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Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 X2
Video, Power, and Overclocking
 HQV
HQV
(Show All Graphs)
130
130
122
0
Points (higher is better)
150
100
100
90
0
Points (higher is better)
150
A score-perfect showing by ATI here, but, like all 3000-series cards, there's still some very brief moire across the stands in HQV. It's corrected just shy of instantly, and won't show up at all when watching movies like a human being. Power and Noise
Power Consumption
(Show All Graphs)
70
65
32
0
Watts (lower is better)
300
166
148
73
0
Watts (lower is better)
300
It's not hugely surprising to see this card pull the kind of power that it does, unfortunate though that may be. What is surprising is that, at load, it consumes more than what two 3870s do. I think it's a combination of the high clocks and extra PCI-Express hardware. At idle, though, it's neatly double. The fan could be worse. It's an ATI-standard high-profile buzz, if quiet--silent even--at idle. Because it's temperature-regulated, replacing the stock thermal paste will most definitely help out while the card is loaded. The good thing is that the fan speed steps are shallow, and, even in a stuffy case, won't throw sparks or warp the PCB with their rotational force. I'd say between silent and loud, the fan lands right in the middle. Overclocking
Overclocking
(Show All Graphs)
1800
825
0
MHz (higher is better)
2500
1896
865
0
MHz (higher is better)
2500
In the Catalyst Control Center, overclocking will be disabled if you don't have a six- and an eight-pin power cable connected. If you do, or if you go third-party overclocking app, you'll see that there's a low ceiling under that heatsink. I'd brag about getting even a 10% overclock, I really would. At least with the stock heatsink; I have a hunch it's not the silicon's fault. But hey, it's two video cards... that's still cool.
Page 1: Introduction, The Card & Bundle
Page 2: Specifications and Testing Setup Page 3: DirectX 10 Titles Page 4: DX9, OpenGL, and Synthetics Page 5: Video, Power, and Overclocking Page 6: Conclusion 
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Add Comment
3 User Comments 1 - Posted by
dude81
on June 3, 2008 - 6:07 am "Best, er, only dual-GPU ATI card". What about 3850 X2?
2 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on June 3, 2008 - 11:53 am Yeah, I wrote that before it was released. Kurtis, can we retract that? Also, Diamond has informed us that it was a mis-print that their 1GB 3870 has a 512-bit ring bus; it's still an impressive card, but it's just 256-bit.
3 - Posted by
Kurtis
on June 3, 2008 - 12:00 pm dude81: Thanks for pointing out that error. That (and the 512-bit ring bus error) has now been corrected.
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