# SAPPHIRE Announces AGP HD 3850



## Jimmy 2004 (Jan 4, 2008)

SAPPHIRE Technology has just announced support for legacy PC systems using the AGP graphics bus with a new product in its HD 3000 series which brings the latest graphics architectures and features to this industry standard platform.

The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP is available with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, running at 846MHz (1.7GHz effective) and has a core clock speed of 700MHz. It is a standard ATX format card, compatible with the industry standard AGP interface and with its slim fan assisted cooler the card occupies only a single expansion slot in the PC.



The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP shares the 320 stream processors and 512-bit internal ring bus memory controller of the latest PCI-Express models together with multiple rendering units and a programmable tessellation unit. This new product's unified shader architecture with support for Shader Model 4.0 and the forthcoming DirectX 10.1 combine to deliver the most outstanding graphics performance ever available to AGP users. 

Now manufactured in a new 55nm process technology, the GPU in the HD 3000 series delivers high performance with lower power consumption than previous generations. A new feature known as ATI PowerPlay actively reduces power consumption depending on loading. On the AGP model, additional power is required via the 8-pin PCI-Express connector fitted, which can be provided from a standard power supply with an adapter cable (supplied). 

The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP incorporates the latest ATI Avivo HD Technology for enhanced Video display and features a built in UVD (Unified Video decoder) for the hardware accelerated decoding of Blu-ray and HD DVD content for both VC-1 and H.264 codecs, considerably reducing CPU loading. Two independent display output controllers provide support for two dual link DVI displays as well as TV-out and HD TV options. HDCP is supported.

SAPPHIRE HD 3000 series graphics cards are Microsoft Windows Vista Premium certified and supported by the ATI Catalyst suite of software, ensuring customers have ongoing access to software updates for performance, stability and added features.

*Specifications: SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP*







*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Namslas90 (Jan 4, 2008)

I remember a few months ago when everybody said AGP was Dead...LOL.

Then they made 1950's, soon followed with 2XXX's and now the 3850's...WOOT!


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## Cold Storm (Jan 4, 2008)

Namslas90 said:


> I remember a few months ago when everybody said AGP was Dead...LOL.
> 
> Then they made 1950's, soon followed with 2900's and now the 3850's...WOOT!



AGP will never be dead until they stop making the boards.. and they wont for another few years because they now have the combo mobos. Glad to see that something that started it all is still alive!


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## erocker (Jan 4, 2008)

I must say that I'm totally happy with my x1950pro AGP.  I must warn people that there is a good chance that you won't be able to use Vista with these cards and a NF3 chipset.


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## Jimmy 2004 (Jan 4, 2008)

erocker said:


> I must say that I'm totally happy with my x1950pro AGP.  I must warn people that there is a good chance that you won't be able to use Vista with these cards and a NF3 chipset.



What makes you think that?


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## Cold Storm (Jan 4, 2008)

erocker said:


> I must say that I'm totally happy with my x1950pro AGP.  I must warn people that there is a good chance that you won't be able to use Vista with these cards and a NF3 chipset.



that is right.. good thoughts....


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## DaMulta (Jan 4, 2008)

LOL AGP needs to DIE.

You can get a PCI-E system for cheap now.


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## mikek75 (Jan 4, 2008)

Also, ATI has announced that it is only going to update AGP drivers on a three monthly basis (and who knows for how much longer after that!)


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## erocker (Jan 4, 2008)

Yeah, but if everything else you have is good and just need a card this is the way to go.  But yeah, people need to change sometime....


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## MilkyWay (Jan 4, 2008)

i think that prices of pci ex have fallen so low that you can get a system for soo cheap that will out do most agp systems not to mention that agp will eventually stop being made

IS such a thing as a am2 agp board coz thats another reason to get pci ex coz agp is done as far as boards and cpu goes


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## rhythmeister (Jan 4, 2008)

Long live AGP


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## suraswami (Jan 5, 2008)

erocker said:


> I must say that I'm totally happy with my x1950pro AGP.  I must warn people that there is a good chance that you won't be able to use Vista with these cards and a NF3 chipset.



Anyway Vista is crap.  Why should I upgrade to a filthy product?


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 5, 2008)

kieran_fletch said:


> IS such a thing as a am2 agp board coz thats another reason to get pci ex coz agp is done as far as boards and cpu goes



Actually, I saw a DDR2/AM2/AGP 8X cpu motherboard combo on newegg from winodw browsing earlier today.


But.....

I know someone who is going to be thrilled ....

MORGOTH!!! He has been waiting to hear this for a long while now!


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## Scrizz (Jan 5, 2008)

i got a ddr/775(e2180)/AGP(x1950GT) pc , and that pc works fine


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## X-TeNDeR (Jan 5, 2008)

AGP needs to retire. pcie is cheaper and faster, and simply better. agp boards crumble slowly, like my k8n neo2 plat.. its classic, but its time to let go, R.I.P AGP


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## wiak (Jan 5, 2008)

tose guys dont get HDMI out, atlest not with audio unless AGP magicly supports it, might be a spdif input on the 3850 AGP card it self you have to connect anyway, its good that AMD supports people with S939 + AGP platforms


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2008)

well first of all for those that say AGP should die, well it wont because people are still making upgrades to their machines despite what they can build, but its like this why bother spending over 2000 bux for a good machine when you can upgrade for less than that? Also the card makers are getting the money in to keep on producing such cards and make a profit, look at the X1950 Pro. Also there was a article on Graphical Performance of the AGP vs PCI e and both were equally matched.


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## Morgoth (Jan 5, 2008)

hey this does even gets bether now lets wait for HIS hd3850 agp


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## Morgoth (Jan 5, 2008)




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## Waldoinsc (Jan 5, 2008)

Nice pic's Morgoth...any pricing yet for these...I have 3 systems still running AGP that my kids and I play Starcraft and C&C2 on..one 754 pin (3700+), one 939 pin (Opty 185) and a P4 (old 2.8GHz Dell) ...these new cards would be a great upgrade to my Radeon 9700 Pro and X800GTO.


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## WarEagleAU (Jan 5, 2008)

Wow,  more and more AGP.


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## rhythmeister (Jan 5, 2008)

X-TeNDeR said:


> AGP needs to retire. pcie is cheaper and faster, and simply better. agp boards crumble slowly, like my k8n neo2 plat.. its classic, but its time to let go, R.I.P AGP



AGP is bottlenecked by the low wattage that the bus can supply it with (as far as I know), why don't manufacturers just speed these buggers upto PCI-E clock speeds then push the PSU requirements up a bit?


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## erocker (Jan 5, 2008)

rhythmeister said:


> AGP is bottlenecked by the low wattage that the bus can supply it with (as far as I know), why don't manufacturers just speed these buggers upto PCI-E clock speeds then push the PSU requirements up a bit?



If you looka at AGP vs. PCI-E benchmarks there is no real bottleneck.  My x1950pro agp and a x2 3800, was just as fast (faster actually) than my friends x1950pro pci-e and x2 3800 clock for clock.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2008)

Mogoroth, nice Pic of the board, I think i will pick one up and sell one of the 1950 Pros, once i get both back from RMA (Hope New boards)


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2008)

By the way Provide Proof Please


mikek75 said:


> Also, ATI has announced that it is only going to update AGP drivers on a three monthly basis (and who knows for how much longer after that!)


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## Makaveli (Jan 5, 2008)

Jimmy 2004 said:


> What makes you think that?



He said that because if you ever trying installing vista on a Nforce3 board with a Dualcore CPU, you will not be able to get the videocard drivers installed. Its an issue Nvidia knows about, they however said if you want Vista support u need Nforce4 and up.

And I know this first hand cause I just upgraded my Neo 2 Platinum Nforce3 board + Dual Core Opteron and went PCI E.

Could never get Vista working correctly on previous board.

This is a good upgrade but if your sitting on a single core P4 lower than 3.2 Ghz you will be Cpu bottlenecked.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2008)

there is always a bottle neck no matter how you look at it, even the Fastest CPUs out still bottleneck.


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## Morgoth (Jan 5, 2008)

eidairaman1 said:


> By the way Provide Proof Please



http://www.pctuner.net/news/7481/Vga_Sapphire_HD3850_512MB_AGP/


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2008)

sorry Morgoth
i wasnt talking about the hardware at that moment but the driver releases


Morgoth said:


> http://www.pctuner.net/news/7481/Vga_Sapphire_HD3850_512MB_AGP/


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 5, 2008)

Jimmy 2004 said:


> What makes you think that?





Makaveli said:


> He said that because if you ever trying installing vista on a Nforce3 board with a Dualcore CPU, you will not be able to get the videocard drivers installed. Its an issue Nvidia knows about, they however said if you want Vista support u need Nforce4 and up.



The infamous Code 43 malarkey. I plan on having a bash at seeing if I can overcome it with my set up once I can be arsed to reformat and re-partition.



> there is always a bottle neck no matter how you look at it, even the Fastest CPUs out still bottleneck.



I would have thought having a stupidly fast CPU would be the least thing to bottleneck the system, what about the HDD(s) and the bus speeds?


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## intel igent (Jan 6, 2008)

Sweet! Where to buy? Any 3870's slated for release? 

I think its time I finally upgraded my gfx! How much longer are these compared to x850's?

Thnx!


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## Morgoth (Jan 6, 2008)

still none in netherlands


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 6, 2008)

Perhaps a Mod Bios is needed, but then again Drivers are abundant with the Unified Remix 11.16


InnocentCriminal said:


> The infamous Code 43 malarkey. I plan on having a bash at seeing if I can overcome it with my set up once I can be arsed to reformat and re-partition.
> 
> 
> 
> I would have thought having a stupidly fast CPU would be the least thing to bottleneck the system, what about the HDD(s) and the bus speeds?


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## 15th Warlock (Jan 6, 2008)

There's no way in hell I'm getting the Sapphire version, can anyone tell me were to get the Powercolor AGP 3850?


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## ShadowFold (Jan 6, 2008)

Imo AGP should die =/ what cpu WONT bottleneck that? Sure a AMD Opty at 3ghz would be ok but how many AGP users have one of those?


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## Morgoth (Jan 6, 2008)

sapphire version is a bith faster then the powercolor version..


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## 15th Warlock (Jan 6, 2008)

Morgoth said:


> sapphire version is a bith faster then the powercolor version..



Yes but: faster clocks + single slot cooler = a fried card in about 2 months FTW! 

I bet you can get more OC from the Powercolor version at lower temps, besides after having two Sapphire cards die on me (one less than 24 hours after I got it from the egg... ) I promised myself never to buy one of their cards again


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## Scrizz (Jan 6, 2008)

Sapphire's been good w/me


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 6, 2008)

what is the true operating frequency of the 3850?


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 6, 2008)

D'you mean the default clock speed for the PCIe 3850 compared to the AGP version?

The default speed for the 3850 (PCIe) is 670MHz, the 3870 is 775MHz...


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 6, 2008)

well aslong as im not paying more for a preoverclocked card im fine with it, but if it costs more than the other 3850s ill go with the ones that are stock clocked and just push the performance out myself, as its obvious that sapphire doesnt get all the cream of crop chips.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 6, 2008)

http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?ProductID=1730

http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?ProductID=1636

http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?ProductID=1635

Seems that Arctic Cooling has lost their Touch as i dont see their Coolers used really anymore beyond HIS (ICEQ line)


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## Morgoth (Jan 6, 2008)

i  get my self sapphire agp version and put a waterblock on it


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## Assimilator (Jan 6, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> Imo AGP should die =/ what cpu WONT bottleneck that? Sure a AMD Opty at 3ghz would be ok but how many AGP users have one of those?



Agreed... the best processors available for AGP-based motherboards are S939 Opteron X2s, and I reckon even one of those would bottleneck an X1950, nevermind an HD 3850.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 6, 2008)

i would assume your Opty Bottlenecks the 7950GX2 you have there right


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 7, 2008)

Where does everyone get their information on what CPU will bottleneck what? That's what I'd like to know.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 7, 2008)

I agree with you 100% I say its Persuasive Marketing Crap to get you to switch to one over the other, well sorry I dont have time to be building a new machine only upgrades.


InnocentCriminal said:


> Where does everyone get their information on what CPU will bottleneck what? That's what I'd like to know.


 It was also very hard to predict AMD moving to AM2/+ and Intel Kicking AMDs butt for once, thats why ive stuck with what ive had for 4 years now.


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## NastyHabits (Jan 7, 2008)

*Hurray for AGP*

As someone who only upgrades when my machine actually dies, or can't play a game I want, I applaud these high-end AGP cards.  (I tossed my 1GHz Athlon, GXPro machine when it couldn't play Colin McRae Rally 2004).  My current (Prescott) CPU is still fine, but my 6600 GT is getting long in the tooth. 

I just wonder what the price will be?  The Powercolor version is selling for about 200 Euros in Europe.


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## erocker (Jan 7, 2008)

Assimilator said:


> Agreed... the best processors available for AGP-based motherboards are S939 Opteron X2s, and I reckon even one of those would bottleneck an X1950, nevermind an HD 3850.



I run a 8800GTS, but my Opty overclocks like a bat out of hell, and yes there is a bottleneck, but really almost all processors bottleneck newer high end video cards.  My bottleneck isn't enough to worry about.  My old x2 3800+ at 2.75ghz was a good match with my old x1950pro AGP.  The only real bad bottlenecks your going to get with any Core 2, or even K8 is running them at lower or stock speeds.  P4's on the other hand, that's when you can start talking about bottlenecks.  I currently have a 11,754 3d06 score with my system.  (the winter is your friend


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 7, 2008)

erocker said:
			
		

> ... but really almost all processors bottleneck newer high end video cards.



I honestly think it depends on how the CPU is implemented, as in, the set up it's being used in. Plus you've stated high-end cards, we're talking about a bottom end of the mid-range here.
I know that CPUs do create a bottleneck it's just I'm the sort of person that needs to proof when people say things along these lines.


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## Makaveli (Jan 7, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I honestly think it depends on how the CPU is implemented, as in, the set up it's being used in. Plus you've stated high-end cards, we're talking about a bottom end of the mid-range here.
> I know that CPUs do create a bottleneck it's just I'm the sort of person that needs to proof when people say things along these lines.



Well i'm speaking from first hand experience, I first noticed what a cpu bottleneck will do when running a NForce 2 barton + X800XTPE a few years ago. When I moved that videocard to a A64 3200+ there was a huge increase in videocard performance. Enough so that it was noticeable without even running benchmarks it could be felt in game.

And as for the pervious post, I was running a x1950 Pro AGP on my Opteron 170 @ 2.7 Ghz and the bottleneck was small. however a 3850 is much faster and would increase said bottleneck. I would hate to see one of these cards in a P4


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## Morgoth (Jan 7, 2008)

Makaveli said:


> Well i'm speaking from first hand experience, I first noticed what a cpu bottleneck will do when running a NForce 2 barton + X800XTPE a few years ago. When I moved that videocard to a A64 3200+ there was a huge increase in videocard performance. Enough so that it was noticeable without even running benchmarks it could be felt in game.
> 
> And as for the pervious post, I was running a x1950 Pro AGP on my Opteron 170 @ 2.7 Ghz and the bottleneck was small. however a 3850 is much faster and would increase said bottleneck. I would hate to see one of these cards in a P4



so ur gona hate me?


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 8, 2008)

Exactly the explanation I was looking for Makaveli.

Morgoth, he won't hate you, he'll hate the lack of performance and the card's potential being limited.


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## 15th Warlock (Jan 8, 2008)

I plan on using this with my present
P4 rig as an HTPC, why throw away a perfectly fine and working PC? No need for haters here


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## erocker (Jan 8, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I know that CPUs do create a bottleneck it's just I'm the sort of person that needs to proof when people say things along these lines.



Pay attention to the SM2 & SM3 scores:

Stock settings: (24/7 CPU settings)






Max OC Video Card:





Max OC V.Card & CPU:


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 8, 2008)

Could you do one with the video card at stock and the CPU overclocked please? ^^


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## erocker (Jan 8, 2008)

To get it back to 3.2 or more, I'm going to have to wait a couple of days untill it get's cooler outside.


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