Review: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 - getting back in the game

Final thoughts

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is, on balance, the fastest graphics-card in our line-up. Given just how it achieves its lofty performance - literally adding two Radeon HD 3870 GPUs on to one PCB - the result isn't surprising, so if you can't win the straight-line speed battle with a single GPU, just add another.

We've made frequent allusions to just how well-rounded the current HD 3870 is, and the X2's results are generally on a par with a couple of those boards in CrossFire, that is, two boards in two slots, and that's what we'd expect. It carries over the cornucopia of 2D-related features, too.

The inherent downside into running multiple GPUs on one board lies with just how well the driver is able to scale performance, and our Splinter Cell HDR test shows that, sometimes, you don't receive the hoped-for 1.5x+ speed-up.

Is it worth the £279 or so? The answer is a tentative yes, because it achieves top-dog status, in our set of benchmarks at least, from brute power rather than the elegant and well funded developer-relation support that NVIDIA currently enjoys.

We'll compare its performance to a GeForce Ultra as we look at a retail board later on today, but until then, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 looks good for users wanting ultimate performance from a single card.

Further exploration of the Ultra's performance and, say, GeForce 8800 GT SLI will be needed before we can declare it both the ultimate and performance-to-price champion, though.

HEXUS.certification

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 passed all of our tests without failure.

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

HEXUS Awards

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

HEXUS Where2Buy

HEXUS is advised that the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 will be available to purchase today from SCAN, eBuyer, Microdirect and other reputable e-tailers.

UPDATE: -

SCAN International now list a selection of ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 here from as (surprisingly to HEXUS) as little as £268.75 inc VAT.

YOYOtech currently lists a Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MiB for £297 here and eBuyer currently lists the same card, on pre-order, for £280 here.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS.net, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any the AMD's representatives choose to do so, we'll publish their responses here verbatim.

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Hmmm. Frankly, I'm tempted just to get a cheaper nvidia GTX, enjoy that, wait a few months, buy another (by then even cheaper) and get some swift SLI action going. That would kick donkey for sure. Good to see ATI back in the game, mind. (Especially since I'm the proud owner of a still-capable 9800XT. Remember those, kids?) It can only be healthy for the industry and hopefully prevent nvidia from sitting on its behind and releasing rafts of seemingly never-ending similar boards. And I won't even mention their naming convention. See? See how I didn't mention that?

Mattsky
Hmmm. Frankly, I'm tempted just to get a cheaper nvidia GTX, enjoy that, wait a few months, buy another (by then even cheaper) and get some swift SLI action going. That would kick donkey for sure. Good to see ATI back in the game, mind. (Especially since I'm the proud owner of a still-capable 9800XT. Remember those, kids?) It can only be healthy for the industry and hopefully prevent nvidia from sitting on its behind and releasing rafts of seemingly never-ending similar boards. And I won't even mention their naming convention. See? See how I didn't mention that?

well as far as i'm aware theres only one cheaper GTX available in the uk, the ocuk branded one which is heavily reduced, considering everything else they sell is more expensive than anywhere else, they only started offering 3870's for less than £160 about 2 weeks ago when everywhere else has sold them between £130-140 for 2 months. Which to be honest makes me very suspicious, repaired returns? who knows but i trust that as far as i can throw it.

Seen several for preorder with stock expected in 1-2 days at £260 which is closer to what i expected, though £240-250 would make this a fairly killer card.

Frankly, its fast enough that it makes £60 more for 8800gt's in sli probably just not worth it, ave framerate boost from 60-100 and min framerates from 30-50 are great, which is what a second card gives you, but the bump from 100-115average, or 50-55minimum will barely be noticeable anywhere except the wallet.

AMD can clearly make these cards cheaper than Nvidia, and the time and effort spent doing that is clearly paying off big time with orders on the very cheap 2400/2600's and being able to offer such cheap mid/high end parts that finally bought a 2 card setup to affordable levels. Before the 3870 we had the choice of a single gts 640 at £220, or two of them at £400+, dual card setups were now almost 50% less and nvidia had to follow suit with a cheap GT.

Now the only question i have is, whats better for Lotro being that its the only game i'm really playing at the moment :p

I have used nvidia for while and for what I have seen nvidia sacrifice FPS for quality. ATI shader processing seems to better than nvidias. IL2 1946 shows this off no end. I currently have an 8800gts 640mb my friend has a 3870. The game looks more polished and no graphical glitching is present in the highest settings using open gl. This is only my view of playing this one game on two different cards. Anyone else feel this ?

Looking at the scores im tempted to get another 3870 for CF. Nice review btw, as always ;)

drunkenmaster
Frankly, its fast enough that it makes £60 more for 8800gt's in sli probably just not worth it, ave framerate boost from 60-100 and min framerates from 30-50 are great, which is what a second card gives you, but the bump from 100-115average, or 50-55minimum will barely be noticeable anywhere except the wallet.

I totally agree but confess still to be tempted :embarrassed:

GI Joel;1330038
I have used nvidia for while and for what I have seen nvidia sacrifice FPS for quality. ATI shader processing seems to better than nvidias. IL2 1946 shows this off no end. I currently have an 8800gts 640mb my friend has a 3870. The game looks more polished and no graphical glitching is present in the highest settings using open gl. This is only my view of playing this one game on two different cards. Anyone else feel this ?

Sorry, :Oops: I gather your saying the ATI is better?