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Get a single slot 3870 or a 2 slot 3870

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Profile: journeyman
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I need to know if the single slot 3870s better then the 2 slot ones. Do they have overheating problems or are they louder or what?

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Profile: stranger
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i got a single slot one and ive never seen it over 60'c at load, oc'ed to 875/2540!

it is a little louder than my old card, but its not exactly waking anybody up at night!!

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Profile: journeyman
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Ok so would i be better off getting the Sapphire Toxic 3870

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102732

Or save a little bit of money and just get the non-toxic version?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102719

I like sapphire i bought a x1600 pro for my aging p4 3.0 AGP rig a few years back. Great improvement over my 9600XT All in Wonder card.

Not impossible, inevitable
Profile: enthusiast
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I've read that the non-toxic version has a loud cooling setup, and that the Toxic is very quiet. I have no personal experience with these cards though, so maybe you can take that with a grain of salt.


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Maximus Formula | e6850@3.84 | 4 GB Kingston HyperX @851 4-4-4-12-2t | Zalman 9700 | Silverstone 750 | Sapphire 3870x2 | Visontek 3870 OC | 500 GB Vista 32 OS | 74 GB Raptor RAID0 | 74 GB Raptor RAID1 |Samsung SATA DVD | X-Fi Fatal1ty | Thermaltake Armor
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Profile: enthusiast
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Another thought, dual slot coolers will exhaust out of the case, single slot will not.


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Because Mike Rowe said so!
Profile: nimble knuckle
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firebird wrote :

Another thought, dual slot coolers will exhaust out of the case, single slot will not.


I always go for the 2slot cooler that exhausts the warm air. Just a better setup I think and the coolers fins are usually longer which gives you more cooling surface area. Just a thought. I don't know why they even have a single slot cooler. Makes me made cause I was going to get one and then Sapphire started making them with single slot coolers. Probably cheaper to make.


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Profile: Faithful Poster
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I agree with Firebird's last remark. A dual-slot GPU will exhaust its heat out of your case and cause more cool air to be sucked in. That is a Good Thing.


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Profile: enthusiast
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Quote :

I don't know why they even have a single slot cooler.



I want to add a 3rd 3870, but I have 2 PCI cards in the system already. I don't have room on the 2nd PCIe slot for a dual slot cooler. Unless I watercool, but that's another couple hundred dollars I'm not willing to spend right now.


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Profile: journeyman
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Hey thanks i guess I will get the diamond Hd 3870 its on sell right now for $179.99. Air flow is not a problem for me i have the Antec 900 with the 3 120s stock and the 200 top fan. I also added the side panel 120 fan for VGA cooling.


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Profile: nimble knuckle
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geckoar wrote :

Hey thanks i guess I will get the diamond Hd 3870 its on sell right now for $179.99. Air flow is not a problem for me i have the Antec 900 with the 3 120s stock and the 200 top fan. I also added the side panel 120 fan for VGA cooling.


You will have no issues then. good case flow will keep everything running smooth. Video cards can run pretty hot without issues, they are made that way.

Are you shopping at Newegg? or are you out of country?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102719

Have you also looked at the 9600GT? It seems to play tug of war with the 3870's depending on games and is a little cheaper because of rebates.


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Profile: journeyman
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yeah I use newegg for every thing. I looked at the 9600gt and I know the 3870 is Faster without AA on (Most of the time)I have a 24" LCD And I play alot of RTS and some FPS and Lots of RPG. So I will play at 1920x1200 for the RTS and 1680x1050 for shooters. And I like all the Eye candy but I really dont see too much differencne with or without AA on. SO with AA on get 9600gt without get 3870. I'm also builting a spider Build and I cant wait for the HD 4000s (Hopefully then will be good) :)


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Profile: nimble knuckle
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geckoar wrote :

yeah I use newegg for every thing. I looked at the 9600gt and I know the 3870 is Faster without AA on (Most of the time)I have a 24" LCD And I play alot of RTS and some FPS and Lots of RPG. So I will play at 1920x1200 for the RTS and 1680x1050 for shooters. And I like all the Eye candy but I really dont see too much differencne with or without AA on. SO with AA on get 9600gt without get 3870. I'm also builting a spider Build and I cant wait for the HD 4000s (Hopefully then will be good) :)


That's because at higher resolutions AA doesnt seem to make as much of a difference. IF you had really big fat pixels it probably would though. Like lets say 1920x1200 on a 30" screen instead of 24" you would notice the edges more.

In my non Bias opinion I would go with the 9600Gt over the 3870. It seems to have more of an advantage in more games. If you play games that the 3870 has the advantage most often then id select that. If you have a Crossfire mobo and are contemplating a 2nd card then I'd go 3870 as well. Otherwise the 9600Gt seems like the better deal.


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Profile: journeyman
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Yeah im looking to get the 3870 and in may or june get a 4850 or 4870 and do crossfire. (Or get a 4870x2 and run tri crossfire.)


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Profile: member
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My HD 3870 is overclocked to 830 / 2300 with basic cooling only, the temperature at load is around 64 C. Except to play Crysis this card is OK. I am also planning to get HD 4870 around June for crossfire with 3870 for higher resolution.

Not impossible, inevitable
Profile: enthusiast
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I've always thought that when using crossfire with different models, the performance would be brought down to the slowest card. Is that true?


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Profile: journeyman
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indeed it is firebird

Not impossible, inevitable
Profile: enthusiast
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So then I wonder why Crazy-PC and geckoar are waiting for 4xxx versions to come out to crossfire with the 3870. Seems like you would be paying for performance you couldn't use.


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Profile: nimble knuckle
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geckoar wrote :

yeah I use newegg for every thing. I looked at the 9600gt and I know the 3870 is Faster without AA on (Most of the time)I have a 24" LCD And I play alot of RTS and some FPS and Lots of RPG. So I will play at 1920x1200 for the RTS and 1680x1050 for shooters. And I like all the Eye candy but I really dont see too much differencne with or without AA on. SO with AA on get 9600gt without get 3870. I'm also builting a spider Build and I cant wait for the HD 4000s (Hopefully then will be good) :)


The 9600 also uses less power to run and gives off less heat as well.


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Profile: enthusiast
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Would have to agree with firebird, if you crossfire the 3870 with a new 4000 series card when they come out your going to loose some performance due to Crossfire defaulting to the lower spec card for settings.

Gosh, i love ATI
Profile: addict
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who keeps on spewing this unfounded assumption that you can crossfire the new 4000 cards with the current ones?


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