ATi HD 3870 X2 (R680); Official Specifications & Images

[fhpchris]

A proper launch for the 3870X2 would mean immediate availability, good reference OC, and good drivers. MSRP decides how many computers you want your product in. Now then...

I over clock my system generally to near single stage levels with a chiller that can go -40c. My Opteron 185 does 3.3 24/7 bench. 3.2 in case. My 3dmark score is over 11k with a 8800gts 320 and ddr s939. I use DI from time to time on a bench to test CPU's. Gaming is my focus.

So, I want a reliable, usable, affordable product from a manu, that has a high standard for its OEMs in the support area, on launch day.

No reason to hide from standards.

you are still VERY cpu limited...

[Meaker]

thats not going to fit in a regular ATX case

Then it's not a "regular" ATX case then if it does not follow the ATX specification......

[MpG]

Acording to Intel 3870X2 will have 2GB GDDR4.

Or they could just as easily be referring to four 3850-512 cards. The math still works out.

[Unbornchild]

Syn got that wrong, you see. Intel IS referring to 4 single or 2 dual cards. Read the replies to his post...

[da-key]

you are still VERY cpu limited...

Yeah, I am upgrading to a quad and ddr3 soon. This card will chew up more cpu than I have. Maybe with foxconn if DFI don't get it in gear.

I still see plenty of scores lower than mine with better cards and core2's so its not that alarming.

But hey, I like the looks of where this card is headed and it may fit nicely with my new rig.

[Syn.]

Syn got that wrong, you see. Intel IS referring to 4 single or 2 dual cards. Read the replies to his post...

yea me bad, i just read it in the context of the RV680 forgetting that they are on about CrossfireX.

[Dimitriman]

so their "no X2 XT PRO SUPER ULTRA" bs naming scheme lasted two cards only...
why not just name it 3890? Lol at AMD marketing, for their consistency.

On another note, me want this card.

[Unbornchild]

so their "no X2 XT PRO SUPER ULTRA" bs naming scheme lasted two cards only...
why not just name it 3890? Lol at AMD marketing, for their consistency.

On another note, me want this card.

It is not a letter X. It is a cross for multiple. 2X as in 2 times. It is a design of 2 times the HD 3870 in internal crossfire on one card. With the ultimate goal to have 2 of these double-cards in two slots in external 'crossfire' setup.
It is not called 3890 because that would suggest a new or a changed GPU. But it is not new or changed, it is the 3870 GPU, 2 times, on one PCB.

[Richard Dower]

Wonder how long before we see QuadFire?

[naokaji]

Wonder how long before we see QuadFire?

i think we'll see quadfire (as in two 3870x2 cards) on 3870x2 release day.. unless your referring to 4 of them... then i'd go with a i'd doubt anytime soon.

will be interesting to see how the 3870x2 does against the cutdown version nvidias next highend card... (9800 GTS or whatever they will call it) since the price we have seen suggested around here hints that it will be a competitor for it.

[YukonTrooper]

The 2x 256bit bus turns me off.

[LordEC911]

The 2x 256bit bus turns me off.

Yep, because everyone was SOOO happy with the R600...
I guess AMD/ATi just can't do anything right...
GEEZ!

[YukonTrooper]

I feel the same way about the 256bit bus on the 8800GT/GTS 512MB, but only because I am on 1920X1200. I want to upgrade from my G80 8800GTS 640MB, but there just isn't anything worthwhile yet. Hopefully February brings the new G92 cards as speculated. It's the month of my birthday so it only makes sense.

[turtle]

I think it's been consistently shown that bandwidth does not play a large role in ATi's current architecture. The performance difference going from a 2900XT 512MB, to 3870, to 3850 512MB is not very large at all, even though the bandwidth is essentially halved. I think this has something to do with the shader core AA resolve, and hence not taking advantage of the bandwidth because the AA is broken, slow, or if you prefer, 'doesn't perform very well' a lot of the time...something that isn't bandwidth related, nor do I believe going to be fixed with R680, therefore making the 2x256-bit a non-issue if you're comfortable with the current 3870. Hopefully there will be some dedicated logic (or another fix) going forward (R700) alleviating this problem.


On the other hand, nvidia's cards will be well to do with more bandwidth as it ties into their architecture tightly right along with ROPs; something I think we'll see across the whole gambit come the new generation (256-bit low-end, 512-bit high-end, perhaps 384-bit D9EGTS).

[purecain]

i have two 3870's and i have to be honest.... having another two would be handy.... i'll be testing two 3870 x2's in crossfire come release day....
and if ati up the drivers i'll be changing sides and they will of lost yet another customer soooo come on ati...... dont let me down..... again lol

[malik22]

i have two 3870's and i have to be honest.... having another two would be handy.... i'll be testing two 3870 x2's in crossfire come release day....
and if ati up the drivers i'll be changing sides and they will of lost yet another customer soooo come on ati...... dont let me down..... again lol

Why are the cards not performing that well?Or do you game at very high res

[realsmasher]

I think this has something to do with the shader core AA resolve, and hence not taking advantage of the bandwidth because the AA is broken, slow, or if you prefer, 'doesn't perform very well' a lot of the time...something that isn't bandwidth related

hmm, so when AA is so badly broken in 3870, why does it beat the crap out of 8800gt with 8xAA ?

click

(sorry for the german link, but those everyone here will understand the chart regardless of language)

[malik22]

hmm, so when AA is so badly broken in 3870, why does it beat the crap out of 8800gt with 8xAA ?

click

(sorry for the german link, but those everyone here will understand the chart regardless of language)

I was thinking the same thing i also saw that review.

[Pisu87]

hmm, so when AA is so badly broken in 3870, why does it beat the crap out of 8800gt with 8xAA ?

I still don't get to understand if they fixed the faulty R600's ROPs in order to make RV670.

[Helmore]

There was nothing faulty, they just did it differently which required some work on the drivers before performance was at decent levels again. The only thing that makes it look bad, is the fact that NVIDIA just does it extremely well at 4X AA because they are using their ROPs for the calculations and they specialized their design for that particular workload. This can also be seen by the fact that performance for both is on par for other levels of AA.
So ATI isn't doing something wrong, NVIDIA is just doing it extremely well.

EDIT: here is a linky to some more info on this matter, just to cover my behind

[turtle]

hmm, so when AA is so badly broken in 3870, why does it beat the crap out of 8800gt with 8xAA ?

click

(sorry for the german link, but those everyone here will understand the chart regardless of language)

Ok, perhaps broken is the wrong terminology (Hey, I tried to call it different things to get the point across). AA is done through the shader core, rather than a dedicated piece of logic in the ROPs as every other architecture has used up to this point afaik. While it's been said the this can produce better-looking results, and I think most agree it does, it also isn't the preferred nor optimized method in most titles.

The point wasn't AA performance, but rather that bandwidth isn't a key aspect for Rx6xx parts, as it's been shown to have little effect, especially in AA scenarios, where one would think bandwidth would be key. It won't "hurt" the X2. If you are happy with how it performs, ex being AA, then I'm sure you'd be happy with more of the same.

I have seen those results (better performance at higher AA) before and came to the conclusion that this form of AA is better suited for when we see faster parts based on their current architecture, as we surely will, even if there is less bandwidth than say RV670/G92 to each core and perhaps less ROPs per number of shaders (r700 on?). Currently Nvidia's more traditional method is better for where we are from a technological point in computational power, as well as what's the next playing standard is (DX10.1 spec) and that is 4XAA, which has been the preferred quality/performance standard for quite some time. I personally don't see 8xAA performance as a huge boon to RV670, or even R680.

I mean, let's be honest. Do you expect to be playing at 8XAA on a 3870 very long into the future at playable settings? I'd reckon much, much less time than any G80/G92 product at 4XAA, and especially less time than a 3870 at 4xAA. Who's also to say that if ATi had used a more traditional from of handling AA, performance on their own architecture wouldn't be better? There's a reason it's coming back in R700.

That whole rant is off-topic though. The point is, ATI's current architecture in it's current form is not bandwidth hungry.

[AliG]

perhaps, but to the least, you can expect quite a bit higher frame rates with the 3870x2 (and that includes aa performance)


Even though ati did make a few architectural mistakes (at least in my opinion, they should have had far higher shader clocks independant from the core, more rops and texture units, etc), the 3870 still is a great product, its either sold out everywhere or at least has a jacked up price (which sux for us but proves its selling fast) and they did innovate with the r600's 512bit memory interface (though they should have kept that with the 3870, its worth the extra heat from the 30m transitors). Overall, I'd say ati is finally starting to recover since they were bought out (though once again, amd should have waited until after the r600 was launched to buy it, its a lot harder to produce a high end product with the stress and confusion that comes with a merger/buyout)

[LordEC911]

nce)
perhaps, but to the least, you can expect quite a bit higher frame rates with the 3870x2 (and that includes aa performa

Even though ati did make a few architectural mistakes (at least in my opinion, they should have had far higher shader clocks independant from the core, more rops and texture units, etc), the 3870 still is a great product, its either sold out everywhere or at least has a jacked up price (which sux for us but proves its selling fast) and they did innovate with the r600's 512bit memory interface (though they should have kept that with the 3870, its worth the extra heat from the 30m transitors). Overall, I'd say ati is finally starting to recover since they were bought out (though once again, amd should have waited until after the r600 was launched to buy it, its a lot harder to produce a high end product with the stress and confusion that comes with a merger/buyout)

The 512bit interface, 1024bit ringbus, costs A LOT more than 30m trannies... So no, it was not worth it.
Remember than they moved UVD on die.

[LagunaX]

Wow...a widescreen format graphics card, lol...

[knightwolf654]

whens this sucker coming out? now that i have crysis i am in bad need of a new graphics card