Hardware Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB

[Tim S]

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

Asus is a company that likes to innovate and its EAH3870 X2 1GB is a great example of innovation. We find out how the Radeon HD 3870 X2 has changed over the last few months - does it still have a place in the market now that Nvidia has released the GeForce 9800 series?

[Jipa]

I'm still not too keen on either dual-gpu cards or Ati, but I have to admit that the fan shroud is just hardwarepr0n. Really nice looking IMO.

[Panos]

Are there any games not sponsored by Nvidia to test this card?
It seems obvious that all these games are programmed and modified to run on Nvidia cards.

After the outcry with the DX10.1 and games, I have no faith anymore.

[Tim S]

Originally Posted by Panos

Are there any games not sponsored by Nvidia to test this card?
It seems obvious that all these games are programmed and modified to run on Nvidia cards.

After the outcry with the DX10.1 and games, I have no faith anymore.

Oblivion isn't a part of the TWIMTBP scheme, but sadly the problem is that most of today's top games are part of Nvidia's program - I will be adding Assassin's Creed over the coming weeks, but I've got quite a bit of testing to do on that game before I'm fully happy with it.

Nvidia has certainly been very open about the program and the support it gives to developers after the 'marketing program' FUD that was going around. Of course, there is marketing attached to the support, but that is not because Nvidia 'pays' for sponsorship, it spends a lot of time working to ensure the game runs well (including autodetecting optimal settings) on all GeForce hardware. They opened a massive test lab in Moscow for this reason... and developers don't pay to use that QA facility.

[Panos]

Oblivion is TWIMTBP. They didn't put the logo but is registered as TWIMTBP on Nvidia and Bethesda websites.
And the weird thing is that when it came out it was better to play it with ATI than Nvidia!

Or it came out, they saw how good it is and they add it in the TWIMTBP list? Conspiracy theories

[Paradigm Shifter]

I'd forgotten that Crossfire didn't have the same limitations as SLI when it came to multiple displays. And whether this is a good buy or not, as you pointed out Tim, is predominantly down to that one factor. For the games I play, it wouldn't really be a bad buy... but I do prefer single GPU solutions if I can have them.

Maybe I missed it - did you mention how loud the card was in comparison to the stock X2? Thanks.

[Tim S]

I thought I mentioned it when I was talking about the two fans, but I clearly didn't looking back over it. It's a little louder, subjectively speaking... but it's not anywhere near bad enough to warrant sticking a pair of scissors in the fans.

[Tim S]

Originally Posted by Panos

Oblivion is TWIMTBP. They didn't put the logo but is registered as TWIMTBP on Nvidia and Bethesda websites.
And the weird thing is that when it came out it was better to play it with ATI than Nvidia!

Or it came out, they saw how good it is and they add it in the TWIMTBP list? Conspiracy theories

I think there were negotiations, but to my knowledge nothing ended up being agreed. There was the suckiness revolving around AA though, where you can't enable it in-game with HDR, even though X1000-series cards could theoretically do (and later did through the drivers) that back when the game was released

[Paradigm Shifter]

Originally Posted by Tim S

I thought I mentioned it when I was talking about the two fans, but I clearly didn't looking back over it. It's a little louder, subjectively speaking... but it's not anywhere near bad enough to warrant sticking a pair of scissors in the fans.

Cool. I was kinda worried about that, as I remember when Gainward did a non-stock dual-fan cooling solution on their Golden Sample 6800GT (yes, that long ago) that sounded like it was trying to take off all the time the computer was on. That was horrible. It was made even worse by the fact that the fans seemed to last about six months before clogging or dying. It is as you say: two fans equals an extra point of failure.

[Javerh]

Do you dare test how fast the card would be ruined if one fan stopped working?

[Paradigm Shifter]

Originally Posted by Javerh

Do you dare test how fast the card would be ruined if one fan stopped working?

I'm pretty sure the temperature sensors built into the VPUs would clock the cores down when they reached a certain temperature to avoid damage.

Performance nosediving = dead fan.

[Tim S]

Originally Posted by Paradigm Shifter

I'm pretty sure the temperature sensors built into the VPUs would clock the cores down when they reached a certain temperature to avoid damage.

Performance nosediving = dead fan.

Yep, all GPUs/CPUs have on-die thermal protection these days

[Cabe64]

"However, it's not anywhere near loud enough to warranty sticking a pair of scissors in the fans to get some peace and quiet."

Typo or subtle joke? :P

[lamboman]

What drives me nuts about ATI is how they could make some great cards, but unfortunately, the drivers are shaky, and the games are often not optimized. These could be amazing products...

[frontline]

Nice review. I'd love to see Sapphire release a 3870X2 single slot card with their Vapor-X cooling solution though, any chance of this happening?

[Tim S]

Originally Posted by Cabe64

"However, it's not anywhere near loud enough to warranty sticking a pair of scissors in the fans to get some peace and quiet."

Typo or subtle joke? :P

Whoops, typo - thanks!

Originally Posted by frontline

Nice review. I'd love to see Sapphire release a 3870X2 single slot card with their Vapor-X cooling solution though, any chance of this happening?

I've got an Atomic 3870 X2 on the test bench right now

[Paradigm Shifter]

Originally Posted by Tim S

I've got an Atomic 3870 X2 on the test bench right now

Niiice. Will be very interested to see how cool that runs. Will also be interested to know the price it'll be. The 'normal' ones are around £250... which means the VaporX one will probably be, what, another £100 more?

[HourBeforeDawn]

oh I soo want this card, I have been waiting to get as there isnt that many people selling it but at the same time I think I will wait for the 4 series to come out and get that instead. To many choices >_<

[docodine]

Hardware pr0n? Only the Asus N7800GT Dual deserves that name.

[Kipman725]

can you run a 3 screen setup with a 3d acelerated image spanning all three monitors with this card?