Powercolor HD 3850 Xtreme 512 MB

W1zzard · Dec 5, 2007, 08:59 AM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...D_3850_Xtreme/

DrunkenMafia · Dec 6, 2007, 11:10 PM

Great review W1zz... :toasst:

When are we going to see a 3870 review??? that is what i am interested to see. I know the 3850 is midrange and the results are pretty much exactly where they should be in all the tests but it would be nice to see some 3870 graphs in there too..

mandelore · Dec 6, 2007, 11:19 PM

interesting, and that all the new ATI cards still get pwned by the 2900xt... aint we meant to be going a step forwards not back?

granted, the newer cards have some nice features, but we want some killer performance

Vegnagun666 · Dec 7, 2007, 03:18 PM

I don't think I will buy a nwer ATI card anytime soon

mdm-adph · Dec 7, 2007, 07:23 PM

Strange... according to those tests, I don't see much of an advantage in getting the 3870 over this card... is it the increased RAM over the 256MB that 3850's usually have?

choppy · Dec 8, 2007, 04:13 PM

this is a £115 card, why bother paying £150 for similar performance?!

w1zz (or anyone else), can you tell me the length of this card? wanna know if it'll fit in my case, cheers

Batou1986 · Dec 9, 2007, 11:00 AM

Any word on a release date to retail ?

choppy · Dec 9, 2007, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batou1986

Any word on a release date to retail ?

yes, its already selling lol! which country are you in, its selling in the uk for £115 which is very cheap imo

nubie · Dec 9, 2007, 03:28 PM

the bios still limit this card @862 gpu clock, i ve tried it with 1.4 gpu vcore (pencil mod)
will be fantastic if amd/anyone release unlocked bios

DRDNA · Dec 9, 2007, 04:24 PM

For the price to performance I am impressed.... as for the proformance itself I am not at all impressed.I will be waiting even longer for my next ATI/AMD upgrade.

Batou1986 · Dec 10, 2007, 10:04 AM

damn i hope this makes it to us market

in fact id be willing to pay for someone to ship it from uk to us cause its way cheaper there 115 euro that 165 usd thats cheaper than the 256 version here which is like 200+

btarunr · Dec 10, 2007, 11:35 AM

Great price, really. It does outperform the HD3870 in some tests. I didn't like the cooler though. The memory banks are left to cool by natural convection--bad. While you can OC the GPU better with this cooler, you dare not take the memory too far. Because heating the memory affects the bandwidth adversely.

However, another thing I noticed was that the HD 2900 XT 512M was outperforming the 1GB version in many tests. Why is that?

Xaser04 · Dec 10, 2007, 11:41 AM

Just thought I would point out that my powercolor HD3850 512mb has a copper plate (or at least it looks like copper) covering the memory chips (this is not seen on the card in the pictures above)

As for overclocking well my card is crysis gaming stable (tested on both the benchmarking program and also half an hour in game) @ 760/1900 however this is the max clocks allowed by the CCC overdrive program. I will try with ATI tool this evening.

Temp wise the card seemed to hover around the mid 40's when running crysis (measured using rivatuner on my second monitor).

The extra memory of this card really helps in crysis as I can not run mostly high settings at 1680x1050 whereas before I was limited to medium settings due to a lack of vram.

It is interesting to note from the benchmarks just how close this card can come to the 3870 despite being clocked significantly lower.

Xaser04 · Dec 10, 2007, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by btarunr

However, another thing I noticed was that the HD 2900 XT 512M was outperforming the 1GB version in many tests. Why is that?

I think this is due to 2 factors,

1) IIRC the 1GB model of the 2900XT runs GDDR4 memory which on this card has a higher latency and so is slower clock for clock than the GDDR3 512mb model

2) The extra memory is not used.

Sly.P.I. · Jul 8, 2008, 06:26 PM

Great card apart from 100% fan all the time!
Anyone figured out how to get fan control on these powercolor 3850's?
I've unplugged the fan all together and strapped on a 120mm one.
Could do with the space back in my case though now!
Will a different bios get the fan control?
Please help
Ste

miloshs · Jul 9, 2008, 01:26 AM

It's actually the same thing as my Powercolor HD3870 512MB DDR4... same cooler from zerotherm, the only thing that is different is that the cooler on the 3870 does include DDR4 heatsinks.
I'm really starting to like Powercolor...

update:This looks like a viable option to consider for running CF with my 3870 + this card!

Dec 5, 2007, 08:59 AM	#1
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,866 (4.17/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,448 Times in 3,216 Posts System Specs	Powercolor HD 3850 Xtreme 512 MB To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...D_3850_Xtreme/ Last edited by W1zzard; Dec 6, 2007 at 08:12 PM.

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Dec 6, 2007, 11:10 PM	#2
DrunkenMafia Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cairns QLD, Aussie Posts: 1,869 (0.80/day) Thanks: 230 Thanked 239 Times in 215 Posts System Specs	Great review W1zz... :toasst: When are we going to see a 3870 review??? that is what i am interested to see. I know the 3850 is midrange and the results are pretty much exactly where they should be in all the tests but it would be nice to see some 3870 graphs in there too.. __________________

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Dec 6, 2007, 11:19 PM	#3
mandelore Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: UK-small Village in a Valley Near Newcastle Posts: 2,917 (1.17/day) Thanks: 33 Thanked 152 Times in 127 Posts System Specs	interesting, and that all the new ATI cards still get pwned by the 2900xt... aint we meant to be going a step forwards not back? granted, the newer cards have some nice features, but we want some killer performance __________________ [img disabled]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/eve_images/hiqsig.jpg[/IMG] “looks like an extremely mouldy donut with veins and arteries” -hat “OCZ has exploded their inventory, and new DDR3 offerings seem to be dropping like bombs over baghdad . . .” -imperialreign

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Dec 7, 2007, 03:18 PM	#4
Vegnagun666 Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 12 (0.01/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I don't think I will buy a nwer ATI card anytime soon

Dec 7, 2007, 07:23 PM	#5
mdm-adph Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Your house. Posts: 2,426 (1.07/day) Thanks: 401 Thanked 344 Times in 247 Posts System Specs	Strange... according to those tests, I don't see much of an advantage in getting the 3870 over this card... is it the increased RAM over the 256MB that 3850's usually have? __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

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Dec 8, 2007, 04:13 PM	#6
choppy Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: UK Posts: 1,114 (0.52/day) Thanks: 77 Thanked 154 Times in 142 Posts System Specs	this is a £115 card, why bother paying £150 for similar performance?! w1zz (or anyone else), can you tell me the length of this card? wanna know if it'll fit in my case, cheers

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Dec 9, 2007, 11:00 AM	#7
Batou1986 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Baltimore MD Posts: 1,949 (0.69/day) Thanks: 123 Thanked 286 Times in 238 Posts System Specs	Any word on a release date to retail ? __________________ Windows 8 its like they re made a bad ass car that everyone loved, Then took away the steering wheel and make you steer with your toes.

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Dec 9, 2007, 03:28 PM	#9
nubie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1 (0.00/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	need unlocked bios. the bios still limit this card @862 gpu clock, i ve tried it with 1.4 gpu vcore (pencil mod) will be fantastic if amd/anyone release unlocked bios

Dec 9, 2007, 04:24 PM	#10
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Dec 10, 2007, 10:04 AM	#11
Batou1986 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Baltimore MD Posts: 1,949 (0.69/day) Thanks: 123 Thanked 286 Times in 238 Posts System Specs	damn i hope this makes it to us market in fact id be willing to pay for someone to ship it from uk to us cause its way cheaper there 115 euro that 165 usd thats cheaper than the 256 version here which is like 200+ __________________ Windows 8 its like they re made a bad ass car that everyone loved, Then took away the steering wheel and make you steer with your toes. Last edited by Batou1986; Dec 10, 2007 at 10:10 AM.

Dec 10, 2007, 11:35 AM	#12
btarunr Editor & Senior Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hyderabad, India Posts: 15,030 (7.22/day) Thanks: 790 Thanked 13,028 Times in 5,719 Posts System Specs	Great price, really. It does outperform the HD3870 in some tests. I didn't like the cooler though. The memory banks are left to cool by natural convection--bad. While you can OC the GPU better with this cooler, you dare not take the memory too far. Because heating the memory affects the bandwidth adversely. However, another thing I noticed was that the HD 2900 XT 512M was outperforming the 1GB version in many tests. Why is that? __________________ Gadgets, Gaming, Phones, Tablets, Cameras, TVs, HiFi...NextPowerUp

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Dec 10, 2007, 11:41 AM	#13
Xaser04 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Zummerzet UK Posts: 681 (0.31/day) Thanks: 20 Thanked 90 Times in 58 Posts System Specs	Just thought I would point out that my powercolor HD3850 512mb has a copper plate (or at least it looks like copper) covering the memory chips (this is not seen on the card in the pictures above) As for overclocking well my card is crysis gaming stable (tested on both the benchmarking program and also half an hour in game) @ 760/1900 however this is the max clocks allowed by the CCC overdrive program. I will try with ATI tool this evening. Temp wise the card seemed to hover around the mid 40's when running crysis (measured using rivatuner on my second monitor). The extra memory of this card really helps in crysis as I can not run mostly high settings at 1680x1050 whereas before I was limited to medium settings due to a lack of vram. It is interesting to note from the benchmarks just how close this card can come to the 3870 despite being clocked significantly lower. __________________ Now in Surround BF3 (Origin) - Xaser04

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Jul 8, 2008, 06:26 PM	#15
Sly.P.I. Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 58 (0.02/day) Thanks: 5 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	100% fan on powercolor 3850 Great card apart from 100% fan all the time! Anyone figured out how to get fan control on these powercolor 3850's? I've unplugged the fan all together and strapped on a 120mm one. Could do with the space back in my case though now! Will a different bios get the fan control? Please help Ste

Jul 9, 2008, 01:26 AM	#16
miloshs Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Serbia Posts: 339 (0.19/day) Thanks: 46 Thanked 39 Times in 28 Posts System Specs	It's actually the same thing as my Powercolor HD3870 512MB DDR4... same cooler from zerotherm, the only thing that is different is that the cooler on the 3870 does include DDR4 heatsinks. I'm really starting to like Powercolor... update:This looks like a viable option to consider for running CF with my 3870 + this card!

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