DIAMOND Viper 3870PE4512SB Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

Reviewed By: on 12/19/2008

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Runs Great. Can max settings on most games.
Whole computer seems to run faster now.
I got it for under $100 with Rebates.
GDDR4 is definitely the way to go, much faster than GDDR and GDDR2.
I read that some games require over 256mb of videocard memory, so I went with this model with 512 instead.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I went from a Radeon x1550 to this. Using the same settings in Oblivion I went from 15 fps to 85 in 1024x768. Even at 1280x1024 at the highest settings I get FPS in the high 50s.

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Please read: HD3870 isn't worth it, low benchmarks, low fps, poor drivers and customer service

Reviewed By: br00k on 12/17/2008

Tech Level: average - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Comes with vga, dvi, hdmi converters, crossfire bridge (everything) and well packaged by newegg..
1100 mhz memory for higher resolutions is a plus, average 60-100 fps in COD4, 50-85 fps COD World at war and 150+ fps in Valve steam games: day of defeat source at a 1680X1050 resolution with 8X antistropic on. the card runs hot while gaming around 69C even with fan at 50%.
I have a e8500 at 3.999ghz and a raptorHD with 1200mhz ddr2 ram so I'm not bottle necking the card, it Just CANNOT perform well n games, unless you're considering crossfire 2 of these cards then you'll have low fps in todays games I promise you..

Cons: Texture artifacts in CODWAW around the water in maps with both my visiontek hd3850 and now my diamond hd3870, so I no its more than likely a catalyst driver issue than a hardware issue.
Card runs hot because of 770 core.
Very low benchmarks in 3d mark06 and 3d mark vantage.
Customer service is lacking.

Other Thoughts: My really good friend gave me his BFG tech 8800 gts OC since he bought a newer gtx series card for himself, so I installed his 8800gts 512 on my board and my system flys, average nearly double the fps in every game with the 8800gts over this card, never under 100fps max settings in COD4 & WaW and the card is priced 25 dollars more 164.00 on Newegg, So basically what I'm saying is I've been a ATI customer for nearly 4 years now and im soo disapointed with these last two hd 3870 and hd 3850's i've bought (performance wise) that im never buying ATI again.
Unless you're on a Low budget Go nvidia you wont regret it.
System specs:
Antec 900 Case
Biostar T Power I45 mobo
Intel core 2 duo e8500 @ 3.999ghz
Thermaltake 760IS all-n-1 H2o cooling
2X Raptor 10k HD in raid 1
OCZ Flex ddr2 1200 mhz OC ram
BFG Tech 8800 gts 512 OC

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Reviewed By: on 12/16/2008

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Easy install, sleek performance, cheap

Cons: none so far

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