Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 Reviewed

malware · Jan 2, 2008

Although Sapphire's new Atomic HD 3870 series was mentioned only twice on our front page and never announced officially, the guys over at Overclockers Club have already published their full review of the card. The HD 3870 Atomic Edition is an overclocked version of the ATI RV670 chipset, which is the basis of the 3800 series of graphics solutions. The Sapphire HD 3870 Atomic Edition is also remarkable for its single slot cooling solution which utilizes a vapor-x chamber. Those of you who are interested to know more can read the full review here.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Weer · Jan 2, 2008

What's so special about an overclocked 3870? The only thing worth noting is the case it comes in.

Mad-Matt · Jan 2, 2008

The single slot cooler makes it special. As long as its not a huge premium over standard 3870, then its quite a good package.

das müffin mann · Jan 2, 2008

i agree this is a pretty good package for i think it said like $10 over the standard it is a pretty good buy

Deleted member 24505 · Jan 2, 2008

Its a waste of time using a box like that for it tho'.you get it,and shove it in your machne.Unless you wanna keep looking at the pwetty box aaah.I bet its more than $10 over the normal one tho'

It does come with this lot tho'-a nine foot HDMI cable, cold cathodes, the Half Life Black Box Edition game, a full version of 3DMark and two Cyberlink programs.

woozers · Jan 2, 2008

I wonder if they are going to supply the vapor-x cooling solution with lower-end cards.

InnocentCriminal · Jan 2, 2008

Hmmm... I can't help but think you'll be paying for the 'flashy box' that the card comes in. Rather pointless really. Hopefully the cooler will be worth it.

das müffin mann · Jan 2, 2008

tigger69 said:
Its a waste of time using a box like that for it tho'.you get it,and shove it in your machne.Unless you wanna keep looking at the pwetty box aaah.I bet its more than $10 over the normal one tho'

It does come with this lot tho'-a nine foot HDMI cable, cold cathodes, the Half Life Black Box Edition game, a full version of 3DMark and two Cyberlink programs.

"Sapphire has relayed that the price of the card will only be ten to fifteen dollars above what you can buy a standard HD3870 for"

zOaib · Jan 2, 2008

where can i get one ?

HousERaT · Jan 2, 2008

If they can keep the price low then this will be a good deal. All that extra stuff is of no concern to me but the cooler and default clocks are nice. I'd like to see more testing with the cooler. I notice they didn't overclock the card any more so my guess is the new cooler makes no difference.

mdm-adph · Jan 2, 2008

You know, there was something about that particular review I really liked -- it was short, only about a dozen pages or so, and it didn't have the requisite 7 or 8 pages that most reviews have that just tell you about the technical aspects of the card (which you probably already know).

That being said, I'm amazed at how much Call of Juarez kills even the fastest cards today at the 1680 resolution, Jeebus.

newtekie1 · Jan 2, 2008

So sapphire just used a modified heatpipe design? Pretty smart, and effective it seems.

If they keep the price right, this could really be a good deal.

jydie · Jan 2, 2008

Okay... I am going to have to ask a question after reading the review. Actually, it is one that I have always been curious to know more about.

They could only overclock 8MHz from the already overclocked value set by Sapphire. Is it "safe" to constantly run a card that close to it's limit? I know that a lot of people overclock until they see artifacts and then back down a bit and run their card at those settings. As long as you keep the GPU cool, will an overclocked card last just as long as a card with factory settings?

zOaib · Jan 2, 2008

jydie said:
Okay... I am going to have to ask a question after reading the review. Actually, it is one that I have always been curious to know more about.

They could only overclock 8MHz from the already overclocked value set by Sapphire. Is it "safe" to constantly run a card that close to it's limit? I know that a lot of people overclock until they see artifacts and then back down a bit and run their card at those settings. As long as you keep the GPU cool, will an overclocked card last just as long as a card with factory settings?

i hardly keep a card more than 3-4 months in my system ( a problem i have ) but they last me atleast that long good , OCed ................ and avg mainstream person will most likely keep a card for atleast 12-24 months and mostly ppl use OC to squeeze the last bit out of the card in its close to obsolete period ..................... but if one keeps their card cooled right shud not be a problem for a good while =)

but this is my pure opinion not a fact !

newtekie1 · Jan 2, 2008

Yes, it is safe to constantly run a card close to its limit.

erocker · Jan 2, 2008

newtekie1 said:
Yes, it is safe to constantly run a card close to its limit.

To expand on that, most cards now-days are limited by voltage by the bios or the hardware itself.

Basard · Jan 2, 2008

They should have kept it double-slot... Keep the vapor-x, with double-slot cooling, why not? I guess it's good if you want 4 cards in your system. But, meh.... The box looks like a "mysterious package" somebody would leave in a public place and run off to detonate.

Dr. Spankenstein · Jan 2, 2008

The single-slot cooling solution is most important when it comes to quad-crossfire, which is exactly where AMD is trying to go with their 790 chipset.

cdawall · Jan 2, 2008

i read the review guess what they used as a test rig

Testing Setup:

* Processor: AMD Phenom 9600 200 x 11.5
* Motherboard: MSI K9A2 Platinum (Bios V1.21)
* Memory: 4 x 1GB Mushkin DDR2 XP2 8500 at 800 5-5-5-15 2t
* Video Card(s): ATI HD 3870 512MB
* Power Supply: Mushkin 650watt Modular Power Supply
* Hard Drive: Seagate 320GB SATA
* Opticals: NEC DV5700
* O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

would you look at that its a phenom chip

and i have to admit in a tri/quad xfire setup the tiny cooler will do a lot better than a huge dual slot one

unsmart · Jan 2, 2008

Open the cool box and PINK :wtf:

I'm almost positive that styrofoam comes in less princess like colors :laugh:

As for the 8mhz OC there is a Bios lock on the 3870 cards which is probably the issue. With the mod bios this thing should go higher.
I for one like the box,looks like a ITX board might fit in there :rockout:

Basard · Jan 2, 2008

I know they are trying to make it quad crossfire compatible, but who really wants to buy FOUR video cards, then replace them ALL two years later with a single, faster, card. I guess if I was a millionaire, I'd have a few Quad Crossfire systems, but whatever floats your boat, I guess...

I guess, with AMD's new hybrid crossfire they are talking about, you can mix your video cards up and still have crossfire, but still, 4 video cards?

I guess I'm just a single card kinda guy... The only version of SLI that I liked was the dual voodoo 2 setup, and they didn't even need heatsinks, each voodoo2 could be found for just over 100 bucks, as well--not just over 200.

cdawall · Jan 2, 2008

occ said:
The Vapor-X is much quieter in my opinion but without a decimeter I cannot show the difference between the regular heatsink and the Vapor-X. So please take my word on this one. As per temperatures, Idle for the Vapor-X is 41 C opposed to 46 C with the standard Sapphire heatsink that comes on the 3870. For load, the temperatures were 77 C (Atomic) and 86 C (standard). Room temperature was 23 C during testing.

well an oc and a smaller cooler that gives better temps and makes less noise than the big dual slot cooler?

phanbuey · Jan 2, 2008

very very nice package... i would totally get this for all the goodies and the quiet cooler..

Ati Addictive · Jan 3, 2008

High End ATI Card

Guys guys guys, listen ATI is going to pull the same trick as Nvida in the beginning of this new year. Everybody still can remember the single card with SLI on it ?? The Nvidia 7950 GX2.
So ATI will launch the HD 3870 X2 ATI will call it or something in that direction. The card wil have 1 GB of GDDR 4 memery and it will be clocked on 750 MHZ this card will held 2 graphic processors and think about a Quad 3870 oee laaa laaa.

One world of advise wait for this card and don t buy OCing crap of the HD 3870.

InnocentCriminal · Jan 4, 2008

Ati Addictive said:
One world of advise wait for this card and don t buy OCing crap of the HD 3870.

What if you only have room for a single slot card? Kinda boned if you want the X2 aren't you? Not that good of advice unless you can tell someone how to get that sort of card into a SFF.

Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 VID: 1.2125
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P rev.2.0
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme + Noctua NF-S12 Fan
Memory	4x1 GB PQI DDR2 PC2-6400
Video Card(s)	Colorful iGame Radeon HD 4890 1 GB GDDR5
Storage	2x 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 32 MB RAID0
Display(s)	BenQ G2400W 24-inch WideScreen LCD
Case	Cooler Master COSMOS RC-1000 (sold), Cooler Master HAF-932 (delivered)
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic + Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX
Power Supply	Chieftec CFT-1000G-DF 1kW
Software	Laptop: Lenovo 3000 N200 C2DT2310/3GB/120GB/GF7300/15.4"/Razer

System Name	//////////////////////////////////////Crunching/Folding Builds\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Processor	Q8400@ 4.0Ghz \| Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz \| E7300 @ 3.8Ghz \| E5300 @ 4.3Ghz \| E5300 @ 3.9Ghz \| E2180 @ 2.0Ghz \|
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q-E \| Asus P5Q Pro \| Gigabyte EG45-DS2H \| Gigabyte EP35-DS3H \| Gigabyte NV73 \| E-Sonic P35-G
Cooling	TRUE [Lapped] \| TRUE \| Thermalright SI-128 \| Stock \| Stock \| Stock
Memory	G.Skill 8192MB @ 1066Mhz \| G.Skill 4096MB \| OCZ 2048MB \| G.Skill 2048MB \| PNY 2048MB \| OCZ 1024MB
Video Card(s)	GTX 280 + 8800 GTS 512 \| 9800 GX2 + 8800 GTS 512 \| 6600 GT \| 8800 GS \| 9600 GSO 512
Storage	G.Skill 64GB SSD (OS) \| Segate 750GB [Downloads] \| 5TB JBOD [Movies] \| 3TB JBOD [Else] \| 1.5TB [Ex]
Display(s)	QUAD Monitors: Dell 2007FP [20"] + Dell 3007WFP-HC [30"] + Dell 2007FP [20"] \| Dell 2407WFP-HC [24"]
Case	Antec P190 \| Antec Three-Hundred \| Antec NSK2400 \| Thermaltake Strike MX \| HEC 6T10 \| HEC 8K01
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI + [Audiophile HD600] + [Creative G500 + Logitech X-530 = 10 speakers]
Power Supply	OCZ 750w [62A] \| OCZ 750w [62A] \| Antec 380w [31A] \| Antec 650w [54A] \| OCZ 400w [33A] \| GeN [20A]
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit + Windows XP 64-bit \| Windows Vista SP2 64-bit \| Windows 7 RTM 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	////////////////////////////////66,666 [Crunching] + 45,455 [Folding]\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

System Name	Omicron
Processor	Athlon X2 3800 @5000
Motherboard	Asrock 939DualSATA2
Cooling	Zalman
Memory	2x 1gb Corsair XMS DDR3500PRO 2-3-2-6 1t
Video Card(s)	Radeon 3870
Storage	Seagate 320gb
Display(s)	BenQ FP241w
Case	X-Blade Deluxe
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Music
Power Supply	Corsair HX620
Software	WinXP SP2

System Name	MUFFIN_MACHINE
Processor	i7 920
Motherboard	E760 Classified
Cooling	cooler master gemini II
Memory	6gb ddr3 crucial ballistix
Video Card(s)	TFIII 6950
Storage	500gb wd, samsung spinpoint t series 500gb, 2 tb samsung somthing or other
Display(s)	syncmaster 940bw 19"
Case	Corsair Carbide Series 500R
Audio Device(s)	X-fi extrememusic
Power Supply	Corsair HX 850W
Software	windows 7 64bit
Benchmark Scores	i can drink a pint in 5 seconds flat.

System Name	NFA i guess
Processor	A64 3500+ Venice
Motherboard	MSI K8N NEO4-F PCB v3.0
Cooling	Box on CPU, 2x 12cm GT Silentblades
Memory	2*512MB ValueRAM
Video Card(s)	Biostar 7900GS
Storage	Seagate ST3160815AS
Display(s)	Samsung 940N
Case	Compucase 6A21
Audio Device(s)	Audigy SE
Power Supply	FSP ATX-400PNF

System Name	BeeR 6
Processor	Intel Core i7 3770K*
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus V Gene (1155/Z77)
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	16GB Samsung Green 1600MHz DDR3**
Video Card(s)	4GB MSI Gaming X RX480
Storage	256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
Display(s)	27" Samsung C27F591FDU
Case	Fractal Design Arc Mini
Power Supply	Corsair HX750W
Software	64bit Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	@ 4.6GHz *@ 2133MHz

System Name	BabaJinn's U.F.O
Processor	Intel Core i7 975 Extreme @ 3.8 ghz (for now)
Motherboard	Asus Rampage Xtreme II X58
Cooling	ZALMAN 9900 CPU COOLER Led
Memory	12GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers (Blue Led) 1600 DDR3
Video Card(s)	MSI NVIDIA GTX 480 1.5 GB DDR5 384-BIT
Storage	2 x WD Velociraptor 10k rpm 300GB sata + 2x 500GB WD Caviar Sata + 320 GB Seagate Barracuda Sata
Display(s)	DELL U2711 27inch Goodness @ 2560 x 1440
Case	Mountain-Mods U2-UFO Custom Case (Made in USA)
Audio Device(s)	Supreme FX X-Fi MB (Creative)
Power Supply	ZALMAN 1000W PSU MODULAR
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (Retail Version)

Processor	Q6700
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Formula
Cooling	Ultra Extreme 120
Memory	Ballistix Tracer 8500
Video Card(s)	HD 3870 Crossfire
Storage	74G Raptor
Display(s)	A Sony big one
Case	Kingwin SK523
Power Supply	Corsair HX620
Software	Yes :p

System Name	Jupiter-2
Processor	Intel i3-6100
Motherboard	H170I-PLUS D3
Cooling	Stock
Memory	8GB Mushkin DDR3L-1600
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1050ti
Storage	512GB Corsair SSD
Display(s)	BENQ 24in
Case	Lian Li PC-Q01B Mini ITX
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair 450W
Mouse	Logitech Trackball
Keyboard	Custom bamboo job
Software	Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Finished Super PI on legendary mode in only 13 hours.

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

Processor	Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (socket 939)
Motherboard	ASUS A8R-MVP Express200
Cooling	Standard AMD CPU Heatsink/Fan
Memory	1GB Geil PC3200
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon X1900GT
Storage	2 Maxtor 7200 HDD (80GB)
Display(s)	Samsung 19" LCD
Case	Yellow Chieftech Dragon
Audio Device(s)	integrated
Power Supply	Thermaltake TT-420AD
Software	Windows XP Home

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e-Plus Wifi
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD/Samsung m.2's
Display(s)	LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Amp, Adam Audio T5V's, Hifiman Sundara's.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Epomaker 84 key
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	ChoreBoy
Processor	8700k Delided
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 Master
Cooling	420mm Custom Loop
Memory	CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 2x8GB @ 3000Mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 SC
Storage	1TB SX8200, 250GB 850 EVO, 250GB Barracuda
Display(s)	Pixio PX329 and Dell E228WFP
Case	Fractal R6
Audio Device(s)	On-Board
Power Supply	1000w Corsair
Software	Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	A million on everything....

Processor	Intel C2D E8500 @ 4.25GHz (1.36V)
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6
Cooling	(Temporary) Tuniq Tower 120
Memory	2GB Transcend aXeram 1200+
Video Card(s)	HIS HD3870 CF Volt modded
Storage	3 Seagate 320Gb Barracuda in an Intel Matrix Raid array
Display(s)	Sony GDM-FW900 24" Widescreen CRT (a.k.a "The Shiznotch")
Case	Ultra Aluminus Full Tower
Audio Device(s)	onboard Intel HD audio
Power Supply	PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Software	XP MCE + Vista (HP) dual-boot

System Name	All the cores
Processor	2990WX
Motherboard	Asrock X399M
Cooling	CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s)	(2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage	2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s)	Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case	Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s)	Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse	Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard	Keychron K8
Software	W10P

System Name	stress-less
Processor	9800X3D @ 5.42GHZ
Motherboard	MSI PRO B650M-A Wifi
Cooling	Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory	64GB DDR5 6400 1:1 CL30-36-36-76 FCLK 2200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4090 FE
Storage	2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s)	Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case	Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s)	Yes
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	DeathadderV2 X Hyperspeed
Keyboard	65% HE Keyboard
Software	Windows 11
Benchmark Scores	They're pretty good, nothing crazy.

System Name	Dark Spartan
Processor	AMD Athlon II X2 240e
Motherboard	ASUS Crosshair V Formula
Cooling	Corsair H80
Memory	2x Corsair Dominator GT 4GB DDR3-2133 CL9 XMP kit
Video Card(s)	3870 X2
Storage	Intel X25-M 80GB SATA2
Display(s)	Samsung Syncmaster SA550
Case	Cooler Master CSX-830 Dark Spartan
Audio Device(s)	ASUS Xonar D2X
Power Supply	In Win Commender 1500 W
Software	Windows 7 64bit Professional
Benchmark Scores	None yet i am waiting for my 2 6990 GPU card and the release of the Bulldozer!

Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 Reviewed

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