Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Posts: 16816 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:39:35 Post Subject: ASUS EAH3870 TOP Overclocked Radeon HD3870 Graphics Card
The ASUS EAH3870 TOP Overclocked Radeon HD3870 graphics card offers solid performance in today's demanding games without draining you of the extreme amount of money that the high end cards will set you back. And while the card may be overkill for the typical home theater setup, it does offer all the features you would want there as well. - The Review
Great review...Great Card...if only you ran 3DMark06 also in WinXP...so I could compare results with mine. But 11270 in Vista...is around 12K in XP. And since you used dual core...and i tested on quad@3.4...i believe the difference between yours and mine score (13K+ 3DMarks) is due to faster cpu.
And regarding overclock...you could mention in the review that there is a BIOS fix which removes that 860Mhz limit - because those locks are caused by bios preventing overclock higher than 860Mhz, and not by drivers or OS. (I run my 3870 at 857/1250 - measured in gpu-z). But if you apply new bios...you could go over 900Mhz. And you could also overclock ram higher than 1173Mhz (at least on cards similar to ASUS with those copper heatspreaders on ram chips and with decent airflow around them)...I put mine to 1250 to get kinda round number...but i believe 1300 or more is possible without any major problems...its just that ram isnt the limiting factor here...already at stock speeds its fast enough...so you dont gain much by clocking it much higher.
Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Posts: 16816 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:25:17 Post Subject:
Thanks for the comment.
To address the overclock a bit more... I generally just use Overdrive because it is convenient and conservative. With the two HD3850 cards shown in the review, and another card which will be revealed in a review Monday, I can overclock all the way to the max of what Overdrive allows. No problems on any of those three. But, with this HD3870 TOP installed, even the smallest overclock allowed (which is 5MHz) turns the screen black and I must reboot. The max shown in Overdrive was 885, and the default speed is 851... even 856 is a no go.
There may be a fix for it, but it is odd that just 1 out of 4 cards I am running right now had this problem.
I will test XP again sometime soon... just for kicks. _________________
As you said...Overdrive is surely the safest method...I used it for my overclock too...although i rather later test max load on ATI Tray Tools or some game (Crysis and Call of Juarez are known to push the card to the absolute max...so if it survives overclocked there for an hour...it will work elsewere without any problems too).
And sure...3850's can max to those 770Mhz with ease...afterall they use same chip RV670 as 3870...so with proper cooling...they should be able to work all the way to 860Mhz (I am not sure if core voltage at 3850's is high enough to allow this, but otherwise they should work). But the problem is over 860Mhz. Actually slightly less...i.e...I see my card to run as 860/1251 in Catalysts...but in cpu-z 0.1.9 it's shown as 857/1251. So maybe it varies where this "lock" kicks in...lets say somewhere around 855-860Mhz...but still...thats a "feature" in bios...to prevent too high overclock and/or damaged card...and thats ok to me - although we all like to test absolute max , but even if we could go to 900Mhz...so what...40Mhz wouldnt change anything...1-2FPS more or less...who cares...and for those who do care...they should go crossfireX anyway...
Finally...I cant wait to see the XP results....but dont bother too much...i mean...test if you can...but if not...i'll still survive...at least i think so...
Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Posts: 16816 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:05:26 Post Subject:
Didn't know about that BIOS limit... Interesting, thanks.
But if it applies to absolutely ALL versions of 38xx cards then I broke the rules in the next review without trying/knowing... 878MHz was its max. _________________
I am also not sure whether this is true for ALL 38xx cards...or only for 3870's....or maybe only applies to SOME 3870's. All I know is that those people who had problems with overclocking higher than 860Mhz...needed to flash the bios with this new "fixed" one.
With which card you managed 878Mhz? 3870?
EDIT:
I also read somewhere (maybe in one of the links i gave you above - not sure) that not ALL people with 3870's find speeds around 860 limiting factor....some managed less (like you in your 3870 review)....and some up to around 880Mhz or so...so really strange...maybe some cards already have this bios problem fixed...who knows...
EDIT EDIT:
On page 4 of the review...Overclocking...last paragraph..."The GPU comes overclocked from the factory by close to 10% over a typical HD3850, but I thought a little more would be nice." I believe you meant 3870 there...not 3850? Its no big deal...but...well...
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But 11270 in Vista...is around 12K in XP. And since you used dual core...and i tested on 
, but even if we could go to 900Mhz...so what...40Mhz wouldnt change anything...1-2FPS more or less...who cares...and for those who do care...they should go crossfireX anyway... 
