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The past year for AMD's graphics division hasn't exactly been that peachy, but things began to shape up with the launch of the mid-range 3850 and 3870 cards a few months ago. The problem with that launch, though, was the fact that both cards were mid-range... with no high-end offering to be found. On the NVIDIA front though, they've consistently offered high-end cards that put AMD's skus to shame.
Thanks to a fresh launch today though, AMD's high-end drought is finally over. The HD 3870 X2 gives itself away with the title. It's essentially two 3870 GPUs thrown together on the same PCB, with revised power delivery and a PCI-E bridge-chip built-in. Simple in theory, but the proof is in the pudding. Although the card eats more power than an 8800GTX, it makes up for it with the performance/power-gobbling ratio. Indeed... I've been proud of my single 8800GTX card for a while now, but the HD 3870 X2 has my mind effectively changed.
The good thing about the 3870 X2 is that it can be used on any motherboard. The chipset doesn't matter... and you don't need to use a bridge in order to access the extreme performance. That's where another downside lies though - this card cannot be used in CrossfireX mode due to infant drivers, but those should be taken care of by March.
From a performance/$ perspective, this card delivers. It will retail for $449, more than an 8800GTS but less than a GTX, and it outperforms them both. Indeed, the only thing that can beat the single HD 3870 X2 is NVIDIA cards in SLI, such as the 8800GT. But that leads to another issue. While AMD now currently holds the top-spot for performance on a single card, it was achieved by using two GPUs. This is something NVIDIA is more than capable of doing, and given performance of the 8800GT in SLI mode, making an "X2" version of that card and selling it at the same price point... AMD would once again be out of the limelight.
Regardless, this is a fantastic launch from AMD and it's great to see they've got their groove-back *high clap*. For now at least. We really need a new high-end single GPU to know this for sure.
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Because the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is essentially "CrossFire on a card", the X2's performance is determined by how well the card's drivers scale in a particular game. If a new game hits store shelves and the drivers don't recognize the executable, the $449-$499 Radeon HD 3870 X2 will perform much like a single-GPU Radeon HD 3870 that is half the price. ATI assures us their software team will try to minimize this situation, but it will be an issue at some point in time no matter how hard they work unless a universally compatible multi-GPU rendering technique is devised.
Source: HotHardware, AnandTech and Tech Report
Thanks to a fresh launch today though, AMD's high-end drought is finally over. The HD 3870 X2 gives itself away with the title. It's essentially two 3870 GPUs thrown together on the same PCB, with revised power delivery and a PCI-E bridge-chip built-in. Simple in theory, but the proof is in the pudding. Although the card eats more power than an 8800GTX, it makes up for it with the performance/power-gobbling ratio. Indeed... I've been proud of my single 8800GTX card for a while now, but the HD 3870 X2 has my mind effectively changed.
The good thing about the 3870 X2 is that it can be used on any motherboard. The chipset doesn't matter... and you don't need to use a bridge in order to access the extreme performance. That's where another downside lies though - this card cannot be used in CrossfireX mode due to infant drivers, but those should be taken care of by March.
From a performance/$ perspective, this card delivers. It will retail for $449, more than an 8800GTS but less than a GTX, and it outperforms them both. Indeed, the only thing that can beat the single HD 3870 X2 is NVIDIA cards in SLI, such as the 8800GT. But that leads to another issue. While AMD now currently holds the top-spot for performance on a single card, it was achieved by using two GPUs. This is something NVIDIA is more than capable of doing, and given performance of the 8800GT in SLI mode, making an "X2" version of that card and selling it at the same price point... AMD would once again be out of the limelight.
Regardless, this is a fantastic launch from AMD and it's great to see they've got their groove-back *high clap*. For now at least. We really need a new high-end single GPU to know this for sure.
<table align="center"><tbody><tr><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
Because the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is essentially "CrossFire on a card", the X2's performance is determined by how well the card's drivers scale in a particular game. If a new game hits store shelves and the drivers don't recognize the executable, the $449-$499 Radeon HD 3870 X2 will perform much like a single-GPU Radeon HD 3870 that is half the price. ATI assures us their software team will try to minimize this situation, but it will be an issue at some point in time no matter how hard they work unless a universally compatible multi-GPU rendering technique is devised.
Source: HotHardware, AnandTech and Tech Report