» HD3870X2 - Simon Lau

HIS Radeon HD3870X2 1GB DDR3 (H387X2F1GNP)

This post was guest written by Jody Bailey, Technical Director of Overclockers Online.

Manufacturer : HIS – Hightech Information System Limited

A new era in graphics processing has begun for ATI and its partners. It is an era that follows in the footsteps of recent CPU progress by increasing performance not with frequency but with multiple processors. The server market has seen multiple processor systems for years and that was adopted into the consumer market by way of multi-core CPUs. We have seen multiple video cards in systems for a while now and there have been previous attempts to double the processing power of a graphics card by multiplying the graphic processors onboard but nothing that has shook up the industry like what we are looking at today from Hightech Information System Ltd..

HIS is a well established and well known ATI graphics card manufacturer for the average gamer and definitely in the enthusiast circles. Since their inception in 1987, HIS has been very closely tied with ATI and is an authorized 1st tier AIB partner, certified partner and launching partner. This means that HIS is definitely one of ATIs top partners for producing their graphics solutions. Of their long line of success in the video card industry, most recently HIS has become famous for their IceQ line which is now into the third version for select ATI graphics cards. The IceQ brand was established to provide additional cooling with reduced noise to provide the ultimate in video card performance. Unfortunately there is no IceQ version of the card we are looking at today but I think we all know that a beast like the HD3870X2 could certainly use it.

For those familiar with the graphics card landscape, the HD3870X2 needs no introduction because you know exactly what it is. For those that don’t, you can decipher what it is by its name alone. At the heart of the HD3870X2 is the HD3870, okay so two of them. That’s right, the X2 at the end of the model number denotes how many GPUs are onboard this card. It is essentially two HD3870s on the same card with an internal bridge that makes them work like a pair of HD3870s in CrossFire. With this kind of graphics processing power on one card, maxing out a 20″~22″ LCD at 1680×1050 should be fun and that is just what we plan on doing here today.

Package & Contents

We start our journey down this path of video card euphoria with a look at the package. It isn’t quite what I was expecting for such an elaborate and highly touted video card. There was definitely a look of surprise on my face when this package was pulled from the shipping box.

Tags: AMD, ATI, HD3870X2, hightech information system, Overclockers Online, Review, video card

. 25 Feb 08 | Reviews | Comments (5)

AMD/ATI HD3870X2

A number of websites are already reporting results of the new AMD/ATI HD3870X2. The official release of this card was Jan 28th, 2008 after being delayed by 5 days as a result of unoptimized drivers. Personally, I think it was a good idea for ATI shift release day until the driver kinks are worked out. The card doesn’t come cheap, so when you plunk down 5 bills for it, you want it to work perfectly.

3870
Image courtesy of AMD.

Sadly, the current review results on the web are slightly deceiving. I won’t give you a list of who is doing that, you can find it yourself on Overclockers Online. Many of the sites are reporting what will be lower than actual results because they’re using the Catalyst 8.451 (beta) drivers or not reporting the drivers version at all. Reviewers should give the manufacturer an opportunity to release production drivers as opposed to the beta ones before publishing results. They are only misinforming the readers and taking away potential customers.

If retailers are selling the product with beta drivers well after the release date, than that’s a whole other ballpark. However, ATI has send word, found on VR-Zone, that the Catalyst v8.453 will be out today for download as a RC and the WHQL approved drivers available on the 30th. There should be significant improvements on performance with that said.

So…if you’re reading a review from a site that published their results at 12:01AM on Jan 28th, 2008 so they could be the first to publish a review on the HD 3870 X2, you’re probably wasting your time as the numbers won’t be right. Wait a bit before judging the card. HIS has kindly send me their reference HD3870 X2 to review and we’ll be publishing it when we’re confident our results and what they represent.

Tags: AMD, ATI, HD3870X2, Review

. 28 Jan 08 | Reviews, Technology | Comment (1)