ATi HD 3870 X2 (R680); Official Specifications & Images

[Unbornchild]

Btw gentlemen, i would not be disappointed if the card scores exactly the same as 2 3870's in CF (subsequently, priced no more than €350,-)
The interesting part should happen with 2 3870X2's in CF. That's when the card should find its reason for existance: like full AA + AF at 1600x1200 and up with never below 50 fps in all existing recent games.
We still need to see the X-fire numbers.

[Eastcoasthandle]

with Cat 7.11 used and CPU its only +90mhz (200marks difference)


HD3870X2 + Q6600 @ 3333mhz + CaT ?? = 17400 marks (windws Vista)

2x HD3870 + Q6600 @ 3420mhz + CAT 7.11 = 17200 marks (windows vista)


regards

With all things to consider:
Cat used, OS, other PC Hardware, etc a 90+MHz difference in OC should be noticeable in any benchmark result. However, the CPU score is lower then at 3.33GHz. Since we know a healthy CPU OC on a C2Q can affect SM 2/3 I have to wonder what the score would be if it was clocked at 3.33 instead of 3.40. Since that current CF setup (cpu 3.4x) didn't beat X2 at 3.33 I assume that it would be lower. Thus the reason why I say it was a boost. I could be wrong but that's what I assumed.

Btw gentlemen, i would not be disappointed if the card scores exactly the same as 2 3870's in CF (subsequently, priced no more than €350,-)
The interesting part should happen with 2 3870X2's in CF. That's when the card find it's reason for existance: full AA + AF at 1600x1200 and up with 50+ fps in all existing recent games.
We still need to see the X-fire numbers.

Not only that if the new drivers add anything to performance. But most of all if it's actually the same as CF and it works in all current games that's a win-win in my book. The concern (for me as well as others) is compatibility with all current gen games.

[VSpecII]

If we were to assume for the sake of argument that 4-way Crossfire was possible, and it consumed 8 times the power of a standard 3870, and that the rest of the system at load sucked in about 200 watts (I pulled that number out of my pooper), and if we were to further assume you lived in one of a few select parts of the United States or Canada, playing games on this could pump out right around 400 liters of CO2 an hour.

You should physically be able to feel the planet warm around you.

[STaRGaZeR]

APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON

First, Q6600@3000Mhz, 3870CF stock, Catalyst 7.12, Vista x64 totally untweaked



For the lazy ppl:

- SM2.0 = 6137
- SM3.0 = 7510
- CPU Score = 4373
- Total Score = 15736

Second, Q6600@3330Mhz, 3870CF stock, Catalyst 7.12, Vista x64 totally untweaked



- SM2.0 = 6849
- SM3.0 = 7933
- CPU Score = 4808
- Total Score = 17100

Perfomance boost? I don't think so . Again, I'm asking myself how the 3870X2 will perform in games without CF profile vs 3870CF, that's the real question.

[Eastcoasthandle]

APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON

First, Q6600@3000Mhz, 3870CF stock, Catalyst 7.12, Vista x64 totally untweaked



Second, Q6600@3330Mhz, 3870CF stock, Catalyst 7.12, Vista x64 totally untweaked



Perfomance boost? I don't think so . Again, I'm asking myself how the 3870X2 will perform in games without CF profile vs 3870CF, that's the real question.

I believe you concentrated more on the final score more so then the sm 2.0/3.0 scores. In which there is a difference found between CF and X2, even with you having a higher CPU score. What does this mean for Cat 8.1? Don't know yet until it's released. In all we are still only comparing CF to CF with different CPU overclocks and different OS.

[STaRGaZeR]

I have concentrated in all the scores. You should consider Aero is turned ON in my tests, SpeedStep is ON too, and it's just reboot and run.

The 3870X2 scores are with Aero OFF, and that makes impact in SM2.0 and SM3.0 perfomance. Again, there is no perfomance boost in this card for 06. The CPU clock on my test is exactly the same too...

[Eastcoasthandle]

I have concentrated in all the scores. You should consider Aero is turned ON in my tests, SpeedStep is ON too, and it's just reboot and run.

The 3870X2 scores are with Aero OFF, and that makes impact in SM2.0 and SM3.0 perfomance. Again, there is no perfomance boost in this card for 06. The CPU clock on my test is exactly the same too...

And your use of Vista 64 therefore not the same as the previous benchmark results.

[STaRGaZeR]

And your use of Vista 64 therefore not the same as the previous benchmark results.

OK, keep thinking all you want, the scores are there. There is no magic in this card, just two 3870s. And 3DMark is a 32bit app

[Eastcoasthandle]

OK, keep thinking all you want, the scores are there. There is no magic in this card, just two 3870s. And 3DMark is a 32bit app

I see the tables have turned now, before it wasn't ok to use 2 of the same CPUs at different OCs but we are suppose to allow for 64 bit OS over a 32 bit OS? In any case we need to wait until the video card is released and we will see. Like another poster stated (and I assume some won't care) if the frame rates of an X2 are the same from CF it doesn't matter. I believe what will be important (as I've posted before) is if it's compatible with all current gen games. If there is an actually improvement over CF, the more the better!

[Anth Seebel]

I'm asking myself how the 3870X2 will perform in games without CF profile vs 3870CF, that's the real question.

Indeed.

AMD driver ain't my cup of tea.

In any case, 3870X2 at last will force NVIDIA to release their next highend card.

[Unbornchild]

AMD driver ain't my cup of tea.

Because you have a GF8800. Now shall us with a ATI card go posting in nVidia threads that Forceware is not our cup of tea?

[realsmasher]

11% more clock results in nearly 9% more 3d power ? wtf ?

3dmark06 really sucks.

[Kinshou Kuma]

Does anyone know if games will treat this card as a single gpu or does the game need to support crossfire in order to support both cores. If the card is treated as a single gpu in game and utilizes both cores then thats a significant advantage over a dual card setup

[pak]

Indeed.

AMD driver ain't my cup of tea.

In any case, 3870X2 at last will force NVIDIA to release their next highend card.

Nvidia is releasing a 9800GX2. I wouldn't call it next gen, but more of a reply to this card. The 9800GX2 is two g92's with 1gig of ram per card. It is rumored to run 30% faster than the ultra.

The winner between these two cards will come down to price and driver support imo. The 3870x2 is rumored to be ~$400 which would put it at a very nice price. Article speculate the 9800gx2 around the same price, but I doubt that. I don't see nvidia pricing the 9800gx2 less than current GTX's and ultras. Just doesn't seem like good pricing strategy, but who knows.

And last I have heard, nvidias next gen cards have been pushed back to summer.

Link to OCforums discussion

--pak

[mascaras]

Does anyone know if games will treat this card as a single gpu or does the game need to support crossfire in order to support both cores. If the card is treated as a single gpu in game and utilizes both cores then thats a significant advantage over a dual card setup

For me , thats the thing that realy matters :

Crossfire must be enable in CCC with one HD3870X2 ????

if so , then the games need to suport crossfire (same thing as 2x HD3870 CF )


regardss

[Soulburner]

It looks to me like the on-board chip is going to take care of the communication between the GPUs. Hardware X-Fire instead of software is in theory, much better. The system should not know the difference.

[Origin_Unknown]

It looks to me like the on-board chip is going to take care of the communication between the GPUs. Hardware X-Fire instead of software is in theory, much better. The system should not know the difference.

lets hope thats the case but ive seen some screenys on here (in sure i have) of windows device manager and it shows two gpus'

[STaRGaZeR]

That's the point: "Hardware" Crossfire should work with every game out there, if the driver is good. No need to work in every CF profile for every concrete game, always use AFR, that 3DMark perfomance translated to every game in every situation.

Bah sounds too good to be true. But let's hope so.

[mascaras]

lets hope thats the case but ive seen some screenys on here (in sure i have) of windows device manager and it shows two gpus'

yep :


HD3870X2 Crossfire (4 GPUs)

That's the point: "Hardware" Crossfire should work with every game out there, if the driver is good. No need to work in every CF profile for every concrete game, always use AFR, that 3DMark perfomance translated to every game in every situation.

Bah sounds too good to be true. But let's hope so.

if we need to ENABLE CROSSFIRE in CCC to HD3870X2 Works so its same thing as TWO HD3870 in CF (need CF profile) , thats the big question ........





regards

[Origin_Unknown]

thats actually quite weird.

If its called 3870x2 because its got two gpu's onboard why are all of those called 3870x2? wouldnt that mean 4 cards?

[pak]

can you run three of these?

--pak

[STaRGaZeR]

thats actually quite weird.

If its called 3870x2 because its got two gpu's onboard why are all of those called 3870x2? wouldnt that mean 4 cards?

That's because two of them are in CF. So Windows interpretes each GPU as a 3870X2, total of 4. Weird, but who cares about the names

CCC showing 4 GPUs is interesting. Now, with 2 3870CF I can only see one. As someone in this thread already posted, it can be an indicative of the possibility of multiple monitors conected to the "secondary cards" in the new driver.

No pak, you can only run two of these for a total of 4 GPUs.

mascaras I don't think we will have to enable CF running only one 3870X2. Not because it doesn't need it, but because it's already activated by default when the driver detects the card.

[Anth Seebel]

Because you have a GF8800. Now shall us with a ATI card go posting in nVidia threads that Forceware is not our cup of tea?

No because I had a 2900XT (ala close to 3870 performance) and Im not subjecting myself to AMD's driver team again, while they ain't got a true next gen part. 3870X2 does not entice me at all.

Post what you like, it's a forum, Im posting my experience, pretty simple.

I look forward to what NVIDIA put out after 9800X2.

[Cooper]

can you run three of these?

--pak

Actually you can run even 4 in single system. but you'll be able to combine only two in XF since there's only one connection interface available. though with good skills you may use 4 of these cards for some GPGPU.

[Zytek_Fan]

First half of this year is the time of the dual card "monsters"...not quite exciting...

Does anyone know if the production 3870 X2's will use solid caps? There's a few pics of pre-production models with tall electrolyte caps...