Comment Thread for HIS Radeon HD3870 Review

[cdn_Madrach]

Would this card be compatible with older crossfire mobo's?

[SKYMTL]

Yes it will according to ATI.

[Amon]

After reading your thorough experience with the card, SKYMTL, I'd honestly give this truly revolutionary card a perfect score--the only card I'd ever give it to since the 9700/9800 Pro--in spite of some shaky drivers. The price for these cards is astonishing and should probably be given more consideration despite most of the community always seeking the best where price is no object, but people like us represent a very, very small market niche. What I'm trying to say is that there are businesses out there who buy components in massive quantities (development firms, digital content contractors, medical visualization labs, and the obvious public retailers) who legitimately demand this sort of performance but at a superb price. They are the silent majority of the market who will easily agree to give this card a perfect score for what it's worth.

Again, big props for the review
Cheers!

**edit: The reason I don't find the G80 deserving of a full, perfect 5/5 score is because there has been a consistent trend since the R300 era of incrementally higher prices for each successive generation, the the 8-series truly taking the cake. This type of 'price-fixing' was the worst around the highest-end models, while the vast mid-range market had a few zigzag experiences with pricing.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by Amon

After reading your thorough experience with the card, SKYMTL, I'd honestly give this truly revolutionary card a perfect score--the only card I'd ever give it to since the 9700/9800 Pro--in spite of some shaky drivers. The price for these cards is astonishing and should probably be given more consideration despite most of the community always seeking the best where price is no object, but people like us represent a very, very small market niche. What I'm trying to say is that there are businesses out there who buy components in massive quantities (development firms, digital content contractors, medical visualization labs, and the obvious public retailers) who legitimately demand this sort of performance but at a superb price. They are the silent majority of the market who will easily agree to give this card a perfect score for what it's worth.

Again, big props for the review
Cheers!

Actually, like I discussed there are several things keeping this card from a perfect score. First and foremost among those is HIS's horribly short 1-year warranty and shaky customer care for North American customers. This knocked a whole 1/2 coin off the rating for me. Luckily, if you buy this card through NCIX or Directcanada, the full 1-year warranty is covered by them instead of HIS.

Another thing that SERIOUSLY bothers me about this card is the fact that it ships with Beta drivers which are not stable with Crossfire. From what I see, many people are buying two of these cards and will be in for a rude surprise when they load the 8.43 drivers from the driver CD and they get glitches and poor performance in some games. This deducts another...1/4 coin from the rating.

The other few performance niggles and wibbles (as the Inq would say) which may or may not stem from the driver deducted another 1/4 coin. So there you have it. a 4/5 rating but it still gets our Dam Good Value Award.

[sam101p5]

What a great review -- nice job!!

[Thund3rball]

Great review. Yes it is nice to see some healthy competition crop up for nVidia. At that price it's a superb value.

You said the stock cooler blows *ha ha pun intended* but the fan was really quiet. Is this because the fan is hardly moving like on the 8800GT? Did you have a chance to check fan speeds at all? Or is it just because the cooler really does suck that bad? *jeez another bloody pun*

[Fierceleaf]

Very nice review SKYMTL,

My only request would have been some side by side screen shots of the 8800gt and the 3870. Some controversy has been forming about the image quality between these two cards. We haven't seen anyone really take a closer look at it.

With multiple reviews stating that they have seen better image quality coming from the 3870, one can only assume that Nvidia may be getting better frames in their favor because of it.

When you were doing this review did you happen to notice anything jumping out at you?

[SKYMTL]

IMO, this image quality controversy is much ado about nothing...other than in Crysis which I have not included in these tests exactly because of all the talk surrounding it. Is there an image quality difference in Crysis between the HD3870 and the 8800GT? DEFINATELY, especially in the reflections off of the water. Personally, I think it is just driver issues with an Nvidia BETA driver.

[Mindwarp]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

IMO, this image quality controversy is much ado about nothing...other than in Crysis which I have not included in these tests exactly because of all the talk surrounding it. Is there an image quality difference in Crysis between the HD3870 and the 8800GT? DEFINATELY, especially in the reflections off of the water. Personally, I think it is just driver issues with an Nvidia BETA driver.

Does the fact you capitalized the word 'definately' indicate that the 3870 image quality is far better?

[SKYMTL]

I think so but it is really apparent in the reflections in the water. In all reality, I would prefer not to wade too far into the image quality differences because they all refer to a issues with a beta driver. I don't put too much stock in the downfalls of beta drivers since that is all they are: drivers which are being tested for official release.