Overclocking

Unfortunately, the PowerColor card has its clocks BIOS locked and due to time constraints, we can only deliver overclocking results at a later date.

Conclusion

Whilst the Reference Radeon HD3850 did not fare well in our previous comparison against the big boys, we now see how PowerColor has transformed the underdog by slapping on a better cooling system and upping the clocks on the card.  In the synthetic FutureMark tests, we have seen it lead the stock HD3850 by close to 1000 points and in games, we see it fighting tooth to tooth with the Radeon HD2900XT at twice its price.  The NVIDIA 8600GTS was trailing so far back that it didn't even seem to exist at all! Furthermore, we're witnessing all of this happen even though the ATI Catalyst drivers are not mature for thge RV670 cards.  We shudder to think of what is to come when the drivers have been optimized.

As we've been told to expect a price within 10SGD of the current non-Xtreme PowerColor HD3850, the HD3850 Xtreme PCS is placed squarely in the NVIDIA 8600GTS' backyard but the PowerColor HD3850 Xtreme totally blows the fish out of the water with it's performance lead.  It is certainly no mean feat for PowerColor to take the HD3850 that once seemed like a failure and polish it into a card that delivers great performance for the entry level gaming market.  PowerColor also intends to release an Xtreme PCS edition of the HD3870; if its performance improvement would be as significant as with the HD3850 version we have here, NVIDIA would have something to worry about.  This is especially so since CrossFireX is supported across both Intel and AMD platforms with the X38 and 790FX platforms opening up so many possibilities for gamers around the world.  In conclusion, we feel that the release of the HD3850 Xtreme PCS is a great move by PowerColor and it couldn't have come at a better time.

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