Radeon HD 3870 X2 - Fastest Yet! (ARTICLE BACK UP!)

[pchoi04]

Hope nobody has beaten me to the punch.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/28/ati_r680_the_rage_fury_maxx_2/

Looks pretty solid so far, and could get better with official drivers. Not trying to sound like a Fan Boy, but not entirely convinced that this is going to win me over to ATI. Now I wonder what Nvidia will bring to the table.

What are your thoughts?

 

[LyonheartAz]

I am dieing to see what this will do x2 or 4 ? can you put 4 of these on the 4x crossfire boards?.. or will it be limited to just two ? at any rate, I want to see test results of at least two of these X2s in action. Several hundred dollars less, than two ultras) when doing multi cards for better performance sound pretty good to me. And its DX10.1

 

[Tsukasa]

Nicely done! Have to appreciate the post date January 23 00:01

The one thing I noticed was missing was the comparison between two 3870's in Crossfire and the 3870x2. It would definitely be worth adding in my opinion.

Only thing left to do is find some of these babies for sale somewhere, today

 

[pchoi04]

Well... Unless I'm mistaken, I don't believe you can do a 4 way crossfire with the 3870x2. But seeing that 2 GPUs can barely take down a single 8800Ultra, I don't know if I can call that impressive considering the Ultra has been out for 8months now. Also as we saw some games do not take advantage of crossfire. For this reason I'm also a bit worried about the GX2 for this same reason.

But it is pretty exciting to see some new cards.

 

[CorbinDallas]

I'd like to see two 3870X2's in Crossfire as well.

And I wonder if you could do 4 way, since the cards appear as one card? 8GPU's? Creezy man.

 

[randomizer]

The review has gone, did toms break NDA? Tisk tisk

 

[skittle]

Barely takes down the 8800 ultra (the ultra actually wins in some tests)... which is barely above 8800gts 512. Its power consumption rivals the 2900xt.

I think i will pass.

 

[IndigoMoss]

Damn it all! I really wanted to read the review. For those who did, what was it's performance in games that didn't take advantage of CF? Did it perform like a 3870 would, or did it actually still beat the Ultra.

For the poster that was saying that it isn't that impressive since the Ultra is one card; the Ultra wasn't that impressive to begin with, since all they did was take a GTX and overclock it and raise it's price $200 dollars more.

 

[flip_x]

thats gay i only got to page 5 =(

Edit... http://www.fpslabs.com/reviews/video/amd-radeon-hd-3870-x2-review

Atleast its something for now..

 

[acidpython]

Ultra wins because the drivers are more suited for some games. The 3870X2 is being pushed back a week to tweak the drivers . Also no you can't run these 4 of these at once they don't have enough crossfire connectors.

 

[pchoi04]

Damn it all! I really wanted to read the review. For those who did, what was it's performance in games that didn't take advantage of CF? Did it perform like a 3870 would, or did it actually still beat the Ultra.

For the poster that was saying that it isn't that impressive since the Ultra is one card; the Ultra wasn't that impressive to begin with, since all they did was take a GTX and overclock it and raise it's price $200 dollars more.

Well... I'm not saying that I was impressed with the ULTRA but we're still talking about two cards (GTX + ULTRA) that were uncontested for for over a year. And now 2008, lets be real, ATI has just caught up. And it took them two GPUs in Crossfire vs one GPU that has been out for over a year. Again not trying to sound like a nvidia fan boy, I've owned ATI cards in the past, but I don't think this is enough for me to want to go back to ATI.

But I'm still willing to give this card a chance, maybe with new drivers this card could be a real killer but ATI havent shown us much in the last year so its hard to stay hopeful.

 

[mohikangamer]

Agree! was not very impressive to me. Cmon, 2 gpus vs 1 gpu. Ati can barely knock out an Ultra, bit it needs two card to achieve this. How about ati 3870 x2 vs Ultra SLI, now things will overturn. Now, lets wait for 9800x2 on mid February. Im sure 9800x2 will outperform ati x2.

 

[randomizer]

Agree! was not very impressive to me. Cmon, 2 gpus vs 1 gpu. Ati can barely knock out an Ultra, bit it needs two card to achieve this. How about ati 3870 x2 vs Ultra SLI, now things will overturn. Now, lets wait for 9800x2 on mid February. Im sure 9800x2 will outperform ati x2.

Funny you mention that, because the cost of 2 ultras would buy you 4 3870s :lol:

 

[mactronix]

Are we actually expecting some real performance here or is this just another flash in the pan ATI have gone this route before they di dit with a 1900 series card and a 2600 maybe some more as well but its only the Nvidia based x2 card that you ever hear anything about.
Have they worked out how to make it work properly now or some thing ? looking in to my crystal ball all i see happening is ATI releasing the card (which they alresdy tried to rush in to circulation by the look of things) and getting some performance at the top level (at last) only for Nvidia to release their version which will most likley hammer the ATI card, it will be like no this is how you do it.
Im really looking for some competition from ATI as it makes life better for everyone but if the reviews were right and its not that impressive then Nvidia can release there next card when ready.
Is it just possable that some bod conected with ATI saw the reviews and said hang on thats not right and realised there was some thing wrong like "whoa we showed in tests that we had 25-30% over an Ultra better phone work andsee whats gone wrong" ?
Yea i know i wish :lol:
Mactronix

 

[JuiceJones]

I'm happy I read the whole thing before it was taken down. The whole "Fastest Yet!" is hardly cut-and-dry, with crossfire/driver/game support issues, and the fact the G92 X2 should quickly reclaim the lead, albeit with similar issues.

 

[randomizer]

Who took screenshots?

 

[mactronix]

Never mind screen shots anybody take a hard copy

 

[spoonboy]

Barely takes down the 8800 ultra (the ultra actually wins in some tests)... which is barely above 8800gts 512. Its power consumption rivals the 2900xt.

I think i will pass.

yeah but the ultras power consumption was similar to the 2900xt's, probably more. I think the excitement is about ultra performance for a GOOD price.

 

[gpippas]

Surely regardless of how long it has taken to be released or for ATI to be competative is irrelavant.

Are you people listening to yourselves "barely takes down an 8800 ultra". In the 8 hours sleep I just had a lot must have changed becuase the Ultra was still king of hill before I went to bed and not considered a mainstream card.

As I didn't get to see the review before it was taken downbut judging from the replies it does beat an 8800 ultra. Now I just checked on Newegg and Ultra's are selling for over $650. This has RRP $450.It appears to me that price/performance ratio is tipped slightly in the favour of the 3870 x2.

My opinion is that the 3870 X2 will be the top performance card untill the release of the 9800GX2 which will probably beat it by the same margin of difference between a 8800gt and a 3870.

 

[Sarcastic]

I will agree with gpippas, while the gx2 nVidia card will most likely be faster, it will also probably cost significantly more. You are also limited to nVidia chipsets that are inferior and more limited to Intels offerings. If this card releases at a $450 price that is incredible performance for the money. Perhaps it will get nVidia to lower the prices on their cards.

 

[gpippas]

I don't know if the gx2 will be nvidia chipset only but I know for a fact that the 3870 x2 can be used with any chipset because windows and CCC recognise it as a single card rather than Xfire.

Hopefully not only will nvidia drop there prices but the release of the gx2 will cause ATI to also drop there prices a little.

 

[mactronix]

To gpippas

Depends on if you want to bother looking at the big picture or not the lack of competition is bad we can all agree on that cant we? no competition = no price wars = dearer cards.
As we both seem to agree on the card only being king of the hill untill the 9800GX2 gets released then that puts us back to square 1. As i said before it seems due to the lack of them being in the market place that ATI havent had much success with their dual GPU cards in the past but Nvidia have had better luck with the 7950x2 (not sure of the exact name i think that it) so when Nvidia do release the 9800GX2 personally im expecting quite a big gap.
You said Ultra's are selling for over $650. This has RRP $450. but when was the last time you can remember a card selling for RRP its only a guide.

Mactronix

 

[cnumartyr]

HD3870X2 = Big success for ATi.

Stop looking at it as CF on a card. It is the future really... Dual Chip, Dual Core.. all that kinda stuff for graphics. Provided it starts to scale well it's on a single PCB.

9800 GX2 is an extension of the 7950 GX2 and will likely encounter some of the same problems (Heat being the primary). Odds are it will be faster.

We (consumers) have to look at this in two ways. Ultimate Performance (which SLI'd Ultras still have) or price/performance. The HD3870 and 3850 are great for price/performance. The closest comparison I can think of is the HD3870X2 versus SLI'd 8800 GTs. I would like to see some Benchmarks there.

The other thing is.. lets face it. nVidia chipsets are garbage compared to Intel. SLI ties you into an nVidia motherboard. I really wish nVidia would get over themselves and unlock SLI on all boards so that we can once again pick boards based on merit and ability rather than the "platform" idea. This is the main thing steering me toward ATi on my next build. R700 here I come.

Edit: The other thing.. in the discrete market where are the bulk of the sales coming from? It's definately not going to be the HD3870X2 or the Ultra.. It's the HD3850s, the HD36 series, the 8800 GT, or the 8600 GT/9600 GT series.

 

[gpippas]

mactronix

First off yeah I agree no competition = no price wars = dearer cards.

The 9800GX2 will no doubt be quicker than the 3870x2. The big question is by how much exactly. Current rumors suggest about 30% over the 8800 ultra.

Using the 8800 Ultra as a base 100%. The 3870X2 currently looks on track to be 115%. With the 9800GX2 at a possible 130% that leaves a measly 15% performance difference, which is like 5 fps. Not only that but if the 9800GX2 is priced at 15% more than the 3870X2, there price/performance ratio = to eachother.

True generally nothing sells at RRP but as long as it doesn't cost more than a 8800 ultra it is relatively good value.

I see what you are saying about ATI still not being on top but the margin isn't as big as before but:

1. When the 2900xt was released it was outperformed by the 8800gts 640mb, 8800gtx and the 8800ultra.

2. The 3870 is currently outperformed by the 8800gt, 8800gts 512mb, 8800gtx and the 8800ultra.

3. The 3870X2 at release is outperformed by nothing. When the 9800GX2 is released it will outperform the 3870x2.

Ok it won't hold the overall performance crown for long but its the closest ATI has come in over a year. They are slowly narrowing the gap which to me is a decent sign of competition. And if the trend continues they might be able to have the performance crown the very high end by the end of the year.

Greg

 

[LukeBird]

It's amazing how far people will take an argument out of context to suit themselves... (I won't quote to embarass them!)
There is a lot of "but it has taken a dual-core graphics card from ATi to beat the GTX & Ultra". Yes, but what exactly is nvidia bringing to the table to compete with 3870X2.... oh yeah, what is in effect two 8800GT's in permanent SLi....
To me, that is no better or worse than what ATi have released...
GTX & Ultra are monsters that consume power in vast quantities, are difficult to house in cases, are tied to nvidia boards if you want SLi, produce fairly enormous amounts of heat....
The 3870X2 is much smaller, is probably a little lower on power consumption, seemingly has better thermal management (55nm appears to be a benefit).
The 3870 may be a nailed together card (or core, depending on your viewpoint) but it IS new technology, not just refreshed as (seemingly) the 9800GX2 is.
Nvidia, I think, are going into an AMD style complacency of "we're the best" and if the 3870X2 performs as strongly as suggested, they may just find this card sells remarkably better than their top stuff.
I should add (further to my thread in here) I am very much considering going to Crossfire'd 3870 or 3870X2 instead of my GTX.