[Mini-Review] Powercolor HD3850 256mb Crossfire

[mascaras]

Mini-Review

About Powercolor:

PowerColor, established by Tul Corporation in 1997, is a graphics industry leading brand name now and well known for its outstanding performance and innovative technology. As a leading provider of graphics card, PowerColor offers powerful, reliable and cost-effective solutions to customers worldwide.

PowerColor is the platform of choice for avid PC gamers and video prosumers looking to get the best possible performance out of the latest graphics processors from ATI.


PowerColor graphics cards won at least 10 awards every month in 2004 from the world's most respected IT media and organizations. Furthermore, several PowerColor products also received 2005 Taiwan Symbol of Excellence Award from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the R.O.C. according to the following criteria: Design and Innovation, Quality System, Market, and Brand Awareness. This award represents some of the most revolutionary, high tech, high quality, and high value products in the market.


More about powercolor & Products >> Powercolor Technologies

Powercolor HD3850 256MB





Features:





HD3850 256MB Vs HD3870 512MB Specs:






Cooling








Idle Temp (33º) :






Full Temp (75º) :






Crossfire






To crossfire work properly the Catalyst A.I must be in STANDARD Mode









»»Benchmarks««



System Setup


CPU : Intel C2Q Q6600
Motherboard : Asus P5E
VGA : 2x Powercolor HD3850 256MB
RAM : 2GB Teamgroup 6400
PSU : OCZ GamexStream 600W
SO : Windows XP 32bit
Driver : Catalyst 7.10 + Hotfix






3DMark 2005












Q6600@3200mhz & Crossfire Default




Q6600@3600mhz & Crossfire Default







3DMark 2006











Q6600@3200mhz & Crossfire Default




Q6600@3600mhz & Crossfire Default





Q6600@3600Mhz & Crossfire @ 720/870




http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=3984231







3DMark 2006 Single Card (Powercolor HD3850 256MB)






Q6600 @ 3600MHz & Single HD3850 256Mb Default






Q6600@3600Mhz & Single HD3850 256MB @ 720/870












»»Games««







System Setup


CPU : Intel C2Q Q6600 @ 3200MHz
Motherboard : Asus P5E
VGA : 2x Powercolor HD3850 256MB
RAM : 2GB Teamgroup 6400
PSU : OCZ GamexStream 600W
SO : Windows XP 32bit
Driver : Catalyst 7.10 + Hotfix
Games : - Medal Airborne - COD4
Software : Fraps






Powercolor HD3850 256MB Crossfire






























Single Card


















regards !

.........

[TEDY]

thanks for review.....i wonder 3850 with gdd4 will ever be released?

[cky2k6]

probably not.. it would defeat the purpose of 3870.

[eknny]

Wow the 256MB does not seem the be limiting the card!

[mascaras]

Wow the 256MB does not seem the be limiting the card!

sometimes in games with high resolutions when filters activated (AA & AF) you note the lack of ram , with HD3850 512mb or HD3870 512mb should be way better

[STaRGaZeR]

mascaras are you experiencing Crossfire not working on a concrete game?

[mascaras]

nope , at least in this 3 games i tested the CF works!!.


btw: All tests done with Crysis single & crossfire added

[Brother Esau]

Damn!! These cards are moving out fast! I have been entertaining the notion of buying a 512MB 3750 for my DFI 790FX-M2R review and they are all gone from the EGG

[STaRGaZeR]

Damn nice!!! I want my second card badly

At high resolutions and with AA 256MB looks insufficient. I think you will notice that when you get your 3870s

[mascaras]

Damn nice!!! I want my second card badly

At high resolutions and with AA 256MB looks insufficient. I think you will notice that when you get your 3870s

totaly agree , 256mb CF its OK , but when high res. and filters actived we noticed lack of ram

for + 20$ the Powercolor HD3850 512MB PCS edition its a better choice , only 20$ for a better cooler and + 256mb Ram (1.0ns)

[mascaras]

Call Of duty 4



Windows XP 32bit
1680x1050
High Settings
AA OF
AF ON
Crossfire HD3850 256MB
Catalyst 7.10 +Hotfix
Q6600 @ 3200Mhz


Images Converted to .JPEG :




































regards

[STaRGaZeR]

The Chernobil mission is fantastic, and nice fps

Any news of your 3870s?

[mascaras]

The Chernobil mission is fantastic, and nice fps

Any news of your 3870s?

will arrive this week (thursday)

[Brother Esau]

Like this???

[Blue frog]

I know this maynot be the place to ask but I am unable to get my 2 HD3850's to crossfire. Its enabled in CCC (7.11) and GPUZ shows 2 cards enabled but my 3DMark06 score is the same (about 9000) with Cf enabled, CF off and with one card disabled in device manager.

PSU is 600W OCZ and rated for 2 graphics cards.
Asus maximus Formula - OK for CF
XP
All drivers are the most recent except my BOIs which is the orginal version.
My CPU (E6750) is OCed to 3.4GHz. Has been for a while and working without any problems. I have also set the PCIE bus to 100MHz manually rather than leaving on auot in BIOs.
I can't think of anything else to make CF work ans am supper p***ed off. Any suggestions would be very welcome as I have already trawled through forums and posted on several including AMDs without any success.
Cheers BF

[jimmyz]

I know this maynot be the place to ask but I am unable to get my 2 HD3850's to crossfire. Its enabled in CCC (7.11) and GPUZ shows 2 cards enabled but my 3DMark06 score is the same (about 9000) with Cf enabled, CF off and with one card disabled in device manager.

PSU is 600W OCZ and rated for 2 graphics cards.
Asus maximus Formula - OK for CF
XP
All drivers are the most recent except my BOIs which is the orginal version.
My CPU (E6750) is OCed to 3.4GHz. Has been for a while and working without any problems. I have also set the PCIE bus to 100MHz manually rather than leaving on auot in BIOs.
I can't think of anything else to make CF work ans am supper p***ed off. Any suggestions would be very welcome as I have already trawled through forums and posted on several including AMDs without any success.
Cheers BF

Welcome to XtremeSystems . did you set the catalyst ai to standard? are you able to see temps on both cards in overdrive?

[mascaras]

yep , crossfire "only" works if you set Catalyst A.I in Standard mode (i refer that in 1st Post)

[Bobsama]

What's actually in the box? The accessory package, that is.

[mascaras]

What's actually in the box? The accessory package, that is.

yep






regards

[donitsi]

Nice review you got there, Mascaras Thanks for the pics too!!

[Blue frog]

yep , crossfire "only" works if you set Catalyst A.I in Standard mode (i refer that in 1st Post)

I can see both temps and AI is set to std. I am stumped?? BF

[mascaras]

thanks for review.....i wonder 3850 with gdd4 will ever be released?

yes


>>> http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=169094


regards

[G.Foyle]

Very nice review!
Could you test two 3850 in Crossfire on a P35 motherboard? with one slot at 16x and the other at 4x? I'd like to see if i need X38 board.. they are severly overpriced.

[Omastar]

Very nice review!
Could you test two 3850 in Crossfire on a P35 motherboard? with one slot at 16x and the other at 4x? I'd like to see if i need X38 board.. they are severly overpriced.

Why not wait for P45? That should support dual x8 CF, right?

And CF performance under COD4 looks quite good, although I'd like to see some numbers at 1600x1200 or 1920x1200.

[mascaras]

thnks again guys!!

unfortnatly i dont have the HD3850´s anymore , now im with HD3870CF


regards