# RADEON HD 3870 AND 3850 Oc and Other experiences !!!



## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

ok the info on these cards is split over numerous threads , and i cud not find one that specifically will address all issues and experiences with these cards , so please fill all info here .......... i wud like to ask some of the folks who are runnign their 3870's in CF to post what drivers they are using and how does crysis run on CF cause i am having problems running Crysis in CF at this moment ............. thx
*
I have decided to give the gigabyte core 2 duo board in this thread
to the guy who has the suckiest core 2 duo mboard , so post here and let us know why u deserve it the guy with the best reasoning will get it free from me , shipping is free in usa only.*​


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

for everyone who posts in this thread will be entered in a free raffle for a gigabyte mboard , for core 2 duos and quads , ill get the specs from my brother after i get off work and post what kind it is ........... he gets samples for his shop from time to time and he is giving me this one i have no use for it .............. so just something i can give as a love for the TPU memebers here ........... ofcourse ill ship it free to anywhere in USA , but europeans if u dont mind paying shipping i got no probs ............... but please post anyways lol 

Update this is the Mboard!!





GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

free raffle will go on till next weekend .............


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## trog100 (Nov 30, 2007)

the new over 862 bios seems a waste of time.. the card isnt stable over 862..

my normal stability test of running the 3DMarks reliably dosnt seem to work with this card and crysis.. i started off with 855 as being what i thought stable but have lowered it to 835 in crysis to avoid vpu recovers or being thrown out into windows..

i dont think C/F as yet works in crysis.. my main problem with the card was its low auto fan speeds but the beta .27 atitool seems to solve that problem..

i have another card coming so will be able to talk C/F soon..

trog


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## Apocolypse007 (Nov 30, 2007)

My core was stable up to 863 on normal cooling using ati's catalyst overclocking test. after that, windows reboots. just to be safe i run the core at 815 and the memory at 1200 (2400 effective) and havent had any problems yet. theres really no need for me to push the card any further yet. as for crysis, i play it on dx10 with medium settings with decent frame rates, i dont have two cards for crossfire yet.


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

Apocolypse007 said:


> My core was stable up to 863 on normal cooling using ati's catalyst overclocking test. after that, windows reboots. just to be safe i run the core at 815 and the memory at 1200 (2400 effective) and havent had any problems yet. theres really no need for me to push the card any further yet. as for crysis, i play it on dx10 with medium settings with decent frame rates, i dont have two cards for crossfire yet.


 
ty , i see u have the exact same mobo , as the one up for free raffle =)


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## trog100 (Nov 30, 2007)

just for the record my core went right up to the 885 max on the CCC test thing with the altered bios.. but in reality its meaningless figures.. it runs the 3dmarks at 855 but not crysis.. 

trog


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

trog100 said:


> just for the record my core went right up to the 885 max on the CCC test thing with the altered bios.. but in reality its meaningless figures.. it runs the 3dmarks at 855 but not crysis..
> 
> trog



i think the next drivers update is what i am looking forward too , the drivers are still not right for the 3800 .......... and specially for CF ............... I Can run UT3 fine in Crossfire , and every other game except Crysis , i installed the hotfix over the 7.11 and Crysis ran way slower than when i ran it in single card configuration , as a matter of fact the single card ran Crysis at the first column of settign s at high and the one column fo setting to the right all medium at 1680 x 1050 resolutions fine 29-34 fps


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## Atnevon (Nov 30, 2007)

I believe at the moment these cards look promising on a more budget build. For some reason, I think OC would not be worth getting because of the OC itself. Sure you can push electronics a bit frther, but I'm not comfortable with it. If I know I can do it, I will. 

Thant 3870 does look tempting. It seems ATi gets alot of crap since Nvidia marketing blows them over. For the Money, I believe ATi runs the lower playing field, whil Nvidia controlls the upper segment.


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## smartphone (Nov 30, 2007)

Honestly, I have no idea. Ati says you need to have 16x/16x lanes to remove bottleneck. Other say the problem is in crysis because sli doesn't work good in it either.
Just posting here to participate in raffle. At least i'm honest about it.


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

smartphone said:


> Honestly, I have no idea. Ati says you need to have 16x/16x lanes to remove bottleneck. Other say the problem is in crysis because sli doesn't work good in it either.
> Just posting here to participate in raffle. At least i'm honest about it.



thx no prob u r in the raffle =)


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## Xolair (Nov 30, 2007)

Yeah, I'm getting a *HD3850* soon (*HD3870* would've taken far too long to receive, sadly), but I bet even this card will give me a nice improvement in performance over my old card (*X1650 Pro*)..? 

Anyway, if you guys have got any HD3850's and *Crysis*' demo for example, could you run a benchmark @ 1280*1024 and medium/high detail, with 2X AA enabled and without? It'd be nice to know what kind of performance the 3850 would get in those settings...


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

Atnevon said:


> I believe at the moment these cards look promising on a more budget build. For some reason, I think OC would not be worth getting because of the OC itself. Sure you can push electronics a bit frther, but I'm not comfortable with it. If I know I can do it, I will.
> 
> Thant 3870 does look tempting. It seems ATi gets alot of crap since Nvidia marketing blows them over. For the Money, I believe ATi runs the lower playing field, whil Nvidia controlls the upper segment.



it has been a crazy holiday season where Both ATi and Nvidia destroyed there more expensive cards with the release of the HD 3800 and 8800 GT .......... i had bought my 1gb ddr 4 hd 2900xt for 449.99 when it came out (sapphire oem) and the HD 3870 for 219.99 for half the price the hd 3870 has better feautures and gives only 5-7 % less performance than the high priced brother , so it does make sense , for me to get myself a CF setup ........ with 2 of these , fortunately someone on ebay bought my hd 2900 for 389.99 , not too shabby for a return on something that will be obsolete soon. 

i did buy the 8800 gt before i went the hd 3870 route , i dont know what the benchmarks are showing but the only thing i will compare is that in Crysis at resolutions 1680 x 1050 no aa and all medium setting that 8800 GT was not playing good it has hickup and the frames were slow ......... hd 3870 same settings , ran smooth ........... so that my take on the 2 .


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## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 30, 2007)

i think i will be getting a 3870xt in a week or two,so i will keep my eye on this thread and post my results.

Also thanks for the raffle entry,its an interesting idea,and nice of you to donate the board to the winner.


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## nflesher87 (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm doing a bit of downgrading in the next month and already purchased my 5000+ black but I'm waiting for MSI's 790FX to come back in stock SOMEWHERE lol and I'm wondering how quickly the 5000 is going to bottleneck the 3800 series, such as one 3870, two 3850s, etc as I'm trying to decide what route to go, after all I'll have 4x PCI-e slots to fill 

and put me down for the mobo that's awesome of you bro


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## PaulieG (Nov 30, 2007)

I was looking at the 3870xt, but now that I see the crazy gouging that's going on with prices...I'm glad I purchased a 2900pro from a fellow TPU member....congrats to those who got a good deal on it. I don't think you'll see those prices for quite a while.


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## a111087 (Nov 30, 2007)

Those who are wanting to buy 3870 or 3850, wait a little, the price will probably drop even more or it will go out of stock 
btw, some 2900 are going for $150 and it's possible to unlock, i think.
the raffle is awesome!


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## TUngsten (Nov 30, 2007)

If Bestbuy gets a 3870 in stock in the next...22 days, I'll return my 8800gt!

So far my 8800gt gets 740/2050 on the stock cooler @60% fan, going to try my vf900 on it later and see where that goes.

Gratuitous raffle bump!


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## sneekypeet (Nov 30, 2007)

I can clock mine to 850/1206 stable for 3DMark testing. I also get VPU recoveries in certain games. The Crysis demo works finre tho with the Crysis fixed drivers found in the dowload section of these forums(drivers Im running now). COD4 plays well as does TW08, my GuildWars crashes like every 5 minutes, but that is an issue with the game(no VPU recovery there). Did find that ATITool 0.27 beta4 clocks well, but the fan control is lacking something, so I use Rivatuner 2.06 for fan control(80%). Idles @ 33*c and loads at 58*c when clocked.

But try the drivers for Crysis if you havent to see if it may change your gaming issue.Here is the Vista version.   http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/848/ATI_Crysis_Hotfix_Vista.html 

Also if you look in the 0.27Beta3 thread I believ W1z states it isnt right for Vista as of yet(I just looked at your OS as I was getting the link).


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## wiak (Nov 30, 2007)

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=552076 <- my µber-mini review of Club 3D 3870


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## cefurkan (Nov 30, 2007)

Apocolypse007 said:


> My core was stable up to 863 on normal cooling using ati's catalyst overclocking test. after that, windows reboots. just to be safe i run the core at 815 and the memory at 1200 (2400 effective) and havent had any problems yet. theres really no need for me to push the card any further yet. as for crysis, i play it on dx10 with medium settings with decent frame rates, i dont have two cards for crossfire yet.



u just waste that game by playin it on medium settings

i was playing it with very high settings in xp(by modding config files i was openin very high settings)


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## overclocker (Nov 30, 2007)

Xolair said:


> Yeah, I'm getting a *HD3850* soon (*HD3870* would've taken far too long to receive, sadly), but I bet even this card will give me a nice improvement in performance over my old card (*X1650 Pro*)..?
> 
> Anyway, if you guys have got any HD3850's and *Crysis*' demo for example, could you run a benchmark @ 1280*1024 and medium/high detail, with 2X AA enabled and without? It'd be nice to know what kind of performance the 3850 would get in those settings...



i have a 3850 and it overclocks well  770 core so far and 2110 mem and i havent pushed eather the core or the mem to the max im very happy with mine


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## trog100 (Nov 30, 2007)

cefurkan said:


> u just waste that game by playin it on medium settings
> 
> i was playing it with very high settings in xp(by modding config files i was openin very high settings)



u trolling for nvidia dude.. ???

trog


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## Apocolypse007 (Nov 30, 2007)

cefurkan said:


> u just waste that game by playin it on medium settings
> 
> i was playing it with very high settings in xp(by modding config files i was openin very high settings)



I really wouldnt consider it a waste when you consider the fact that its running in dx10. In my opinion its the same as running in dx9 at high settings. dx10 really does make a difference and is well deserved of its hype.

regarding the reply about my mobo. Yes i believe it is the same model. Its a great board and i have little complaints about it. i could actually use another as i am getting ready to rebuild my parents ancient computer (its a dell with a northwood p4 and mx4000 gpu ). my only complaint would be the fact that failed overclocks in the bios have resulted in faulty vista boots (i even had to reinstall vista once because of it). This might be however, because of my aging 420w PSU.

EDIT: i also thought it might be worth mentioning that this board does not support the new 45nm Core 2s. im not sure why, but i believe its because of the 965 chipset.


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## theonetruewill (Nov 30, 2007)

I can't wait to see mitsirfishi's final overclocking results. He just got a HD 3870 and we all know how he likes to overclock.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 30, 2007)

The p5b deluxe supports the new 45nm chips and thats 965 chipset,so yours should.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Nov 30, 2007)

Crossfire really does, and neither does SLI, work with Crysis ATM.  I brought my friend's 7900gt to pair with mine to see the performance increase...  it failed.


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

thx for all the inputs guys , and all of you have been entered in the raffle , its always nice to have a backup mobo laying around =)


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## Winterwind (Nov 30, 2007)

http://www.taig.ee/web/14361.JPG
Hd3870 @ 918/1395 with stock cooling and not modded bios + warm air.
there is potential.. all we need is vmods and 1000-1100 mhz is possible with air..

same guy, CF: http://www.taig.ee/web/19587.JPG


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## Random Murderer (Nov 30, 2007)

overclocking wise i hit hit 830/1250. i didn't want to push it any further, it was crysis stable but the ramsinks got so hot i almost burned myself, and the core won't go above 862 anyway(i haven't flashed the new bios yet).
trog is correct about crossfire, it's not supported in crysis yet. even with my 1950's, i got the same framerate in single card mode as i did in crossfire.
and as far as drivers go, other than my pre-existing gripes about ccc and the installation error(the same one trog got) i haven't had any problems.


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## a111087 (Nov 30, 2007)

lol, how did he get that 19587?


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## Winterwind (Nov 30, 2007)

a111087 said:


> lol, how did he get that 19587?


with crossfire and def Gigabyte hd3870-s


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## L|NK|N (Nov 30, 2007)

3dmark 06  http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=3885031
3dmark 05  http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=3711442

Both benchmarks were run with some overclock on the card, and some overclock on my little ol' opteron 939 system.  I really like these cards.  Now I just need to find a great cooler, and then really have some fun with it.


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## jpierce55 (Nov 30, 2007)

I can hit 843 stable with ATI tool, but the fan controls are quirky with it. Rivatuner and CCC only give me 810 stable for some reason. Once ATI tool is settled I will use it, but for now will only do it for benchmarks, and the 810 for games. The fan is quiet and cool at 60% so my gut instinct says I will stay at ~810. 810@60%=59c 

I have XP and the 7-11 CCC does not visually show. 7-10 is the one to use.

My memory is stable to 1226 anything over starts getting artifacts on ATI tool, and locks up on CCC. Over 1200 makes the card warm up fast.

I will be adding a second card when I get it . Could be a week or two, its on backorder, but I won't pay more than the $220.


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## Random Murderer (Nov 30, 2007)

jpierce55 said:


> I have XP and the 7-11 CCC does not visually show.



i noticed that, too. no matter what registry keys i use or msconfig settings, 7.11 ccc refuses to load on startup, i have to start it manually.


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## Necrofire (Nov 30, 2007)

Intel is nice, I just happen to have AMD now because I didn't have enough to get the Intel processor I wanted.

What is so different about the 45nm cores that a mobo can't handle?


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## zOaib (Nov 30, 2007)

LiNKiN said:


> 3dmark 06  http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=3885031
> 3dmark 05  http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=3711442
> 
> Both benchmarks were run with some overclock on the card, and some overclock on my little ol' opteron 939 system.  I really like these cards.  Now I just need to find a great cooler, and then really have some fun with it.



nice , for the price the hd 3850 is definately worth the money . are u goign to get another one for CF


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## devguy (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm almost done putting together my new system with an hd 3850.  Just waiting on the motherboard and dvd rom drive to arrive.  I'll be happy to post some benchies on my PC on this newish motherboard (pcie 2.0, amd 790FX).


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Nov 30, 2007)

im trying hard to get one at msrp, but to no avail, and i have to put my 7900gs sale off.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 30, 2007)

tigger69 said:


> The p5b deluxe supports the new 45nm chips and thats 965 chipset,so yours should.



Yup, but some 965's wont do quad core 45nm...just duellies, but as you already know......yours does both!


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## insider (Nov 30, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> i noticed that, too. no matter what registry keys i use or msconfig settings, 7.11 ccc refuses to load on startup, i have to start it manually.



Works fine here with cat 7.11, running XP-64 though.


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## trog100 (Nov 30, 2007)

the new atitool beta dosnt seem to work with these cards.. weird things happen.. i thought i could just use it for fan control but it forgets all the settings so its back to a fixed fan speed with rivatuner or just let the bloody thing get hot.. he he he

gonna try the letting it get hot approach for while.. 

trog


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## jpierce55 (Nov 30, 2007)

Further note 810/1206 vs 843/1206 its about the same score. Not worth torturing the card imho. Esp. since the 60% fan level is almost non-existent noise and keeps teh 810/1206 below 60c.


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## Cold Storm (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm really looking forward to getting a 3870 for my birthday a month after Christmas.. So now I'm just trying to figure out what type of Mobo to get since I have a AGP.


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## cefurkan (Nov 30, 2007)

Apocolypse007 said:


> I really wouldnt consider it a waste when you consider the fact that its running in dx10. In my opinion its the same as running in dx9 at high settings. dx10 really does make a difference and is well deserved of its hype.
> 
> regarding the reply about my mobo. Yes i believe it is the same model. Its a great board and i have little complaints about it. i could actually use another as i am getting ready to rebuild my parents ancient computer (its a dell with a northwood p4 and mx4000 gpu ). my only complaint would be the fact that failed overclocks in the bios have resulted in faulty vista boots (i even had to reinstall vista once because of it). This might be however, because of my aging 420w PSU.
> 
> EDIT: i also thought it might be worth mentioning that this board does not support the new 45nm Core 2s. im not sure why, but i believe its because of the 965 chipset.



nope u are wrong
there is hude difference between medium and high
since @ medium settings most of the enviroment objects are not seen
u may get a bit better IQ but loosing enviroment effects is much more worse


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## AphexDreamer (Dec 1, 2007)

Hey Which is better CrossFire or SLI or is their really no diffrence between the two?

For instance if ATI Cards could use SLI would it be better then it useing its CrossFire and vice Versa?


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## SteeMcghee (Dec 1, 2007)

I personally found that the full release catalyst drivers 7.11 and the new bios combined gave me lower performance in crysis and Cs:s. I reverted back to the hotfix and reflashed my old bios and i can run both games stable with 860/1280 with 80% fan using rivatuner. I don't know whether this is an isolated issue or if there are other people experiencing it??


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## jpierce55 (Dec 1, 2007)

The new Crossfire boasts a bigger performance boost between cards, so x-fire itself is better. Keep in mind Nvidia has faster cards.


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## zOaib (Dec 1, 2007)

SteeMcghee said:


> I personally found that the full release catalyst drivers 7.11 and the new bios combined gave me lower performance in crysis and Cs:s. I reverted back to the hotfix and reflashed my old bios and i can run both games stable with 860/1280 with 80% fan using rivatuner. I don't know whether this is an isolated issue or if there are other people experiencing it??



i agree 100% i experienced same prob , although CF completely doesnt work with anything right now , so just using one card while the other is twidling its thumb under it =P


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## SteeMcghee (Dec 1, 2007)

has anybody tried the new bios cracks for the hd3870 from iaxtech?

http://www.iax-tech.com/video/3800biosmod/02.htm

http://www.iax-tech.com/video/3800biosmod/03.htm

I was wondering whether they were more stable than the other bios?


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## mitsirfishi (Dec 1, 2007)

ive got mine past the 862 problem on stock bios just sends my screen insane at 875 but the memory is stable upto and past 1350 at the moment


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## jpierce55 (Dec 1, 2007)

I posted in two other spots, but will here so good data is with good data:
Hey guys re-install catalyst and don't unlock it. ATI Tool .27 Beta 3 seems to work in all ways but memory temp read-off after I did this. Fan control is now working great. 843/1206 and 60% fan control loads at startup and stays at 60% fan speed.


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## ghost101 (Dec 1, 2007)

Well with my 3850 i hit 770mhz core and 999mhz mem. The core is maxed out on ccc.

edit: I get ati tool artifacts above 750mhz. Also, im hitting 90C on load. How do you get fan control?


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## trog100 (Dec 1, 2007)

atitool dosnt work properly for me.. its dosnt remember or alter it fan setting when u reboot or load another profile.. 

my bios fan control switches the fan off when the machine is first booted into windows.. the card temp runs about 50 C with the fan off in 2d mode.. its stays off till a 3d app is run..

when the fur bench is run the card temp goes up rapidly.. it gets to 85 C plus then the fan speed starts to go up.. when it goes over 90 C it seems to reach a max speed of 45% no more.. 

45% keeps the card temp around 90 C..

when the 3d app is closed the fan speed settles to 23% and very slowly the card temp starts to drop..  it needs to drop to 45 C before the fan switched off again.. 

23% aint fast enough to drop the tmeps to 45% so once switched on the fan seem to stay on running a 23% till the next reboot..

all it needs is a bios tweak to bring the fan in earlier and faster.. the (linked) saphire bios might do this i aint tried it yet thow.. i am waiting for someone else to be the guinea pig.. he he he

trog

ps.. that auto tune thing is useless ignore it.. what it says is okay aint..


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## ghost101 (Dec 1, 2007)

trog100 said:


> ps.. that auto tune thing is useless ignore it.. what it says is okay aint..



I second this. Use atitool artifact scanning to find whats stable. For example, for me it was at 750mhz which ccc couldnt tell.

Also, even ati tool cant stress the gpu at 100%, it is around 80-85% load, so a lower clock may be needed.


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## jpierce55 (Dec 1, 2007)

trog100 said:


> atitool dosnt work properly for me.. its dosnt remember or alter it fan setting when u reboot or load another profile..
> 
> my bios fan control switches the fan off when the machine is first booted into windows.. the card temp runs about 50 C with the fan off in 2d mode.. its stays off till a 3d app is run..
> 
> ...



I completely agree the new "auto tune" sucks, the old one found what was stable, actually ended early. The old ATI oc software also had a setting to only oc during 3d mode. I liked that.

Trog did you try what I just posted? Re-install the catalyst 7.10 and then try the ATI tool? I had the same problem until I did that but now it works fine.


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## trog100 (Dec 1, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> I second this. Use atitool artifact scanning to find whats stable. For example, for me it was at 750mhz which ccc couldnt tell.
> 
> Also, even ati tool cant stress the gpu at 100%, it is around 80-85% load, so a lower clock may be needed.



the 3dmarks are a reasonable stabilty test.. if u can run them several times over without probems u are basically in the ball park.. but the only real test is coupleof weeks of playing your games without problems.. it takes time..

real life gaming needs a greater degree of stability than quick benching..

i am slowly settling at 837 on the core and 1233 on the memory with my card for all round stability.. thats at the cards default 90 C.. 

trog

ps.. a quick way is to find what u think is stable then knock 10% off.. this is pretty much what the manufacturers do.. run a 10% safey margin..


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## jocksteeluk (Dec 1, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> Well with my 3850 i hit 770mhz core and 999mhz mem. The core is maxed out on ccc.
> 
> edit: I get ati tool artifacts above 750mhz. Also, im hitting 90C on load. How do you get fan control?



nice oc.


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## ghost101 (Dec 1, 2007)

jocksteeluk said:


> nice oc.



From 670 stock to 750 is pretty mediocre IMO. My old 2600xt oced more than that. Probably need a better cooler.

However, the RAM i think has more to go. Ive left it at 2ghz because i think i have 1ns chips.

So atm 750/2ghz is completely stable on atitool/3dmark05+06/gears/crysis.


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## trog100 (Dec 1, 2007)

> Trog did you try what I just posted? Re-install the catalyst 7.10 and then try the ATI tool? I had the same problem until I did that but now it works fine.



i fully uninstalled it.. then i tried it with CCC not running..  interestingly even with overdrive not running the card retains the previous overdrive settings.. 

gonna try a reboot to see it it still does without overdrive starting.. always annoys me having to wait for the CCC to load.. he he

trog

ps.. nope no such luck.. he he


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## ghost101 (Dec 1, 2007)

Default fan cycle for HD 3850


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## zOaib (Dec 1, 2007)

trog100 said:


> i fully uninstalled it.. then i tried it with CCC not running..  interestingly even with overdrive not running the card retains the previous overdrive settings..
> 
> gonna try a reboot to see it it still does without overdrive starting.. always annoys me having to wait for the CCC to load.. he he
> 
> ...



use driver cleaner pro , it cleans the old drivers completely from registry .......... it used to be free , but now u purchase it , but it works awesome for nvidia and ati cards ........... www.guru3d.com

PS atitool beta .27 is working for me on fan controls i did complete uninstall and used DC pro and then all was good .


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## trog100 (Dec 1, 2007)

mine looks like that under load but the temps are at 90 C.. yours could be off the scale..????

is that without riva or atitool interference..??? with a fan only running at 46% it all seems odd to me... i can except mine as being the norm my 1900xtx ran at 90 C.. but yours kinda look over the top..

trog


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## Crazykooter (Dec 1, 2007)

I got one of the 1st HIS 3870 off newegg and since ive had it I have been able to run with old bios 862/1351 for benching.  Since I updated bios I Can bench at 875 core and same on memory or more depending on temps. I am using a Duorb and its amazing. I have never exceeded 48c temps under load.  I think we just need more vgpu and mem. I wish there was a way to do this thru the bios.  I know I can reach 900+ with the temps I run at.  

       I am shocked to see that one guy whos got an oc over 900 on air cooling.  I would love to know hows hes doing it. For me anything over 875 locks me solid. I dont play crysis MP so I dont need 24/7 ocs. My card stays stock until I bench.  I am sure I could run that altered bios that runs 860/1200 but I really dont see the point in risking a flash if it doesnt add anything but default clocks.

Heres my best run on 3dmark06
3Dmark06


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## ghost101 (Dec 1, 2007)

trog100 said:


> mine looks like that under load but the temps are at 90 C.. yours could be off the scale..????
> 
> is that without riva or atitool interference..??? with a fan only running at 46% it all seems odd to me... i can except mine as being the norm my 1900xtx ran at 90 C.. but yours kinda look over the top..
> 
> trog



No temps are at 89C and it stays at 89/90 at load. I dont know why the fan doesnt start speeding up earlier. Oh well, i can only assume ati have chosen those speeds because the card can handle those temps.


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## a111087 (Dec 1, 2007)

yeah, some say it has been done so that people will stop complaining about the noise


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## trog100 (Dec 1, 2007)

a111087 said:


> yeah, some say it has been done so that people will stop complaining about the noise



it quite clearly has.. but i recon its a bit overdone.. he he

but lets assume ati are right and us lot are paranoid about temps..

trog


----------



## a111087 (Dec 1, 2007)

also keep in mind that some people are going to quad CF.
imagine how loud that would be at 100%...


----------



## trog100 (Dec 1, 2007)

sorry ghost i misread the gpu usage for temp.. he he.. temps is at the bottom on mine i don have gpu usage ticked..

a max of 60% at 80 C would suit me.. i hope someone tweaks a bios to give this..

trog


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## Random Murderer (Dec 1, 2007)

a111087 said:


> also keep in mind that some people are going to quad CF.
> imagine how loud that would be at 100%...



lol, the computer would liftoff and fly around!


----------



## vaanish (Dec 2, 2007)

Ya im also planning on getting a 3850. Im upgrading from a 1950PRO. Do you think i'll notice a difference with an e6300 @ 3.1 and a MSI P35 Platinum? It will be nice to OC a card after having this PRO that won't budge 1MHz.

Do you think that if I try to crossfire then the 4x of the second PCI express lane will be a bottleneck?

The 3850 is probably the best bang for buck card on the market IMO.

The Raffle is a great Idea!


----------



## trog100 (Dec 2, 2007)

vaanish said:


> Ya im also planning on getting a 3850. Im upgrading from a 1950PRO. Do you think i'll notice a difference with an e6300 @ 3.1 and a MSI P35 Platinum? It will be nice to OC a card after having this PRO that won't budge 1MHz.
> 
> Do you think that if I try to crossfire then the 4x of the second PCI express lane will be a bottleneck?
> 
> ...



a big difference..i think with four of em the 256 memory will be the bottleneck.. two praps four nope..

trog


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## ghost101 (Dec 3, 2007)

Voltmods here

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=166623

Im waiting for a definite 3850 one. Then i'll have to look for an aftermarket cooler.

Cant find this anywhere in the UK though

http://www.zerotherm.net/eng/product/GX820.asp

Anyone kneow if the zalman vf900 fits?


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## TonyStark (Dec 3, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> Anyone kneow if the zalman vf900 fits?



I read somewhere that any cooler that fits on the x1900 should fit on the HD3850/HD3870. One dude slapped a thermaltake DuOrb on his HD3870.


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## desadarius2002 (Dec 3, 2007)

hey guys, iwas thinking of getting the new 512mb oc 3850 on newegg for $209.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814241068
with my specs, do you think i will get decent performance for new games like crysis and world in conflict.  thanks in advance.


----------



## TonyStark (Dec 3, 2007)

Performance will be good, it is an excellent card at its price range and probably 200x faster than your current (integrated) graphics.

Bear in mind though that there is no hardware currently available that can play Crysis with all settings maxed + AA. You should be able to play it fine with most settings on medium and a few on high.


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## desadarius2002 (Dec 3, 2007)

awesome, thats what im buying. when i get the cash that is, and if its still avalible.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 3, 2007)

question ?

so is anyone running these babies in CF successfully , cause i am using one card at the moment to run games , the other one is just chillin.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 3, 2007)

zOaib said:


> question ?
> 
> so is anyone running these babies in CF successfully , cause i am using one card at the moment to run games , the other one is just chillin.



the only rigs i have seen successfully running hd3k crossfire are on vista, but don't quote me on that...


----------



## trog100 (Dec 3, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> the only rigs i have seen successfully running hd3k crossfire are on vista, but don't quote me on that...



u might have a point there about vista.. seen enough reviews to know they work in crossfire but as u say it might just be vista.. i hope not.. he he he

still if they work in vista they should work in XP.. err.. eventually.. 

trog

ps.. just noticed zoaib is on vista.. mine should be here in a couple of days and i am on XP..


----------



## Xolair (Dec 3, 2007)

BTW, how big of a difference is there in performance between the *HD3850* and the *HD3870*? 10-15%? Would it be worth it to pay a bit extra for the HD3870, or can you just OC the HD3850 to the same numbers, or beyond? The stock cooler probably sucks when compared to the HD3870's one, though..?


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 3, 2007)

Xolair said:


> BTW, how big of a difference is there in performance between the *HD3850* and the *HD3870*? 10-15%? Would it be worth it to pay a bit extra for the HD3870, or can you just OC the HD3850 to the same numbers, or beyond? The stock cooler probably sucks when compared to the HD3870's one, though..?



i doubt that you could oc the 3850 to match 3870 speeds without some sort of insane volt mod, you're talking about a 100MHz oc on the core and a 300MHz oc on the mem...


----------



## Xolair (Dec 3, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> i doubt that you could oc the 3850 to match 3870 speeds without some sort of insane volt mod, you're talking about a 100MHz oc on the core and a 300MHz oc on the mem...



But is it possible with better cooling than the stock HD3850 provides?


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 3, 2007)

Xolair said:


> But is it possible with better cooling than the stock HD3850 provides?



300MHz on the memory!
you'd need some sort of crazy sub-zero ramsinks...

100MHz on the core wouldn't be too tough with a voltmod and some better cooling, like a zalman or duorb.


----------



## Xolair (Dec 3, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> 300MHz on the memory!
> you'd need some sort of crazy sub-zero ramsinks...
> 
> 100MHz on the core wouldn't be too tough with a voltmod and some better cooling, like a zalman or duorb.



Oh yeah, the memory... of course didn't think that it'd reach that much speed, but just that would it improve all in all with a better cooler. Doesn't matter now, went for a *HD3870* instead.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 3, 2007)

Xolair said:


> Oh yeah, the memory... of course didn't think that it'd reach that much speed, but just that would it improve all in all with a better cooler. Doesn't matter now, went for a *HD3870* instead.



you won't be disappointed, i love mine.


----------



## Xolair (Dec 3, 2007)

^ Heh, tried to cancel my order on a HD3850 but was too late, maybe if I'm disappointed with the GPU I could send it back... well, guess it's bye-bye for a HD3870, anyhoo.


----------



## Laurijan (Dec 3, 2007)

Ati 3800 series crossfire doesnt work, there is an overlock limit in the bios, they doesnt work properly in xp, bad drivers.. I think i get a 8800GT


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 3, 2007)

Laurijan said:


> Ati 3800 series crossfire doesnt work, there is an overlock limit in the bios, they doesnt work properly in xp, bad drivers.. I think i get a 8800GT



you're wrong on all points there.
hd3k crossfire DOES work
the overclock limit is easily fixed
i'm running xp, so it does work
the drivers are fine, the display driver just needs to be installed manually
and the 8800gt costs more for mediocre improvements and a lack of dx10.1 and sm4.1, both of which the 38x0 has.
so go take your fanboyism somewhere else unless you have something useful to say.


----------



## SteeMcghee (Dec 3, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> you're wrong on all points there.
> hd3k crossfire DOES work
> the overclock limit is easily fixed
> i'm running xp, so it does work
> ...



Seconded, well said


----------



## zOaib (Dec 3, 2007)

yes i gots vista running , but now i think about it i really did not experiment enough with the settings , also i have not flashed the new bios to my second card , so maybe that the reason ................. will try that out n see .


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 3, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> you're wrong on all points there.
> hd3k crossfire DOES work
> the overclock limit is easily fixed
> i'm running xp, so it does work
> ...



Agree completely and I have an 8800GT!  I think the 3870 is excellent Price > performance and I would not be at all surprised that after a couple more driver releases it matches the 8800GT, I only got the GT cause I am a bit of a NVidia fanboi......difference is I dont shout uninformed fanboism crap around :shadedshu   But.....can you name a game that uses DX10.1?


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 3, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> Agree completely and I have an 8800GT!  I think the 3870 is excellent Price > performance and I would not be at all surprised that after a couple more driver releases it matches the 8800GT, I only got the GT cause I am a bit of a NVidia fanboi......difference is I dont shout uninformed fanboism crap around :shadedshu   But.....can you name a game that uses DX10.1?



not yet, but that's the same thing everyone said when the original dx10.0 cards came out.


----------



## trog100 (Dec 3, 2007)

> difference is I dont shout uninformed fanboism crap around  But.....can you name a game that uses DX10.1?



nope and by the time he can we will all need new (more powerfull) grafix cards to play the bloody thing..

trog


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 3, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> not yet, but that's the same thing everyone said when the original dx10.0 cards came out.



Very true, but I bought mine cause it was faster in DX9 too


----------



## snarfbot (Dec 3, 2007)

> Anyway, if you guys have got any HD3850's and Crysis' demo for example, could you run a benchmark @ 1280*1024 and medium/high detail, with 2X AA enabled and without? It'd be nice to know what kind of performance the 3850 would get in those settings...



alright i didnt do any hard benchmarks but ill tell you how it runs for me, if you have everything at medium it runs great. 30+ all the way, this is overclocked mind you, 770 core, 1000 mem, on a e2140 oc'ed to 2.8 with 2 gigs of ram.

most of the settings have a negligible impact on framerate, the ones that do though, and are not suprisingly the ones that make the game look awesome are the postprocessing setting and the shader level setting.

the post processing includes the motion blur and the godrays, which look phenominal by the way, and the edge antialiasing, which makes the leaves blend in with the sky. very high really hurts performance.

the shader level setting is probably most important, it enables normal maps at the high setting and parallel occlusion maps at very high. these really make a bigger difference to the image quality particularly in a well lit area, than higher texture settings. imo anyway. the performance hit here, is also pretty significant,

everyone freaks out about the water, it looks nice but its not really worth the performance hit to me.

with those 2 settings maxed and everything else on medium except for textures and shadows the game looks great but it runs at 15-25 fps or around there. its playable but youll miss alot and its frustrating.

but if you manually edit the config files its easy to get to a setting that is very playable and good looking.

if i could do it all over though, i wouldve waited till the 3870's were back in stock. incidentally newegg has a 512mb gecube 3850 in stock, for $209.

thats probably your best bet, especially if you want aa. aa totally destroys the framerate, even 2x. new drivers might help but its probably just because it only has 256 mb of framebuffer. and its constantly swapping data back and forth to main memory.


----------



## KainXS (Dec 3, 2007)

what are you guys talking about, the 3850 has already been overclocked over the 3870's stock speeds over at xtremesystems, the Gpus are the same, the only difference is that the 3850's has less voltage to its Gpu and ddr3, at the same speeds the 3850 beats the 3870 because the memory is tighter timings as proved on many other cards


----------



## mitsirfishi (Dec 4, 2007)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-053-TR

here is the new hr-03 might have to get one of these badgers  is there any version of ati tool which lets you adjust the fan speed on the hd3870's its annoying using rivatuner just use one setting for your fan and off you go max oc ive had with that bios fix is 885/1358 so far  need a vmod and some better cooling for sure.


----------



## trog100 (Dec 4, 2007)

KainXS said:


> what are you guys talking about, the 3850 has already been overclocked over the 3870's stock speeds over at xtremesystems, the Gpus are the same, the only difference is that the 3850's has less voltage to its Gpu and ddr3, at the same speeds the 3850 beats the 3870 because the memory is tighter timings as proved on many other cards



makes sense same chip at difference voltages..

trog


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## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 4, 2007)

I fancy this--->http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-007-TI&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787 cooler


----------



## trog100 (Dec 4, 2007)

mitsirfishi said:


> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-053-TR
> 
> here is the new hr-03 might have to get one of these badgers  is there any version of ati tool which lets you adjust the fan speed on the hd3870's its annoying using rivatuner just use one setting for your fan and off you go max oc ive had with that bios fix is 885/1358 so far  need a vmod and some better cooling for sure.



as yet nope.. but a faster auto fan is something we all want.. or at least one that starts working before the chip gets to 90 C..

trog


----------



## zOaib (Dec 4, 2007)

problem.

i was uninstalling hotfix and then installed the 7.11 cat and i keep getting this , no matter how many times i instal and then reinstall drivers , any help !!!


----------



## trog100 (Dec 4, 2007)

there is some kind of driver conflict going on.. the 7.11s are not installing properly..

u can try the ati cleaner thing.. u can try going into the control panel.. device manager.. right click on VGA and manually remove the old driver.. 

u can try manually updating the driver from the device manager.. look for big yellow question marks in the control panel.. system folder..

trog


----------



## Dr. Spankenstein (Dec 4, 2007)

zOaib said:


> problem.
> 
> i was uninstalling hotfix and then installed the 7.11 cat and i keep getting this , no matter how many times i instal and then reinstall drivers , any help !!!



*off topic*

I recognize the crater obscured by that window.

Aristarchus, FTW!

I'm a very amateur astronomer just trying to flex me brain!

/off topic


----------



## zOaib (Dec 4, 2007)

Dr. Spankenstein said:


> *off topic*
> 
> I recognize the crater obscured by that window.
> 
> ...



u r right , i use those nasa pic of the day to change me desktop almost everyday ............... pretty kool stuff .

trog , i finally used driver cleaner pro from driverheaven that was the only thing that fixed this prob for me .......... i used every method to find and remove ati files even went into the registry manually ................. but anywho its working now , thx =)


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 4, 2007)

So hows everyone getting on with these HD 3870's then (overclocking I mean)


----------



## TonyStark (Dec 4, 2007)

HookeyStreet said:


> So hows everyone getting on with these HD 3870's then (overclocking I mean)



Needs voltage. 3DMark06 stable @ 860/2700 now. Game stability 830/2400.


----------



## Vipercubic (Dec 5, 2007)

Pretty good with stock cooler i think


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

ok !  question ?

how is everyone controlling fan speeds in CF , cause riva tuner is only ramping up fan speeds on one card , its select menu only shows one card , which is after installing CCC before CCC it was showing both cards , but then i cant run CF without CCC , so your inputs are much appreciated.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

oh yeah , also TPU gpuz shows crossfire disabled , is that a bug in it , because CCC has it crossfire enabled =)


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 5, 2007)

Wheres all the info on the BIOS unlock to enable higher overclocking (I think I got that right?)


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

Vipercubic said:


> Pretty good with stock cooler i think



not bad at all , i scored 15k + with both cards on stock


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 5, 2007)

zOaib said:


> not bad at all , i scored 15k + with both cards on stock



Nice....how come you run your CPU so low m8?  Your score would be a lot higher if it was running at 3.2-3.4GHz


----------



## mk_ln (Dec 5, 2007)

i was considering getting these cards as I have a xfire mobo, but would there really be much of an increase, if any, vs my current setup? i have heard problems w/ SLi and Vista, but i haven't heard much of anything on xfire in vista.

thanks in advance for any input.


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 5, 2007)

mk_ln said:


> i was considering getting these cards as I have a xfire mobo, but would there really be much of an increase, if any, vs my current setup? i have heard problems w/ SLi and Vista, but i haven't heard much of anything on xfire in vista.
> 
> thanks in advance for any input.



If your motherboard is X-Fire enabled, go for it.  2x HD 3870's will eat a single 8800GTS (rev 1) for breakfast 

PS: love the avatar


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

mk_ln said:


> i was considering getting these cards as I have a xfire mobo, but would there really be much of an increase, if any, vs my current setup? i have heard problems w/ SLi and Vista, but i haven't heard much of anything on xfire in vista.
> 
> thanks in advance for any input.



the gts u have currently is outclassed by the 3870 and also crossfire scales better than sli ..... and the reason i went with the CF setup myself


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

hookey i am a lazy Oc'er when it comes to cpus , in a week ull see it go to 2.7 and then after that 2.8 ............ i do it slow and steady , also the speed is awesome as it is =)


----------



## trog100 (Dec 5, 2007)

wanna buy another 3870 card my second one is on ebay.. make of that what u will... he he he

trog


----------



## KainXS (Dec 5, 2007)

right now we are working on volt mods for these cards over at xtremesystems, so far I have my card stable @810 on the core and 2125 on the memory

keep in mind that this is a 3850, with the fan set at 60% the temps of this card, even when overclocked do not go over 60C on full load and easily defeats the 8800GTS 320 

so for 175 I have a card that was default 669/1900 and it overclocked to 810/2250 without a volt mod

Also, the 3850 and 3870 bios is extremely similar to the 2900PRO/XT bios's, with a hex editor you can increase the voltages and UVD to allow for even greater overclocks


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

trog100 said:


> wanna buy another 3870 card my second one is on ebay.. make of that what u will... he he he
> 
> trog



did u try CF with them or just didnt wanna


----------



## Danny914 (Dec 5, 2007)

*Drivers For 3850*

Are there better Drivers for a 3850 than CCC 7.11???


----------



## KainXS (Dec 5, 2007)

no, the drivers are bad right now but they will get better, they will

I wish I had a better board though, my 4coreDual will only let me use the card at 4x sp for me its not the drivers its my terrible board and the card is overclocked beyond the 3870 stock speeds, what a waste of power


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 5, 2007)

HookeyStreet said:


> If your motherboard is X-Fire enabled, go for it.  2x HD 3870's will eat a single 8800GTS (rev 1) for breakfast
> 
> PS: love the avatar



Lol not really a comparison as most places in the UK they are around the same price (I paid £152 for my GT and £158 for my HD3870 so twice as much for 2 HD3870's for around a 30% increase in performance = BAD bang for buck


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 5, 2007)

I find it strange people are already working on voltmods for the 3870 when a decent set of drivers have not even been released for them yet, I think when Cat 7.12's come out (it seems 7.11's were very rushed) then there will be a decent performance boost in any case.


----------



## rhythmeister (Dec 5, 2007)

Got mine running last night; 175 FPS average in CSS at max everything at 1440x900  NO CCC for me tho, installs fine but won't bloomin' start and I wanna see how far this goes!  Any ideas on getting CCC to run?


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 5, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> I find it strange people are already working on voltmods for the 3870 when a decent set of drivers have not even been released for them yet, I think when Cat 7.12's come out (it seems 7.11's were very rushed) then there will be a decent performance boost in any case.



I agree m8


----------



## mitsirfishi (Dec 5, 2007)

hookey said it  but my ccc installed a ok just doesnt do anything when i try to open it ghey drivers :/


----------



## zOaib (Dec 5, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> Got mine running last night; 175 FPS average in CSS at max everything at 1440x900  NO CCC for me tho, installs fine but won't bloomin' start and I wanna see how far this goes!  Any ideas on getting CCC to run?



use driver cleaner pro , to remove all ati software then reinstall 7.11 with ccc , it will work , i had the same problem ............... with display driver working and then ccc wont even start ......... even if i tried to execute it manually ................  u have to buy driver cleaner pro , it used to be free www.drivercleaner.net


----------



## rhythmeister (Dec 5, 2007)

zOaib said:


> use driver cleaner pro , to remove all ati software then reinstall 7.11 with ccc , it will work , i had the same problem ............... with display driver working and then ccc wont even start ......... even if i tried to execute it manually ................  u have to buy driver cleaner pro , it used to be free www.drivercleaner.net



I'll give it a go, I have it installed from previous stuff I was up to gfx card wise


----------



## KainXS (Dec 5, 2007)

it still is free

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745:toast:


----------



## mortal (Dec 5, 2007)

Sorry for going by the theme, but...

Can you fit zalman vf900 on 3870? And can zalman cool it down bettter when iz oc than stock cooler?


----------



## rhythmeister (Dec 5, 2007)

No, that bloody didn't work! Tried the gfx drivers that came on the cd which merely informed me that there was no compatible hardware then uninstalled what was there from that attempt and rebooted to successfully install the 7.11s from ATI which are supposedly ok for the 3870 and I STILL can't use CCC  I WANNA KILL SOMETHING!!!


----------



## a111087 (Dec 5, 2007)

mortal said:


> Sorry for going by the theme, but...
> 
> Can you fit zalman vf900 on 3870? And can zalman cool it down bettter when iz oc than stock cooler?



it should, but I wouldn't expect big differences
but you still can push the stock fun to higher % and it will be a good difference in temp


----------



## trog100 (Dec 5, 2007)

i might have missed something but have u tried running the ccc setup.exe on its own from the unpacked ati folder on C: or the install cd..

trog


----------



## rhythmeister (Dec 5, 2007)

trog100 said:


> i might have missed something but have u tried running the ccc setup.exe on its own from the unpacked ati folder on C: or the install cd..
> 
> trog



Drivers from the install cd seemed to be for the 2900GT but they wouldn't even install thru the installer so I tried installing them thru device manager which DID let the card work but STILL o CCC! I installed 7.10 then crysis hotfix and now HAVE Overdrive thank fook


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 6, 2007)

Trog, I see you gotr the card then, U running in XFire yet?


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 6, 2007)

It seems my previous max clock of 749.25mhz/999mhz isnt completely artifact free with atitool when doing a lengthy burn in test. New clocks of 742.5mhz/999mhz have been artifact free for 1/2 hr on atitool so far.

There are a lot of ppl claiming clocks of 770mhz and above for the 3850. I dont think ppl are doing proper atittool test. For me 760mhz appears to be perfectly stable in games.

Ive also done some fan testing. The single slot 3850 cooler rapidly becomes very loud as you go above 50%. At 50% it is inaudible over an AF7 at full speed, however at 60% it becomes the loudest fan. At higher speeds you get a very loud high pitched noise.

Heres my best 3dmark06 run at 749/999 with e6300 at 3.5ghz - 10638.

The same run using 3dmark05 achieves 19127 points. Using 3dmark03 34443 points.

Performance in games is good, but i was expecting more. I may sell this and see how the 8800gt 256mb performs.


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 6, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> It seems my previous max clock of 749.25mhz/999mhz isnt completely artifact free with atitool when doing a lengthy burn in test. New clocks of 742.5mhz/999mhz have been artifact free for 1/2 hr on atitool so far.
> 
> There are a lot of ppl claiming clocks of 770mhz and above for the 3850. I dont think ppl are doing proper atittool test. For me 760mhz appears to be perfectly stable in games.
> 
> ...



I think where you are saying that you expecting a little more in games is probably down to the 256MB memory, I see you are at 16xx x 10xx resolutions, that is definatly going to be drawing more than 256MB, try running the same game on the same map with the same detail settings with FRAPS, one run at 16xx x 10xx and another at your next res down from that....14xx x 9xxx and see what the comparison is, providing you are at least using medium settings, if it's just 5fps then it's GPU power (mainly), if it's more FPS difference then it's memory also.....general rule of thumb there I know but give it a go, it will be interesting to see.


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 6, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> I think where you are saying that you expecting a little more in games is probably down to the 256MB memory, I see you are at 16xx x 10xx resolutions, that is definatly going to be drawing more than 256MB, try running the same game on the same map with the same detail settings with FRAPS, one run at 16xx x 10xx and another at your next res down from that....14xx x 9xxx and see what the comparison is, providing you are at least using medium settings, if it's just 5fps then it's GPU power (mainly), if it's more FPS difference then it's memory also.....general rule of thumb there I know but give it a go, it will be interesting to see.



I'll be sure to try that. But afaik, with no AA , 256mb should be enough for my resolution.


----------



## wiak (Dec 6, 2007)

here is my best oc and score
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4046039
this is with stock memory and stock cpu speed


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 6, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> I'll be sure to try that. But afaik, with no AA , 256mb should be enough for my resolution.



Nope, disagree, I am at work now but I have a linky at home that shows the difference between 256MB and 512MB makes at 16xx x 10xx with no AA/AF but all other settings high in FEAR, it shows that (if I remember correctly) that at peak times the game was drawing 310MB so the 52MB was coming from system RAM swopping, not a lot I agree but worth probably 3-5FPS maybe, and in some games that could be the difference between smooth gameplay and choppy gameplay.  In the same review it showed the same cards but with just 4x AA and 8 x AF and I think it was drawing about 435MB GDDR then.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 6, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> No, that bloody didn't work! Tried the gfx drivers that came on the cd which merely informed me that there was no compatible hardware then uninstalled what was there from that attempt and rebooted to successfully install the 7.11s from ATI which are supposedly ok for the 3870 and I STILL can't use CCC  I WANNA KILL SOMETHING!!!



did u use the driver cleaner from the link i provided or the link from guru3d ............. cause the one on guru is the older version which was free , the new one is what u need , and if u need help selecting filters to remove ati , just let me know i can guide u through the process


----------



## jpierce55 (Dec 6, 2007)

I tried the cleaner and still can only get ccc to show in 7.10, 7.11 ccc does not show at all. It shows in processes and that is it. When you click on its shortcut nothing happens.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 6, 2007)

jpierce55 said:


> I tried the cleaner and still can only get ccc to show in 7.10, 7.11 ccc does not show at all. It shows in processes and that is it. When you click on its shortcut nothing happens.



these are the steps i took to uninstall and then use cleaner

first uninstall using windows uninstaller , which runs the ati uninstall manager to remove everything , then reboot pc ............ then use cleaner , and only choose the following in filters

ATI
ATI CCC
ATI WDM
ATI INSTALL MANAGER 
ATI UNINSTAL UTILITY 

then click on clean and wait till it says registry cleaned 

then go to you windows folder search , and type in ati 

anythign that shows up there delete it , then again reboot pc

now u r ready to install CCC 

hope that works


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 7, 2007)

trog

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Radion-ATI-HI...goryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

"radion" :shadedshu

Also as some advice, you're not going to sell it at that price with feedback of 1. You should have built it up to at least 5 beforehand.

edit: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280178296001 haha


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## -=CrAnSwIcK=- (Dec 7, 2007)

http://forum.pcstats.com/showthread.php?t=41041

he's running XP x64...ORB thinks it's server 03 but it's not...so anyone who's saying CF doesn't work there's your answer...he broke 21k in 06...also i believe he's hit 920mhz core on both cards...so i don't know what kind of problems you guys are having...


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## trog100 (Dec 7, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> trog
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Radion-ATI-HI...goryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
> 
> ...



praps not all depends on how many come in the stores.. there is minimum bid option of £150.. already had one offer of £158..

as for feedback of five.. i want to sell it now not next month.. he he

there aint no profit there..  allowing for what i paid for it and ebay paypal charges i would just about break even.. life is never perfect.. 

and yep spelling it wrong wont help.. 

trog


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## trog100 (Dec 7, 2007)

-=CrAnSwIcK=- said:


> http://forum.pcstats.com/showthread.php?t=41041
> 
> he's running XP x64...ORB thinks it's server 03 but it's not...so anyone who's saying CF doesn't work there's your answer...he broke 21k in 06...also i believe he's hit 920mhz core on both cards...so i don't know what kind of problems you guys are having...



what u are seeing there is the power of an intel system clocked at over four gigs.. i bet the score would be astronomical even with one card..

trog


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## zOaib (Dec 7, 2007)

*I have decided to give the gigabyte core 2 duo board in this thread 
to the guy who has the suckiest core 2 duo mboard , so post here and let us know why u deserve it the guy with the best reasoning will get it free from me , shipping is free in usa only.​*


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## -=CrAnSwIcK=- (Dec 7, 2007)

yes trog, i know, but my main point is that HD38xx does work in crossfire, it does scale pretty good, and with sufficient cooling 900mhz IS attainable...i mean that guy had a GTX getting 15,000....and we all know a single 3870 can't do that, and now for about the same price as a used GTX he's hit 21k with two...

it's just people where making statements opposite to the point i'm making...perhaps the don't own HD38xx's...and are going on biased information they've gotten elsewhere??

it just feels like there's some flaming going on, for people i doubt even own the cards, in a thread i thought was for hd 38xx series owners to share experiences...

BTW...i bought an HD3850 today, it's being express shipped 1-2 days so i'll be back...


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## ghost101 (Dec 7, 2007)

I think xolair wins with the worst motherboard. He cant overclock his c2d very much and cant even run his hd 3850 with an x16 slot so ends up with crippled performance.


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## KainXS (Dec 7, 2007)

zOaib

what can I say, I really, really need that motherboard very badly, right now I have a Radeon 3850 HD which is overlclocked to 850/2200 and volt modded and I am trying to get it to its maximum potential mainly so that I can help everyone who has this same card, The problem is that I have the WORST PCIE/CORE motherboard that exists. Yes, as you may have guessed this is the dreaded AsRock 4CoreDual VSTA which is incompatible with many new PCIE cards and only runs @ PCIE 4x which basically kills all of my performance and it really kills it off and then theres the fact that when I put a PCIE card in the board I have something pushing on the card like a cooler on top of it, just pushing on the metal where the the ends meet the metal of the case because this board has some kind of short in it somewhere. I have a E2140 right now@ 2.1Ghz with DDR2 667 ram, if I try to overclock anything above that the board will not boot and right now its unstable. I know it wasn't a good idea to buy this board but I had a Geforce 7950GT AGP that was given to me and wanted to get PCIE later so I bought this, and what a terrible, terrible idea it was. This board will not let pretty much ANY core2duo cpu overclock at all, and as you know the e21XX series all overclock above 3ghz, and I'm working with a antec 650 watt NeoPower here with my Gskill 667 ram and I keep hoping that AsRock will update their bios, I mean even if the motherboard only runs @ PCIE4x, as long as I can get it to work correctly with a bios update, I should be good right. Its been 4 months nearly since the last one so I am guessing they abandoned the board, so like now what. I only get a 3d mark score of like 5870 and a aquamark 3 score of only an amazing 68212 on a 3850, my old 7950's score was higher on this stupid board so, well, you know what I mean.:shadedshu

This feels like a confession to me. I wanted to get a 3870 or 8800GT but this board would ruin the performance massively. My sister actually sent me her E6750 since she went to quad and I put in in this peice of crap and it dosen't work because it isn't compatible, it just drives me crazy.

I guess thats the reason many people don't like AsRock and their 4coredual VSTA's.


----------



## -=CrAnSwIcK=- (Dec 7, 2007)

kainxs has my vote, what a pitiful situation...sorry bro, hope you get the board...i just bought an HD3850 today, but my s939 motherboard supports x16 PCI-e 1.0...hopefully i don't run into any bandwidth limits, i will tinker with the slot frequencies and let you guys know


----------



## KainXS (Dec 7, 2007)

the worst thing is that I keep trying to push the card and push the card further but it dosen't do anything at all to increase my performance

but you know your really screwed when you talk to the support for the makers of a motherboard and they don't do anything but say that your cpu and your 3850 aren't supported and blame it on the chipset and don't even try to help you, that is annoying my friend


----------



## mrhuggles (Dec 7, 2007)

wow that board is pretty, i have an ASRock 4coredual-SATA2, it sucks horribly, but when i get a new board im donateing it to someone that needs it 

does it have a problem with agp cards support? mine ran the x1950pro well, doesnt run my new pci express card well tho, gets weird little dots in programs in 2d
oh, and i have an e2140, it needs overclocking way worse than E6750  but really, yeah our board is horrible i cant wait to get rid of it.


----------



## KainXS (Dec 7, 2007)

I can't even use the E6750 in these stupid asrock boards, they aren't compatible.so its sitting in a box in my closet and its not a pitiful situation, its just a little complicated

i have a e2140, I'm using it until I can use my E6750 sometime in the future







isn't it funny how cpu-z says max supported is 16x for PCI-E, I wish


----------



## buggy (Dec 7, 2007)

I don't have such a bad experience with Asrock 4Core VSTA board. I have E4400 2000mhz@2660 with 2GB DDRII rock stable. I have latest BIOS 2.10 and latest VIA Hyperion chipset driver.
Recently I upgraded from borrowed ATI  PCI-e 1950pro to ATI HD3870.
I just disabled "PC-E downstream pipes" or something in BIOS and everything is fine.
3d mark 06 went from 4900 (1950pro) to 9800 (3870) points with stock settings and 7.11 drivers.
I am pleased with this cheap board


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 7, 2007)

zOaib said:


> *I have decided to give the gigabyte core 2 duo board in this thread
> to the guy who has the suckiest core 2 duo mboard , so post here and let us know why u deserve it the guy with the best reasoning will get it free from me , shipping is free in usa only.​*



I think I have the suckiest mobo lol


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 7, 2007)

my vote is for cold storm to get the board.
he's a great guy who has been talking about building himself a decent system with a c2d for a while now, and now that he gets his christmas bonus and can afford to build a rig, hard times have hit in his family and he has to spend most of his money on something else.
i won't go in to any more detail, as it's really not my place to, but he could really use that board.


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 7, 2007)

Right guys.  Ive got my HD3870 CrossFire setup up and running and Ive noticed something: 

"my HD2900XT CrossFire setup scored better in 3DMark06!"

Now Im thinking this is due to bad drivers atm, but these are my scores so far:

HD2900XT X-Fire setup = 16462 (CPU @ 3.33GHz)

HD3870 X-Fire setup = 16204 (CPU @ 3.4GHz)

BTW, the CPU's being at slightly different speeds make very little difference (if any tbh)

So do we all agree that the current HD3870 drivers are a bit poor and these cards are only going to get better 

PS: my games seem to run a bit smoother now (Crysis runs sweet, apart from X-Fire still not working on it lol)



Random Murderer said:


> my vote is for cold storm to get the board.
> he's a great guy who has been talking about building himself a decent system with a c2d for a while now, and now that he gets his christmas bonus and can afford to build a rig, hard times have hit in his family and he has to spend most of his money on something else.
> i won't go in to any more detail, as it's really not my place to, but he could really use that board.




I 2nd that vote   It sounds like the mobo would be going to a good cause


----------



## i_dog_69 (Dec 7, 2007)

Guys, i dont know if this is the place, but im looking for a good waterblock that fits the 3870/3850. i also wanted to know what the main differences are between the cards as far as performance. and finally, if it it even worth to buy these and not a 8800GT, thanks!


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 7, 2007)

i_dog_69 said:


> Guys, i dont know if this is the place, but im looking for a good waterblock that fits the 3870/3850. i also wanted to know what the main differences are between the cards as far as performance. and finally, if it it even worth to buy these and not a 8800GT, thanks!



It depends on budget really m8.  If you have the cash, go for the 8800GT.  But if you want a good value for money card, go cant go far wrong by getting the 3850 or 3870.

The 3870 is worth the extra cash over the 3850 (but that doesnt mean the 3850 is bad)

EDIT: Ive just seen your specs.  Youve got an SLi motherboard, so I would go for the 8800GT.  But tbh, the 9000 series is getting closer, so why not stick with your current GTS until then?


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 7, 2007)

HookeyStreet said:


> Right guys.  Ive got my HD3870 CrossFire setup up and running and Ive noticed something:
> 
> "my HD2900XT CrossFire setup scored better in 3DMark06!"
> 
> ...



I think your right m8, it's in the drivers, I expect things to improve a fair bit with Cat 7.12......you wanna hope they do because there are a couple of 8800GT single card scores faster than that in 3D Mark 2006!!!


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 7, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> I think your right m8, it's in the drivers, I expect things to improve a fair bit with Cat 7.12......you wanna hope they do because there are a couple of 8800GT single card scores faster than that in 3D Mark 2006!!!




Really?  I bet thats with an huge overclock on the CPU 

EDIT: as I suspected, its giorgos th.'s system with his CPU @ 4GHz


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 7, 2007)

HookeyStreet said:


> Really?  I bet thats with an huge overclock on the CPU
> 
> EDIT: as I suspected, its giorgos th.'s system with his CPU @ 4GHz



Yeah its all in the Quad, Trt has a 16300 odd score also but they are both running Quads in excess of 4Gig, at the same clocks, the differences in 2006 dual to quad core work out at about 1600 points!  Now 2005 is a different story, it's not multithredded so I can kill them in that, I have my CPU upto 4.35Gig now with this new motherboard  and my superPI time is almost down to 11 seconds flat.


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 7, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> Yeah its all in the Quad, Trt has a 16300 odd score also but they are both running Quads in excess of 4Gig, at the same clocks, the differences in 2006 dual to quad core work out at about 1600 points!  Now 2005 is a different story, it's not multithredded so I can kill them in that, I have my CPU upto 4.35Gig now with this new motherboard  and my superPI time is almost down to 11 seconds flat.



Nice.  I would like to upgrade to that mobo (just for the 2x 16 speed PCI-E lanes)   and by the sounds of it, its a good overclocking mobo aswell


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## zOaib (Dec 7, 2007)

please post who else wants this mobo to go to COLD STORM ..................... and if there is another person in the run against him or not , thank you for the suggestion. i think instead of a raffle the mobo shud go to the most deserving person here , thanks again for all the input...

EDIT

ok these ppl are on my list 

KainXS
Cold Storm

if there is any other apart form these folks please post , by end of today so we can have a poll and get this thing shipped ASAP to the deserving person , thx


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 7, 2007)

zOaib said:


> please post who else wants this mobo to go to COLD STORM ..................... and if there is another person in the run against him or not , thank you for the suggestion. i think instead of a raffle the mobo shud go to the most deserving person here , thanks again for all the input...
> 
> EDIT
> 
> ...



thanks, zOaib. if he gets this board, he can put the few bucks he was gonna spend on a board towards a better processor.


----------



## KainXS (Dec 7, 2007)

Has anyone else volt modded their 3850, It has a fixed clock in its bios that won't let you overclock above 860 on its core, if anyone has managed to get over 860 could you please tell me.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 7, 2007)

KainXS said:


> Has anyone else volt modded their 3850, It has a fixed clock in its bios that won't let you overclock above 860 on its core, if anyone has managed to get over 860 could you please tell me.



we're still waiting on a bios fix for the 3850's, the 3870's have already received them. until then, there's no getting past 860, sorry.


----------



## KainXS (Dec 7, 2007)

I'm think I'm gonna try to hex edit the bios, I really want to get this card to go VROOM, I mean, I know it can do more man.


----------



## desadarius2002 (Dec 7, 2007)

i agree with random murderer. the board needs to go to some one that deserves it. i was hoping to have a shot at it, but mine works ok. not the greatest mind u, but ok. i second cold storm.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 7, 2007)

*ok i guess , if a moderator can start a poll b/w KainXS and Cold storm , and we cna let the poll go over the weekend till sunday nigHT EST and ill ship this mobo out by monday to the deserving person , i will appreciate this very much , and thank you to everyone who consider this to be the best way to pass this mobo out , thank you again .*


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 7, 2007)

Thinks mine is crap enuff to get the board


----------



## KainXS (Dec 7, 2007)

good one


----------



## rhythmeister (Dec 7, 2007)

Err, am I the only person who can't run EITHER 3D Mark 05 or 06?


----------



## rhythmeister (Dec 7, 2007)

Do I win the board cos I don't even HAVE a C2D based system?!


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## HookeyStreet (Dec 7, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> Err, am I the only person who can't run EITHER 3D Mark 05 or 06?



have you installed the latest 3DMark06 hotfix ?

http://www.futuremark.com/download/hotfix_oct07/


----------



## Vegnagun666 (Dec 7, 2007)

I am going to have to give my vote to kain, I met him at last cears comicon and he's a good guy, he always helps me out with everything, and I know he should not because he has his own family problems, about 5 weeks ago he called me for money because his mother is very sick and lost her job because of it, and I couln't help him but at that time I didn't know that he already sold his car and some belongings. He is a great person and I know he will be mad at me but he deserves something.

I wish there were 2 boards being given out because I would really like to vote for cold storm but I can't, I'm sorry RM.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 7, 2007)

Vegnagun666 said:


> I am going to have to give my vote to kain, I met him at last cears comicon and he's a good guy, he always helps me out with everything, and I know he should not because he has his own family problems, about 5 weeks ago he called me for money because his mother has mestastic breast cancer and lost her job because of it, and I couln't help him but at that time I didn't know that he already sold his car and some belongings. He is a great person and I know he will be mad at me but he deserves something.
> 
> I wish there were 2 boards being given out because I would really like to vote for cold storm but I can't, I'm sorry RM.



that's cool, both guys deserve it and we're just trying to help them out. i think now we should pretty much just leave it up to the poll.


----------



## jpierce55 (Dec 7, 2007)

zOaib said:


> these are the steps i took to uninstall and then use cleaner
> 
> first uninstall using windows uninstaller , which runs the ati uninstall manager to remove everything , then reboot pc ............ then use cleaner , and only choose the following in filters
> 
> ...



No, that does not work I guess I will stick with 7.10 until ATI makes better drivers.


----------



## Tatty_One (Dec 7, 2007)

My vote goes to Cold Storm.....only because he is a more established member and at the end of the day anyone could join or have recently joined just to have a chance at the board, not suggesting this is the case here for one minute....Kain has been around for a while but I had to think of some reason to vote for one and not the other!


----------



## KainXS (Dec 8, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> My vote goes to Cold Storm.....only because he is a more established member and at the end of the day anyone could join or have recently joined just to have a chance at the board, not suggesting this is the case here for one minute....Kain has been around for a while but I had to think of some reason to vote for one and not the other!



I don't blame you, I woulpp probably do the same thing in your position, veg could you edit your post, i don't want people knowing that

You know what, like 5 weeks ago when my mom lost her job and my family found out she had cancer, it was pretty bad for me, I wished that people would help me and would give me just well anything, You guys might think I'm crazy  or stupid but I want to give my 2 of my votes to cold storm because I know that if he is in a bad situation like I was he would be very happy for just anything. I actually can't help it really, I don't know the guy but still this is how I am. My mothers getting a little better and things are slowly but surely stabalizing and thats all I could really ask for. I'm sorry to cranswick and veg, but I just can't help it man, when I hear about people going through bad times, I just can't help but try to help them somehow.


----------



## trog100 (Dec 8, 2007)

nicely said kain.. and good luck with the future..

i suggest the prize be raffled just like what was said in the first place..  if i win it can be raffled again cos i dont want it..

if the winner wants to donate it to a wortty cause well thats up to him.. but it would be better done privately..

just my thoughts.. 

trog


----------



## mrhuggles (Dec 8, 2007)

i guess i dont need it the most, my board sucks as much as anyones but i do already have a  really nice videocard, too bad its acting all weird cuz of this stupid motherboard  anyone else have weird issues with the 4coredual-* and pci express videocards?


----------



## KainXS (Dec 8, 2007)

yeah we all have problems with that board mr huggles


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 8, 2007)

mrhuggles said:


> i guess i dont need it the most, my board sucks as much as anyones but i do already have a  really nice videocard, too bad its acting all weird cuz of this stupid motherboard  anyone else have weird issues with the 4coredual-* and pci express videocards?



yea, the bandwidth is crap on them because the chipsets don't natively support pci-e, there's an extra controller chip for that.


----------



## Vegnagun666 (Dec 8, 2007)

KainXS said:


> I don't blame you, I woulpp probably do the same thing in your position, veg could you edit your post, i don't want people knowing that
> 
> You know what, like 5 weeks ago when my mom lost her job and my family found out she had cancer, it was pretty bad for me, I wished that people would help me and would give me just well anything, You guys might think I'm crazy  or stupid but I want to give my 2 of my votes to cold storm because I know that if he is in a bad situation like I was he would be very happy for just anything. I actually can't help it really, I don't know the guy but still this is how I am. My mothers getting a little better and things are slowly but surely stabalizing and thats all I could really ask for. I'm sorry to cranswick and veg, but I just can't help it man, when I hear about people going through bad times, I just can't help but try to help them somehow.



If thats what you want then do it, but I really don't understand whats going on because this motherboard was supposed to be given to the person with the crappiest core duo motherboard but cold storm has an amd system so I really don't know what is going on right now.


----------



## KainXS (Dec 8, 2007)

I did it because I know that sometimes people need something so they can expect that things will get better for them when they are having hard times. I don't think its about having a core motherboard but giving it to the person that "needs" it.


----------



## mrhuggles (Dec 8, 2007)

Vegnagun666 never got back to me about that videocard btw, he need pci express not agp?


----------



## zOaib (Dec 8, 2007)

okay i will draw out a name tonight , just like the original plan , whoever gets it gets it , and then its upto them if they want it or donate it to someone else ................ i think that will eb fair to everyone ..................... thx


----------



## mrhuggles (Dec 8, 2007)

am i in on that too?


----------



## zOaib (Dec 8, 2007)

YES =p


----------



## mrhuggles (Dec 8, 2007)

yay, if i win im going to donate my board to cherity, and prolly other stuff too, hmm like i could throw in my old videocard or something, actually, the ASRock board had alot less problems with  a VGA videocard. my old board i mean.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 8, 2007)

ok expect a winner in about 4 hours from now .............. it will be evening and ill be having some nice starbucks christmas blend coffee , watching bleach (anime) and will pick out a name from my beanie and announce the winner =)


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 8, 2007)

zOaib said:


> ok expect a winner in about 4 hours from now .............. it will be evening and ill be having some nice starbucks christmas blend coffee , watching bleach (anime) and will pick out a name from my beanie and announce the winner =)



sounds like fun, i think i'll do the same!(except for drawing a name, lol)


----------



## KainXS (Dec 8, 2007)

zOaib said:


> ok expect a winner in about 4 hours from now .............. it will be evening and ill be having some nice starbucks christmas blend coffee , watching bleach (anime) and will pick out a name from my beanie and announce the winner =)



what episode number on you on, I saw 151 yesterday


----------



## mrhuggles (Dec 8, 2007)

bleach.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 8, 2007)

okay bleach 151 is done .............. i am pretty up to date with bleach ............. its just so frustrating everytime i wanna see ishygo kick those espada's rear end , its says "to be continued" ....lol


anywho ........... the winner is ( drums roll !!! )

*HOOKEYSTREET !!!!!* 

congrats mate .................. now its up to u if you want it or give it to someone , since u r in england u will have to chip in on the shipping ! anywho pm me or just post here what are your intentions , i went with a complete draw off names posted in this thread and voila drawed your name out da beanie !!!!


----------



## KainXS (Dec 8, 2007)

congrats hookey


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 9, 2007)

Incomplete benchmarks i decided to do but got bored. I'll do a complete comparison with 7.12 drivers when they come out. These benchmarks are without the hotfix which only fixes flashing benchmarks but doesnt affect performance.

All in Vista with a an e6300@3.08ghz i think.







The CPU tests have higher variation with the physics being unique in each one, so i averaged 4 instead of 2. Also remember theres no such thing as very high in dx9 (without hacks), so the game just defaults to normal high settings.


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 9, 2007)

zOaib said:


> okay bleach 151 is done .............. i am pretty up to date with bleach ............. its just so frustrating everytime i wanna see ishygo kick those espada's rear end , its says "to be continued" ....lol
> 
> 
> anywho ........... the winner is ( drums roll !!! )
> ...



WTF!!!

Have I seriously won?!?!? 

If I have...WOW!! That mobo could be the basis for my daughters system....I didnt think I would be able to afford even thinking about building it until next year!

Thank you very much


----------



## KainXS (Dec 9, 2007)

hookey, when you get the money, I would reccomend this ram to go with that board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098&Tpk=G.SKILL+F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ

its only 50 bucks for 2gb of ddr2 800, thats a good deal

does your daughter like to game or is she just a little girl

if you could finish it by Christmas it would make a nice present for her


----------



## ness (Dec 12, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> trog
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Radion-ATI-HI...goryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
> 
> ...




You guys in the UK are paying $320 US dollars for an HD 3870,  Wowsers.  8800gt 512 are $249 here, and there's been some 3870 deals for about $220. I notice the same thing in Australia -  there a guys an ebay selling products way over retail to other countries.  I can understand the weak dollar advantage, but I don't get the massive overcharging at your current retail stores.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 12, 2007)

Yep,we get royally rogered in the uk.Its not fair

Anyway,i'm getting a 3850 next week,and i wonderered if the best bet is a 256mb or 512mb.I game at 1440x900?


----------



## mikek75 (Dec 12, 2007)

I've just taken the plunge and pre-ordered an HD3870 from komplett, they are expecting stock (39 when I ordered) on the 18th December, so with a bit of luck I'll get it for Christmas..... Actually, quite a lot of luck since its coming by Parcelforce, LOL.

(Drumroll) the price was.....£149 for the Sapphire version (full retail pack)! Probably paid too much, but WTF.....


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 12, 2007)

tigger69 said:


> Yep,we get royally rogered in the uk.Its not fair
> 
> Anyway,i'm getting a 3850 next week,and i wonderered if the best bet is a 256mb or 512mb.I game at 1440x900?



512mb


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 12, 2007)

@ghost101,how is the 256mb version on your monitor? do you game with it at your monitors native rez?


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## mikek75 (Dec 12, 2007)

@tigger69, is your monitor really 5000:1 DFC as shown in your specs? Reason I ask is cos I have the L194WT (not WS) and mines got a 2000:1 contrast ratio, didn't think  5000:1 was available.


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 12, 2007)

tigger69 said:


> @ghost101,how is the 256mb version on your monitor? do you game with it at your monitors native rez?



Yeh, i try to play at 1680*1050 since i hate the loss of sharpness at anything less. As for performance, lets just say it struggles if you crank the settings up.

Games like gears of war, world in conflict and crysis really need more than 256mb. Otherwise you have to be content with medium graphics and stick to a lower resolution. I suppose since you want a 1440*900 res, it shouldnt be too bad. The stuttering that occurs because of the lack of vram drives me nuts sometimes.

And top the poster above, when monitors claim they have 1000:1 contrast ratios and above, they talk crap. Mines supposed to have a 3000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, in reality its only 700:1 if you believe reviews.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 12, 2007)

It is 5000:1 indeed.i found a news post somewere which confirmed it.It said they were the firs 5000:1 dfc in the uk.If you search on tpu you mite find the post i made.(i'll see if i can find it tho')

EDIT-here it is--->http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=44971&highlight=5000:1+monitor

What differance does 5000:1 actually make?


----------



## mikek75 (Dec 12, 2007)

Something weird going on, I just had a look on LG's site and compared the two models, and both say 5000:1 DFC, but on the front of mine it says 2000:1....

As for what difference it makes, I have absolutely no idea, LOL. Bigger number, bigger e penis I suppose!


----------



## mikek75 (Dec 12, 2007)

Well, my "black" looks pretty dark to me, and the picture pisses all over the CRT I just got rid of. I'll have a look at that Xbitlabs roundup, cheers!


----------



## Chocobollz (Dec 13, 2007)

My ViewSonic P76f+B blew all my friend's LCDs in quality wise so CRT rocks!  And that's only for US$ 110, it could do 1600x1200@85Hz without loss of sharpness too. I love my CRT, no problem with gaming or picture quality except the fact that I'm still using X600 Pro .


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 13, 2007)

KainXS said:


> hookey, when you get the money, I would reccomend this ram to go with that board
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098&Tpk=G.SKILL+F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
> 
> ...



thanks for the info m8, but shes only 9


----------



## Xaser04 (Dec 13, 2007)

mikek75 said:


> I've just taken the plunge and pre-ordered an HD3870 from komplett, they are expecting stock (39 when I ordered) on the 18th December, so with a bit of luck I'll get it for Christmas..... Actually, quite a lot of luck since its coming by Parcelforce, LOL.
> 
> (Drumroll) the price was.....£149 for the Sapphire version (full retail pack)! Probably paid too much, but WTF.....



Yes you did. Its only £139.98 on dabs. (albeit out of stock)

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4SRZ&SearchType=1&SearchTerms="hd+3870"&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0


----------



## mikek75 (Dec 13, 2007)

Ah well, sod it, its only money, LOL. If it gets here before Xmas I'll be a happy bunny. That Dabs site doesn't say its the full retail pack either, which would make quite a difference as I should get PowerDVD, DVD suite, 3DMark06 (full) and Steam's Black Box.


----------



## trog100 (Dec 13, 2007)

"yes you did. Its only £139.98 on dabs. (albeit out of stock)"

hmmm.. not exactly a valid price if they dont have any is it.. he he he

i put my second one up on ebay last might for £150 buy it now.. it has sold and is off in the post.. one guy will get his by christmas.. 

beware the dude who claims to have a bunch for 140 quid.. he is just filling his bank account up with a promise to send u one when he can.. he he he

his small print get out.. he is at the mercy of his suppliers.. con artist..

trog


----------



## wiak (Dec 14, 2007)

dudes, i just successfully install Zalman VF900-Cu on my 3870 512MB, works fine so far its 





with full fan speed lol, and stock thermal paste (i just remove some of the old and didnt add the new  ) will be using Akasa tim clean and applying Arctic Cooling MX-2 when i get them in the mail from germany


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 14, 2007)

wiak said:


> dudes, i just successfully install Zalman VF900-Cu on my 3870 512MB, works fine so far its
> 
> 
> 
> ...



yea, i have a zalman vf900 on mine, too. idles at 34°C and full load is 50°C. that's with ac mx-2.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 14, 2007)

wiak said:


> dudes, i just successfully install Zalman VF900-Cu on my 3870 512MB, works fine so far its
> 
> 
> 
> ...



What software is that you are using for those temps, thx.


----------



## wiak (Dec 14, 2007)

zOaib said:


> What software is that you are using for those temps, thx.


http://www.lavalys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2819&pid=15532&st=0&#entry15532


----------



## trog100 (Dec 14, 2007)

how does it compare with the rivatuner read out..??

trog


----------



## wiak (Dec 14, 2007)

trog100 said:


> how does it compare with the rivatuner read out..??
> 
> trog


dont ask me where to find any temp readings in rivatuner 
but it is correct as in the same as ati overdrive temp


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 14, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> Arent you supposed to keep the metal ramsink?



that's what i did. sneekypeet and i have both noticed that the stock ramsink plate is more than adequate once you get some air flowing over it.


----------



## Blacklash (Dec 15, 2007)

If you're interested in what HD 3850 256Mb cards can do in Crossfire in "Crysis" try my post here:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?p=1335274023#post1335274023

Mine can do 730|999 from Overdrive. I've tried overclocking with Rivatuner and one card will do 760 fine. It seems 3850s are voltage limited. Don't expect much more than 770.

This fellow was able to drive one up to 972 with a BIOS flash and a vmod.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2615229&postcount=454

I hope ATiTool works under Vista x64 with HD 3850s soon. I can run the slider up and when I hit apply it just resets.

Two of these @ 730|999 run "Oblivion" @ 1680x with 4xAA|8xAF and HDR almost exactly like my GTX @ 661|2040. The Crossfired HD 3850s actually have an edge in heavy grass. Usually on the order of 6-8FPS.


----------



## wiak (Dec 15, 2007)

Blacklash said:


> If you're interested in what HD 3850 256Mb cards can do in Crossfire in "Crysis" try my post here:
> 
> http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?p=1335274023#post1335274023
> 
> ...



atitool is still beta, it crashes the gpu driver under 780mhz core, the artifact scanner crashes driver on  my system to

rivatuner is more stable, atleast i get get it upto 945mhz on core, 13xx on mem with it, but still its not 3dmark stable go figure


----------



## trog100 (Dec 15, 2007)

my two 3870 cards on their own had to be lowered right down to 830-ish on the core to be really gaming stable.. cod 4.. crysis.. call of warez.. he he

so take all the crap u read with a large pinch of salt..

the ati auto tune thing banged the pair of em right up to max and said hunkey dory.. total bullshit thow..

trog

ps.. crossfire is a waste of space in crysis also.. no gains at all..


----------



## zOaib (Dec 15, 2007)

trog100 said:


> my two 3870 cards on their own had to be lowered right down to 830-ish on the core to be really gaming stable.. cod 4.. crysis.. call of warez.. he he
> 
> so take all the crap u read with a large pinch of salt..
> 
> ...



trog u need to check this thread out  (KOREANS UNLOCK ATI HD 3870 CF POWER IN CRYSIS)

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=47015


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 15, 2007)

trog100 said:


> ps.. crossfire is a waste of space in crysis also.. no gains at all..



Thats because we are all waiting on a patch from EA/Crytek


----------



## wiak (Dec 15, 2007)

am running at 870/1305 stable, crysis runs fine, 3dmark run runs fine, this is with new zalman VF900 cooler
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4189798
^^


----------



## trog100 (Dec 15, 2007)

wiak said:


> am running at 870/1305 stable, crysis runs fine, 3dmark run runs fine, this is with new zalman VF900 cooler
> http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4189798
> ^^



your one does my two dont.. i tested two different cards with three different games over a one week period.. running fans flat out is worth about say another 10mhz with my cards.. 

one thing i did notice.. there is no quick cut off point.. i am used to 5mhz making the difference tween stable and unstable with a core speed.. these seem spread over a wider mhz range.. during crysis i started off thinking 855 was okay.. but during the game i kept going down right to 830 before the odd vpu recover stopped happening.. 

different cards will vary but i dont think many will run a true stable 860 core.. if yours does u are lucky and have a good one..

trog

ps.. we need a few more examples to get a better idea thow..


----------



## trog100 (Dec 15, 2007)

zOaib said:


> trog u need to check this thread out  (KOREANS UNLOCK ATI HD 3870 CF POWER IN CRYSIS)
> 
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=47015



yes... but reading websites persuaded me to fork out good money for a 790x chipset board and another 3870 card.. what i actually got pursuaded me to ebay the pair of em in an attempt to get some of my wasted money back..

trog


----------



## zOaib (Dec 15, 2007)

trog100 said:


> yes... but reading websites persuaded me to fork out good money for a 790x chipset board and another 3870 card.. what i actually got pursuaded me to ebay the pair of em in an attempt to get some of my wasted money back..
> 
> trog



i fell in the same trap , but they ran real good on my x38 , i think u must have had a better experience on an intel system , although my buddy is trying this out and he just called me and it has worked for him greatly , he is gaming at very high quality at 1600 x 1200 res only shadows and volumetric processing at high ......... getting 38-40 fps , so it does work , but he is also runnign a qx6850 so i am sure that helps it a lot too .............. anyways i sold my pair and am waiting to get the hd 3870 x2 when it comes out in jan ............... 

PS even though this nvidia card i got right now to dangle me by till next wave of next gen cards , i miss the Catalyst AI , which makes radeons gamaplay smooth , i skip frames with this card even though when u see in fraps u r getting 60+ fps on UT3 and cod4 and bio shock =P


----------



## HookeyStreet (Dec 15, 2007)

trog100 said:


> yes... but reading websites persuaded me to fork out good money for a 790x chipset board and another 3870 card.. what i actually got pursuaded me to ebay the pair of em in an attempt to get some of my wasted money back..
> 
> trog



Dont you think the AMD CPU is holding you back?


----------



## jpierce55 (Dec 15, 2007)

Boy, I hope the weather clears up today!

The AMD is holding it back, look at the results on orb. This thing loves cpu, I don't know how much real world applications are with the bigger cpu, but the 3dmark scores are massive.I could play with settings to find out but don't feel like screwing with it.


----------



## Blacklash (Dec 15, 2007)

If you think Crossfire is a waste in "Crysis" you didn't read my link-

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?p=1335274023#post1335274023

Examples; top = Crossfire off, bottom on. This is with two HD 3850 256Mb cards-















I've added "Oblivion" @ 1680x 4xAA|8xAF HDR @ 1680x with an untweaked .ini and all detail sliders right, with all on to the "Crysis" post. I show 1680x with texture, object, water and shader high and the rest medium with 4xAF in "Crysis" in the above link too.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 15, 2007)

BackLash thx for an awesome bench, its more real world than the things that have been circulating on the net , and i know this works because my friend his very happy right now who bought my pair of hd 3870's of me , lol =)

( he keeps calling me on phone and saying that i am an idiot to sell him my pair ) little does he know i have my eyes set on hd 3870 x2


----------



## trog100 (Dec 15, 2007)

HookeyStreet said:


> Dont you think the AMD CPU is holding you back?



with games absolutely not.. with 2006 and 2005 most definitely..

i aint saying crossfire dosnt work but just like multicore CPUs things have to be set up for it..

older games that already run 100 fps at the max resolution i can use might run 150 fps.. no real gain here..

for benching bet my 2005 score went up from 1800 to 1900 at the default resolution.. my amd system limits the score.. so no real gain here

with 2005 fully maxed out i get a nice 60% increase.. my grafix card limits the score.. a gain here but what use is it..??

but the one game i have that actually needs a frame rate boost.. crysis.. dosnt work with crossfire.. 

soooo old things that dont need it are likey to work with it.. new things that do are not likely to work with it..

i think tjhe real problem here is modern games are written (and funded) for and by nvidia..  nvidia pumped a lot of money into crysis.. 

trog


----------



## trog100 (Dec 15, 2007)

backlash

so how can crysis be made to work with crossfire.. please tell all the people like me who have tried it and failed.. serious question and i did read your link..

my experience with crysis and one or two 3870 cards.. any AA at all kills the frame rates stone dead.. crossfire has a slightly negative effect on frame rates..

u accuse me of not reading your link.. it seems u are accusing me of misleading information.. 

trog

ps.. oblivion runs very nicely fully maxed out on my system (50 to 60 fps) with just one 3870 card.. there dont seem much point in 2 x very nicely..

ps.. 2.. and having forked out £250 for the privilege of trying crossfire.. deciding it was a waste of space wasnt a decision i arrived at lightly.. believe u me..


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 15, 2007)

trog100 said:


> backlash
> 
> so how can crysis be made to work with crossfire.. please tell all the people like me who have tried it and failed.. serious question and i did read your link..
> 
> ...



i believe he's saying try the "oblivion" trick.
what you do is rename the game exec file to "oblivion.exe" and sometimes it will have a great effect on what ccc does. this is how you get fsaa to work in bioshock on dx9.


----------



## zOaib (Dec 15, 2007)

trog100 said:


> backlash
> 
> so how can crysis be made to work with crossfire.. please tell all the people like me who have tried it and failed.. serious question and i did read your link..
> 
> ...



trog the way the koreans di it was , they used the config file form the demo version of crysis and copied it over to the game installation of crysis , and that is how they got CF to work , and that is what my friend did and he is joyfuly happy right now.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 15, 2007)

zOaib said:


> trog the way the koreans di it was , they used the config file form the demo version of crysis and copied it over to the game installation of crysis , and that is how they got CF to work , and that is what my friend did and he is joyfuly happy right now.



do you have a copy of that file? i don't, and i have a second 3870 sitting next to me. the only game i need it for is crysis, and since crysis doesn't like crossfire and i couldn't decipher what the hell the koreans did to get it working i just didn't bother installing it.


----------



## trog100 (Dec 15, 2007)

all very very very odd.. are u guys saying that ati made a huge cock-up.. destroying the very essence of their spider idea by buggering up the real games ability to run two cards.. come on.. ?????

so a bunch of koreans.. zoabs friend.. and backlash know the secret the world wants to know.. how to make crysis work in crossfire.. 

dont get me wrong.. wierd totally incomprehensibly things can happen.. if true this one is near the top of the list... he he he

trog


----------



## 0elemental0 (Dec 16, 2007)

so no problems fitting a vf900 to the 3870?  business as usual?  i have one on order but just wanted to be sure it was straight foward, aka vf700 on an x800.  i idle at 50-51c and max at ~80c in tf2 on the stock  cooler.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 16, 2007)

0elemental0 said:


> so no problems fitting a vf900 to the 3870?  business as usual?  i have one on order but just wanted to be sure it was straight foward, aka vf700 on an x800.  i idle at 50-51c and max at ~80c in tf2 on the stock  cooler.



no problems at all. just make sure you leave the stock ramsinks on the card, as well as the heatsink on the vrm's.


----------



## wiak (Dec 18, 2007)

0elemental0 said:


> so no problems fitting a vf900 to the 3870?  business as usual?  i have one on order but just wanted to be sure it was straight foward, aka vf700 on an x800.  i idle at 50-51c and max at ~80c in tf2 on the stock  cooler.


no problem, its even 20-40c cooler with the VF900-Cu compared to stock crappy cooler 
the 3870 uses same mounting holes as X1900/X1800 so just follow that guide (holes that are marked 5 in the manual)

ps: am gonna change to stock VRAM heatsinks, so just ignore that part ^^


----------



## wiak (Dec 18, 2007)

here is a update, i put thermal paste on all samsung chips, reinstalled old vram heatsink


----------



## Ripper3 (Dec 18, 2007)

Nice benchmarks so far, it's making me glad I bought a 3850, even more so than when they told me it was despatched from the warehouse .
wiak - Nice photo, I can't shoot for shit, even with a point-and-click camera that's meant to make it easy to take good photos, lol

Received mine from ebuyer just a few minutes ago, can't wait to pry open the box.
It was an absolute bargain, £101. May not be an OC edition, may only be the 256MB 3850, and may have the stock cooler with a crappy Powercolor sticker on it, but it'll kick my 8600GTS' arse.


----------



## mikek75 (Dec 18, 2007)

Nice one, don't blame you for not waiting for the 3870.... I've just cancelled my order with Komplett for a full retail3870, shipment slipped from the 18th to the 31st. Giving the BT shop (re-branded dabs) a go, they expect stock 1-2 days and give free delivery over £99. Its only the lite retail pack so I won't get the freebies, but £140 seems like a good price.

Let us know how you get on with the 3850, enjoy!


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 18, 2007)

Card looks nice wiak,but should'nt it have rubber rings were i marked? I have fitted one before and i'm sure it should have rubber rings there.Not sure why but in the instructions it says so.Could it be so it dont crush the core when you tighten it down?






like this-


----------



## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 18, 2007)

considering a Palit 3870 ... opinions?


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

tigger69 said:


> Card looks nice wiak,but should'nt it have rubber rings were i marked? I have fitted one before and i'm sure it should have rubber rings there.Not sure why but in the instructions it says so.Could it be so it dont crush the core when you tighten it down?



yes, it is supposed to have little rubber washers there. mine does.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

[I.R.A]_FBi said:


> considering a Palit 3870 ... opinions?



it'll be leaps and bounds better than your 7900. if you're even barely considering it, go for it!


----------



## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 18, 2007)

tis that good?


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=40981
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=443&card2=547


----------



## wiak (Dec 18, 2007)

tigger69 said:


> Card looks nice wiak,but should'nt it have rubber rings were i marked? I have fitted one before and i'm sure it should have rubber rings there.Not sure why but in the instructions it says so.Could it be so it dont crush the core when you tighten it down?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thanks for the heads up my bad 
will redo it now and take more fotos


----------



## wiak (Dec 18, 2007)

here is a update, just redone it and more photos


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

wiak said:


> here is a update, just redone it and more photos



nice work. if you have any extra ramsinks i would put one on that clock oscillator in the foreground.
i always have spare ramsinks laying around, so i make sure to put a couple extra on any parts of the card that create heat.


----------



## Ripper3 (Dec 18, 2007)

Got the 3850 installed, been playing about with drivers already, and when I try and play a game, it lets me... for about 10-15 minutes, or at any point randomly in that time, before it hangs, emitting a soft, high-pitched sound... happenned with the 8600GTS too, but less frequently. I suspect it's sound card drivers, bloody Creative...

I was going to transfer over my Thermalright V-2, but for the reason that I have no coolers for MOSFETs, and that I have no additional thermal tape, to affix the RAMsinks again, I didn't do it (plus, my 8600GTS is going to my brother, I'm leaving it overclocked too, no point giving him a card that's still stable, but can barely play games at times, eh). What coolers would you guys recommend, or you guys use for 3850s? I'd really like to get MOSFET and VRM cooling either with it, or a good cheap seperate pack.


----------



## wiak (Dec 18, 2007)

Ripper3 said:


> Got the 3850 installed, been playing about with drivers already, and when I try and play a game, it lets me... for about 10-15 minutes, or at any point randomly in that time, before it hangs, emitting a soft, high-pitched sound... happenned with the 8600GTS too, but less frequently. I suspect it's sound card drivers, bloody Creative...
> 
> I was going to transfer over my Thermalright V-2, but for the reason that I have no coolers for MOSFETs, and that I have no additional thermal tape, to affix the RAMsinks again, I didn't do it (plus, my 8600GTS is going to my brother, I'm leaving it overclocked too, no point giving him a card that's still stable, but can barely play games at times, eh). What coolers would you guys recommend, or you guys use for 3850s? I'd really like to get MOSFET and VRM cooling either with it, or a good cheap seperate pack.


VF900-Cu should fit 3850 just fine, i think 3870 and 3850 uses exacly same board just diffrent clocks and memory type/amount & stock cooler


----------



## Ripper3 (Dec 18, 2007)

Yarr, certainly do.
I was looking at getting me a VF900 before I got the V-2, and even before I got my old Accelero X2. Guess I might as well get it this time around.
Any other suggestions welcome, I don't have the money to buy the cooler yet, so I have plenty of time to mull it over.
If anything though, might look at buying another V-2, it looks good, and works well, but might buy a better 80mm fan this time around.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

wiak said:


> VF900-Cu should fit 3850 just fine, i think 3870 and 3850 uses exacly same board just diffrent clocks and memory type/amount & stock cooler



no, the pcb's are actually quite different.


----------



## ghost101 (Dec 18, 2007)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=627848

Can i simply put any 120mm fan on this?

Or is this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=627856 worth it?

Alternatives include

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=369640

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=683702


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=627848
> 
> Can i simply put any 120mm fan on this?
> 
> Or is this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=627856 worth it?



honestly, unless you want to run completely passive, stay away from the s1's and s2's. the best (air) cooler for your money for a 38x0 card is the thermaltake duorb.


----------



## Random Murderer (Dec 18, 2007)

ghost101 said:


> Too expensive in the UK.



zalman vf-900 comes in a close 2nd to the duorb.


----------



## wiak (Dec 18, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> honestly, unless you want to run completely passive, stay away from the s1's and s2's. the best (air) cooler for your money for a 38x0 card is the thermaltake duorb.


depends where you live
in norway the VF900-Cu costs 254 nok, 300nok with shipping (54 usd)
the DuoOrb costs 349 nok, 449 nok with shipping  (80 usd)

and so on
the VF900-Cu cools alot better than stock, should be as good as DuOrb and is nearly 50% cheaper depends where you live
and then you should use some proper thermal paste like Artic Cooling MX-1 or MX-2
http://www.computerxtreme.de/Waermeleitpaste/Arctic-Cooling-MX-2-Waermeleitpaste-4-gr::1426.html


----------



## Ripper3 (Dec 18, 2007)

PoS... everything's working fine, I'm partially laughing at Xolair, while trying to help him get his 3850 working without artifacts in 2D... he goes offline, and I proceed to play some WoW... after about 2 hours, in the middle of a battle, and after realising I was getting lower fps than with my 8600GTS, the game freezes, mouse is movable, there's still music from both game and WMP10, a second or two goes past, then black screen, status light on LCD goes orange. Comes back on, goes off, ettc a few more times. VPU Recovery comes on. I attempt reporting the error, which makes things worse. While trying to fix it, yellow vertical lines appear on screen, so I press ctrl+alt+del and cut off CCC, MOM, and anything tied to ATi drivers. Lines still on screen, and the screen blacks out again after a few seconds.
I decide enough is enough, so I hard reboot. Upon starting up again, the screen blanks, of course, but doesn't come back on until Windows starts loading, and I'm left with a message "This is not a compatible resolution [...]", until it loads.
Boot up, yellow streaks, pixel depth down to 16 bits, and there are some kind of boxes all over the screen. I hard reboot again, as it's a little slow to respond.
After a few reboots, with varied results (including having the BIOS and POST text come up scrambled, and with yellow streaks...), I deicde to end it. I leave it to cool down a bit, and turn it back on, same thing, with the ominous message on screen, until Windows starts loading. Reboot, and again, I can see the text, with big yellow streaks and incorrect characters. Manage to get it into BIOS, check CPU temp, as that's the closest I can get to GPU temp atm, and it's normal, exhaust air is cool. Shut down again, just in case.
I leave it for a second, while I grab screwdriver. I open up the case, discharge static, cut off power, and check the cooler, it's abnormally warm. I check the back of the card, and it's burning up, alot...
I was about to look through my Rivatuner temp monitoring log, but it's supposedly corrupted.
I had the fan set to ~50%, and it was running quite cool at idle, I'd guess maybe at ~45c, and another maximum of 10c more under load would seem about right, so it's nowhere near hot.
I have no idea what to do, and I don't want to risk going sans VRM cooling, if I transplant my V-2 onto it.

Currently writing this from Safe mode w/networking, the yellow streaks only just left the screen, but are still intermittently appearing when scrolling... have no freakin' idea what to do, and it seems apart from Xolair, I'm alone here with this problem.

Sorry for the huge chunk of text.


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## Ripper3 (Dec 19, 2007)

Just took off the cooler, inspected things, making sure it was all making proper contact, and replaced original gunk with the gunk from the V-2 (at least it doesn't turn hard after a few days use, so it's easily removed).
Adjusted Rivatuner to keep the fan at a constant 58%, which is enough for idling. I'll figure out something for when I'm gaming soon enough...


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 19, 2007)

sorry to hear


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## Random Murderer (Dec 19, 2007)

karma's a bitch, ain't she?
it seems you folks on the 3850's are the only ones having problems.
google around, you two aren't alone.


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## Ripper3 (Dec 19, 2007)

Yeah, karma's a bitch, and I have now found someone else after another google search, that has similar problems to mine, but it hasn't been posted on since the 13th, so I dunno what the guy's done about things. If he's RMA'd and gotten a good card, I'll RMA right away, but he's posted nothing yet...
Hopefully, it's just a bad BIOS, I can fix that easily enough compared to waiting for the completion of an RMA...


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## Ripper3 (Dec 19, 2007)

If I could withstand looking at all the broken up text for long enough, I'd get a BIOS, and flash it onto the card, but I think I'll do a flash via a USB drive. Hopefully I should be able to get the card working.

Seems Xolair has kinda figured out his troubles: Drivers
He's been playing with DirectX and always seeing problems with artifacts and stuff, but says that within Prey demo, he's not getting any problems, except for some tearing, which is fixed with vsync being enabled.
Lucky bugger...


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## wiak (Dec 19, 2007)

anyone else got vpu recovery kicking in when running at core@800mhz+ like 860, 890 and so on, on low temps like less than 60c on load, its killing me, looks like ati has put out something on their support pages about this
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=27116


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## Random Murderer (Dec 19, 2007)

wiak said:


> anyone else got vpu recovery kicking in when running at core@800mhz+ like 860, 890 and so on, on low temps like less than 60c on load, its killing me, looks like ati has put out something on their support pages about this
> http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=27116



no, i run mine at 810/1350 crysis stable.


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## VictorCS (Dec 19, 2007)

I run at 872mhz/1261mhz without it kicking in, temp about 75C.

Could run at 1300mhz in Crysis, but in Oblivion I got some weird colors,
and the VPU recovery kicked in.


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## 0elemental0 (Dec 20, 2007)

atitool beta 3 shows my temp chip at 99'c under load.... is this normal??  i am now using the vf900 so my gpu tops at 60  in atitool stresstest..


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## Random Murderer (Dec 20, 2007)

0elemental0 said:


> atitool beta 3 shows my temp chip at 99'c under load.... is this normal??  i am now using the vf900 so my gpu tops at 60  in atitool stresstest..



yes, mine shows up at 99°C as well.


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 21, 2007)

torrow ima order mine


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## Random Murderer (Dec 21, 2007)

[I.R.A]_FBi said:


> torrow ima order mine



your what? 3850 or 3870?


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 21, 2007)

3870 ... anyone know any cheep links pm me ... its my present to myself ...


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## 0elemental0 (Dec 21, 2007)

[I.R.A]_FBi said:


> 3870 ... anyone know any cheep links pm me ... its my present to myself ...



until this evening bestbuy had them for 214.99...but they sold out this afternoon


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 21, 2007)

shit!
ima put teh monies on teh card (debit credit card) and watch and wait ...


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## 0elemental0 (Dec 21, 2007)

[I.R.A]_FBi said:


> shit!
> ima put teh monies on teh card (debit credit card) and watch and wait ...



tiger is at msrp after the rebate

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3481253&CatId=1826


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 21, 2007)

0elemental0 said:


> tiger is at msrp after the rebate
> 
> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3481253&CatId=1826



i live in jamaica, no rebates for me


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## wiak (Dec 21, 2007)

http://www.lavalys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2819
try that to check temp on rv670s


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## ZenZimZaliben (Dec 21, 2007)

I just picked up a Sapphire 3850 for my HTPC. Was wondering if anyone knows for sure if the Zalman FS-V7 Video Card Cooler is compatible with it. I check zalmans site and it was not listed on compatible or incompatible...It does fit on the x1xxx series of ati cards which have the 4 post mounting system, so it might, but I am just not sure.

Any help would be appreciated.


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 21, 2007)

if it fits teh x1960 it fits this ... waiting on ma g/f to fwd so i can go bank and drop down that 3870 monies ...


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## wiak (Dec 21, 2007)

[I.R.A]_FBi said:


> if it fits teh x1960 it fits this ... waiting on ma g/f to fwd so i can go bank and drop down that 3870 monies ...


i think so


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## KainXS (Dec 21, 2007)

I was looking at the bare pcb for the 3850 and see a LED RED/GREEN ON/OFF Point which I think can be connected to an LED, did you guys see this yet


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## Cold Storm (Dec 21, 2007)

KainXS said:


> I was looking at the bare pcb for the 3850 and see a LED RED/GREEN ON/OFF Point which I think can be connected to an LED, did you guys see this yet



i noticed that on my 3870, it's by the crossfire connectors.


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## trog100 (Dec 22, 2007)

wiak said:


> anyone else got vpu recovery kicking in when running at core@800mhz+ like 860, 890 and so on, on low temps like less than 60c on load, its killing me, looks like ati has put out something on their support pages about this
> http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=27116



yes.. take it as a sign your core isnt stable.. in other words its overclocked too much.. 

trog

ps.. its got nothing to do with temps.. the core is simply going to fast whatever the temps..


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## KainXS (Dec 22, 2007)

wiak said:


> anyone else got vpu recovery kicking in when running at core@800mhz+ like 860, 890 and so on, on low temps like less than 60c on load, its killing me, looks like ati has put out something on their support pages about this
> http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=27116



thats a sign that theirs not enough voltage going to the GPU


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## trog100 (Dec 22, 2007)

KainXS said:


> thats a sign that theirs not enough voltage going to the GPU



he he he.. being as he cant alter the voltage (without volt mods) his only alternative is to slow the card down.. lets say its going to fast for the voltage it has.. one can also assume the voltage it has is the voltage ati meant it to have..

so its a sign the card is "overclocked" or going too fast..  lets not confuse the issue too much..

if it was doing it at stock speed that would be a different matter.. 

trog


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 22, 2007)

teh banks were filled today ... will make teh deposit on monday .. anyone seeing a hot deal holler at ur boi on monday.


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## jpierce55 (Dec 22, 2007)

http://www.ncixus.com/search/?categoryid=0&q=3870 prices fluctuate on this site, sometimes they are $215.


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## 0elemental0 (Dec 24, 2007)

they are now 193 usd at bestbuy..but, of course, sold out.


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## TonyStark (Dec 25, 2007)

Pencil modded my HD3870. 861MHz GPU is now stable in games (used to crash at anything higher than 830). Gonna flash the BIOS and try benching 900+.


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## trog100 (Dec 25, 2007)

TonyStark said:


> Pencil modded my HD3870. 861MHz GPU is now stable in games (used to crash at anything higher than 830). Gonna flash the BIOS and try benching 900+.



u need it gaming stable thow to compare with your 830.. mine at stock voltage runs the fur bench at 885/1300 but to game and be truly stable i agree with your 830 core statement..

these cards seem to have an unusually wide "near stability" factor..

trog


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## snuif09 (Dec 26, 2007)

whats max oc with stock cooling??


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## Random Murderer (Dec 26, 2007)

snuif09 said:


> whats max oc with stock cooling??



core isn't heat limited(currently) by the stock cooler, it's volt-limited. the average max stable overclock, whether it's with the stock cooler or not, is about 830-840.
the ram on the other hand is heat limited on the stock cooler. there's almost no airflow over the ramsink because it's covered up. i remedied this by using an antec spot cool(thanks tatty! while i was still on stock cooling and got my ram to about 1250. as soon as i got the zalman on my max stable oc jumped from 1250 to about 1300, but i've had it up to 1375 for benching.


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## sneekypeet (Dec 27, 2007)

TonyStark said:


> Pencil modded my HD3870. 861MHz GPU is now stable in games (used to crash at anything higher than 830). Gonna flash the BIOS and try benching 900+.



Could you please show a picture of what you "pencil modded" ????

Reason I ask is that the Vcore resister has been removed from theses cards so im not exactly sure what you modded here?


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## TonyStark (Dec 27, 2007)

I shaded the Resistor labelled R1222 with a 2B pencil. The resistor is near the power plug.

----

EDIT: Found a pic on xtremesystems







That is from a HD38*5*0 but a few members in this thread (and myself) confirmed it also works for the HD3870. Use at own risk.


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## sneekypeet (Dec 27, 2007)

I sit here with my jaw on the floor. I may be seeing shortly if this works....goin to XS to read all about this!


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## Ripper3 (Dec 28, 2007)

Playing with my working 3850 today, running GTR2, and it's all working fine, but I'm still worried about the really high temperatures... it was hitting 90c, and the fan was at 40%... I set it to 60%, and it was still quiet, and didn't pass 70c... I think ATi should have set 70c as its target temperature, really...

Anyhu, until I find some cash to buy me an HR-03GT, to fit onto it, I'll be running at stock speeds. I just don't feel too confident overclocking with the standard cooling.
As soon as I fix the cooling though, me thinks I'll try that vmod too. I know my memory speeds will never reach 3870 speeds, but the core might get close, and I bought the 3850 for £100, while the cheapest OCed 3850 was a 256MB one, barely over stock, for £125. The cheapest and only 3870 in stock was £160 odd, so if I can make that £60 difference even less justifiable a price premium for a 3870, I'll be happy enough.
hough, either way, I doubt the 3870 would be able to better performance much, if at all, in the games I play anyhow, so I'm very happy for now.


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## Random Murderer (Dec 28, 2007)

i can confirm that the 3870 pencil mod works. i shaded resistor 1222 with a 4H pencil.
resistance stock: 1.5 KΩ
voltage stock: 1.35 V under load
resistance after mod: .946 KΩ
voltage after mod: 1.42 V under load.
i'm testing the core at 910MHz right now, it's pretty damn stable.


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## KainXS (Dec 28, 2007)

can anyone confirm this mod on a 3850 yet


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## trog100 (Dec 28, 2007)

nice one tony for bringing this stuff here.. 

trog


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## Cold Storm (Dec 28, 2007)

KainXS said:


> can anyone confirm this mod on a 3850 yet



I believe that forum post is of a HD3850. I've just seen it done on Random's card and vouch that it works like a charm.


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## Random Murderer (Dec 28, 2007)

Cold Storm said:


> I believe that forum post is of a HD3850. I've just seen it done on Random's card and vouch that it works like a charm.



yea, but you can also vouch that a 4h pencil is NOT a good choice, lol.
use a 4b if you've got one, it took me almost an hour to get the damn thing shaded just right...


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## Cold Storm (Dec 28, 2007)

Random Murderer said:


> yea, but you can also vouch that a 4h pencil is NOT a good choice, lol.
> use a 4b if you've got one, it took me almost an hour to get the damn thing shaded just right...



oh yeah, don't use a 4H pencil! 4B yo..


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## unsmart (Dec 28, 2007)

I just ordered a 3850 and was wondering if anyones tried the Vmod bioes yet. I found it here- http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=169778
 Theres a few different ones posted and people seem to be getting good results. 
Sorry this may already be posted but I'm really busy right now so no time to search the thread. Also has anyone used the zerotherm gx700 or gx710 on a 3800 card?


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## reverze (Dec 28, 2007)

*3870 pencil mod*

oops..can someone delete this didnt mean to reply here..sorry. lol


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