ATI HD 3800 Review Thread

[v_rr]

As much as everyone that Loves ATI wants these cards to be faster than the 8800GT, it is NOT!!! nor will it ever be with future drivers, just like the 2900XT was NOT faster than the 8800GTS/GTX......trust me i wish they were so i could crossfire 2 of them, but im not going to upgrade intill the next generation of video cards comes along, rv700/9 series.

2900XT is NOT faster than the 8800GTS??

2900XT by this recent reviews is absolutly shure faster then 8800GTS 640mb. And that was all due to drivers.

As the part:

nor will it ever be with future drivers,

Ya right, you must have some cristal ball.....

[Eastcoasthandle]

For some this is a gap stop as we await next gen GPUs. At around $200 its worth it knowing that within a few weeks better is coming. But when you get around $300, that's a different story. IMO, the GT is pricing itself well out of the mid range into high end. The performance is right next to the GTX and most are priced around $300. That looks about right since it beats the GTS which is not a mid range GPU(s). With availability as low as it is it make me wonder if GT is a high end gpu. It would explain the availability aspect of it IMO. That would make the GT an high end part competing with a midrange part. Who knows...

Final note:
If CF drivers increase thus increasing performance some who purchased a CF setup using 3800 series will think twice before buying a higher end product at a higher price IMO.

[Shintai]

2900XT is NOT faster than the 8800GTS??

2900XT by this recent reviews is absolutly shure faster then 8800GTS 640mb. And that was all due to drivers.

Oh lord...havent we been over this a few times before?
faster in what? 3Dmark06?






Now give a rest.

[Eastcoasthandle]

I found a 3850 in CF, results are not bad at all!
Anandtech
In those 2 games the performance is on par with the GTX at a lower price point to boot.

[Eastcoasthandle]

With Casino Royal (H.264 codec), 3870 uses 5.8% CPU usage. The 8800GT uses 18.2% of the cpu. With Pirates of the Carribean (H.264 codec), 3870 uses 5.9% cpu usage. The 8800GT uses 19.5% cpu usage.

With King Kong (using VC-1 codec), 3870 uses 6.7% . The 8800GT uses 84% cpu usage. uses The performance is nearly identical using The Matrix (using VC-1 codec).

[STaRGaZeR]

Pirates of the Caribbean is encoded using H264 too

[Eastcoasthandle]

source

Just got some interesting info from The Stilt at MuroBBS
He's been testing a HD3870, and like pretty much all reviewers who have OCd the card, reached ~860MHz.
He said, that ATI has already released a new BIOS to fix an issue with the current/review cards - they have the PLL VIO divider set wrong, which prevents the cards from reaching over 862MHz on core. However, most of the retail cards should carry the new BIOS, luckily.

He promised to report with the new BIOS on OCs tomorrow

What's the likelihood that reviewers will revisit the GPU with the bios update?

If this is set wrong we should see an increase in performance at standard clock . As you OC the performance should scale a whole lot better then before.

Where is this bios

[96redformula]

source

What's the likelihood that reviewers will revisit the GPU with the bios update?

If this is set wrong we should see an increase in performance at standard clock . As you OC the performance should scale a whole lot better then before.

Where is this bios

I don't care if they re-review the card or not. Just so long as I get the results from a user I will be satisfied.

[Philip_J_Fry]

the 3870 for 220 bux @ egg was a good deal.. its sold out tho ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...me=Video+Cards

[L7R]

Another review - this time in french

[Clint]

Source[/QUOTE]


Ahh, what a joke that review was..

Btw, how can anyone compare CPU usage playing HD in Vista??
Vista will allways hoover on a few percent, rendering the comparison between cards useless.

[RAW-Raptor22]

Wow... maybe ATI is on to something... crossfire seems a lot more reasonable... too bad dual cards are still glitchy...

[Miwo]

source

What's the likelihood that reviewers will revisit the GPU with the bios update?

If this is set wrong we should see an increase in performance at standard clock . As you OC the performance should scale a whole lot better then before.

Where is this bios

Thats the news I was hoping for. My 3870 is arriving on Monday hopefully, and the Accelero S1 I have laying around here should fit fine. I'll slap a 140mm Yate for some cool & quiet OCing

[Unbornchild]

The French review system setup:

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850
nForce 680i SLI EVGA
2 Go DDR2
Windows Vista
Forceware 169.04 (169.05 pour Crysis)
Catalyst 7.10 beta

[L7R]

Ahh, what a joke that review was..

How? In Ati or Nvidia point of view? I think Ati did pretty well -except DX10 of course. And that was one of the 2 reviews who actually did their testing at same resolution and operating system as 85% of all gamers (according to steam). Btw, finally seeing someone reviewing games with acceptable framerates, that's my opinion.

[L7R]

It seems more and more that in DX9, 512MB 3850 is direct competitor to 8800 GTS 640MB (at 8600GTS price).
But... Vista, DX10 and more importantly 64bit OS just smash every Radeon to pieces!

[Clint]

The French review system setup:
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850
nForce 680i SLI EVGA
2 Go DDR2
Windows Vista
Forceware 169.04 (169.05 pour Crysis)
Catalyst 7.10 beta

Hehe, exactly..

[v_rr]

Oh lord...havent we been over this a few times before?
faster in what? 3Dmark06?
Now give a rest.

On that review all ATI cards (HD 3870 inclusive) loses by larges margins in everything. Curiously that doesn´t happen in other reviews.
All ATI on that review must have Shintai Biased sindrome

I like your biased handpicked reviews.

[voltaire2030]

Finally !

I had a bit of problems with my new gig... One OCZ XTC PC8500 stick faulty, will need to RMA ... But system is stable now ... Everything at stock, no OC will wait to have all my WC stuff ...

I have 13,240 3dmark06 and my friend on SLI 8800 GT around 12k ... but he have a X2 6000... That's on Vista 32 and with the default Catalyst that I got from Diamond ...

Details :

http://http://service.futuremark.com...0&UID=12163913

One plus I find with CF is that you don't need to specify, compare to Nv SLI,witch games you need to run in CF ... I didn't play yet Crysis on CF, waiting to get the game soon .... but I played COD4 at 1920*1200 (Dell 24-HC) at EVERYTHING at max and run around 40 and 60 FPS everytime .... Now I'm happy ... Cant wait to OC those cards and find some WC blocks for them, should be good enough for Crysis at high ...

[SimonL]

Finally !

I had a bit of problems with my new gig... One OCZ XTC PC8500 stick faulty, will need to RMA ... But system is stable now ... Everything at stock, no OC will wait to have all my WC stuff ...

I have 13,240 3dmark06 and my friend on SLI 8800 GT around 12k ... but he have a X2 6000... That's on Vista 32 and with the default Catalyst that I got from Diamond ...

Details :

http://http://service.futuremark.com...0&UID=12163913

One plus I find with CF is that you don't need to specify, compare to Nv SLI,witch games you need to run in CF ... I didn't play yet Crysis on CF, waiting to get the game soon .... but I played COD4 at 1920*1200 (Dell 24-HC) at EVERYTHING at max and run around 40 and 60 FPS everytime .... Now I'm happy ... Cant wait to OC those cards and find some WC blocks for them, should be good enough for Crysis at high ...

correct link http://service.futuremark.com/orb/re...0&UID=12163913

[L7R]

Congrats voltaire! At least blocks are not so hard to find compared to 2900xt.
Can't wait catalyst 7.11 -7.10 was so great job from ati. Crysis and COD4 should see improvements. More crossfire profiles would also be nice.

[Bigchrome]

On that review all ATI cards (HD 3870 inclusive) loses by larges margins in everything. Curiously that doesn´t happen in other reviews.

I like your biased handpicked reviews.















All ATI on that review must have Shintai Biased sindrome

That bioshock result for 2900XT is WRONG. With 1920X1200 and maxed I get 60+fps all the time.

[madcho]

old drivers maybe

[STaRGaZeR]

That bioshock result for 2900XT is WRONG. With 1920X1200 and maxed I get 60+fps all the time.

LOL same here. Reviews just make me smile

[Eastcoasthandle]

^^Agreed, there is a more simpler way to determine the validity of any given reviewer. Each GPU will always scale a certain way for example when at 800x600 to 1280x1024 or from 0xAA to 4xAA. I believe it's repeatable and can weed out any bad reviews. Take a look here and familiarize yourself with how the 3870 scales with other video cards. Since the scalability of any given video card is repeatable any review of it outside of that can be treated as suspect IMO. Can drivers change that? It depends on what the drivers do to enhance or subtract from it's performance. However, if the 3870 is getting consistently lower then average results something is wrong with that review IMO.
If you look here and here you will see the difference between GDDR4 and GDDR3. If you take note (of the 2nd "here" link) you will see at the bottom of that page the 3870 takes less of a hit when AA/AF are used.

When you read this page you will notice how much of a hit the 8800GT takes when 4xAA/16xAF is applied regarding Z-pixel rate vs the 3870. Even though the 3870 is Z-pixel rate is lower, it takes less of a hit when 4xAA/16xAF is applied. IMO, better drivers can improve the Z-pixel rate of the 3870. Since we know that the PLL VIO divider set wrong for the 3870 it's going to be interesting to see what the improvements are if any.