Comment Thread for HIS Radeon HD3870 Review

[UberN00b]

Great review dude! so since the mounting holes are the same for the x19xx cards, does this mean that the Thermalright HR-03 Rev A. is compatable with this card? Also, what are the physical dimensions of the card? (length specifically.)

Thanks.
-Uber

[PeZzy]

What I don't understand is why reviewers all over the 'net think that enabling AA and AF then checking the frames per second is a true measure of image quality. Look at the reviews and they clearly mark a FPS test as an image quality test.

A true measure of image quality is actual comparison of images. Some people at VR-Zone (and other places) have done that with Crysis and they have noticed alot less fine detail with the 8800GT compared to the HD3800s and HD2900s. Yet all the other sites proudly exclaim the 8800GT as the image quality victor because of slightly higher frame rates.

BTW...have you noticed that when you use 8xAA the ATI cards are more competitive?

[SKYMTL]

DId I mark an FPS test as an IMage Qality test? There was a reason I steered away form mentioning anything to do with image quality.

[tcool93]

The product info for the 3870 says it has "power play" for controlling the cards speed. I was wondering if you overclock the card, would the "Power Play" still slow the card down even though its overclocked, when it doesn't need the speed? Or does it stay in overclock mode without changing?

Also I wonder if that could cause problems for benchmarks with the card deciding to slow things down at certain times.

[kirk_d]

Stellar review, nice! me thinks new drivers and some overclocking, Hooolly yhaa

[Methodman]

First of all, what a great review!

Today I received my graphics cards, 2 X Sapphire HD 3870 in crossfire.
I've installed the "hotfix" from ATI-AMD's website, the catalyst control
cener says this is the 8.43 driver package with 7.11 catalyst version.
It installed all necessary drivers and software so I did not have to use
the graphics card's installation disc. The "only" problem I've found so far
is CROSSFIRE DOES NOT WORK AT ALL!
I've enabled crossfire in catalyst, rebooted, etc, etc, but simply does not work!
SKYMTL: How did you manage to operate these cards in crossfire mode???
It is so disappointing to have 2 cards and use only one!!!
If anyone has any idea how to fix this issue, please post it!!!!

[SKYMTL]

Please post your system specs as well as your OS version.

[Methodman]

Hi there!
My config is the following:

MSI K9A Platinum
AMD Athlon X26400+ Black Edition
OCZ DDR2 800MHz PC6400 4-4-4-15 Platinum (2X1Gb)
Seasonic 600W PSU (I used to have 2 X1950 XTX in crossfire - without any problem)
2X Sapphire HD 3870 (in "Crossfire")
2X Rator 74Gb in Raid0
1X Seagate SATAII 320Gb HDD
1X SATA DVD-Writer
Windows Vista 64 Bit

[SKYMTL]

All right. Here is what I want you to do:

Make sure you have both cards installed in the RIGHT SLOTS on your mobo and have Driver Cleaner ready to go.

- Load up the Driver Install dialog from your driver CD
- Instead of clicking "install" select "Uninstall"
- Go through the uninstall process for your drivers
- DO NOT REBOOT when it asks you to
- Go into the Device Manager and uninstall the two "standard VGA adaptors"
- Reboot into SAFE MODE
- Use driver Cleaner in safe mode to uninstall all ATI drivers / CCC
- Make sure both cards are installed with the CF connectors.
- Reboot to your regular desktop
- Install the drivers FROM THE DRIVER CD!!
- After the installation the screen will probably go black
- If the screen goes black for more the 5 minutes, manually restart using the reset button on your case
- Boot into Windows normally

Crossfire should now be installed and ready to use. You may have to reboot one more time.

[Methodman]

Thank you for the advice, I will try it out later
on tonight!!!
I'll let you know as soon as I can!
Thanks again!!!!