ATI HD 3800 Review Thread

[STaRGaZeR]

Yes but Vista 32 and 64 sucks according to the droves of folks removing it from their systems.

And according to one of my stupid drunk neighbors the sky is multicolored.

And it doesn´t. Vista is the best Windows OS I have owned. And it´s fast. You shouldn´t base your opinion in others opinion, even if they are important reviewers. They are just for reference. Try it, tweak it, if you like it, good for you, if not, remove it. If tons of folks have removed it, maybe they don´t know how to tweak it properly, or maybe... do you remember XP in the beginning?

[zerotol]

how does the 3870 compare to the 8800 GTS 640 ?

I might go watercooling and still have a maze 4 gpu that doesnt fit the gts

[RAW-Raptor22]

And according to one of my stupid drunk neighbors the sky is multicolored.

And it doesn´t. Vista is the best Windows OS I have owned. And it´s fast. You shouldn´t base your opinion in others opinion, even if they are important reviewers. They are just for reference. Try it, tweak it, if you like it, good for you, if not, remove it. If tons of folks have removed it, maybe they don´t know how to tweak it properly, or maybe... do you remember XP in the beginning?

You are comparing running a 7 year old OS on new systems, vs a new os on new systems... like saying in 2001 that XP made your pc slower than 98 did.... OMG REALLY?

[Leeghoofd]

Vista is the best Windows OS I have owned. And it´s fast. You shouldn´t base your opinion in others opinion, even if they are important reviewers. They are just for reference. Try it, tweak it, if you like it, good for you, if not, remove it. If tons of folks have removed it, maybe they don´t know how to tweak it properly, or maybe... do you remember XP in the beginning?

If I tweak Vista the way I want it to be responsive on my system I will be left over with a slightly more visual XP... sorry but even with tweaks Vista isn't as responsive as XP for the stuff I do (and that's not alone gaming). Ofcourse we are comparing running an old OS on a new rig vs a new OS on a new rig... For me though Vista pushes too hard on HD and reducing overal response in that way... sorry but most of my clients only have 2 gigs wich to me seems the very bare minimum to run this visual enhanced OS...

And do we need all that mumbo jumbo ? if Win98 was still running all my games and hardware stable I would have stick to that anyway... XP and XP64 have been very good to me from day one... I've installed different versions of Vista and too me it's too rough on the hardware, out of the box this is.... and Blimey 12Gb install, bit over the top to me compared to 4 gigs for a decent XP install....install SP1 and you will need even more pffffff...

I'm eagerly awaiting SP3 for XP and will slipstream that one onto the install cd...

[STaRGaZeR]

You are comparing running a 7 year old OS on new systems, vs a new os on new systems... like saying in 2001 that XP made your pc slower than 98 did.... OMG REALLY?

Eh, no. Vista is faster than XP in Crysis, that´s all... re-read my post please.

If I tweak Vista the way I want it to be responsive on my system I will be left over with a slightly more visual XP... sorry but even with tweaks Vista isn't as responsive as XP for the stuff I do (and that's not alone gaming). Ofcourse we are comparing running an old OS on a new rig vs a new OS on a new rig... For me though Vista pushes too hard on HD and reducing overal response in that way... sorry but most of my clients only have 2 gigs wich to me seems the very bare minimum to run this visual enhanced OS...

Bolded the most important thing. BTW this is an ATI thread, and ONTOPIC the only thing that Vista has to do here is that in Crysis is faster than XP

[flopper]

And do we need all that mumbo jumbo ?

Do you truly need a car, a computer, Mp3 player, a sexlife, a phone or even a mobilephone ?
We dont need new technology at all, I wished amd and Microsoft stopped their business and people went with apple and Linux.

I just had coffe with some old folks, they growed up before TV, before radio and almost before cars was on the streets, they still dont own a computer.

For me the 3800 series seems like a good buy and the new x2 card seems like a really nice upgrade.
If the price is right.

[StimulatedBoy]

Have had my cards since release date but been to busy playing so I havent got around to some benching before yesterday evening. Installed Vista 32 on a new disk, turned up the "volume" a little bit and voila.

22.605 3dMark 06

http://service.futuremark.com/orb/pr...jectId=4292780

30.356 3dMark05

http://service.futuremark.com/orb/pr...=12&projectId=

No tweaking of disk whatsoever and no LOD - just bumped the MHz up to where I believed it belonged and gogogo.

[Unbornchild]

22.605 3dMark 06

http://service.futuremark.com/orb/pr...jectId=4292780

"The project id is not valid - please check the URL."

Hey but your Core 2 Quad QX9650 sure brings big value! (should, for what you must have payed)

[Donnie27]

And according to one of my stupid drunk neighbors the sky is multicolored.

And it doesn´t. Vista is the best Windows OS I have owned. And it´s fast. You shouldn´t base your opinion in others opinion, even if they are important reviewers. They are just for reference. Try it, tweak it, if you like it, good for you, if not, remove it. If tons of folks have removed it, maybe they don´t know how to tweak it properly, or maybe... do you remember XP in the beginning?

Sorry I missed this reply.

According to one of my hopelessly blind friends, AMD X2 is still light years better than Intel's Core 2 Duo. Do I have to downgrade to find out if that is true?

Now, if Vista came with a 30 day money back guaranty, I'd do as you suggest. But it too over priced for a "Try it you might like" scenario as you said. Sorry I can't see paying that much for it to end up sitting on a shelf.

I do remember XP and had just moved from Win2K. Then as now, I waited for SP1 before I even touched it. After SP1 when I did try it, I had no problems, it was faster than 2K and yada yada. So no, I don't see a Parallel.

As PC World even picked it as the Biggest disappointment of 2007, how I feel is not without Merritt LOL! Though I've not tweaked it, I have played with it.

[Unbornchild]

Can you stop with OT bantering, this is the 3870 thread. Thanks.

[Unbornchild]

Bought one today. A Sapphire because that was the only brand available, in the only shop that has them in my town (quite a few also), while they're out of stock (all brands) at komplett.nl (where i would have bought), and 5 euro's cheaper. Payed €199.95.
Gives me something to play with on my Maximus while waiting for the 3870X2, so now i don't really care anymore how long that will be.

Maximus Formula SE/E6750 non-oc, everything @ stock
HD 3870 out of the box, stock speed.
Windows XP SP2
Catalyst 7.12

E6750 @ 2.66 Ghz
HD 3870 @ 777/1126
3DMark06 (default 1280x1024): 10397.
SM2.0 score: 4474
HDR/SM3.0 score: 5072
CPU: 2405

Edit 1.
CPU oc'd; Card oc'd using Overdrive:
E6750 @ 3.4 Ghz
HD 3870 @ 860/1306
3DMark06 (default 1280x1024): 12094
SM2.0 score: 5134
HDR/SM3.0 score: 5660
CPU: 3047

Update 25 Dec.
Found out the occasional freeze of my system was actually my 3870 running too hot.
And that fixing the fanspeed to 60% in Rivatuner is the solution.
Result after pushing the CPU overclock to my desired 3.6 and several gaming tests:
E6750 @ 3.6 Ghz
HD 3870 @ 860/1301
3DMark06 (default 1280x1024): 12302
SM2.0 score: 5159
HDR/SM3.0 score: 5685
CPU score: 3229

Update 12 Jan.
No: it turned out that the card wasn't running too hot (never really does), but that it will only be 'hours and hours of gaming stable' at slightly lower clocks, i put it at 850/1251. So what, maybe losing ¼ fps... noone notices.


Edit 3.
Crysis demo bench result:

12/22/2007 5:21:39 AM - XP
Beginning Run #1 on Map-island, Demo-benchmark_gpu
DX9 1600x1200, AA=No AA, Vsync=Disabled, 32 bit test, FullScreen
Demo Loops=3, Time Of Day= 9
Global Game Quality: High
================================================== ============
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 81.14s, Average FPS: 24.65
Min FPS: 15.51 at frame 139, Max FPS: 30.93 at frame 1774
Average Tri/Sec: 26047560, Tri/Frame: 1056749
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.87
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 73.30s, Average FPS: 27.29
Min FPS: 15.51 at frame 139, Max FPS: 31.16 at frame 985
Average Tri/Sec: 29138254, Tri/Frame: 1067892
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 73.24s, Average FPS: 27.31
Min FPS: 15.51 at frame 139, Max FPS: 31.27 at frame 985
Average Tri/Sec: 29161588, Tri/Frame: 1067965
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.86
TimeDemo Play Ended, (3 Runs Performed)
================================================== ============

Completed All Tests

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>>--SUMMARY--<<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

12/22/2007 5:21:39 AM - XP

Run #1- DX9 1600x1200 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 27.3

[Donnie27]

Can you stop with OT bantering, this is the 3870 thread. Thanks.

No and you're not welcomed, LOL! Shouldn't that be you guys, people or etc..?

Since I'm not running DirectX 10.1 that my 3870 supports, what OS is used very On Topic. Now if you try and get a topic back on topic (even when it is not off), you look like jerk by picking out one poster while at least 4 are off topic

[Eastcoasthandle]

...Since I'm not running DirectX 10.1 that my 3870 supports, what OS is used very On Topic...

I read some post a while back that SP1 comes not only with DX10.1 but some sort of rumored mini game specifically for DX10.1.
Not sure if this is true though...I forgot the name of this "game"

[Donnie27]

I read some post a while back that SP1 comes not only with DX10.1 but some sort of rumored mini game specifically for DX10.1.
Not sure if this is true though...I forgot the name of this "game"

I saw some news about it on one of the MSN/MSFN. Getting 10.1 support for my 3870 while still using WinXP would give me Zero reason to even think about getting Vista.

Last review I saw showed a 3870 doing pretty good with 10/.1. Beta tested by some guy.

DirectX 10.1 in Windows Vista SP1 – The Evolution - Under the hood
Posted by xper on 31 Oct 2007

As Windows Vista brought to the table the exclusive DirectX 10, the first service pack for the operating system will evolve Microsoft's graphics technology to version 10.1. DirectX 10.1 is already available to over 12,000 testers via the first beta of Vista Service Pack 1, concomitantly with the official release of Build 6001.16659. Although the testing milestones of Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP SP3 Beta, are officially limited in terms of access, a hack is available designed to permit the download of Windows Vista SP1 Beta Build 6001.16659 straight from Microsoft, and simultaneously test drive DirectX 10.1.

However, Vista users have to understand that DirectX 10.1, as well as DirectX 10 is a technology intimately connected with the underlying graphics card, such as the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series. According to an AMD whitepaper focused on the implementation of DirectX 10.1 in the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series, the latest application programming interface from Microsoft, manages to "unlock the state of the art in GPU technology."

Sure the OS has a lot to do with it.

[Eastcoasthandle]

I saw some news about it on one of the MSN/MSFN. Getting 10.1 support for my 3870 while still using WinXP would give me Zero reason to even think about getting Vista.

Last review I saw showed a 3870 doing pretty good with 10/.1. Beta tested by some guy.



Sure the OS has a lot to do with it.

Thanks for the update. I wish I could remember the name of the game that was rumored to be Dx10.1 compatible but I don't at the moment. Have any idea?
Also, do you have a link regarding this beta test?