Comments

AMD Radeon HD3850 and HD3870 - AMD's salvation?

Introducing the RV670!

Written by Firefox and filed under Reviews > GPUs & Graphic Cards
Published on November 15, 2007, 12:01 pm

CommentsComments(0)  PrintPrint  EmailEmail  DiggDigg  del.icio.usdel.icio.us  RedditReddit  SlashdotSlashdot  FacebookFacebook  
Barely 3 weeks after NVIDIA launched their 8800GT, ATI responds with their RV670 based Radeon HD3850 & HD3870 cards. Positioned at the same price point, we shall take these two cards for a spin and pit them against the acclaimed G92 8800GT. Read More >>
You have to register before you can post Comments. Register for a VR-Zone Forum Membership now!
User Name: Password:

Comment by: hwmook on 26-Nov-2007 10:28 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by anelka9
hey somethings wrong with numbers over at overclock3D.net coz the power consumption numbers on their review is totally screwed up compared to the vr-zone one.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.p...nce_explored/8

eg. HD3850 @ Vr-zone
idle - 126W full - 204W

HD3850 @ Overclock3D.Net
idle - 60W full - 90W

wow, that is a big gap and if overclock3D.net's numbers of true, i will go change all my gaming systems' cards right now coz they suck twice less the power.!!! [lol]

at such numbers, 60W > 90W for HD3850, it is simply bollocks coz even my 7950GT 512mb is like 90W~ on idle and 145W on full. This is totally amazing coz which even more transistors (666 million) and even smaller process of 55nm, it draws so much lesser power!. Can someone verify the numbers for HD3850? then if 3850 is so low power consumption, HD3870 shouldn't be far with the almost close chip specifications!?

1 is full system power consumption and 1 is card only. i believe the HD3850 only consume 90W on load.
Comment by: anelka9 on 25-Nov-2007 12:15 am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lime43
catalyst drivers usually take around 6 months before it reaches its peak performance
and normally based on that, most 3d cards get a new generation within 6 months as well. normally when you get the best and final build drivers, the newer generation card has released and the next gen drivers will be out for the next gen card. I bet everyone knows that already...
Comment by: anelka9 on 24-Nov-2007 10:40 pm
hey somethings wrong with numbers over at overclock3D.net coz the power consumption numbers on their review is totally screwed up compared to the vr-zone one.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.p...nce_explored/8

eg. HD3850 @ Vr-zone
idle - 126W full - 204W

HD3850 @ Overclock3D.Net
idle - 60W full - 90W

wow, that is a big gap and if overclock3D.net's numbers of true, i will go change all my gaming systems' cards right now coz they suck twice less the power.!!! [lol]

at such numbers, 60W > 90W for HD3850, it is simply bollocks coz even my 7950GT 512mb is like 90W~ on idle and 145W on full. This is totally amazing coz which even more transistors (666 million) and even smaller process of 55nm, it draws so much lesser power!. Can someone verify the numbers for HD3850? then if 3850 is so low power consumption, HD3870 shouldn't be far with the almost close chip specifications!?
Comment by: behling on 18-Nov-2007 8:51 pm
w/e
Comment by: Komano on 18-Nov-2007 7:50 pm
hmm. maybe?
Comment by: behling on 18-Nov-2007 2:46 pm
must be you buy from wrong store lor. got see the last PC show. BL the gfx card. 1st day all gone?. maybe cos they jack up?. then ppl see jack up price they cum in their pants buy?. can't be rite.
Comment by: Komano on 18-Nov-2007 11:02 am
lol sitex?, more like they jack higher at sitex... bought something from sitex and went to simlim a few days later, and found out that sitex had actually sold it to me for about 8bucks more.(while sitex was still on)
Comment by: behling on 18-Nov-2007 3:33 am
gentlemen just wait for sitex. by then drivers mature, price mature. everyone happy.
Comment by: brian.ca on 17-Nov-2007 8:00 am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordzephyr
this was said with regards to Singapore prices... current HD3870 is priced at SGD$399 and 8800GT is priced at $409

u are paying 2% cheaper and getting 20% slower gfx
That's not true...

Quote:
At US$179 and US$239 MSRP for the HD3850 and HD3870 respectively, the HD3870 will costs a good USD$60 dollars less than the NVIDIA 8800GT!.
MSRP = Manufacturer's suggested retail price. That's is usually wholesale price + a common % denoting what the manufacturer thinks you should sell their product for. The retailers are then able to change the price to what ever they want (exactly why MSRP makes for the best comparison point).. so maybe some retailer in Singapore is selling a 3870 for cheap and maybe some retailer in your neck of the wood is jacking the price up but the suggested retail price for the cards in US dollars is $239 for a 3870 & $299 for a GT.

That I would be paying 2% less for a 20% slower card is as true as it is likely that I'd pay $400 bucks for a card that is available locally for $240 bucks.. which is to say, not very heh...

But for me in Canada the numbers listed in the review seem to be completely accurate. NCIX.com has the 3870s @ 239.99, the average cost of a GT from the same site is $293.75.
Comment by: Daimler on 17-Nov-2007 5:16 am
THX for new screenshots in image quality testing
Now everything seems clear
Comment by: Komano on 16-Nov-2007 8:37 pm
thats gay. bloody hell, jacking up the prices and jacking up the hd3870, seriously people who jack up prices should just DIE
Comment by: quietburn on 16-Nov-2007 4:17 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordzephyr
this was said with regards to Singapore prices... current HD3870 is priced at SGD$399 and 8800GT is priced at $409

u are paying 2% cheaper and getting 20% slower gfx
Right. The dealers are spoiling the party for ATI then, not ATI itself.
ATI is very commendable for the HD3k series great price/performance achievement.
(To a lesser extent, the 8800GT prices have been jacked up too)
In fact, they spoil all our party, both you and I. I am sitting on it, getting neither...not helping to shift more numbers for the dealers till the cards become old, outdated, unwanted..
Comment by: Lordzephyr on 16-Nov-2007 4:05 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by brian.ca
That doesn't sound quite right.. I didn't look too closely at all the numbers but I thought you referred to nvidia being 20% ahead numberwise. If the 3870 MSRPs at $239 and the 8800GT at $299 (reviewer said there was a $60 dollar difference) then the GT would be paying an extra 25% for a 20% performance gain. Not terrible in itself but that's with out factoring some of the benefits that I believe are currently exclusive to ATI. Crossfire X allowing you to link different cards would be a huge value boost since you should be able to still make use of your old vid card when you upgrade but linking it to your new one.
this was said with regards to Singapore prices... current HD3870 is priced at SGD$399 and 8800GT is priced at $409

u are paying 2% cheaper and getting 20% slower gfx
Comment by: quietburn on 16-Nov-2007 12:45 pm
Not supporting either sides, in my own experience with both (I am a fan of both), ATI does really produces more details and a more vibrant color (even my gf can tell the diff.).

In any case above, the colors do look more washed out (on the same screen, same pc which capture both images, same compression etc..) on the nVidia even if the subject of detail rendering is arguable. (nVidia has a nice graphics optimisation software though which helped partially to make up for it)

I had always not thought graphics quality that important since I previously assumed is the same and anyway it is only games I am playing. Until I got an ATI just to give it a chance out of curiosity, the results simply quietly blew us away. It made the whole experience just that more involving and spectacular, and that is what planted ATI in me (likely my friends' too). Now that I have tasted the experience of this better graphics, it is hard to ignore this point. I'll probably want to play games now with ATI's fastest card available to me whenever possible cause I know I am not being short-changed on the game's "magic" that went into development.

If the above on nVidia driver optimisation for images is true, I really do not wish to have to check drivers update every now and then and to compare whether has nVidia made any difference to which games on image affecting what performance. (*Note: Though nVidia has very good attributes in other areas in my experience, this is really a huge set-back for nVidia)

For this part, I will always have an ATI. For other reasons especially performance/overclocking, I keep another nVidia...said I am a fan of both.
Comment by: brian.ca on 16-Nov-2007 12:36 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordzephyr
what i am saying is based on current situation.... As of now.. all are just speculations... we will not know if it does increase tha much.

As of now.. 8800GT is still the most value for money.
That doesn't sound quite right.. I didn't look too closely at all the numbers but I thought you referred to nvidia being 20% ahead numberwise. If the 3870 MSRPs at $239 and the 8800GT at $299 (reviewer said there was a $60 dollar difference) then the GT would be paying an extra 25% for a 20% performance gain. Not terrible in itself but that's with out factoring some of the benefits that I believe are currently exclusive to ATI. Crossfire X allowing you to link different cards would be a huge value boost since you should be able to still make use of your old vid card when you upgrade but linking it to your new one.
Comment by: Fragnatic on 16-Nov-2007 10:26 am
i agree with Daimler.

the pics are not exactly the same... the screenshot for the 8800gt seems to be taken a bit further than the screenshot for 3870. the draw distance can determine how much graphcis to be rendered... so its not very fair.

for the pics to be exactly the same, it has to be the same frame, then we can compare side by side.
Comment by: Dreamslacker on 16-Nov-2007 2:30 am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tensor
is there any chance doing a test on UVD?
I'm sure that can be arranged... Once there's a bit of free time..
Comment by: tensor on 16-Nov-2007 1:57 am
is there any chance doing a test on UVD?
Comment by: Daimler on 16-Nov-2007 1:06 am
hwmook
I was talking about different frames of the Crysis GPU-testing demo. Of course I've noticed all the missing details on the picture that 8800GT produces. But the point was that pictures were taken from different angle and zoom! Place them one over another in photoshop and you'll see - rocks on the the picture by HD 3870 are much closer and have a little bit different angle! Thus the quality test is incorrect
The author of the article should take screenshots of the same frames of the Crysis GPU-testing demo and prove (or disprove) the huge image quality difference between HD 38xx and 8800GT
Comment by: hwmook on 16-Nov-2007 12:05 am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daimler
PLZ correct the image quality page of the article:
1) Images taken from Crysis really show great(!!!) difference, but the image for HD 3870 looks like taken from much closer to the rocks point of view or from different frame than image for 8800GT! The frame and camera position must be equal to make decisions about the quality.
2)Image's "full-screen" versions do not match with the "small and cut" versions shown on the page.

Could you please take similar screenshots for both HD 3870 and 8800GT in Crysis and compare the quality once again!

ps sorry for my "bad" english
it look to be similar angle to me. And what different frames are you talking about? You mean Nvidia cards only render the textures on some frames? The whole texture on the snow on the right side is missing, one whole patch of white only. If its not bad rendering or cheating then i don't know what is.
Comment by: reddevil0728 on 15-Nov-2007 11:51 pm
crossfire x = new crossfire thingy? got any more detailed thing abt it?
Comment by: Komano on 15-Nov-2007 11:06 pm
so is it very important if you want like hd?
Comment by: willyeo on 15-Nov-2007 11:04 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Komano
hmm im wondering, is this very important?
If you got a HDTV with HDMI, you can just connect directly to it.... and the sound chip on the card will provide the sound also.
Comment by: Komano on 15-Nov-2007 10:58 pm
hmm im wondering, is this very important?
Quote:
Just like the 29XT, the RV670s both come with 5.1 sound onboard and are all-in-one HDMI solutions, something that cannot be found on Nvidia's cards.
Comment by: Daimler on 15-Nov-2007 10:28 pm
PLZ correct the image quality page of the article:
1) Images taken from Crysis really show great(!!!) difference, but the image for HD 3870 looks like taken from much closer to the rocks point of view or from different frame than image for 8800GT! The frame and camera position must be equal to make decisions about the quality.
2)Image's "full-screen" versions do not match with the "crop" versions shown on the page.

Could you please take similar screenshots for both HD 3870 and 8800GT in Crysis and compare the quality once again!

ps sorry for my "bad" english
Comment by: impar9 on 15-Nov-2007 6:31 pm
Greetings!

A comment on the article regarding Crysis image quality.
The author wrote:
Quote:
In the next set of pictures, we can't discern the differences as easily. There seems to be just that smidgen more detail in the surface of the rocks on the HD3870. In both instances, the differences are very minute and we can't say for sure that they would be noticed in gameplay or how much of a performance impact would be caused.
The difference is not minute, and has already been measured here.
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4867/iq3pc1.th.jpg http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/451/iq4xm8.th.jpg

Now, the article used 169.09 beta drivers that should have corrected the water bug. It seems its not fixed after all.
Comment by: floppy on 15-Nov-2007 2:38 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by winguy
Under Benchmarking Setup, "Power Consumption Tests" is mentioned. What're the tests and where're the figures?
missed that out, updates:

http://sg.vr-zone.com/articles/AMD_R...F/5392-15.html
Comment by: winguy on 15-Nov-2007 1:52 pm
Under Benchmarking Setup, "Power Consumption Tests" is mentioned. What're the tests and where're the figures?
Comment by: Rain_Star on 15-Nov-2007 12:10 pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by steens
Quick query about the Powercolor card at the end of the review:

http://resources.vr-zone.com/Firefox...3000/power.jpg

Is it an HD38x0? If so, the PWM power stage is different to that of stock. Also, is the top vid connector native HDMI or display port?
its a 3850 top is a native HDMI port
Comment by: Lordzephyr on 15-Nov-2007 11:58 am
what i am saying is based on current situation.... As of now.. all are just speculations... we will not know if it does increase tha much.

As of now.. 8800GT is still the most value for money.


Post Comments

More >>