Anandtech Reviews the 3870 X2

[abbY]

It has been far too long since AMD/ATI have been at the top of the performance charts; the crown had been lost on both CPU and GPU fronts, but today’s Radeon HD 3870 X2 introduction begins to change that. The Radeon HD 3870 X2 is the most elegant single-card, multi-GPU design we’ve seen to date and the performance is indeed higher than any single-card NVIDIA solution out today.

AMD is also promising the X2 at a fairly attractive price point; at $449 it is more expensive than NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTS 512, but it’s also consistently faster in the majority of titles we tested. If you’re looking for something in between the performance of an 8800 GTS 512 and a 8800 GT 512 SLI setup, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is perfect.

Even more appealing is the fact that the 3870 X2 will work in all motherboards: **CrossFire support is not required. **In fact, during our testing it was very easy to forget that we were dealing with a multi-GPU board since we didn’t run into any CrossFire scaling or driver issues. We’re hoping that this is a sign of things to come, but we can’t help but worry about the future of these multi-GPU cards.

The fact hat both AMD and NVIDIA are committed to them is promising, and hopefully that means an even better experience when it comes to compatibility and performance with CrossFire and SLI (single-card or not), but we’ve got no crystal ball - only time will tell how the driver support evolves in the future.

But today, we have a victory for AMD. The past few months have shown a very different graphics division of AMD than we’ve seen since the first talks of the acquisition. The Radeon HD 2900 XT was a failure and now AMD has arguably the fastest single-card graphics card on the market. The only worry we’d have if we were in AMD’s shoes is that the 3870 X2 was made by putting a couple of 3870s onto a single board; if AMD can do it, NVIDIA can as well. And we all know how the 3870 vs. 8800 GT matchup turned out.

What AMD really needs is its next-generation high end GPU, the 3870 X2 will buy the top performance spot for a little while but it’s R700 that we really need to see.

The R680launch was delayed by a week cause ATI got new drivers for the R680 which gave a significant perfoamance boost, and things can only get better.

**What the new drivers(current) offer:

**

• Company of Heroes DX10 – AA now working on R680. Up to 70% faster at 2560x1600 4xAA

• Crysis DX10 – Improves up to ~60% on R680 and up to ~9% on RV670 on Island GPU test up to 1920x1200.

• Lost Planet DX10 – 16xAF scores on R680 improved ~20% and more. AF scores were horribly low before and should have been very close to no AF scores

• Oblivion – fixed random texture flashing

• COJ – no longer randomly goes to blackscreen after the DX10 benchmark run

• World in Conflict - 2560x1600x32 0xAA 16xAF quality=high we get 77% increase

• Fixed random WIC random crashing to desktop

• Fixed CF scaling for Colin McRae Dirt, Tiger Woods 08, and Blazing Angels2

• Fixed WIC DX9 having smearable text

I know many here are Die Hard “I am waiting for the 9 series”, but honestly the 9800X2 is nothing but two 8800GT,its gonna be expensive(around $599), and to get idea about the performance check the 8800GT SLI figures, so even with preliminary drivers ATI is breathing down Nvidia’s neck.

**Secondly **what ATI has demonstrated (even with preliminary drivers is), performance better than two 3870 on CrossfireX, and costs less than what two 3870 will cost you.

Thirdly you don’t have to run into trouble of buying a crossfire ready board.

Link->AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2: 2 GPUs 1 Card, A Return to the High End

[hatter]

And here is Tom’s review:

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 - Fastest Yet! | Tom’s Hardware

The fastest card today, once again, carries the AMD signature, after a long domination by NVIDIA. Based on two RV670, the HD 3870 X2 suffers, however, in part from its conception and isn’t as thrilling as a new chip, like a real R680, would have been.

[Udit]

kudos to AMD/ATI

[200mph]

finally something good for AMD and a new gpu for us to suggest about

[titana]

card looks good, finally something for amd

[WingZero]

yay for ATI/AMD…lets c how long they can hold d flagship..

[Lord_Nemesis]

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100221SR Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB (512MB x 2) 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

$449 is a pretty damn good price for this card and the fact that there is no need for Cross Fire support on the MoBo is an added bonus. This would come to 18k if you get the card from US. But Crysis still kills this card. I am going to wait for a card which can run Crysis at 1680 x 1050 High with 4x AA at 50 FPS.

[YoGi-Sama]

It’s a pretty good card I say… and even if it’s more evolutionary than revolutionary, at $449 you really can’t complain.

It takes moderately more power and produce more heat compared to single card, but hell, it’s still lot lesser when compared to Crossfire/SLi setup. Not to mention, it will work on any mobo (no need for CF/SLi ready mobo).

It’s pretty good with preliminary drivers and I’m sure it will be bit more better as an when AMD/ATi polish the driver set.

[FaH33m]

@Lord Nemesis

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100221SR Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB (512MB x 2) 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

$449 is a pretty damn good price for this card and the fact that there is no need for Cross Fire support on the MoBo is an added bonus. This would come to 18k if you get the card from US. But Crysis still kills this card. I am going to wait for a card which can run Crysis at 1680 x 1050 High with 4x AA at 50 FPS.

do u think two 3870 X2 in crossfire mode..will run crysis in da settings u desire ..?

[Rivunited]

finally, things starting look good for amd

[WingZero]

doesnt crysis run good in anyof d latest cards…duh!!
wht abt patch releases n other tweaks??? did tht help in increasing fps??

[hatter]

In last one year AMD-ATI has lost much goodwill over largely because of 2900XT, buggy drivers, broken promises and at times outright lies. This shows the way this card has been reviewed at various websites. Or may be AMD’s marketing dept has again goofed up.

I have gone through around seven reviews and nowhere the numbers for 3870 X2 are consistent. While at Tom’s it’s losing in Quake: enemy territory at Hot Hardware it’s ahead. While Hot Hardware said the card was a little laggy at DX10 titles Legit Review was of the opinion that it works great on DX10 titles. People are testing 3870 X2 according to the kind of performance they want to see and not how actually it is.

Or may be there are too many different versions of 3870 X2 driver floating on the net. For example chaps at Hot Hardware received three different versions of 3870X2 driver

[Aces170]

Hmm the TR review is pretty good, rather then looking at performance nos per se, look at the power consumption the monster drives…

Its the old adage again brute force to beat the king, seriously gaming atleast at 1 MP resolution, the 8800GT should do fine… Anyways lets see how the 9800X2 competes, heh imaging gaming in a multi screen display of 6-8 MP resolution being powered by quad 9800X2’s… but then again even 2GB RAm would be less, unless they get the divisional screen display rendering tech on par with the hardware…

[nsan-ty]

Damn nice card for damn good price. Sadly we dont get ATi that cheap in India. If availibility was not a problem, I feel this card is a much better option than nvidia’s 8800GTS or Ultra

[gamervivek]

@abhisheksahas

I know many here are Die Hard “I am waiting for the 9 series”, but honestly the 9800X2 is nothing but two 8800GT,its gonna be expensive(around $599), and to get idea about the performance check the 8800GT SLI figures, so even with preliminary drivers ATI is breathing down Nvidia’s neck.
**Secondly **what ATI has demonstrated (even with preliminary drivers is), performance better than two 3870 on CrossfireX, and costs less than what two 3870 will cost you.
Thirdly you don’t have to run into trouble of buying a crossfire ready board.
Link->AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2: 2 GPUs 1 Card, A Return to the High End

correction,9800gx2 is two 8800GTS sli together,so it would be better than the 8800gt sli.and sure it will be much pricier than the 3870x2 but still 3870x2 is $100-150 over 8800GTS and at lower resolutions does not offer much better performance,this card is for gamers with >22’’ screen size
since nvidia do not have the lead now,they must be itching to get the g100 in the market soon.