Post by Yoon on Jan 28, 2008 16:38:09 GMT -5
Well, after nearly 15 months of nVIDIA reigning the high-end video card market with the GeForce 8800 GTX & GeForce 8800 Ultra, today ATi has finally launched the Radeon 3870 X2, a single graphics card solution that outperforms the previous video card champ(s).
ATi hard-launched the Radeon 3870 X2 today, meaning it is directly available in stores. It's currently going for $449.00 USD at Newegg.com. Reviews for the card are below:
Anandtech: www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3209
Tech Report: techreport.com/articles.x/13967
Firing Squad: www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_radeon_hd_3870_x2_performance/
Guru3D: www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/490/
[H]ardOCP: enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ1NCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Hot Hardware: www.hothardware.com/articles/R680_Has_Landed_ATI_Radeon_HD_3870_X2/?page=8
PC Perspective: www.pcper.com/article.php?type=expert&aid=512
ExtremeTech: www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2253049,00.asp
Hardware Zone: www.hardwarezone.com/home/
Overclockers Club: www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/ati_hd3870_x2/
TechPowerUp: www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_3870_X2/1.html
Tom's Hardware: www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/28/ati_r680_the_rage_fury_maxx_2/
From all these reviews, it seems that the ATi Radeon 3870 X2 outperforms the GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra by 15-30% in many games. In some others games, it either matches the GTX/Ultra performance or is slower by at least 10%.
Although the Radeon 3870 X2 outperforms the 8800 GTX/Ultra (for the most part), I have mixed feelings about ATi's new high end.
1.) First, it is a multi-core solution, meaning it's basically CrossFire on a single card. Looking at previous multi-core, single card solutions like the GeForce 7950 GX2, Volari Duo V8 Ultra, and ATI's own Rage Fury MAXX, multi-core graphics cards tended to have a lot more performance issues and bugs than single core GPUs. In order for this card to be successful, ATI will need to really heavily support the 3870 X2 via future driver updates; otherwise, it'll end up like the GF 7950 GX2, a multi-core graphics card that nVIDIA seems to have neglected.
2.) In many of the reviews, the Radeon 3870 X2 has shown to have high power consumption (under load), even more so than the GeForce 8800 Ultra. Also, the 3870 X2's default fan seems to generate louder noise than the other high end video cards (from nVIDIA).
3.) Next month, nVIDIA will be countering the Radeon 3870 X2 with their own multi-core solution, the GeForce 9800 GX2. It remains to be seen if this card will outperform the Radeon 3870 X2. There are also rumors that nVIDIA and ATi will be launching their next generation single core GPU in Q3-Q4 2008. If these cards vastly outperform the Radeon 3870 X2, an upgrade to the 3870 X2 would seem to be pointless, especially with next-gen cards coming out so soon.
In any case, it is nice to finally have a card from ATi that beats nVIDIA's 8800 GTX/Ultra. nVIDIA basically have been sitting on their @$$es (in the high-end market anyway) for the last year. With revived competition by ATi, we can finally see some more interesting graphics card solutions coming out later this year by both nVIDIA and ATi. As some would say, "competition drives innovation."
ATi hard-launched the Radeon 3870 X2 today, meaning it is directly available in stores. It's currently going for $449.00 USD at Newegg.com. Reviews for the card are below:
Anandtech: www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3209
Tech Report: techreport.com/articles.x/13967
Firing Squad: www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_radeon_hd_3870_x2_performance/
Guru3D: www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/490/
[H]ardOCP: enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ1NCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Hot Hardware: www.hothardware.com/articles/R680_Has_Landed_ATI_Radeon_HD_3870_X2/?page=8
PC Perspective: www.pcper.com/article.php?type=expert&aid=512
ExtremeTech: www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2253049,00.asp
Hardware Zone: www.hardwarezone.com/home/
Overclockers Club: www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/ati_hd3870_x2/
TechPowerUp: www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_3870_X2/1.html
Tom's Hardware: www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/28/ati_r680_the_rage_fury_maxx_2/
From all these reviews, it seems that the ATi Radeon 3870 X2 outperforms the GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra by 15-30% in many games. In some others games, it either matches the GTX/Ultra performance or is slower by at least 10%.
Although the Radeon 3870 X2 outperforms the 8800 GTX/Ultra (for the most part), I have mixed feelings about ATi's new high end.
1.) First, it is a multi-core solution, meaning it's basically CrossFire on a single card. Looking at previous multi-core, single card solutions like the GeForce 7950 GX2, Volari Duo V8 Ultra, and ATI's own Rage Fury MAXX, multi-core graphics cards tended to have a lot more performance issues and bugs than single core GPUs. In order for this card to be successful, ATI will need to really heavily support the 3870 X2 via future driver updates; otherwise, it'll end up like the GF 7950 GX2, a multi-core graphics card that nVIDIA seems to have neglected.
2.) In many of the reviews, the Radeon 3870 X2 has shown to have high power consumption (under load), even more so than the GeForce 8800 Ultra. Also, the 3870 X2's default fan seems to generate louder noise than the other high end video cards (from nVIDIA).
3.) Next month, nVIDIA will be countering the Radeon 3870 X2 with their own multi-core solution, the GeForce 9800 GX2. It remains to be seen if this card will outperform the Radeon 3870 X2. There are also rumors that nVIDIA and ATi will be launching their next generation single core GPU in Q3-Q4 2008. If these cards vastly outperform the Radeon 3870 X2, an upgrade to the 3870 X2 would seem to be pointless, especially with next-gen cards coming out so soon.
In any case, it is nice to finally have a card from ATi that beats nVIDIA's 8800 GTX/Ultra. nVIDIA basically have been sitting on their @$$es (in the high-end market anyway) for the last year. With revived competition by ATi, we can finally see some more interesting graphics card solutions coming out later this year by both nVIDIA and ATi. As some would say, "competition drives innovation."
