for this. :rolleyes:

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A warning about HD3870s

Lazzer408

erocker

*

Dr. Spankenstein

Darknova

DaMulta

My stars went supernova

panchoman

Sold my stars!

Lazzer408

Darknova

Lazzer408

DanishDevil

Lazzer408

Silverel

DanishDevil

intel igent

New Member

DaMulta

My stars went supernova

KainXS

DanishDevil

trog100

Crazyhorse

New Member

pt

not a suicide-bomber

trog100

Lazzer408

DanishDevil

tkpenalty

Lazzer408

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