duorb hsf on 3870's

[bacon612]

Thanks for the link, Cain. Im assuming you are using the bios that is cranked the highest? 875/1250? No issues?

[xMrBunglex]

Not sure if the 3870 coolers are inherently worse than the one on the Ultra and therefore the DuOrb performs well on a 3870.

duh? don't compare the heatsink on a $600 card to the heatsink on a $220 card. the 3870's heatsink was designed to be good enough. the GPU doesn't get very hot. i can game for hours, hold my hand to the back of my case where the air exhausts, and feel that it's only warm. my old 1900's used to spit fire out the back.

[roadie]

Surely the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 is a superior, cheaper and quieter cooler than the Duorb? That's what I'll be considering for mine if I need an after-market cooler

The Duorb might be worth it if it had another two heatpipes and a 3 pin connector for its fans so their speed could be controlled.

[Skyguy]

Good point Bungle.......very valid point. But I wonder, does that open up a can of worms? What I mean is when everyone tests hardware, do they put in the low-end components, and only push the products a little? Or do they put in the heavyweights? There's nothing wrong with comparing stock coolers to aftermarket ones for any product......people want to know whether they're good or not, and if they're worth the money. True, a $600 card/cooler has higher standards and expectations, but it also give a better indication of how well a cooler performs.

If that weren't the case, why are 2900 PROs included beside 8800 Ultras in GPU testing/reviews? Because we want to know how something responds when pushed HARD. It's a universal, simple concept common to all hardware/tech sites, including this one.

Otherwise, I think it should be stated that the DuOrb/VF-900/Accelero/etc are each good, but only for mid/low range cards at most, and don't bother if you're a serious gamer or are want something that performs top-notch. No shame in saying a product is geared towards the mainstream, non-enthusiast, low/mid-range market.........but I would suggest that doesn't boost sales for the companies that want these products reviewed

Just my opinion though. If someone is happy with their Orb/VF/S1/etc, that's great!! But no harm in pointing out its limitations or how it stacks against all competitors.

All things being equal regarding the DuOrb, however........it does great at idle, but not so great at load.....its efficiency drops considerably. It does not have a fan-speed adjustment, and is rather noisy compared to other products on the market. When taking its price into account as well, it's not the top contender. That's simply a fact. Is is a good cooler? Yes. But only in very specific circumstances, and has design features that pose potential problems. If we ignore that, then we are foolish. We're here to become informed, so........that's lowdown on the DuOrb

[Wallboy]

So you can just leave the stock ramsinks on when installing the Duorb? And the Duorbs are powered by a molex connector correct? Is there only one fan speed then?

[Skyguy]

Molex connection, one fan speed. Unless you put on a 3-pin adapter and then connect to a fan controller.

As for stock ram sinks.......depends on the card I guess. 8800 Ultra/GTS/GTX cooler covers the ram so separate ram sinks are required (they come with the DuOrb)

[gOtVoltage]

Molex connection, one fan speed. Unless you put on a 3-pin adapter and then connect to a fan controller.

As for stock ram sinks.......depends on the card I guess. 8800 Ultra/GTS/GTX cooler covers the ram so separate ram sinks are required (they come with the DuOrb)

+1

[Wallboy]

Molex connection, one fan speed. Unless you put on a 3-pin adapter and then connect to a fan controller.

As for stock ram sinks.......depends on the card I guess. 8800 Ultra/GTS/GTX cooler covers the ram so separate ram sinks are required (they come with the DuOrb)

Thanks, yeah I was referring to the 3870.

[Skyguy]

LOL. OOPS, sorry.

[purecain]

MSI Radeon HD 3870 512MB OC Edition bios.... link http://www.mvktech.net/component/opt...7157/catid,12/

half way down the page..... i'm gonna try these later...

[jedimindtriks]

when i installed the duorbs on my 2 70's i kept the original ram sinks. they fit perfectly,

[purecain]

they do but i'm hearing they dont do much for cooling.... i'm going to replace them the next time the cards are out of my case....

[EvilBellyLint]

Surely the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 is a superior, cheaper and quieter cooler than the Duorb? That's what I'll be considering for mine if I need an after-market cooler

The Duorb might be worth it if it had another two heatpipes and a 3 pin connector for its fans so their speed could be controlled.

EBL

[xMrBunglex]

i've heard a lot of good thing about Acceleros, but they're so damn ugly. i might consider DuOrbs if they ever revise them to have 3-pin connectors standard. until then, none of the aftermarket heatsinks are screaming my name.

Purecain, thank you for that. please make sure you let us know how it goes when you swap ramsinks. is there a program that works with the 3870's and shows memory temperature yet? my version of Everest doesn't recognize my 3870's.

[purecain]

no mate, no software.... that would be too easy....
have you tried any of the oc bios versions yet... i'm gonna start experimenting as soon as i get a free day.....

[xMrBunglex]

i haven't flashed my BIOS yet. i'm not sure if it's really necessary with the stock cooler. i can run 3DMark at 850/1300, but if i try to play CoD4 with those clocks i'll usually crash in about 10 minutes. i assume it's heat-related, so i won't bother trying to get mad clocks on these cards as long as i have the stock heatsink.

[purecain]

well the oc bios is said to run the stock cooler with differant settings. could work if it raised the speed of the fan but that woulld also raise the db...

[xMrBunglex]

maybe i'll give it a shot. i downloaded some stuff when the new BIOSes started coming out. i have ATiFlash349 and another zipped file called HD3870_PLLVCO_v010.071

is that current or are there better versions out now?

[purecain]

the new bios versions from the OC cards would be newer but not necessarily better. just wait untill i give em a go if you like and i'll let you know which bios has the most potential. i wont be able to tell how the stock fan speeds are affected as i have taken them off... let me know if you decide to start experimenting with them....

[xMrBunglex]

awesome. thank you for contributing so much. i really appreciate all the work you're doing. i will stay tuned!

[roadie]

i haven't flashed my BIOS yet. i'm not sure if it's really necessary with the stock cooler. i can run 3DMark at 850/1300, but if i try to play CoD4 with those clocks i'll usually crash in about 10 minutes. i assume it's heat-related, so i won't bother trying to get mad clocks on these cards as long as i have the stock heatsink.

Yeah, I think you really need to keep the card under 50 degrees when it is under load.

[newls1]

the new bios versions from the OC cards would be newer but not necessarily better. just wait untill i give em a go if you like and i'll let you know which bios has the most potential. i wont be able to tell how the stock fan speeds are affected as i have taken them off... let me know if you decide to start experimenting with them....

I would like to flash my Diamond 3870's BIOSes with the newer "FIXED" bios, but where can I find them at, and which one do I want to flash to? Never done this before. Thanks

[purecain]

right.... you have a selection of bios's to choose from at the moment. there is a thread in this forum which youll be able to find easily which gives a good instruction on which and how to flash the right bios.
when youve done that which is easy by the way, come back and try the oc bios i linked to or any of the 3870 OC bios's which are emerging daily....
i'm off my feet at the moment with builds and i'm not getting the chance to play myself.... but when i do i will be posting my results here.... i'll pm you mr.bunglex with a link to the best bios i tried and tested.... np...
by the way i just installed ccc7.12 and got a 100 point increase in 3dmark 06.... dying to see if there is a decent improvement in 05 but i'm up at 7 so i've got to get my head down....

[newls1]

right.... you have a selection of bios's to choose from at the moment. there is a thread in this forum which youll be able to find easily which gives a good instruction on which and how to flash the right bios.
when youve done that which is easy by the way, come back and try the oc bios i linked to or any of the 3870 OC bios's which are emerging daily....
i'm off my feet at the moment with builds and i'm not getting the chance to play myself.... but when i do i will be posting my results here.... i'll pm you mr.bunglex with a link to the best bios i tried and tested.... np...
by the way i just installed ccc7.12 and got a 100 point increase in 3dmark 06.... dying to see if there is a decent improvement in 05 but i'm up at 7 so i've got to get my head down....

Could you do me a favor please, and PM me which BIOS you find to be the best when your done testing? I'll be your best friend

[bacon612]

Could you do me a favor please, and PM me which BIOS you find to be the best when your done testing? I'll be your best friend

Cainman, hit me up with your bios too. I tested the 875/1250 one. too high. What are you using now? Please advise and PM a bios if u get a chance.

BTW I just ran crysis in dx9 mode and saw a MASSIVE FPS increase with my xfire setup. I guess from reading all the bencies i should have known. But honestly, this game is buggy in DX10 mode under Vista x64 vs DX9