ATI HD 3800 Review Thread

[Cooper]

I think that the reason AMD is making an AGP version of almost every of its PCI-E cards is that, NVIDIA has none. And they want to earn some extra cash. But aside of that, AGP is now an ancient technology, like PCI, both should be dead.

AMD does not make AGP cards. Partners may do so.

[STaRGaZeR]

Well, so the cash goes to them.

[The Stilt]

Unleash the Gladiator (RV670): 862MHz GPU Clock Limit Fixed

[Cooper]

Well, so the cash goes to them.

AMD makes money on selling chips

[mascaras]

As some of you may have noticed there is a strange limit in GPU frequency on RV670 based card.
The maximum stable frequency seems to be around... exactly at 862MHz...

I have seen some wild speculation about a driver problem or a GPU limitation.
All wrong.

Lets put it this way:

There is a mean bouncer standing outside of your favorite bar (863MHz).
Bouncer´s name: is PLL VCO Divider

The frequency of GPU internal PLLs are changing with GPU frequency.
At certain points the PLL must change it´s divider to maintain the frequency at correct range.
If the divider is not changing for some reason the frequency of the PLL will raise too high and it will flip.
This is what happening at 862MHz.

It is pretty much the same thing on cars.
To reach higher speeds you need to put in a bigger gear.

The problem can be easily fixed by updating the new bios.
Unfortunately I don´t have a bios for HD 3850 cards, but it should also be available soon.

HD 3870 PLL VCO Fixed Bios v010.071


http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=166334

good job man


regards

[crmaris]

Unleash the Gladiator (RV670): 862MHz GPU Clock Limit Fixed

thanks very much for the useful info.
Does anybody know how we must flash the card (with what tool)?

[fcry64]

oc results !!! please ...

[Miwo]

heading out to work, but hopefully someone will have flashed it already by the time I get back. Just need to know what tool to use, and I will be able to post results first thing when I get home.
Now all we need is some voltage control and we are golden

[fcry64]

heading out to work, but hopefully someone will have flashed it already by the time I get back. Just need to know what tool to use, and I will be able to post results first thing when I get home.
Now all we need is some voltage control and we are golden

great! do keep ur words though!

[SKYMTL]

Which BIOS flash program are you using?

ATIFlash???
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads..._Flashing/ATI/

[Cooper]

Which BIOS flash program are you using?

ATIFlash
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...S_Flashing/ATI

Was that a suggestion/question? Or you can confirm it works with HD 3800 series?

[SKYMTL]

Actually it was a question.

Edited to reflect the change.

I all reality, I think the only way to do this may be through DOS.

[Yakyb]

is there anybody OCing in xfire yet (w/o the longwinded swaping of monitors method)

[Lightman]

is there anybody OCing in xfire yet (w/o the longwinded swaping of monitors method)

I am!

Very easy!

Just select card in ATi Overdrive, slide a bar to desired clock speed and click apply! Job done!

[voltaire2030]

I am!

Very easy!

Just select card in ATi Overdrive, slide a bar to desired clock speed and click apply! Job done!

Didn't work for me using overdrive same as the one use in Nordichardware (swapping display setup)

Are you using a beta driver ?

[Lightman]

Didn't work for me using overdrive same as the one use in Nordichardware (swapping display setup)

Are you using a beta driver ?

Shipped with card.
Windows XP x64 - works flawlessly (3dMark, STALKER - double my HD2900 framerate!!, HL2 and few more tested)
Windows Vista Business x32 - crappy CF! Most of the time is slower than single card, except COJ DX10 bench! Doesn't clock cards to 3D speeds or is clocking one card but another stays at 300MHz!!
We need new final drivers for sure ....

[TheSamurai]

nice to know that about XP64 and the cards are playing nice!

[Kasparz]

Unleash the Gladiator (RV670): 862MHz GPU Clock Limit Fixed

I f***ing love you. Seriously!

[Joshwaan]

Cool.... so maybe 900MHZ :P

[ThatGuy16]

Man, this is going to be a hard decision. 2x 8800GT/680i or 2x 3870/X38

[TheSamurai]

obviously the x38!!!! so that also includes the CF'ed ATI cards.

[ThatGuy16]

Im leaning that way

If this is what i do, it shouldn't be too long after before im able to pick up another for CF

So by the end of january after the E8400 is released, im going to have some new toys ... patience.. just patience

[Eastcoasthandle]

Im leaning that way

If this is what i do, it shouldn't be too long after before im able to pick up another for CF

So by the end of january after the E8400 is released, im going to have some new toys ... patience.. just patience

If you decide on x38, the Maximus Formula is the popular board right now. However, the P5E is also a good buy but it doesn't come with the LCD screen and has a single lan attachment instead of 2. There might be others but I haven't noticed. Unless I am mistaken to me, the Maximus Formula is a feature added P5E


Note:
This is DDR2 not DDR3.
MB's for DDR3 are the P5E3 and Maximus Formula Extreme (among others). However, all X38 boards have PCIe 2.0.

[ThatGuy16]

Thanks for the input, for my budget and the price, im going to go for the P5E x38. I honestly would never use the features on the maximus

[TheSamurai]

but... but... it's the maximus!!!