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ASUS Radeon HD 3850X2 1 GB |
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Written by Nebojsa Todorovic
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Tuesday, 22 April 2008 |
At first, ATI popularized MultiGPU solution with Radeon HD 3870X2. As this model turned out as great solution it was natural that ATI create similar model which should be accepted by most users. HD 2600X2 was the first model with graphics chip R6XX but unfortunately users didn’t embrace it, which only means that low-budget MultiGPU solution has not appear yet.
And now, with appearance of HD 3850X2, we can be pretty much sure that more time must pass, until cheaper MultiGPU model emerge.
ASUS Radeon HD 3850X2 1 GB has built-in very interesting cooling solution with two fans, four heat pipes, aluminum body and copper base. These components together result as very successful and efficient cooling solution. Aluminum shield contribute a lot in good looks and make HD 3850X2 eye catchy. Visually, on card dominate ASUS logo and ROG (Republic Of Gamers) logo, which could be seen only on ASUS motherboards until now. In huge package box you will find nothing more than CD bag, drivers, cables and user manual. HD 3850X2 is consisted of two R670 GPUs that are fully functional which means 320 stream processors and 16 ROP units. Only deference in relation to GPU on HD 3870 is lower clock at 668MHz. Of course we overclocked it to the max and it reached 780 MHz. 1GB memory is signed by Qimonda and chips are declared on 1ns and clocked at 1668 MHz. This is good news since these chips are willing to operate at 2 GHz. Overclock of memory was positive experience with this graphics card because we reached 1920 MHz which is 250 MHz more than factory default. HD 3850X2 demands two power connectors (one 6-pin and other 8-pin) to be plugged in for card to function.
Performances
Differences between HD 3850 and HD 3870 are minor, so the same principal is applied in case of differences between HD 3850X2 and HD 3870X2. Although differences do exist on paper, there is practically no real distinction. If you are an advanced user familiar with overclock than this card is a good choice because you can easily achieve performances of an HD 3870X2. Taking price and performance of this card in consideration ASUS Radeon HD 3850X2 1 GB deserves InsideHW Approved award.
Test Results @ 1680x1050
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ASUS 3850X2 1GB |
| Clock [GPU(SP)/MEM] |
650MHz(1625MHz) / 1800MHz |
| 3DMark05 |
19.584 |
| 3DMark06 (SM2.0/SM3.0/Final Score) |
6.284 / 6.514 / 14.982 |
| FEAR [MaxQ] |
124 fps |
| Company of Heroes [MaxQ] |
102 fps |
| World in Conflict [HighQ] |
49 fps |
| Crysis [HighQ] |
32,5 fps |
| Unreal Tournament 3 [HighQ] |
76 fps |
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