Review: HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024 - retail dual-GPU cards are go - Graphics - HEXUS.net

Overclocking; temps; VC-1 decode; final thoughts

Overclocking

Operating at a reference-like 825MHz core and 1,800MHz memory, the sample overclocked to 878MHz/1,910MHz with utter stability.

Re-running Enemy Territory at 1,920x1,200, performance increased from an average 51.13fps to 56.53fps, beating out the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 and GTX but still falling behind a stock-clocked GeForce 8800 Ultra's 60.97fps

Temperatures

Under-load temperatures hit 80C. This compares favourably with the 89C attained by a reference Radeon HD 3870 (single-GPU) but some way hotter than the MSI GeForce 8800 GTS 512, which ran at a cool-ish 64C.

Hardware-based video-acceleration

Testing hardware-based decode efficiency of the cards by running a VC-1-encoded HD DVD film - Harry Potter: The Goblet Of Fire - by measuring CPU utilisation over three runs when run via CyberLink's PowerDVD HD DVD-supporting software, the HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 is the best of the tested trio.

Note that the GeForce 8800 Ultra relies on pure GPU horsepower to get the decoding job done, rather than the VP2 engine built into the newer GeForce 8800 GTS 512. All three GPUs do well in keeping CPU utilisation in check, albeit on a powerful Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850.

Graphics cards	HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MiB	MSI GeForce 8800 GTS 512MiB	NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MiB
CPU % utilisation during VC-1 playback, lower is better	9.84	16.5	19.04

Final thoughts

The HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MiB performs practically identically to the reference card that we reviewed a few days' ago. It should do, too, as it features an identical design and BIOS. As such, it's, on balance, the fastest single card, marginally beating out the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra when evaluated over a number of new and old games.

The slight performance advantage is cemented by the fact that it's over £100 cheaper than NVIDIA's single-GPU standard-bearer. However, thanks to price-cutting of the slightly slower GeForce 8800 GTX and excellent performance exhibited by the GeForce 8800 GTS 512, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 isn't the must-have it looks to be on paper.

Thinking of the HIS package in particular, the online pricing (£290) isn't quite as competitive as other partners', whose X2 cards e-tail for around £275, or £15-£20 cheaper than the HIS'. Further, the lacklustre bundle does it no favours; we'd expect more if paying for more, frankly.

The Radeon HD 3870 X2 is a blazing-fast GPU that can potentially stall in cases where CrossFire performance doesn't scale well, and HIS, basing its card entirely on the reference model, lives and dies by this statement.

Available right now for around £285, there is no faster GPU around right now. That's refreshing to say for something coming out of ATI in Q1 2008.

Worth buying? The answer is no, because you can buyer cheaper X2s, or ones bundled with a greater number of value-adding extras for the same outlay. Fast? Yes, indeed.

HEXUS.certification

The HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 passed all of our tests without failure.

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

HEXUS Awards

HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2

HEXUS Where2Buy

The card is currently available for £290 here.

HEXUS Right2Reply

Wayne Tritton, HIS marketing manager for EMEA, was kind enough to provide a HEXUS Right2Reply.

"The multi purpose screwdriver has been favourably received as we commenced shipping it as a free gift with the 3870 ICEQ Turbo and 3850 Turbo and 3850 TurboX.

End users feedback has been very positive commenting it is a more interesting and useful bundle item. As to the Steam games voucher, we find this a more flexible option to enable us to get our products out to consumers as soon as possible.

Choosing a game to bundle is always difficult as you can never please everyone so we opted to go for a different approach with the gamer deciding what he wants to play and us providing a handy tool to open their case up and get installed out of the box.

Thanks for the review guys and if there is any update on pricing I will let you know"

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HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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Posted by TooNice - Fri 01 Feb 2008 02:26

Even though this card is much cheaper than the Ultra, it is nevertheless a little unexpected to see this card not beat the Ultra overall here. I knew that the two were trading hits from other reviews, but I thought that the X2 delivered the KO blow.

I do want to praise Hexus's bang4buck meter once again. It's UK centric, but saves me a whole lot of time (because I do go around trying to work it out based on numbers in reviews). Would've been nice to have the GT in it, but at least it's in the other review.

I do have a suggestion as to how it may be improved: it's really good as it is, and I'll have absolutely no complaint if it's just left as it is. But it would be handy if the ‘current price’ field on the table can be left ‘open’ for user edit (client side) and the ‘HEXUS.bang4buck score at 1920x1200’ updated accordingly. Since some cards (especially in the upper mid-range) perform and are priced very similarly I can imagine ‘upsets’ when a bargain shows up. Furthermore, as reviews become dated, users can update the prices as they move. Lastly, in the event that prices between cards are very different here and elsewhere in the world, oversea visitors can also adjust as they need.

Posted by this_is_gav - Fri 01 Feb 2008 12:59

Nice to see decoding benchmarks added, cheers! :)

Posted by baius - Fri 01 Feb 2008 15:35

TooNice
I do want to praise Hexus's bang4buck meter once again. It's UK centric, but saves me a whole lot of time …

Yeah, very useful. (Your (cropped) suggestion was good, btw.)

this_is_gav
Nice to see decoding benchmarks added, cheers! :)

Agree with that, but it would be nice imho to see power consumption figures. No offence, but Tom's usually files them in at the end, and they are useful.

Thanks for the review, though.