Sapphire HD 3870 Toxic 512 MB

W1zzard · Feb 28, 2008, 02:19 PM

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

newtekie1 · Mar 13, 2008, 12:17 AM

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, 01:08 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, 08:21 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, 10:19 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, 10:37 PM

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

eidairaman1 · Mar 14, 2008, 02:20 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, 02:19 PM	#1
W1zzard Administrator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 11,815 (4.17/day) Thanks: 146 Thanked 7,252 Times in 2,293 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 06:17 PM.

Processor:	Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.3 GHz
Motherboard:	ABIT AW9D-MAX
Cooling:	Scythe Infinity
Memory:	2x 2048 MB Mushkin PC2-8800
Video Card:	ASUS GeForce GTX 580 Direct CU II
Hard Disk:	OCZ Agility 2 128 GB, WD6400AAKS 640 GB, WD15EADS 1.5 TB
Optical Drive:	BenQ DW1640
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell 2001FP 20.1" TFT, 1600x1200 + 19" 1280x1024
Case:	NZXT H2
Sound Card:	On-board Realtek HD
PSU:	Zalman ZM-850 HP
Software:	Windows 7 32-bit

Mar 13, 2008, 12:17 AM	#2
newtekie1 Semi-Retired Folder Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 15,651 (6.88/day) Thanks: 676 Thanked 4,021 Times in 2,974 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: Celeron E3200@4.0GHz / eVGA 780i A1 / 8GB G.Skill DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 / GT240 / Samsung DVD-Burner / 500GB Seagate 7200.10 + 2x1.5TB Seagate LP in RAID0 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 & GTX465 / Samsung DVD-Burner / 1.5TB Seagate

Processor:	Intel Core i7 875K@4.0GHz(200x20)
Motherboard:	eVGA P55 FTW 200
Cooling:	Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme w/ 120mm Antec Tri-Cool Fan
Memory:	8GB Corsair DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20
Video Card:	SLi GTX470s@775/1550/1850
Hard Disk:	1TB Seagate 7200.12(OS), 3x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 in RAID 5
Optical Drive:	Lite-On Blu-Ray Combo Drive IHES108
CRT/LCD Model:	HP 25" 2509m 1080p LCD
Case:	Lian-Li Lancool Metal Boned K7 w/ Windowed Side Panel
Sound Card:	Onboard is good enough for me
PSU:	Corsair HX850
Software:	Windows 7 x64 Professional

Mar 13, 2008, 01:08 AM	#3
DrunkenMafia Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cairns QLD, Aussie Posts: 1,855 (1.00/day) Thanks: 228 Thanked 235 Times in 212 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.... __________________

System Name:	GaMEr / HTPC
Processor:	FX8120 4.5ghz so far NB- 2815mhz / X2 255 @ 3.2ghz (Temp till BD)
Motherboard:	990FX-UD5 / GA-MA785GPMT-US2H
Cooling:	XSPC - 240rad 480rad 5 x 120mm out, 6 x 80mm in / H220-edge 1/2" & 2 x 120mm Magma
Memory:	4gb PI 6,8,6,18 1T 1706mhz / 4gb Crucial D9's 1400 @ 6,6,6,18,1T
Video Card:	2 x 5870's MCW80's + AC ramsinks / Onboard
Hard Disk:	3 x 160 Raptors RAID0 / 60gb vertex 2 + 2 x 2tb WD Greens
Optical Drive:	Samsung DVD / Pioneer DVR216
CRT/LCD Model:	24in Dell Ultra / NEC 32" FullHD LCD
Case:	LL PC71A Full tower / Antec fusion black with Imon remote Modded for WC
Sound Card:	OB / Auzentech cinema 7.1
PSU:	TT 700w TR2 / TT 600w Litepower modded with Noctua S12 fan.
Software:	7 Ult / 7 premium x64

Mar 13, 2008, 08:21 PM	#4
HousERaT Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 119 (0.05/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

Processor:	Q6700
Motherboard:	Asus Maximus Formula
Cooling:	Ultra Extreme 120
Memory:	Ballistix Tracer 8500
Video Card:	HD 3870 Crossfire
Hard Disk:	74G Raptor
Optical Drive:	NEC
CRT/LCD Model:	A Sony big one
Case:	Kingwin SK523
PSU:	Corsair HX620
Software:	Yes :p

Mar 13, 2008, 10:19 PM	#5
WarEagleAU Bird of Prey Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Gurley, AL Posts: 9,917 (4.85/day) Thanks: 3,307 Thanked 550 Times in 514 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-= Heatware: WarEagleAU 9-0 and growing. “You crazy? Surfing any website without an antivirus is like freaking with a dirty woman without protection” -OzzmanFloyd120 - Edited for content and clarity

System Name:	Go Cubs Go! Lets go Auburn!
Processor:	AMD FX 6100 @ 4.04GHz w/ 1.41v
Motherboard:	ASUS M5A99X EVO AMD 990X AMD SB950
Cooling:	Scythe Mugen 2 two fan, need to try for four!
Memory:	2 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance White LP @ 1.35V
Video Card:	Asus EK Dark Knight 1GB HD4870
Hard Disk:	WD Caviar Black 1.0TB, WD Caviar Green 1.0TB, WD 160GB
Optical Drive:	Samung SH22SL 22X Lightscribe DVD+/-R/RW LG BDRE Reader/Burner Lite ON Max Burner for burning Xbox
CRT/LCD Model:	Asus VH222/S 22: (21.5" Viewable) 1920x1080p HDMI LCD Monitor
Case:	NZXT White Phantom
Sound Card:	Onboard Realtek 5.1
PSU:	NZXT Hale 90 Gold Cert 750W Modular PSU
Software:	Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.
Benchmarks:	5.9 Windows Index rating 3D06 - 17472

Mar 13, 2008, 10:37 PM	#6
Easy Rhino Eligible for custom title Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 8,833 (4.60/day) Thanks: 795 Thanked 2,102 Times in 1,374 Posts System Specs	well the card is name 'toxic' for a reason i guess!

System Name:	Rhino
Processor:	Intel i7 920 @ 2.66 ghz
Motherboard:	Gigabyte EX-58 Extreme
Cooling:	Swiftech Polaris 120
Memory:	Corsair XMS @ 1066mhz 8-8-8-24
Video Card:	EVGA GTX 570 @ 800/1600/1950
Hard Disk:	500 Gb Samsung 7200 RPM
Optical Drive:	LG DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 2494 HM 24" 1920x1080
Case:	Lancool PC-K60
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	Seasonic X Series 750 Watt Gold
Software:	Windows 7 x64

Mar 14, 2008, 02:20 AM	#7
eidairaman1 Eligible for custom title Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Stationed in Florida, Home is Houston, Texas Posts: 6,716 (3.98/day) Thanks: 641 Thanked 583 Times in 536 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. __________________ “10 years ago I was banging cheerleader left overs and defending quarterbacks. Now I get excited over a box of fans and some silicone. I'm pathetic... Mmmmmmmm six cores. Sorry I was having a Homer moment.” -TheMailMan78 “As an nVidia fanboi I give a respectful nod to you ATI creeps. This thing swallowed the 295 and farted out green abstract confetti. ATI built a monster and, judging by the benchmarks, it performs like a dream!” -EnergyFX

System Name:	BS03/04
Processor:	AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ @ 2.36GHz (205MHzx11.5) 1.700 VCore
Motherboard:	DFI LanParty NFII Ultra-B Bios (TicTac 3D Fire R2)
Cooling:	4 Antec 80mm, TR SI-97 Adapted TT Big Typhoon Fan 120MM
Memory:	2GB Mushkin Redline 4000 (205MHz) 410Mhz 32338 2.8VDimm
Video Card:	Sapphire R1950Pro 512MB -66MHz AGP 1.5 Vagp Latency 16
Hard Disk:	250 & 400 GB Seagate Baracuda 10 SATA
Optical Drive:	2x Samsung Multiformat Rewritable Drives
CRT/LCD Model:	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V
Case:	Antec SX830 EATX Case
Sound Card:	Creative Labs SB XFi Xtreme Music & SB PCI 512
PSU:	Antec NEO HE 500 Watt
Software:	Windows 7
Benchmarks:	Win 7 Eval. CPU 3.9 Ram 4.5 Graphics 6.0 HD 5.7

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Your CPU Timeline	xubidoo	General Hardware	273	Jan 7, 2011 04:56 AM
Alcpone's Official 3DMark '06 Compilation	Alcpone	General Software	4979	Sep 24, 2008 01:08 AM