ATI 3870 - Cheap!, Low Power!, and still has Full Performance!

[Dowly]

Here's a quick test I made with the original Crysis.exe & renamed one.

Settings were all on 'High', 1280x1024 with 8xAA

Original on top, renamed on bottom.





















The only thing that was different (that I noticed off) was the sharpness. With the optimized drivers the game was abit more blurry. Oh and my fps was 2-5 better with the renamed drivers, so whatever Nvidia tried to do with the optimized drivers, it didnt work. :p

[Nightmare]

Anandtech has their review up here. While they had better results than the previous article, the GT is still the faster card.

The Final Word section sums the whole thing up nicely. Here's a snip:

Without a doubt, AMD is back in the graphics game. When the Radeon HD 2900 XT launched, we couldn't be more surprised at how poorly the product did. The lack of competition allowed NVIDIA to sit back and relax as the orders for more 8800-based product kept on flowing in. While the Radeon HD 3870 isn't faster than the GeForce 8800 GT, if AMD can hit its price point, it is a viable alternative if you're looking to save money...

[SUBMAN1]

That about sums it up too. Now off to play the retail version. Just picked it up since I was driving by a Best Buy. Bought the extra version since it has a sound track. I can probably use the sound track with the game The Movies when I get around to it.

-S

[elite_hunter_sh3]

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/593/1/

AMD Has R680 Running Stable in CrossFire



these are the current 3870s. SINGLE GPU, that card is the one that is performance wise weaker then the 8800 gt by around 4-7 fps average in most games.. what most of you havent seen (not 100% sure if everyone here knows..) is that there is a DUAL GPU version called the 3890 (unoffcial) or some people call it the 3870 X2,



this picture shows 4 3870s (single gpu version) on a motherboard with 4 pci-e slots enabling quad crossfire.


THIS however is the dual GPU version, since it uses a DUAL SLOT cooling solution
only 2 video cards can fit, BUT rumours are in a company is planning on making a motherboard that can enable 4 of these monsters in Crossfire

that is the DUAL GPU version, notice the mounting brackets where the GPUs are located, and the memory chips beside them.
the X2 IS THE 8800 killer

[JSLTIGER]

Not when you consider the fact that the X2 is basically the 3870 in Crossfire/SLI mode. The real question is then whether the 8800GT in SLI mode outperforms the 3870 X2. If it does than the 8800GT is the better performer. If not, the 3870 X2. However, to compare a single vid card to one that is essentially two vid cards is an unfair comparison.

[elite_hunter_sh3]

the X2 is 1 video card, but with 2 gpus... a video card is a video card.. and from what ive heard the X2 is faster, then the 8800 ULTRA, and 200$ cheaper...

[JSLTIGER]

Two GPUs means that there are two processors. You cannot compare a card with one processor to a card with two processors (which, by the way, are independent, each with their own RAM, they just happen to be on the same PCB). In order for a fair comparison, you need to compare a 3870 X2 with an 8800 rig in SLI.