DH Review: HIS HD3850 ICE Q3 Turbo X

***Zardon*** · Feb 5, 2008, 04:31 PM

Read The Review Here
_______________________

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 HD[COLOR=Red]2[/COLOR]850 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

Feb 5, 2008, 04:31 PM	#1
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,270 Rep Power: 3150	DH Review: HIS HD3850 ICE Q3 Turbo X Read The Review Here _______________________ 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?

Feb 5, 2008, 04:47 PM	#2
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,489 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	nice review & a very good value for the card. ty. __________________

Feb 5, 2008, 04:51 PM	#3
Erroneus Loving my Windows 7 Ent. Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 12,921 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Great package, but seriously to expensive when 8800gt can be bought for less.. :X __________________

Feb 5, 2008, 06:32 PM	#7
Nick0323 DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London Posts: 324 Rep Power: 0	HD3850 is the way forward if your after the AGP variant... __________________ PSU: Coolermaster iGreen 500W Chipset: nFORCE 750SLi Mobo: ASUS P5N-D, BIOS revision 0601 CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450, 12mb cache, 2.66GHz GPU: Gainward Bliss 9600GT, Engine 700MHz, Memory 2GHz, Forceware 175.19) RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition, PC8500 (1066MHz), 2x2GB Sound: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic HDD1: Western Digital Raptor, 160GB, 10,000rpm HDD2: Maxtor Diamondmax 22, 32mb Cache, 7200.11, 500GB HDD3:Maxtor Diamondmax 21, 16mb Cache, 7200.10, 320GB (External via Icy Box) 3D Mark 05 - 17,500 3D Mark 06 - 12,000

Feb 6, 2008, 12:07 AM	#9
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,316 Rep Power: 64 System Specs	i love my HIS 3870 IceQ3 TurboX i'd imagine this to be great too __________________ Driverheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (9/4/09) New i5 systems with more to come! Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Feb 5, 2008, 05:09 PM	#4
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,270 Rep Power: 3150	Forgot the digg icon. ah well. there you go.

Feb 5, 2008, 05:19 PM	#5
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,177 Rep Power: 94 System Specs	Decent value and it might scale well when CrossfireX becomes a reality

Feb 6, 2008, 01:52 AM	#10
Blacklash Che cazzo stai dicendo? Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Old Vizima Posts: 106 Rep Power: 38 System Specs	Good review and I'd like to see the HIS 3870 Turbo that comes @ 850 on the core reviewed too. __________________ AMD Phenom II 940 @ 3.60GHz (1.40v)\|Mushkin XP2-8500 (2x2GB) Foxconn A7DA-S (790GX)\|Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1Gb\|DoubleSight DS-263N WD VRaptor 150GB HD (x2)\|Pioneer DVR-2920Q\|LG GH22LS30\|Klipsch ProMedia 2.0 SilverStone OP1000-E\|SilverStone TJ10-B\|Xigmatek HDT-S1284EE\|VISTA HP x64 SP-2