AMD Radeon HD 3800: The Empire Strikes Back

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bojangles34

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SKYMTL from HardwareCanucks also did an extensive test on this new card, comparing with the 8800 GT. He stated clearly that the new driver that came out yesterday or today (I think yesterday, Catalyst 8.44) showed some great improvements over the shipped ones in the box (8.43). He has done almost every review on that site and is seen giving information to valid and excellent information to customers on e-tailer websites.

He also stated that in some tests, the card actually performed better with AA on instead of without. This is clearly a driver issue. I'm pretty sure that the next couple of WHQL release will improve the card and fix the problems it has now.

I currently have a Radeon X800 Pro and have had it for the last two years simply because of the constant wars between ATI and Nvidia. I was actually really looking forward to getting the 8800 GT until after having preordering it, I was slammed shut by the seller because the stock for the card was going to be low and high in demand. Therefore, I canceled my order and I am now sitting....waiting for the time is right when everything balances out.

I think the 3870 might be my Christmas present to myself this year. The price/performance is excellent, noise level is decent and it uses less power.

NOTE: SKYMTL has also installed a DuOrb on the 3870 in his review...you should check it out. It drops temperatures like CRAZY.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/3270-his-radeon-hd3870-review-crossfire-performance-preview.html#post26213
 

aznstriker92

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Wow this is one great honest review. That guy was great. When the new drivers come, this card should challenge the 8800GT easily. Im definately buying this card. :love:

This card also OC's like crazy.
The people at hardwarecanucks say this.

Considering the core is already pushed to 777Mhz while the memory is operating at 2252Mhz (DDR) I wasn’t expecting much in the way of an overclock. I was wrong.

Overclock speeds

Core: 860Mhz
Memory: 2748Mhz

Thats a 496Mhz OC for the memory!!!!!!!!!
 

monsterrocks

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:sol: Be still my heart....I know what I am getting for Christmas.
 

Seikent

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A strange "issue" that spotted guru3d on their review was that the fan on the cards practically didn't accelerate when the cards where running games or stuff like that (it stayed at 30% speed). That's good and bad, the good part is that the card still can work without much noise. The bad is the temp, replacing the fan they obtained some number near 58°C at load, still they couldn't overclock the 3850 more. Maybe with some drivers can happen something good.
 

Evilonigiri

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*Gasp* the HD3870 must be lucky! 777mhz!
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OH WAIT! 666million transistor?! AACK!

777...666...777...should I take my chances?

Okay that aside, I'm thinking the HD3870 is a great deal, but I still think the 8800GT is a better deal performace wise. The HD3870 looks better, exhaust hot air outwards, draws less idle power, and is cheap! ...SHOULD I TAKE MY CHANCES? I guess that depends on what you need :kaola:
 

randomizer

Champion
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Whoever invented the name HardwareCanucks needs to be shot.

And yes, toms review is a translated-from-french review, so stop complaining about readability, which I thought was quite adequate for a translation. In fact, it beat much of the english from half of the people on these forums :sarcastic: You Americans just need to learn "flexible" english. ;)

One thing I found funny was the stalker graph, just take a look near the top ;)
 

bojangles34

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While I agree that the fans did not increase in speed during tests, the temperatures stayed well within specification. Therefore I don't really see a point in having a speed increase really. It won't affect overclocking because overclocking is done while providing a stressful GPU load. This ensures that it can handle the overclock at high temperatures.

In all honesty I think the 3870 slams the 8800 GT in overclocking by a large margin. If you look in the review link posted in my previous reply, the 3870 has a huge overclocking gain. The 8800 GT is very sensitive to changes and a lot of people have been having issues with it, partyl because of the single slot cooling implementation. After overclocking, the 3870 actually performs better than the 8800 GT. Again, on the review. And the speeds are still slower than the 8800 GT.

For those of you who preordered a 8800 GT, you can wait to get one. It is a really good card for the price, but keep in mind that something is right beside it, waiting to get grasped. And there's more of them.

In all honesty, if you have a SLI mobo, get the 8800 GT, likewise Crossfire, get the 3870. I say they are the same.
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff


Let me take a crack at it:

"Some may note that the Radeon HD 3870 places below the HD 2900 XT, but there are only 3 games in which is this actually the case: TDU, UT3 and Call of Duty 4 have a high number of frames per second and thus carry more weight."
 

Sigadigah

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Whew so much fighting over the card. The 3870 offers ~ 15-20% less performance than the 8800gt. How ever, the 3870 can be had for $219, instead of $300 and sitting on a waitlist for the 8800gt. The 8800gt is better without a doubt, but for an $80 price difference combined with availability, the 3870 has its own role. It is senseless to trash either card. This was a solid offering from ATi, I would like to see them get something out the door for the High end, but this is better than nothing.

Also, everyone is overlooking the 3850, but it is a really great deal for the price point so kudos to ATi for the 3850. It just doesnt get any love because it offers less performance than most enthusiasts would consider.
 

jevon

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Hrmm, SKYMTL posts a lot at the NCIX forums and I've never seen anything in french from him either on there or in his reviews? Either way though his reviews are very well done and I'm really looking forward to his follow up with CrossFireX :D
 

aznstriker92

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There dosent seem to be anything wrong.
 

bojangles34

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Since the new drivers have not come yet, I suspect them to be out very soon since many customers will be receiving their cards soon. By December the card should run much more smoothly. I know it sucks having a card that doesn't operate to it's full extent at the beginning, but ATI does pull off a few random surprises in future drivers. While the 2900 xt suffered at the starting, it turned out to be a great card.
 

coldmast

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look, what, I, found {it has a pretty sloppy translation}
http://iax-tech.com/video/3870/38705.htm
apparently Nvidia included some crysis optimizations
if you rename the crysis.exe to something else you turn off these optimizations

still have lots of time to decide which card to get, I am glad after the lack of proper mid-range that the 8350 came out, I don't plan on getting it but it is something :)

deadline is starcraft2

 

aadamszc

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You people act like this review is the worst thing to happen since we found out that ryan seacrest came out of the closet.

It is seriously like you have nothing better to do than complain on a forum. If you do not like Tom's review, go somewhere else. Actually post something constructive. Jesus Christ, grow some common decency.
 

hcforde

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Unfortunately a lot of you are missing the whole picture. With the new ATI cards high-end performance can be had for a mid range price. If you were to purchase 2 of these which is what I believe is clearly in the minds of the ATI boys because of CRYSIS and other game, you can get high performanes without the cost. INCLUDE in that total cost of ownership the cost of a new highpower PSU that you do not need with the the new ATI cards-that is the story everybody is missing
 

cruiseoveride

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for some its not that simple, sli boards dont cut it for crossfire. ive been using nvidia cards for ages, and before them i used 3dfx, i still have my voodoo 3500 even.

moving to ati is an expensive transition. it means for me a new board, and since my socket is EOL, i need a new cpu too, and since DDR is also out, i need new ram and the list goes on....

but if i stick to nvidia, i can put in 2x 8800gt's into my box as it stands and hit the ground running.

but if only the damn 8800gt would come down in price....
 

cruiseoveride

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i'm so fed up with all these crappy solutions by ATI and Nvidia, My E-class is aging and its time to change. I think i'm gonna abstain from gaming for a while and buy myself an S55 AMG instead.

Computer games are fun, but not as fun as cruising downtown in a benz on rims with 4 chicks in the back with your windows down and your system up, pumping out "Stand Clear" by M.O.P, those of you who've had the pleasure of said scenario know exactly that its completely priceless
 

hok

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Dude I totally agree.
 

aadamszc

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Then again a 'benz' would cost considerably more.

That would be priceless though. Especially with a canadian. Eh there?
 

cruiseoveride

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Its not how much money something costs, that should drive you to purchasing it or not, using a single dimension for decision making is not effective.

take the price of the thing you want to buy, then multiply it by (1-i), where is the % of how much you want it, then see which item has the lowest, and then go for that

hahah, you can tell i'm bored...