Comment Thread for HIS Radeon HD3870 Review

[SKYMTL]

First Post Updated With Duorb Overclocking!!

[Mindwarp]

I agree with your findings, there must be another issue at play here if the 'stability wall' is so thin. Bios?

[SKYMTL]

Well, hopefully upcoming versions of the ATItool utility will include voltage control for the HD3800-series.

[Seikent]

About the stock cooler, I read at guru3d (don't remember what page of the article about HD38xxs) that they saw that the stock cooler did not accelerate at load. It stayed at 30%. The good thing about that is the low noise, the bad is the temp, it would stay at ~65°C I think. They still said that they wouldn't overclock the 3850 further even with better temp (driver issue maybe? 3850 limitation?).

Let's wait for some drivers .

[shaolin95]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Sure it is fair. It shows better how the performance increases in relation to other cards when it is overclocked.

No its not, once again we end up with the same dilema. Its not so much about the improvement thats ok but when you say its challenging the GTX in 3dmark for instance, then that comment doesnt make much sense at least the way it comes across.

[werty316]

I am kinda partial to nVidia's drivers which is the reason why I never went with any ATI cards so how are ATI drivers these days? Have they gotten better? I only ask since I am considering a HD3870 (depending on the price of the 8800GT 256MB) down the road and the price of 8800GT 512MB is gouged on pretty much every etailer.

NCIX priced the XFX 8800GT 512MB for $250 when it first came out and now its priced at $280 Talk about a freakin rip-off.

Another issue I have is I think there aren't any ATI partners that carry a lifetime warranty like EVGA and XFX but I could be wrong. A lifetime warranty is a big plus in my book.

[djbon2112]

Excellent review, this card looks promising! Hoping to score two of them for my new rig after Christmas :p

[Writer]

Just a heads up -- some people in the forums at NCIX and elsewhere have stated that the VisionTek lifetime warranty is bogus...to paraphrase: "what good is a lifetime warranty if it doesn't cover anything?"

I'm still trying to decide if I should cancel my 8800GT order and get an HD3870 instead. Sigh. :)

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by shaolin95

No its not, once again we end up with the same dilema. Its not so much about the improvement thats ok but when you say its challenging the GTX in 3dmark for instance, then that comment doesnt make much sense at least the way it comes across.

Actually, I am trying for a baseline. This has been a longstanding discussion about MANY reviews out there but it all comes down to deadlines and getting as good of a comparison as possible. Sure it only shows stock cards from Nvidia and ATI and how the OC'd card compares to them but you wil notice that it has no bearing on the rest of the review. Because those benchmarks are only run for comparison's sake, I don't mention the results in the conclusion because overclocking experiences can vary greatly from one card to another. Sure, it would be unfair if I started saying when this card is almost as fast as a GTX in the conclusion but I kept it fair and I didn't mention the overclocking comparison anywhere else.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by Writer

Just a heads up -- some people in the forums at NCIX and elsewhere have stated that the VisionTek lifetime warranty is bogus...to paraphrase: "what good is a lifetime warranty if it doesn't cover anything?"

I'm still trying to decide if I should cancel my 8800GT order and get an HD3870 instead. Sigh. :)

Where are people saying this? I couldn't find a reference to it.