second x2 review

TheRealDeal · 23 Jan 2008 at 01:27

It is now the performance card and for a lot less money than an ultra thats pretty much the bottom line from what i can see. I want to see more reviews though from trusted sites.

RizlaKing · 23 Jan 2008 at 01:27

I think the biggest problem here is people's expectations of what this card could do. It looks like a good card no more no less and i will be adding it to my list of upgrade components IF the price is right. For me price more then performance will determine if this is a good card or not if it is priced around about £250 then it is a great card higher then that it starts to slip.

Final8y · 23 Jan 2008 at 03:04

Something we missed.

We received this card very shortly after AMD started sampling to board partners, and as such the driver we managed to download from the AMD ftp was an early build of what we believe wound up being Catalyst 7.12.

And ain't that mobo only got 1.1a PCIE

Need to see it on upto date drivers.

straxusii · 23 Jan 2008 at 05:36

HighlandeR said:
Roll on 9800GX2

Aint touching that noisy basta

Because the 9800GX2 will be quiet as a mouse :rolleyes:

rippling · 23 Jan 2008 at 07:09

people are saying if it comes in at 250 fine , more than that , to expensive , but its faster and will be cheaper than a ultra , and the gtx has only just slipped in price , so for a faster card how can people say its to much

topshot · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:00

LoadsaMoney said:
Games shouldn't have anything to do with it, its called progression, gfx cards aint progressed for over a year, thats crap, even Nvidia are releasing old tech still, they still have old tech cards to come out ffs, thats utter crap, Feb 14th 2008, Nvidia are going to release another 2006 8 series, thats absolute cack imo, gfx cards have died a death thanks to AMD, fact is its 2008, we should not still be awaiting 2006 tech cards to come out.

performance may not have increased loads but current cards are more energy efficient and cooler running for similar/better performance

Margaret · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:03

rippling said:
for christ sake guys what do you want ? the card beats infact thrashes the ultra in a lot of game not just 20% well over 50% in some games so whats the problem ? i dont care if its 6 gpus if its cheap and performs then so be it !

ATi have only just managed to produce a card that just beats an Ultra in some games, after 1 year and 3 months or so of the G80 coming out they still can only just match it with 2 of their cards which is basically the 2900 architecture (which is again newer than the G80).

If anything nVidia have thrashed ATi good and proper.

Bleek · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:13

ozzaman said:
I thinks i will get me one.... p.s. theres some people in this thread who have almost a weird/gay attachment to nvidia that is slightly worrying...

Exactly, the same idiotic rhetoric that Intel owners preach.

I used to use nvidia cards a lot, I had a 6800Ultra, then a 8800GTS and now I've moved back to ATI/AMD because it suits my needs.

The same goes for the AMD Dual Core I run, it offers more than enough power for my use in games and desktop especially when you consider the price/performance scenario.

I understand brand allegiance, I have a swerve to AMD on the CPU front but no one should let it blight their view! It's not healthy.

Bleek · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:16

Jihad said:
ATi have only just managed to produce a card that just beats an Ultra in some games, after 1 year and 3 months or so of the G80 coming out they still can only just match it with 2 of their cards which is basically the 2900 architecture (which is again newer than the G80).

If anything nVidia have thrashed ATi good and proper.

Again I disagree, it's about the here and now.

Yes you can debate the merits of the certain tech until your blue in the face but as far as the consumer is concerned, the price/performance ratio of any given product is what matters today.

Sure we can speculate that nvidias next product will be x amount quicker but we won't know until it's released... but we could go on like that forever, which people pretty much do, however those coughing up and spending care little for a year gone or a year down the line.

rippling · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:25

the g80 is a great card , infact nvidia maybe have made it to good and are infact struggling themselves to better it by that much with current tech? why would nvidia take out a dual gpu card as well like it or not this will be the future multi gpu`s one board nvidia /ati may just need to do more work on the interface ie crossfire sil to get it working better , i days of high powered single gpus that are energy effitiant are gone IMO , it would take a compNY a lot more resources to design a whole new chip than take 2 exsiting chips and pair them ,
really cant understand the but it taken a year to beat the ultra tc etc crap,

And all this nvidia have thrashed ati etc etc , tbh i dont care who thrashed who as long as i get a great card at a GOOD price , nvidia has been creaming the top end and prob keeping prices artificaly high , the g80 tech is a year old , so why hasnt nvidia dropped the price of the gtx or ultra?

My god people the way some of you go on you would think you have shares in the companies!

Blackout · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:34

Jihad said:
If anything nVidia have thrashed ATi good and proper.

That's right they did (in terms of raw performance), but that is nothing new.
However, factor in price, noise & power consumption and I'd say it is a different story with the latest ATi cards...(dunno enough detail yet about the 3870x2 though). Anyway, 3870x2 appears to take back the performace crown for ATi which is good for them (how long they keep it is anyones guess).

Squink · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:36

The X2 is looking to be a bit of a flawed diamond at the moment. If it comes in at £300 (which I expect it to), it's £60 more than an OEM GTX, which is a proven and consistent performer. So you can take the cheaper, proven product, or get the newcomer that can be a lot faster in some cases, no faster in others and will probably take more effort to get the most out of. Either way, it's nice to have stuff like this on the market to talk about.

killersheep34 · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:51

LoadsaMoney said:
*Awaits the, its the drivers posts.

LoadsaMoney said:
Hopefully these new drivers its delayed for are better than the ones that have been used in reviews...

Sorry, just thought that was quite funny...

Margaret · 23 Jan 2008 at 10:57

Blackout said:
That's right they did (in terms of raw performance), but that is nothing new.
However, factor in price, noise & power consumption and I'd say it is a different story with the latest ATi cards.

Price? 8800GT, Noise? My GTX was silent, as is my GT (even before I put passive on it) Noise? GTX/GT never got to dangerous temps, GTX didn't run that hot anyway.

As for power consumption well again the GTX doesn't need that much of a PSU, ran fine on my 500W Akasa with has only 24a on the 12v rails.

Bleek · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:11

For reference my 3870 is both quieter (GTS was audible, my ATI is silent) and according to my ampmeter draws less raw wattage than my old 8800GTS.

Chronictank · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:24

Its a image of things to come, they simply cant keep building cards with aster processors as they are getting too hot (unless you want to go the cpu route and have behmoth cpu's)
Ati are very smart in getting ahead of the game in this respect imo, the future s about mutliple cores/processors and multiple data-streams and this card prooves it is very much possible and ATi have hit the proverbial nail on the head if on release its Ultra speeds for GT prices

The fact of the matter is that it is a single card solution taking up 2 slots just like a normal single card therefore should be treated as such

I cant wait to see what the more seasoned clockers on this board can do with this baby when then stick it on water

Edleake said:
Stop moving the goal posts and compare price versus performance as you always do. If it outperforms the competition running 50 cores on 5 year old tech yet costs LESS, who cares??? Naturally, the power (W) constraints need to be within reach of each other before any pedants jump in.

Spot on

Blackout · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:33

Jihad said:
Price? 8800GT, Noise? My GTX was silent, as is my GT (even before I put passive on it) Noise? GTX/GT never got to dangerous temps, GTX didn't run that hot anyway.

As for power consumption well again the GTX doesn't need that much of a PSU, ran fine on my 500W Akasa with has only 24a on the 12v rails.

I'm only able to comment on what is around the net (including here), as i have never owned an 8800 card (my last card was a 7800GTX).

So my opinion is only based on the reports I have read Jihad, not personal experience, but which pretty much said (at the time I was buying anyway) that the 3870 is quieter, consumes slightly less power and is a bit cheaper than an 8800GT....but as we all know at the expense of not being as fast as the GT in some games. Now I can certainly confirm my 3870 is actually silent...no need for passive coolers at all (and for that alone I am delighted!), not measured amps/watts etc, and on last check the 3870 is still cheaper than a 8800 GT.

Don't get me wrong I am not having a pop at nVidia's cards, they are awesome and I would certainly buy again, just this time round the 3870 meets my requirements perfectly (I admit in part that is because I much prefer ATi driver releases to nVidia's)

....anyway I am going off on a tangent now....

If the 3870x2 is as noisy as they say it is, I think I may give it a miss unless a good (silent) aftermarket cooler comes out, and instead go xfire with my next build.

Gerard · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:46

Blackout said:
If the 3870x2 is as noisy as they say it is, I think I may give it a miss unless a good (silent) aftermarket cooler comes out, and instead go xfire with my next build.

How about this?

Rezident · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:51

Based on reviews so far the card sounds great, good news for AMD and for competition in general. Hopefully, the next few months will get back to the closer competition we had in the past, where the two forced the best out of each other.

LoadsaMoney · 23 Jan 2008 at 12:37

Jihad said:
ATi have only just managed to produce a card that just beats an Ultra in some games, after 1 year and 3 months or so of the G80 coming out they still can only just match it with 2 of their cards which is basically the 2900 architecture (which is again newer than the G80).

If anything nVidia have thrashed ATi good and proper.

Yep, thats why its poor, but they have done it, they've beaten Nvidia and now have the speed crown, and are now finally competing with Nvidia again at the top end, so in that repsect its a good card, and if its priced right it will sell in droves, im just not getting my hopes up, im expecting it priced wrong at £300+, which is gona be to high, id be astonished if its around the £250-£260 mark like a lot pf ppl are hoping, as this is rip-off UK.