Sapphire HD 3870 X2 Atomic Watercooled

W1zzard · 06-11-2008, 07:52 AM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...c_Watercooled/

Please Digg the review to help us promote it.

Easy Rhino · 06-12-2008, 11:54 AM

another excellent review. i cant imagine spending $210 more for a graphics card that isnt much faster than the standard version. real world performance increase will be at a minimum.

Cold Storm · 06-12-2008, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

another excellent review. i cant imagine spending $210 more for a graphics card that isnt much faster than the standard version. real world performance increase will be at a minimum.

Well, the reasoning behind the incress has probably due to the fact it has that water block hooked right on to it. But I'm with you on spending that money easy!

nflesher87 · 06-12-2008, 04:36 PM

you could probably pop off the all in one watercooler, hook up the card to a real loop, then use the allinone as a sweet little setup for a cpu in an HTPC or something

DaMulta · 06-12-2008, 06:49 PM

I wonder why they cooled one side of the memory at all. If your not going to cool memory on both sides then whats the point?

All they did is increase the temps more by doing that IMO.

Wester547 · 06-12-2008, 08:10 PM

I do feel $550 could be better spent, but, besides that...

The 7900 GTX seems to have abruptly disappeared from the Quake 4 charts when every card was tested at 1600x1200, though every card seemed to have been getting rather sporadic frame-rates in that benchmark. Not sure if Quake 4 doesn't handle FSAA well, or if it that's just one of the most stupefyingly intensive portions of the game as I've heard.

W1zzard · 06-12-2008, 09:20 PM

7900 gtx kept crashing in the quake 4 benchies with the current driver so its not listed

btarunr · 06-24-2008, 07:50 AM

Quote:

However, I'm not sure how airport security would like the "ATOMIC" logo and text.

That's a brilliant observation.

My friend's HD3870 Atomic (non-X2) was confiscated at our airport. They let him off after:

An engineer was called to the airport and dissemble the card completely
Using a Geiger-Muller counter, the product was checked for radioactivity.
The packaging material was cut/dissembled and thoroughly checked.
The product discs were checked for suspicious content.

Poor guy had to pay $150 as charge to the customs dept.

06-11-2008, 07:52 AM	#1
W1zzard Administrator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 7,622 (3.78/day) Thanks: 79 Thanked 2,492 Times in 935 Posts System Specs	Sapphire HD 3870 X2 Atomic Watercooled To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...c_Watercooled/ Please Digg the review to help us promote it. Last edited by W1zzard; 06-12-2008 at 11:45 AM.

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06-12-2008, 11:54 AM	#2
Easy Rhino Modestus Supernus Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3,715 (3.36/day) Thanks: 156 Thanked 359 Times in 286 Posts System Specs	another excellent review. i cant imagine spending $210 more for a graphics card that isnt much faster than the standard version. real world performance increase will be at a minimum.

06-12-2008, 04:36 PM	#4
nflesher87 Staff Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Washington & Jefferson College - Biochemistry Posts: 4,195 (3.87/day) Thanks: 380 Thanked 460 Times in 417 Posts System Specs	you could probably pop off the all in one watercooler, hook up the card to a real loop, then use the allinone as a sweet little setup for a cpu in an HTPC or something

06-12-2008, 06:49 PM	#5
DaMulta My stars went supernova Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Oklahoma T-Town Posts: 9,741 (8.07/day) Thanks: 980 Thanked 1,261 Times in 978 Posts System Specs	I wonder why they cooled one side of the memory at all. If your not going to cool memory on both sides then whats the point? All they did is increase the temps more by doing that IMO. __________________ ocLIT The Hardware Punishers

System Name:	Work in progress
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Video Card:	CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
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06-12-2008, 08:10 PM	#6
Wester547 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: USA Posts: 8 (0.01/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	I do feel $550 could be better spent, but, besides that... The 7900 GTX seems to have abruptly disappeared from the Quake 4 charts when every card was tested at 1600x1200, though every card seemed to have been getting rather sporadic frame-rates in that benchmark. Not sure if Quake 4 doesn't handle FSAA well, or if it that's just one of the most stupefyingly intensive portions of the game as I've heard.

Processor:	AMD Athlon 64 3800+ "Venice" core @ 2.4 GHz
Motherboard:	MS-7207G
Memory:	2GB PC3200 dual-channel DDR-SDRAM
Video Card:	512MB G-DDR3 Gainward GeForce 8600 GTS @ stock speeds (675/1450/2000 MHz respectively)
Harddisk:	250GB SATA HDD w/7,200 RPM and 2MB cache
CD/DVD Drive:	TSSTcorp 16x DVD-R/RW
CRT/LCD Model:	19" Trinitron CRT
Sound Card:	Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Gamer
PSU:	450-Watt Corsair PSU
Software:	Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP3
Benchmarks:	26,453 in 3DMark2001SE 18,884 in 3DMark03 10,654 in 3DMark05 2,622/2,410 SM2.0/3.0 score in 3DMark06

06-12-2008, 09:20 PM	#7
W1zzard Administrator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 7,622 (3.78/day) Thanks: 79 Thanked 2,492 Times in 935 Posts System Specs	7900 gtx kept crashing in the quake 4 benchies with the current driver so its not listed

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