Hardware PowerColor Radeon HD 3850 Xtreme PCS 512

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/02/18/powercolor_radeon_hd_3850_xtreme_pcs_512/1

PowerColor decided to throw the Radeon HD 3850's reference design out of the window when it came up with its HD 3850 Xtreme PCS 512MB graphics card. Is a decent factory overclock, a new cooler and an interesting display output choice enough to win us over? Let's find out...

 

Wow. That cooler looks a LOT like a Zalman that I have.

 

Probably because it IS a Zalman cooler...

 

Looks like a very good card, until the 9600GT arrives at least....

 

I think it is this
http://www.zerotherm.net/eng/product/GX810.asp
which is cooling my card except that PowerColor don't seem to have used the ramsinks which may improve the overclocking of the RAM.

Great review though. I am looking forward to the replacement to the 8800gs though! Can you say any more than "its interesting"?

 

The Glaciator Cooler on that 8800GS is a great performer, even though the RAM isn't cooled.

 

Yeah, it's not bad... but I found it to be a little noisier than I've come to expect these days, but it's not offensively loud.

 

I rather wait for the Ati Radeon HD 4000 series. Acording to the "rumors" the topmodel 4870X2 is going te be 2 times faster then the current 38670x2 topmodel.

 

Yeah and I've heard rumours that... No wait have we not heard enough gfx-related rumours (mostly about the Ati cards tbh and mostly spread by Ati fans).

Gotta love the way how manufacturers are finally using quieter cooling solutions (though also the stocks are getting better). And even Ati still can't really compete with the performance of the 8800 cards, those 38x0s aren't really a bad choice.

 

It would be interesting if you test the XFX 8800GS XXX in a near future. The clocks of that beauty are MUCH higher than ASUS's 8800GS.

 

We probably won't have the time as, from what I understand, the GeForce 8800 GS has a very limited lifespan.

 

ironic that most rumours about nivdia are the same...

is that that standard ram used in that 3850?

 

Oh well. Then, I'll eagerly wait the 9600GT review. =D

 

I highly doubt this will fly, mostly because it's wholly unnecessary. When the 3870 is only $20-30 more than this, but with markedly better performance across the board, it makes me wonder if anyone would be bothered to pay the premium over a base 3850 just for, effectively, more memory.

I'm being a realist here because PowerColor has spliced this card in a very narrow performance/value gap that separates the base 3850 and 3870.

 

Yep, that's one problem it has and it's one problem I'm seeing on the Nvidia side at the moment as well - the various cards are too close to each other in terms of performance at stock (at least with the 8800 GT / 8800 GTS 512), which means that if partners overclock, the price ends up being too close to the higher-performing card and you'd almost be a mug to go with a heavily pre-overclocked card instead of the standard version of the higher model.

 

Just an FYI - this has dropped in price by £15 since we reviewed it... Now available at just over £100 (inc. VAT): http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136384

That's pretty damn good value IMO.

 

I have this card, well atleast an incredably simalar one, its the powercolor extreme with the same clock speeds, though mine does come with a heatsink across the ram which gets air from the cooler, and on the front of the box it does says "Dual DVI HDMI".

Maybe I have a slightly different model newer or older. But my system is very comparable to that of the test system and I seem to get higher fps than that of the test card.

 

Now I know its my card because the price link posted is the on overclockers and is the exact model I bought (for nearly £20 more though a few weeks ago, grrr)

 

We always test worse case scenarios for performance, which is why you're probably getting higher framerates.