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Brand | SAPPHIRE |
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Series | Ultimate Edition |
Model | 100226U |
Interface | PCI Express 2.0 x16 |
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Chipset Manufacturer | ATI |
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GPU | Radeon HD 3850 |
Stream Processors | 320 Stream Processors |
Memory Size | 512MB |
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Memory Interface | 256-Bit |
Memory Type | GDDR3 |
DirectX | DirectX 10.1 |
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OpenGL | OpenGL 2.0 |
HDMI | 1 x HDMI (via Adapter) |
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DVI | 2 x DVI |
TV-Out | HDTV / S-Video Out |
RAMDAC | 400MHz |
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Max Resolution | 2560 x 1600 |
CrossFireX Support | Yes |
Cooler | Fanless |
Power Connector | 6-Pin |
Dual-Link DVI Supported | Yes |
Windows Vista | Certified for Windows Vista |
HDCP Ready | Yes |
Features | Silent heatpipe cooler ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology ATI PowerPlay ATI Avivo HD Video and Display Platform Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support Up to 24x Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing (CFAA) for improved quality |
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Package Contents | 100226U Driver Disk User's Manual HDTV Cable Power Cable DVI to VGA/D-sub Adapter DVI to HDMI Adapter CrossFire Bridge S-Video to Composite Adapter |
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Date First Available | January 11, 2008 |
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Pros: This silent beastie is the perfect compliment to my HTPC. I was having trouble watching Blu-ray & HD DVD discs on my older Radeon x1300 - during high motion scenes the X1300 stuttered quite a bit. The 3850 plays smooth as silk, and the image quality seems a bit cleaner as well. It should have plenty of horsepower to play games, but I haven't tried any yet. No heat or performance issues to speak of. The 3850 Ultimate appears to be an excellent silent video card by Sapphire.
Cons: It's a miracle I got this beastie to fit - I thought I was going to return it. It is very long, and was blocked by a drive cage in my case. I had to unscrew the cage and turn it sideways to make room, and the cage is still sitting in there loose (haven't had time to come up with a proper fix). The Sapphire 3850 Ultimate is also wide, so wide the heatsink blocks almost two slots. My motherboard has two PCIe slots above the 16x slot (towards the CPU), and I was using one for a RAID card. The cooler completely blocks the first slot, and actually touches part of the RAID card in the second slot over. The two cards are making enough contact that they are actually pushing each other apart a little bit. Luckily the cooler is just touching plastic connectors on the RAID card, or I would be dealing with an electrical short. It took me 10 minutes to get both card to fit at the same time - two slots apart!
Overall Review: This card is so great that I'm willing to deal with the size issues, though I did rate it down to 4 stars due to the overall size. If you have a motherboard with slots on the CPU side of the graphics slot, you might want to rethink this card if you plan on using those slots.