DH Review: HIS HD3850 ICE Q3 Turbo X

***Zardon*** · Feb 5, 2008, 04:31 PM

Read The Review Here
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Right now things are looking up for AMD. The HD3870 X2 is a great card, performing on a par with similarly priced cards from nVidia. This makes it an excellent choice for enthusiasts who require the ultimate performance at all times. Equally so, it also puts the card out of reach for gamers who don’t want to spend a fortune on their gaming machines.

AMD’s answer is the HD3850. The card has all the features it’s two faster brothers (the HD3870 and the HD3870 X2) offers and only falls behind in performance due to slightly lower GPU speeds and slower memory. But while no features were cut in the process of making the HD3850, its price experienced a significant reduction. The question on everybody’s lips is – did the performance drop suffer to a similar degree?

mike2h · Feb 5, 2008, 04:47 PM

nice review & a very good value for the card. ty.

Erroneus · Feb 5, 2008, 04:51 PM

Great package, but seriously to expensive when 8800gt can be bought for less.. :X

***Zardon*** · Feb 5, 2008, 05:09 PM

Forgot the digg icon. ah well. there you go.

Chaos · Feb 5, 2008, 05:19 PM

Decent value and it might scale well when CrossfireX becomes a reality

Mousey · Feb 5, 2008, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erroneus

Great package, but seriously to expensive when 8800gt can be bought for less.. :X

When i bought my 3850, the 8800GT wasn't an option, considering it was nigh on $100 more...

Nick0323 · Feb 5, 2008, 06:32 PM

HD3850 is the way forward if your after the AGP variant...

leetphoenix · Feb 5, 2008, 11:11 PM

Nice review as always, but on the second page the heading has a tiny typo:

Quote:

HIS HD2850 IcqQ3 Turbo X

**kris23** · Feb 6, 2008, 12:07 AM

i love my HIS 3870 IceQ3 TurboX

i'd imagine this to be great too

Blacklash · Feb 6, 2008, 01:52 AM

Good review and I'd like to see the HIS 3870 Turbo that comes @ 850 on the core reviewed too.

Mousey · Feb 6, 2008, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick0323

HD3850 is the way forward if your after the AGP variant...

I thought it was pretty damned good in PCI-E too, drives pretty much anything i throw at it on 1280x1024.
Since i only run 17" displays i can't be arsed saving up to afford a 3870, what can that drive before it starts crapping out?

Erroneus · Feb 6, 2008, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mousey

When i bought my 3850, the 8800GT wasn't an option, considering it was nigh on $100 more...

But time changes and the way 8800gt is being priced now, it's a crazy good buy.

Nick0323 · Feb 6, 2008, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mousey

I thought it was pretty damned good in PCI-E too, drives pretty much anything i throw at it on 1280x1024.
Since i only run 17" displays i can't be arsed saving up to afford a 3870, what can that drive before it starts crapping out?

Yes I have a 17" Asus LCD on 1280x1024. I didn't think it was possible to upgrade the system any more until I swapped my 3GHz Northwood Pentium 4 for a 3GHz Presscott core. Its running at the same speed but has a cache which is twice the size and gave me a nice little boost in all games.

For some odd reason the ATI Tray Tools benchmark sees different. It thinks my X1950PRO has become twice as fast !

My Futuremark scores are in my PM and I think give a more accurate representation of my results.

BEFORE - PENTIUM 4 NORTHWOOD 3.45GHz

AFTER - PENTIUM 4 PRESSCOTT 3.45GHZ