Sapphire HD 3870 Atomic Edition

W1zzard · Jan 25, 2008, 09:57 AM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...D_3870_Atomic/

Hawk1 · Jan 25, 2008, 05:23 PM

Very nice, thorough review W1zz (as usual). Just one question. When you show the GPU idle/load temps, is that after the card was OC by you to 864/1251, or the stock Saphire OC?

W1zzard · Jan 25, 2008, 05:26 PM

idle + load are at the clocks out of the box (sapphire clocks), Load+OC is with the maximum OC i reached

Hawk1 · Jan 25, 2008, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

idle + load are at the clocks out of the box (sapphire clocks), Load+OC is with the maximum OC i reached

Thanks, very nice looking card. Now get going on the 3870x2 review for Monday (and how come I cant add smileys since this morning

- this is manually typed in )

W1zzard · Jan 25, 2008, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawk1

Now get going on the 3870x2 review for Monday

benchmarks are running right now

InfDamarvel · Jan 25, 2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

benchmarks are running right now

That kinda makes me sad, hopefully youll review it again with the correct drivers that are suppose to be released on the 28th.

btarunr · Jan 25, 2008, 05:54 PM

wow, just <24 hrs ago we were talking about the cards reaching your place. Nice review, W1z.

The packaging reminds me of the Radeon X1950 XTX Uber edition set from ATI. There should be a mention that while the card is slightly overpriced and that its performance per dollar takes a hit, at $299.99, it we must realise that the bundled accessories, the packaging, the cold-cathode tube, the cooling mechanism's ingenuity more than makes up for the price. I love this card, so far it's the fastest card using an ATI GPU.

W1zzard · Jan 25, 2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfDamarvel

That kinda makes me sad, hopefully youll review it again with the correct drivers that are suppose to be released on the 28th.

amd told me "use that driver for your review".. so what am i supposed to do. i doubt there are any miracle drivers

snuif09 · Jan 25, 2008, 07:46 PM

spitze

happita · Jan 25, 2008, 07:47 PM

Hey W1zzard, just something that I noticed and thought I'd point out

On page 4-A Closer Look, you state that:

"The GDDR3 memory chips are made by Samsung and carry the model number K4U52324QE-BC08. With 0.8ns they are the fastest GDDR3 memory chips available on the market today and should be able to handle at least 1250 MHz (if the memory controller in the GPU can handle that speed)."

If I'm not mistaken, these are GDDR4

Para_Franck · Jan 26, 2008, 12:04 AM

I am not sure about these particular memory modules, but from my knowledge, all 3870 come with GDDR4 memory.

the 3850's come with GDDR3 memory modules (I think I saw one model with GDDR4m wich cost more than 3870..... pointless)

Para_Franck

0V3CHKiN · Jan 26, 2008, 01:24 AM

I'm curious to see how this card handles CSS/HL2 @ 1920x1200. I would like to return to single slot cooling.

OnBoard · Jan 26, 2008, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

I would also have prefered black Styrofoam over the pink stuff that Sapphire uses.

Well at least the pink wrappingfoam is antistatic, so if this pink is too, it's good that it's pink, not black

Edit: and seems it is, same stuff can be found here: http://www.correctproducts.com/PRODU...50-041601.html

unsmart · Jan 26, 2008, 12:56 PM

Great review Wizz

Do you have any idea what the Vcore is on the card? 864 is a good OC on stock Vcore for a 3870,I'm thinking these cards may have "cherry" cores to keep the heat down.
The pink foam reminds me of when I first opened my 1975 Gibson SG case and seen pink lining,It's like G.I Joe living in a Barbie dream castle

W1zzard · Jan 27, 2008, 01:57 PM

BIOS of the card: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/details.php?id=5309

unsmart · Jan 27, 2008, 02:27 PM

I'm guessing Sapphire wouldn't like it if you flashed with the unlocked bios and did a Vmod.

roadie · Jan 28, 2008, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

BIOS of the card: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/details.php?id=5309

Awesome. I assume that this will work perfectly with a vanilla Sapphire 3870?

W1zzard · Jan 28, 2008, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadie

Awesome. I assume that this will work perfectly with a vanilla Sapphire 3870?

i don't have the slightest idea. if you try this let us know your results

roadie · Jan 28, 2008, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

i don't have the slightest idea. if you try this let us know your results

Yeah, I will flash it this evening to see what happens. The Atomic card looks like it is based on the reference design so I guess the only thing to take into account would be the fan speed. Did the Atomic card ramp fan speed or was it at one setting all through testing?

erocker · Jan 28, 2008, 05:09 PM

Just set both cards to 100% fan speed. Make sure both clocks are identical. It should very well work.

roadie · Jan 28, 2008, 09:58 PM

Flashed the card with Winflash and all went well. I was using a BIOS that gave clocks of 830/1200Mhz and opened up a wider range of clock speeds. However, I will keep this one whilst on stock cooling, even though it restricts max clocks to 885/1387Mhz.

I played Armed Assault for a couple of hours tonight with no hitches and can recommend this BIOS to other Sapphire 3870 users. As I have had to do with all previous BIOS, I set fan speed to 70% in Rivatuner whilst gaming to keep temps down.

Jor3llBR · Feb 1, 2008, 11:11 PM

Did you flash the HD3870 with no Volt Mods? Did it work well?

I have too cards I wonder If I have to flash one at a time (with the other one out of the case) and then Crossfire again?

roadie · Feb 1, 2008, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jor3llBR

Did you flash the HD3870 with no Volt Mods? Did it work well?

I have too cards I wonder If I have to flash one at a time (with the other one out of the case) and then Crossfire again?

Yeah, my card has no volt mods applied. The flash did seem to work well but I have discovered that my card doesn't like the memory at 1200Mhz. I have since re-flashed my card with a stock Sapphire BIOS and have set clocks to 825/1175Mhz. Of course, your card might be different...

No idea about flashing Crossfire cards, I am afraid.

Jor3llBR · Feb 1, 2008, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadie

Yeah, my card has no volt mods applied. The flash did seem to work well but I have discovered that my card doesn't like the memory at 1200Mhz. I have since re-flashed my card with a stock Sapphire BIOS and have set clocks to 825/1175Mhz. Of course, your card might be different...

No idea about flashing Crossfire cards, I am afraid.

Tx for the swift reply.

I see, but how do you set those clocks, I'm using Catalyst to try and set the clocks but always when I access Atitool the clocks are lower...

Jan 25, 2008, 09:57 AM	#1
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,873 (4.17/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,455 Times in 3,219 Posts System Specs	Sapphire HD 3870 Atomic Edition To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...D_3870_Atomic/ Last edited by W1zzard; Jan 26, 2008 at 10:59 AM.

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Processor:	E6600@3.6Ghz (8x450)
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Video Card:	ATI X1950XTX w/TR HR-03
Hard Disk:	2 x WD250GB (RAID0) 1x WD150GB Raptor 1x500GB external
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Jan 25, 2008, 05:23 PM	#2
Hawk1 Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Big Smoke, Canada Posts: 1,033 (0.46/day) Thanks: 178 Thanked 166 Times in 158 Posts System Specs	Very nice, thorough review W1zz (as usual). Just one question. When you show the GPU idle/load temps, is that after the card was OC by you to 864/1251, or the stock Saphire OC?

Jan 25, 2008, 05:26 PM	#3
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,873 (4.17/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,455 Times in 3,219 Posts System Specs	idle + load are at the clocks out of the box (sapphire clocks), Load+OC is with the maximum OC i reached

Jan 25, 2008, 05:54 PM	#7
btarunr Editor & Senior Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hyderabad, India Posts: 15,035 (7.22/day) Thanks: 792 Thanked 13,033 Times in 5,720 Posts System Specs	wow, just <24 hrs ago we were talking about the cards reaching your place. Nice review, W1z. The packaging reminds me of the Radeon X1950 XTX Uber edition set from ATI. There should be a mention that while the card is slightly overpriced and that its performance per dollar takes a hit, at $299.99, it we must realise that the bundled accessories, the packaging, the cold-cathode tube, the cooling mechanism's ingenuity more than makes up for the price. I love this card, so far it's the fastest card using an ATI GPU. __________________ Gadgets, Gaming, Phones, Tablets, Cameras, TVs, HiFi...NextPowerUp

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Jan 25, 2008, 07:46 PM	#9
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Jan 25, 2008, 07:47 PM	#10
happita Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: East Coast, USA Posts: 2,053 (0.96/day) Thanks: 210 Thanked 306 Times in 248 Posts System Specs	Hey W1zzard, just something that I noticed and thought I'd point out On page 4-A Closer Look, you state that: "The GDDR3 memory chips are made by Samsung and carry the model number K4U52324QE-BC08. With 0.8ns they are the fastest GDDR3 memory chips available on the market today and should be able to handle at least 1250 MHz (if the memory controller in the GPU can handle that speed)." If I'm not mistaken, these are GDDR4 __________________ co5 is cal i htpc: work in progress.. HeatWare - http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=71725

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Jan 26, 2008, 12:04 AM	#11
Para_Franck Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 74 (0.04/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts	I am not sure about these particular memory modules, but from my knowledge, all 3870 come with GDDR4 memory. the 3850's come with GDDR3 memory modules (I think I saw one model with GDDR4m wich cost more than 3870..... pointless) Para_Franck

Jan 26, 2008, 01:24 AM	#12
0V3CHKiN Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 59 (0.03/day) Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts System Specs	I'm curious to see how this card handles CSS/HL2 @ 1920x1200. I would like to return to single slot cooling.

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Jan 26, 2008, 12:56 PM	#14
unsmart Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 397 (0.15/day) Thanks: 16 Thanked 38 Times in 37 Posts	Great review Wizz Do you have any idea what the Vcore is on the card? 864 is a good OC on stock Vcore for a 3870,I'm thinking these cards may have "cherry" cores to keep the heat down. The pink foam reminds me of when I first opened my 1975 Gibson SG case and seen pink lining,It's like G.I Joe living in a Barbie dream castle __________________ my optic flip top mod: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=26851

Jan 27, 2008, 01:57 PM	#15
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,873 (4.17/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,455 Times in 3,219 Posts System Specs	BIOS of the card: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/details.php?id=5309

Jan 27, 2008, 02:27 PM	#16
unsmart Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 397 (0.15/day) Thanks: 16 Thanked 38 Times in 37 Posts	I'm guessing Sapphire wouldn't like it if you flashed with the unlocked bios and did a Vmod. __________________ my optic flip top mod: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=26851

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Jan 28, 2008, 05:09 PM	#20
erocker Senior Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Milwaukee, WI. Posts: 32,296 (12.78/day) Thanks: 2,818 Thanked 12,454 Times in 7,920 Posts System Specs	Just set both cards to 100% fan speed. Make sure both clocks are identical. It should very well work. __________________

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Jan 28, 2008, 09:58 PM	#21
roadie Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: London, UK Posts: 25 (0.01/day) Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	Flashed the card with Winflash and all went well. I was using a BIOS that gave clocks of 830/1200Mhz and opened up a wider range of clock speeds. However, I will keep this one whilst on stock cooling, even though it restricts max clocks to 885/1387Mhz. I played Armed Assault for a couple of hours tonight with no hitches and can recommend this BIOS to other Sapphire 3870 users. As I have had to do with all previous BIOS, I set fan speed to 70% in Rivatuner whilst gaming to keep temps down.

Feb 1, 2008, 11:11 PM	#22
Jor3llBR Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 162 (0.07/day) Thanks: 20 Thanked 16 Times in 14 Posts	Sapphire HD 3870 to Sapphire Atomic 3870? Did you flash the HD3870 with no Volt Mods? Did it work well? I have too cards I wonder If I have to flash one at a time (with the other one out of the case) and then Crossfire again?

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