ATI Radeon HD 3870 & 3850: A Return to Competition
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on November 15, 2007 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Sensible Naming and the Cards
It looks like we may just be seeing some of the fruits of the ATI acquisition here today; no, we're not talking about the Radeon HD 3800 series, but rather the naming of the cards. AMD is releasing two cards today, the Radeon HD 3870 and the 3850, both based off of the new RV670 GPU. Notice anything missing from the GPU names? That's right, gone are the annoying suffixes. AMD is committed to getting rid of the suffix with its GPU products, so you won't see any XT, LE, PE, FUFME, SE etc... versions of these graphics cards. Can we just say now that we think this is a great idea?
Even though the name ATI Radeon HD 3870 is still a little long for our tastes, it's still better than having confusing suffixes. As long as AMD sticks to the higher numbers means better cards methodology we're happy.
There is a method to the nomenclature madness, which the image below should explain:
The first digit is the product generation, the second digit is the family, and then the last two digits refer to performance within that family. This should sound a lot like AMD's new CPU naming system or Intel's current Core 2 family. Note that with today's launch we're already pretty high in the 3800 series, whether or not that means we'll be looking forward to a 3900 or 4000 soon is another matter entirely.
Specifics on the two cards are as follows:
The 3870 is a two-slot solution, it runs its core at a minimum of 775MHz and comes with 2.25GHz data rate memory. Despite the two-slot cooler, the 3870 is actually quieter than the 3850, which itself is much quieter than the 2900 XT.
The Radeon HD 3870
The 3850 is a single slot card, with a 670MHz core clock and a 1.66GHz memory clock. The cards are priced at $219 and $179, respectively (more on pricing later). Like the 3870, the Radeon HD 3850 is actually quiet.
The Radeon HD 3850
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nowayout99 - Friday, November 16, 2007 - link
I don't see a noise slide...But actually, Anand, noise may be a deciding factor for me. I'd really like to know what the cards sound like vs. the GT8800, particularly the 3870, if you guys could come back to it.
starjax - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
What about testing with updated drivers? I understand that the HIS HD3870 cards are shipping with catalyst 8.43 drivers.Comdrpopnfresh - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
How do you guys decide the intermediate slopes of the graphs between them? Some of them look like cubic regressions...Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Just one thing i want to add.I think the last year AMD is really screwing up... dunno what there doing, but they aren't able to beat Intel, they aren't able to beat nVidia. Something went totally wrong over there. Marketing, Financial, Corporate launching strategies whatever... their screwing up.
Leadthorns - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Anand,How about the image quality? Some reviews claim its marginally better on the ati card than the 8800gt. Whats your take?
Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Best Anand, and other readers.I find it startling to see you making an assumption that's already a fact: "The Radeon HD 3870 becomes even more attractive the more expensive the 8800 GT is and the opposite is true the cheaper it gets; if the 8800 GT 512MB was available at $219, then the 3870 doesn't stand a chance."
I'm allready able to order Club3D 8800GT's 512MB for 208,- EURO's and even XFX's for about 212,45 EURO's... so thats even less in dollars. CLub3D is a company that builds good quality reference cards, so no suprises afterwards and XFX you all know.
So... for such a good site as Anand's i find it a bit strange you are not aware of this, and living by the quote stated above... this allready blows away the 3870... though luck again AMD.
Anyone interested in these cards haha, check out BEE-CT
Regards,
a Dutch bloke.
MrKaz - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
There are rumors that in my country the ATI 3850 256MB version will cost 140€.160€ for the 512MB and around 200€ for the 3870.
So this is in line with what you say.
(all values have VAT)
About the good luck, I think even with the slightly slower card the DX10.1 capabilities will be a selling point.
Just ask the guys that bought the faster X800 over the 6800 and now can’t play some SM3 games.
jcromano - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
One Euro is worth about 1.46 USD these days, no?So the 208 Euro card would cost about 304 USD, right?
Jim
Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Hmmm. back to school...That would mean 208/1.46 = 142 something...
Bram van der Heijden - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
but it's not like that... damn.. ur right... that's pretty expensive...I was wrong... sry.