Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > ATI > Two Sapphire Atomic HD 3870s or One ATI 3870 X2?

Two Sapphire Atomic HD 3870s or One ATI 3870 X2?

Forum Graphic & Displays : ATI - Two Sapphire Atomic HD 3870s or One ATI 3870 X2?

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Seraphic   01-13-2008 at 12:54:44 AM

Hi,

So, which is the better buy? Two Sapphire Atomic HD 3870s in PCIe 2.0 Crossfire or one ATI 3870 X2?

The Atomic comes overclocked at 825Mhz, a great bundle, and the card is single slot, so less heat. Looking at the VGA Charts, it looks like a 825Mhz 3870 is performs near a GTX Ultra (at least in DOOM3), so how would two Atomics perform vs an Ultra?
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=288

As for the 3780 X2, there are no benchmarks as of yet (at least that I have seen), but is there a chance that one 3780 X2s could blow two Atomics in crossfire away? The 3780 X2 also is a dual slot card and seems to need a 6pin+8pin, so more heat and needs more power.

There is talk that 3780 X2 will cost $400 to $500, and the Atomics will cost about $260 each. But, this is not taking into account retail markups and price gouging. :non:

What do you think?


Message edited by Seraphic on 01-13-2008 at 12:57:01 AM
Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Loser777   01-13-2008 at 01:10:04 AM
- 0 +

I would assume the 3870 X2 would scale better since it's two cores on one PCB though I don't know what a difference that would make.
However, I would wait anyway, maybe some price drops for 3870's after it's released.

------------------------------ AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.27 (Crappy Mobo)
7600GT @ 626/1.51 '05 Score: 6500
4GB DDR2 884 @ 5-5-5-15 (This RAM is for my new system in the summer, using now cause I bought it early-had an insane deal for it)
Samsung HD160JJ
Reply to Loser777
badgtx1969   01-13-2008 at 01:19:09 AM
- 0 +

There is a thread about the benchies that are 'leaking' out:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] 14-3dmarks

The 3870x2 may be better than 2 crossfired 3870s - but these benchmarks may be faked or with unreleased drivers.

------------------------------ Take what man makes and use it,
But do not worship it,
For it shall pass.
 Reply to badgtx1969
bfellow   01-14-2008 at 09:31:43 PM
- 0 +

3dmark scores are not the best indication if the card is better than the next similar performing one.


Message edited by bfellow on 01-14-2008 at 09:32:02 PM
------------------------------ Q9400 @3.2Ghz-HD4870 512MB GDDR5-2GB DDR2-1066
"You figured it out. All new CPU's are nothing but overclocked Pentium 1's with a few bells and whistles added, ask any ol timer whose been around."

 

Reply to bfellow

vochtige   01-14-2008 at 09:56:13 PM
- 0 +

when does the 3870 come on the market?

Reply to vochtige
miltoxbeyond   01-14-2008 at 11:48:35 PM
- 0 +

Single slot cooler does not mean less heat... double slot cooler usually throws the heat outside the case, meaning less heat within the case itself.

Other than that. The X2 would be a better bet, because if crossfire indeed scales well you could get another X2 to do a four "gpu" crossfire config in two slots.

Reply to miltoxbeyond
zmanszmail   01-17-2008 at 03:29:49 AM
- 0 +

does anyone have answers to these.

first does anyone know what happened to the saphire 3870 Model# 100215L the dual slot? newegg got rid of it.

second could you mix one of the new atomics with the first generation 3870?

lastly can you mix manufacturers with the 3870s?

Reply to zmanszmail
Ilander   01-17-2008 at 03:54:23 AM
- 0 +

Yes, you can do that. ATI only requires (atm) that you crossfire the same gpu...and there are hints of that going out the window in the near future.

Reply to Ilander
Seraphic   01-17-2008 at 05:38:31 AM
- 0 +

Does the 3870 scale 1:1? Meaning, is the double the performance when using two in crossfire PCIe 2.0 lanes? If yes, does it perform near a 8800 GTX/Ultra?

Reply to Seraphic
Kohlhagen   01-17-2008 at 06:47:49 AM
- 0 +

I think our GPUs are CPU limited, We can't even use up the PCI-E 2.0 lane.. But 2 of those would make a good run for the money.. Not too much better than dual 8800GTXs.. But we need Toms hardware to get a nice Quadcore @ 4+ghz too give these things the juice to push some nice benchmarks out..

Reply to Kohlhagen
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > ATI > Two Sapphire Atomic HD 3870s or One ATI 3870 X2?
Go to:

There are 1311 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.907 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them