ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review

**One4yu2c** · December 30th, 2007

Turbulent. Tumultuous. Bumpy. Disappointing. There's no shortage of unflattering adjectives to describe AMD's journey through 2007, including their graphics division, ATI. Purchased just over a year ago for roughly $5.4 billion, the acquisition's long-term verdict remains to be written. In the meantime, the short-term outlook hasn't been rosy up to this point, with ATI conceding defeat in the high end GPU arena and instead focusing primarily on the budget and lower mid-range sectors, much to the chagrin of the ATI-loyal. That's about to change.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, ATI still doesn't have an answer for nVidia's flagship 8800GTX and Ultra GPUs, but with the release of the RV670 core, they're no longer relegating themselves to the lower end graphics market, and seem to be targeting the upper mainstream market with a vengeance.
Paul Lilly

ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review

OCNoob · December 30th, 2007

Good review... but that's got to be the G80 8800GTS you compared it to, right?

Overall, I'm impressed with the 3850's performance. 8800GTS busting performance for under $200 is quite the bargain, especially for those with thin wallets.

**simple_inhibition** · December 31st, 2007

im loving my dual HD3870 setup. can play crysis at max settings @ 1024x768 (highest resolution on current monitor) in DX9.0c/XP Home. have yet to test it in vista. the HD38xx series is a step in the right direction!

Lead Head · December 31st, 2007

nice review!

Those temps are crazy though. I was reading something about that the BIOS is not quite right on these cars about regulating temps. Someone was saying that if you put the fan around 47% or so, it is still fairly quiet, but cools much better. If you still have the card, you could test this out?

**gvblake22** · December 31st, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCNoob

Good review... but that's got to be the G80 8800GTS you compared it to, right?

Only the 512MB version of the GTS is a 65nm "G92".

OCNoob · December 31st, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvblake22

Only the 512MB version of the GTS is a 65nm "G92".

Right, but there isn't a "8800GTS 256MB", which is what Paul compared it to. I'm sure he meant 320MB.

Quakindude · December 31st, 2007

Sounds like a great breath of fresh air from AMD/ATI! Were I in the market for a mid-range card, I'd have to do some serious consideration over this one.

I'm diggin it!

And I stumbled both the article and the forum topic.

screwballl · December 31st, 2007

great review

I wouldn't mind having one of these cards to see how well it handles 64bit Vista and linux

OCNoob · January 1st, 2008

The article got Inq'd!

**One4yu2c** · January 1st, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCNoob

The article got Inq'd!

Inq has been good about posting our news (though we weren't enamored with the wording on this particularly entry), which we submit to several hundred sites after each review. Would be nice if HardOCP would do the same, but behind-the-scenes politics have kept us mostly blacklisted at [H].

December 30th, 2007	#1
One4yu2c I don't know how to put this, but, I'm kind of a big deal. Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Land of the Lounge Lizards Posts: 2,521 Blog Entries: 3	ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review Turbulent. Tumultuous. Bumpy. Disappointing. There's no shortage of unflattering adjectives to describe AMD's journey through 2007, including their graphics division, ATI. Purchased just over a year ago for roughly $5.4 billion, the acquisition's long-term verdict remains to be written. In the meantime, the short-term outlook hasn't been rosy up to this point, with ATI conceding defeat in the high end GPU arena and instead focusing primarily on the budget and lower mid-range sectors, much to the chagrin of the ATI-loyal. That's about to change. Before we get ahead of ourselves, ATI still doesn't have an answer for nVidia's flagship 8800GTX and Ultra GPUs, but with the release of the RV670 core, they're no longer relegating themselves to the lower end graphics market, and seem to be targeting the upper mainstream market with a vengeance. Paul Lilly ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review

December 30th, 2007	#2
OCNoob Yo soy tu papa Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 204	Re: ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review Good review... but that's got to be the G80 8800GTS you compared it to, right? Overall, I'm impressed with the 3850's performance. 8800GTS busting performance for under $200 is quite the bargain, especially for those with thin wallets. Opty 165 @ 2746 MHz (305x9, 1.32V) Stock cooler \| DFI nF4 LanParty Ultra-D \| G.Skill DDR500 3-3-2-7 2x1GB \| NEC 3540A \| MSI X800 XL (Stock) \| Antec Super LanBoy \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W \| WDC 800JB + Seagate 7200.9 400GB (IDE) \| Logitech MX510 \| In need of upgrading: Samsung SyncMaster 955DF

December 31st, 2007	#3
simple_inhibition socket 939 junkie Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In front of my pc in Ft Bragg XD Posts: 1,435 Blog Entries: 1	Re: ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review im loving my dual HD3870 setup. can play crysis at max settings @ 1024x768 (highest resolution on current monitor) in DX9.0c/XP Home. have yet to test it in vista. the HD38xx series is a step in the right direction! Q6600 @ 3.6ghz (400x9 @ 1.408v) Gigabyte X38-DQ6 2x2GB G-Skill DDR2 1000 @ DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 2T 2.1v Visiontek HD4870 Seagate 7200.11 500GB 32MB Cache HDD Razer Barracuda AC1 Silverstone DA750 Samsung Dual Layer DVD Burner Lian Li G70WB Thermochill PA120.3\|Swiftech Storm Rev.2\|Swiftech MCP 655

December 31st, 2007	#4
Lead Head Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rhode Island USA Posts: 1,716	Re: ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review nice review! Those temps are crazy though. I was reading something about that the BIOS is not quite right on these cars about regulating temps. Someone was saying that if you put the fan around 47% or so, it is still fairly quiet, but cools much better. If you still have the card, you could test this out? Opteron 64 165--1.5GB DDR--ECS KA1 MVP(thanks HL!)--x1800GTO 256MB--Seagate 320GB SATA--Antec 550 Watt--Antec P180

December 31st, 2007	#7
Quakindude I'm Diggin it! Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Fort Rucker, AL. Posts: 2,726 Blog Entries: 7	Re: ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review Sounds like a great breath of fresh air from AMD/ATI! Were I in the market for a mid-range card, I'd have to do some serious consideration over this one. I'm diggin it! And I stumbled both the article and the forum topic. Q6600@ 3.2GHz w/ CNPS9700 \| EVGA 780i \| 2Gb Corsair DDR2-800 \| EVGA GTX 280 1Gb Video \| 1x WD 640Gb HDD, 2x Seagate 400Gb HDD, 1x250Gb WD \| 2x Samsung SH-203B Opticals \| Antec 900 \| ABS/Tagan BZ700 700W PSU Last edited by Quakindude; December 31st, 2007 at 19:25.

December 31st, 2007	#8
screwballl Colonel Calamity Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Sandy South Posts: 6,281 Blog Entries: 6	Re: ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review great review I wouldn't mind having one of these cards to see how well it handles 64bit Vista and linux Thanks HL and Corsair! My opinions are my own and not representative of this site or its members.

January 1st, 2008	#9
OCNoob Yo soy tu papa Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 204	Re: ATI HD 3850 256MB Videocard Review The article got Inq'd! Opty 165 @ 2746 MHz (305x9, 1.32V) Stock cooler \| DFI nF4 LanParty Ultra-D \| G.Skill DDR500 3-3-2-7 2x1GB \| NEC 3540A \| MSI X800 XL (Stock) \| Antec Super LanBoy \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W \| WDC 800JB + Seagate 7200.9 400GB (IDE) \| Logitech MX510 \| In need of upgrading: Samsung SyncMaster 955DF

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