Asus EAH3870 TOP - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 7th Jan 2008, 07:50

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200..._eah3870_top/1

Today we have a look at one of the first factory overclocked Radeon HD 3870s to land at bit-HQ. At a similar price to a stock-clocked GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, could the Asus EAH3870 TOP make for a more attractive purchase? Let's find out...

DXR_13KE · 7th Jan 2008, 09:45

AMD/ATI WAKE UP!!!!!!!!

alastor · 7th Jan 2008, 09:56

Top review as always, at least DAAMiT has something to reasonably compete for now.

The Crysis and Bioshock standard intros need a bit of rewriting, i.e. "one of the best games to be released so far this year", should be last year.

Meanmotion · 7th Jan 2008, 10:34

Quote:

The Crysis and Bioshock standard intros need a bit of rewriting, i.e. "one of the best games to be released so far this year", should be last year.

Hehe, you're not supposed to notice that...

Quote:

AMD/ATI WAKE UP!!!!!!!!

Huh? This is supposed to be a forum not a sporting terrace.

Amon · 7th Jan 2008, 10:50

Seems like a mediocre improvement, to me. Couldn't the overclock have been done by the user with a regular HD 3870?

Darkedge · 7th Jan 2008, 11:11

I agree Amon and considering you can get a 3870 for £130 quid think the price performance goes to ATi/AMD here. Not to mention they actually have decent drivers unlike the shoddy NVidia ones these days.

Mankz · 7th Jan 2008, 11:14

Well, Im still happy with the Â£164 I spent on my 8800 GT,
.

legoman666 · 7th Jan 2008, 13:17

The 3870's are easily overclockable. There is a bios limit of 860mhz, if you try to go past that the machine hard locks. To get around this, you can easily flash the bios on the card to give it higher stock speeds. I was poking around and have seen it clocked to >1000mhz easily. I got mine to the 860 limit and didnt feel like finding a floppy drive so I could flash the bios.

Sark.inc · 7th Jan 2008, 14:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by legoman666

The 3870's are easily overclockable. There is a bios limit of 860mhz, if you try to go past that the machine hard locks. To get around this, you can easily flash the bios on the card to give it higher stock speeds. I was poking around and have seen it clocked to >1000mhz easily. I got mine to the 860 limit and didnt feel like finding a floppy drive so I could flash the bios.

same here, if i could be arsed too i would >_<

DXR_13KE · 7th Jan 2008, 14:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meanmotion

Huh? This is supposed to be a forum not a sporting terrace.

they are needing a wakeup call, they haven't done anything fantastic in a while.... compared to nvidia and intel.......

Meanmotion · 7th Jan 2008, 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meanmotion

Huh? This is supposed to be a forum not a sporting terrace.

they are needing a wakeup call, they haven't done anything fantastic in a while.... compared to nvidia and intel.......

See, constructive.

DXR_13KE · 7th Jan 2008, 19:08

Meanmotion here we have a saying: "para bom entendedor meia palavra basta", which translate to about: "to a person that understands well, half a word is enough"
so saying "AMD/ATI WAKE UP!!!!!!!!" in a forum full of tekies, nerds, modders and geeks roughly means: "AMD/ATI please notice that you are falling behind and if you do fall to far behind it could mean monopoly for your rivals and a big bucket of crap (worse than 2 girls one cup) for us, so please AMD/ATI wake up".

edit: if you don't know what "2 girls one cup" means please don't search for it...... the ones that know will understand what i mean.

edit2:this sums 2 girls one cup really nicely

naokaji · 7th Jan 2008, 20:16

now amd just needs to release a tool that allows flashing the vga bios without needing a floppy drive...

Sparrowhawk · 7th Jan 2008, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by naokaji

now amd just needs to release a tool that allows flashing the vga bios without needing a floppy drive...

Second that. I thought "hotflashing" was all the rage now, where you can update the bios from inside Windows?

DXR_13KE · 7th Jan 2008, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by naokaji

now amd just needs to release a tool that allows flashing the vga bios without needing a floppy drive...

what is a floppy drive?

naokaji · 7th Jan 2008, 23:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrowhawk

Second that. I thought "hotflashing" was all the rage now, where you can update the bios from inside Windows?

thats only for the mainboard bios... for both amd and nvidia graphicscards you can only flash the old fashioned way.

notatoad · 8th Jan 2008, 04:36

my $250 8800gts 512 is looking like a better and better purchase.

Tyinsar · 9th Jan 2008, 05:50

I like the fact that they put DVI on the board then made a DVI-HDMI adapter rather than the other way around

frontline · 11th Jan 2008, 16:59

hmm, i can easily overclock my 2 Sapphire Radeons to a Core Clock of 872 and Memory Clock of 2492 (effective) without any additional cooling.

7th Jan 2008, 07:50	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Asus EAH3870 TOP http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200..._eah3870_top/1 Today we have a look at one of the first factory overclocked Radeon HD 3870s to land at bit-HQ. At a similar price to a stock-clocked GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, could the Asus EAH3870 TOP make for a more attractive purchase? Let's find out... __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

7th Jan 2008, 09:45	#2
DXR_13KE Madeira's banana is the best!!! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Madeira ; Portugal Posts: 6,469	AMD/ATI WAKE UP!!!!!!!! __________________ *Renegade X - 0.40 Release!* <---- CLICK!

7th Jan 2008, 09:56	#3
alastor Mod Master Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 2,498	Top review as always, at least DAAMiT has something to reasonably compete for now. The Crysis and Bioshock standard intros need a bit of rewriting, i.e. "one of the best games to be released so far this year", should be last year. __________________ Main Rig: C2D E6850 (3.0GHz) : Asus P5E (X38) : 4GB XMS2 PC6400 : HD4870 512MB : Enermax 620W : 2 x Samsung F1 1TB : Antec P182 Laptop: Turion64 ML-34 (1.8Ghz/1MB) : 1GiB Hyundai : Mobility Radeon X700 128MB : 100GB Seagate HDD My Flickr : My Gamercard

7th Jan 2008, 10:50	#5
Amon inch-perfect Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: cannoning into the reds, Toronto, Canada Posts: 2,456	Seems like a mediocre improvement, to me. Couldn't the overclock have been done by the user with a regular HD 3870? __________________ Defunct Socket 939 San Diego 4000+::2GB PC3200::Radeon 9600 SE 128MB::200GB HDD::24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP x64/x86 dual boot Dell Vostro 1500 laptop::Socket P Merom T7100::2GB PC5400::Go 8600m GT 256MB::660GB HDD::15.4" WXGA+, 24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP::Fanatec 911 Wheel+Pedals

7th Jan 2008, 19:08	#12
DXR_13KE Madeira's banana is the best!!! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Madeira ; Portugal Posts: 6,469	Meanmotion here we have a saying: "para bom entendedor meia palavra basta", which translate to about: "to a person that understands well, half a word is enough" so saying "AMD/ATI WAKE UP!!!!!!!!" in a forum full of tekies, nerds, modders and geeks roughly means: "AMD/ATI please notice that you are falling behind and if you do fall to far behind it could mean monopoly for your rivals and a big bucket of crap (worse than 2 girls one cup) for us, so please AMD/ATI wake up". edit: if you don't know what "2 girls one cup" means please don't search for it...... the ones that know will understand what i mean. edit2:this sums 2 girls one cup really nicely __________________ *Renegade X - 0.40 Release!* <---- CLICK!

7th Jan 2008, 11:11	#6
Darkedge Supermodder Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 334	I agree Amon and considering you can get a 3870 for £130 quid think the price performance goes to ATi/AMD here. Not to mention they actually have decent drivers unlike the shoddy NVidia ones these days.

7th Jan 2008, 13:17	#8
legoman666 Beat to fit, paint to match. Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 786	The 3870's are easily overclockable. There is a bios limit of 860mhz, if you try to go past that the machine hard locks. To get around this, you can easily flash the bios on the card to give it higher stock speeds. I was poking around and have seen it clocked to >1000mhz easily. I got mine to the 860 limit and didnt feel like finding a floppy drive so I could flash the bios.

8th Jan 2008, 04:36	#17
notatoad pretty fing wonderful Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: alberta, canada Special:very Posts: 3,180	my $250 8800gts 512 is looking like a better and better purchase. __________________ the old: gigabyte P35, e4300@2.8GHz, 4GB DDR3-1333, 8800gts 512, win7 the new: DFI M3H5 Jr, phenom 810, 4GB DDR-1600, OCZ Vertex, debian notatoad.net fdo eff

9th Jan 2008, 05:50	#18
Tyinsar 6 screens / 1 card Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: AB.CA Posts: 2,005	I like the fact that they put DVI on the board then made a DVI-HDMI adapter rather than the other way around __________________ It's not about how life treats you, it's about how you treat life.

11th Jan 2008, 16:59	#19
frontline Multimodder Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 209	hmm, i can easily overclock my 2 Sapphire Radeons to a Core Clock of 872 and Memory Clock of 2492 (effective) without any additional cooling. __________________ Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.2ghz \| Asus Crosshair III Formula \| Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooler \|4Gb Corsair Dominator DDR3 at 1333mhz \| Sapphire Radeon 5870 \| Crucial M225 128Gb SSD \| Samsung SyncMaster 226BW