Sapphire HD 3870 Toxic 512 MB

W1zzard · Feb 28, 2008, 01:19 PM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...HD_3870_Toxic/

newtekie1 · Mar 12, 2008, 11:17 PM

Wow, Sapphire really missed the target with this card. Slower than a 9600GT, costs more, and worse overclocking.

And I never thought we would see a card that was louder than the x1800GTO. Was the "Atomic" edition just as loud? I would think sacrificing 10C to get a quieter card would be preferable.

DrunkenMafia · Mar 13, 2008, 12:08 AM

Jeez.... A stock HD3870 actually beats this card in a lot of the game tests, only by 1-2 fps but still. what were they thinking with this one, the card is clocked higher and should perform a lot better...

Oh well.

Great review W1zz, but I think a lot of your graphs are being cpu limited. Especially at the lower res'. I know you want to keep everything the same for all the cards, and you obviously cannot go back and bench all those cards again but a lot of them are becoming pointless at 1024 & 1280. from about half way down the graph all the cards are pretty much the same. the higher res' are still showing the cards capability though.

You are going to have to upgrade your cpu soon though..

Surely you can scam a free one from somewhere....

HousERaT · Mar 13, 2008, 07:21 PM

I'm very disappointed with the overclocking. I'd figure these would have been the cherry cores, easily getting up around 900Mhz on stock cooling. They'll have to drop the price more on these before they sell.

WarEagleAU · Mar 13, 2008, 09:19 PM

actually Im not disappointed with the overclocking at all, its pretty much near its maximum already and then you can till oc it between 8 & 9 % as W1zzard has said. Im not a fan of Sapphire Toxic cards and the price isnt really worth it.

Nice review as always W1zz.

Easy Rhino · Mar 13, 2008, 09:37 PM

well the card is name 'toxic' for a reason i guess!

eidairaman1 · Mar 14, 2008, 01:20 AM

easy solution, if you dont like the stock cooling of most 3870 cards, grab a cooler from a third party and use it.

Feb 28, 2008, 01:19 PM	#1
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,792 (4.18/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,288 Times in 3,175 Posts System Specs	Sapphire HD 3870 Toxic 512 MB To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...HD_3870_Toxic/ Last edited by W1zzard; Mar 14, 2008 at 05:17 PM.

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Mar 12, 2008, 11:17 PM	#2
newtekie1 Semi-Retired Folder Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 17,759 (6.48/day) Thanks: 780 Thanked 5,118 Times in 3,708 Posts System Specs	Wow, Sapphire really missed the target with this card. Slower than a 9600GT, costs more, and worse overclocking. And I never thought we would see a card that was louder than the x1800GTO. Was the "Atomic" edition just as loud? I would think sacrificing 10C to get a quieter card would be preferable. __________________ Rig1: System Specs. Rig2: A8-5600K@4.4GHz / AsRock FM2A75 Pro4 / 8GB Corsair DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 / HD7560D / Samsung DVD-Burner / 1.5TB WD Green + 3x3TB WD RED in RAID5 Rig3: Athlon X2 4200+ / M4A79 Deluxe / 4GB G.Skill Pi DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 / GT430 / Sony DVD-Burner / 500GB WD Rig4: Phenom II x6 1605T @ 3.6GHz / Asus M5A99X Evo / 8GB PNY DDR3-1600 9-9-9 / GTX470 & GTX470 / Samsung DVD-Burner / 1.5TB Seagate

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Mar 13, 2008, 12:08 AM	#3
DrunkenMafia Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cairns QLD, Aussie Posts: 1,868 (0.80/day) Thanks: 230 Thanked 239 Times in 215 Posts System Specs	Jeez.... A stock HD3870 actually beats this card in a lot of the game tests, only by 1-2 fps but still. what were they thinking with this one, the card is clocked higher and should perform a lot better... Oh well. Great review W1zz, but I think a lot of your graphs are being cpu limited. Especially at the lower res'. I know you want to keep everything the same for all the cards, and you obviously cannot go back and bench all those cards again but a lot of them are becoming pointless at 1024 & 1280. from about half way down the graph all the cards are pretty much the same. the higher res' are still showing the cards capability though. You are going to have to upgrade your cpu soon though.. Surely you can scam a free one from somewhere.... __________________

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Mar 13, 2008, 07:21 PM	#4
HousERaT Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 119 (0.04/day) Thanks: 5 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts System Specs	I'm very disappointed with the overclocking. I'd figure these would have been the cherry cores, easily getting up around 900Mhz on stock cooling. They'll have to drop the price more on these before they sell. __________________ "This asiatic black man is a dog spelled backwards" - Grand Puba

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Mar 13, 2008, 09:19 PM	#5
WarEagleAU Bird of Prey Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Gurley, AL Posts: 9,994 (3.98/day) Thanks: 3,810 Thanked 557 Times in 521 Posts System Specs	actually Im not disappointed with the overclocking at all, its pretty much near its maximum already and then you can till oc it between 8 & 9 % as W1zzard has said. Im not a fan of Sapphire Toxic cards and the price isnt really worth it. Nice review as always W1zz. __________________ =-TheEagle-= http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=62454 “You crazy? Surfing any website without an antivirus is like freaking with a dirty woman without protection” -OzzmanFloyd120 - Edited for content and clarity

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Mar 13, 2008, 09:37 PM	#6
Easy Rhino Linux Advocate Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 10,226 (4.29/day) Thanks: 1,207 Thanked 2,775 Times in 1,793 Posts System Specs	well the card is name 'toxic' for a reason i guess!

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Mar 14, 2008, 01:20 AM	#7
eidairaman1 Eligible for custom title Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: HTX Posts: 10,078 (4.68/day) Thanks: 1,359 Thanked 1,159 Times in 1,035 Posts System Specs	easy solution, if you dont like the stock cooling of most 3870 cards, grab a cooler from a third party and use it. __________________ Athlon XP USERS with COD 4 FIX http://www.techsupportforum.com/foru...ls-202011.html http://www.howorks.com/2011/02/24/ho...-memory-limit/ “Sometimes my level of fail is unprecedented.” -TheMailMan78 “This is what the force of a thousand suns looks like.” -3870x2

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