ati HD3870

[kagazi]

I'm curious about any experiences regarding the latest ati card.  Also, my current psu is an OCZ Silencer 470 ATX (made for DELL).  It has what I believe is an extra 4-pin m/b connector.  I believe (please confirm) that the 3870 comes with a 6-pin connector for an extra 75W, which I think is for the "overdrive" function.  My second question is: Is there an adaptor that I can purchase to connect the 4pin to the 6pin and is this advisable?

thank you for your help.

My specs are DELL E510 Pentium D Dual Core 3.2 Ghz w/3gb ram.  My current gpu is an x1650 pro w/256mb.  

[MCAntonio aka AN21]

I own the Sapphire HD 3870 and it rocks! 8-) Although, you should consider changing your PSU..the card needs 450watts..So it would be better to have a 500watt or better IMHO..As for the connections the only thing I did was to plug the card in to its slot and then connect it with th PCI express cable of the PSU..I think that I have that 6-pin connector that you mention..so it is probably true.

Cheers

[richardd43]

I have the HSI 3870 and really like it. I did not see a lot of difference when I took the 8800 GTS 640 SuperClocked board out and installed the 3870 board and it is about 2/3 the price.

You can get a Y adapter that has 2 molex connectors going to the 6 pin connector that will do the trick but I agree with upgrading the PSU to something better.

[kagazi]

Thank you for the feedback.  I really do appreciate your reviews.  I'm assuming the y adapter is something I can pick up at BB or CC?

I'm currently looking at the HIS ICQ3 Turbo version.  The price seems too good to be true as compared to other similar cards including the last version HD2900 xt.

It's ironic that I was first looking into the X1950 XT until I saw a side-by-side comparison, but the X1950 is more expensive?!?

I'll also take a hard look at the psu.  I know it has 26A on the 12V rail and a sustained 470W (520W peak).  I only have a single HD and not much else so I'm wondering if I'll be ok.

[WilhelmDMA]

The ATi Radeon HD 3870 definitely looks like a good card,
I'm just curious what would run smoother, two Radeon HD 2600XT (in CrossFire mode) or a single Radeon HD3870.

[richardd43]

I'm just curious what would run smoother, two Radeon HD 2600XT (in CrossFire mode) or a single Radeon HD3870.

I am not real familiar with all of the ATI cards but I think the 2600 was a bit of a disappointment.

I would go for the single 3870 if I was making the decision.

[NickN]

you get what you pay for

this stuff about buying cheap and overclocking or going crossfire or SLi with 2 inexpensive cards is really bull. You get what you pay for so 2 x crap still equals crap

3870 and crossfireX that or wait a bit and its big brother will be on the market.

[Milo1272]

Nick, could you please clarify your comment?  I know you think sli is not worth much, but I thought you saw more value in Crossfire.  Is that correct?  Doesn't Crossfire do things SLI cannot?

Also, I understand that a single great card will get you more that two inexpensive cards in Crossfire, but if you are on a budget like I am getting a second card in Crossfire looks like an attactive option.  That is, it promises a boost to the sim experience without breaking the bank.  But, is Crossfire (like SLI) simply a fool's dream?  Thanks in advance for any comments/clarifycation.

Milo

[kagazi]

I opted for the new single slot Sapphire HD3870.  It should arrive today.  Unfortunately, my case couldn't fit the twin slots not to mention the HIS ICQ TurboX which looked nice.  Sapphire has also come out with their ATOMIC version.  Anyway, I don't think the 3870 will be the bottle neck on my system  :(

But in any event, the 3870 should be a noticeable improvement over my existing x1650 pro w/256mb  :)

[NickN]

Crossfire and CrossfireX are two different things although they are similar. CrossfireX requires the newer card and the newer motherboards that support CrossfireX.

SLi is a complete joke except for high level graphics production and games specifically targeted for it, and, yes a corssfire solution tends to do better but the old standard Crossfire is still not going to get you 2X the card in performance. CrossfireX however is showing a 1.8-1.9x performace gain.

If your motherboard does not support CrossfireX (and if you are not on a X38 or higher chipset motherboard, it doesnt) then getting 2 cards is useless anyway.

On top of that, if you system is bottlenecked for one card, its not going to handle 2 cards any better and at that point standard crossfire or crossfireX does you no good anyway.

The 3870 big brother will be out in a few weeks, thats 2 3870's on one card but without double the layers. So at that point you are essentially getting on-card crossfireX on a single card, however if you use 2 of them you get QuadFireX but you need the right motherboard for that

[WilhelmDMA]

Crossfire and CrossfireX are two different things although they are similar. CrossfireX requires the newer card and the newer motherboards that support CrossfireX.

SLi is a complete joke except for high level graphics production and games specifically targeted for it, and, yes a corssfire solution tends to do better but the old standard Crossfire is still not going to get you 2X the card in performance. CrossfireX however is showing a 1.8-1.9x performace gain.

If your motherboard does not support CrossfireX (and if you are not on a X38 or higher chipset motherboard, it doesnt) then getting 2 cards is useless anyway.

On top of that, if you system is bottlenecked for one card, its not going to handle 2 cards any better and at that point standard crossfire or crossfireX does you no good anyway.

The 3870 big brother will be out in a few weeks, thats 2 3870's on one card but without double the layers. So at that point you are essentially getting on-card crossfireX on a single card, however if you use 2 of them you get QuadFireX but you need the right motherboard for that

Hey NickN, what low-budget configuration would you recommend me, to at least start playing FS9 and FSX? (I read your post about the FSX, therefore I would like to clarify that I don't want to get perfect performance... I just want to start playing Flight Simulator X with some Ok quality, and hopefully FS9 with good graphics)
I live in Brazil, so, PC stuff here it's way more expensive than in US... Just so you know, if I import any computers part that costs over $50, I have to pay 60% in taxes over the product price... also, I have the shipping costs. So, I was thinking on getting something more low-budget... What do you think of the following configuration:

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128075
AMD Phenom 9500 Agena 2.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103226
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3870 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102713
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 PC6400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145184
Western Digital Caviar500GB 7200 RPM 16MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136205

Do you think that would do the job, like running FSX in low-medium quality and FS9 with some good quality?

Thank you very much for your attention, I really appreciate it.

[NickN]

Crossfire and CrossfireX are two different things although they are similar. CrossfireX requires the newer card and the newer motherboards that support CrossfireX.

SLi is a complete joke except for high level graphics production and games specifically targeted for it, and, yes a corssfire solution tends to do better but the old standard Crossfire is still not going to get you 2X the card in performance. CrossfireX however is showing a 1.8-1.9x performace gain.

If your motherboard does not support CrossfireX (and if you are not on a X38 or higher chipset motherboard, it doesnt) then getting 2 cards is useless anyway.

On top of that, if you system is bottlenecked for one card, its not going to handle 2 cards any better and at that point standard crossfire or crossfireX does you no good anyway.

The 3870 big brother will be out in a few weeks, thats 2 3870's on one card but without double the layers. So at that point you are essentially getting on-card crossfireX on a single card, however if you use 2 of them you get QuadFireX but you need the right motherboard for that

Hey NickN, what low-budget configuration would you recommend me, to at least start playing FS9 and FSX? (I read your post about the FSX, therefore I would like to clarify that I don't want to get perfect performance... I just want to start playing Flight Simulator X with some Ok quality, and hopefully FS9 with good graphics)
I live in Brazil, so, PC stuff here it's way more expensive than in US... Just so you know, if I import any computers part that costs over $50, I have to pay 60% in taxes over the product price... also, I have the shipping costs. So, I was thinking on getting something more low-budget... What do you think of the following configuration:

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128075
AMD Phenom 9500 Agena 2.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103226
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3870 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102713
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 PC6400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145184
Western Digital Caviar500GB 7200 RPM 16MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136205

Do you think that would do the job, like running FSX in low-medium quality and FS9 with some good quality?

Thank you very much for your attention, I really appreciate it.

Yes, that will do the job you asked for. It will run FS9 100% and give you a good FSX show although not a wild one  :)