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

[Origin_Unknown]

both i think

[Razor_Blade]

Just to be clear, if I had two 3870's on a board with 3 PCI-E x16 slots, could I add a 3870 x2 and have quad fire, or would I need to trade out the two cards I have?

[jas420221]

Just to be clear, if I had two 3870's on a board with 3 PCI-E x16 slots, could I add a 3870 x2 and have quad fire, or would I need to trade out the two cards I have?

I believe quadfire is only 2 3870x2's.

I could be wrong however.

[zerazax]

I think you can mix them up since they're essentially the same GPU... in fact w/ 2 3870's and two 3870x2' you can theoretically hook them up into a Hex-Fire solution... though drivers may not work

[trinsic]

I think you can mix them up since they're essentially the same GPU... in fact w/ 2 3870's and two 3870x2' you can theoretically hook them up into a Hex-Fire solution... though drivers may not work

In theory it would work but I think there is a GPU limit, which is why the HD 3870X2 doesn't allow CrossFireX.

[Zytek_Fan]

I believe quadfire is only 2 3870x2's.

I could be wrong however.

Quadfire works with 3850's and 3870's too
It's just you'll need single slot coolers and 4 PCI-E x16 slots

[nosboost300]

what about 4 1950pro's :p

[Soulburner]

How about Octo-Fire?

4xPCI-E slots anyone?

[Zytek_Fan]

How about Octo-Fire?

4xPCI-E slots anyone?

It could be enabled via software, but the lack of 2 bridge connectors on 3870 X2's is kind of a problem...

[Tulatin]

Technically this is supposed to be two GPUs on one die, but that makes me wonder; just how big is the die if the card is so artardedly long. Second, if we get these with single slot coolers (a-la Sapphire's upgraded cooling 3870s), could Quad-X2 CF be run, for 8 cores of graphics excess?

[Zytek_Fan]

Technically this is supposed to be two GPUs on one die, but that makes me wonder; just how big is the die if the card is so artardedly long. Second, if we get these with single slot coolers (a-la Sapphire's upgraded cooling 3870s), could Quad-X2 CF be run, for 8 cores of graphics excess?

It's only as long as an 8800GTX

[Soulburner]

Technically this is supposed to be two GPUs on one die, but that makes me wonder; just how big is the die if the card is so artardedly long. Second, if we get these with single slot coolers (a-la Sapphire's upgraded cooling 3870s), could Quad-X2 CF be run, for 8 cores of graphics excess?

Same thing I said 2 posts up, only I wasn't serious because I know that due to software limitations, it would never work (in 2008).

ATI, prove me wrong!

[Syn.]

Technically this is supposed to be two GPUs on one die, but that makes me wonder; just how big is the die if the card is so artardedly long. Second, if we get these with single slot coolers (a-la Sapphire's upgraded cooling 3870s), could Quad-X2 CF be run, for 8 cores of graphics excess?

Technically you are wrong. It is two separete dies on one PCB connected by a 3rd chip found in between the two. Single slot air cooling would be way too weak for two 55nm GPU's and 1GB of GDDR4/3 memory.

The X2 cards them selfs come with only one Crossfire bridge so that only two of those cards can be linked together at any time. Connecting two 3870's together would leave 1 more crossifre link left on the second card which can be connected to an X2 card. However that still questions the fact how the system would respond to that.

Technically sounds possible but the 3rd card would be running on the slow PCIe slot which could spoil the whole thing. Only thing left is to wait and see.

[Unbornchild]

So far the public has been informed that "X-fire = 'up to 4 gpu's ", that's it. If it were 'technically possible' to have more than 4, ATI would have said it.

Anyway. we haven't even seen the real performance of two of these in CF yet. That'll be THE news i have been waiting for.

[Brother Esau]

Essentially 2 of them = Quad Fire Why would you need anything more quite honestly?

[Origin_Unknown]

Essentially 2 of them = Quad Fire Why would you need anything more quite honestly?

quoted for truth

[Baron]

http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/forum/sho...9&postcount=36


HIS card is 'hidden' on OcUK.

Usually means that stock is in hand when a product is 'hidden' on OcUK and they are just waiting to be allowed to let the product go 'live'.

[Origin_Unknown]

woot cant wait.... ill get my e8500 and two of those from ocuk

[Baron]

woot cant wait.... ill get my e8500 and two of those from ocuk

and prolly pay £60 in total more than everywhere else.


The E8500 is £20 cheaper at Scan than OcUK!!

[Origin_Unknown]

i didnt realise it was available at scan now? or it wasnt on friday

[cool_case]

i didnt realise it was available at scan now? or it wasnt on friday

Available where?

[Origin_Unknown]

pre-order on scan.co.uk

[realsmasher]

this gddr3 is really a pain...

we want x2 for high res and AA, so Ati shrinks bandwidth ?

[Zytek_Fan]

this gddr3 is really a pain...

we want x2 for high res and AA, so Ati shrinks bandwidth ?

R680 still has the R6x series AA problem so it doesn't matter.

R700 will fix the AA problem

[realsmasher]

it does not matter ?

3870cf is capable of 1920*1200 and 8(!!)xAA with 60+fps in games like Oblivion, FEAR, COH and many more.

So, yes, in my opinion it DOES matter.


You can call it a problem or whatever, but 3870cf is only like 10-20% behind 8800gt SLI in 4xAA while being like 20-30% ahead in 8xAA.

I really don't see anything of a big AA problem here or at least nothing that will me stop using AA.(except those limited bandwidth)