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Four Overclocked RADEON HD 3650/3850/3870 Graphics Cards Tested - TechAmok
Four Overclocked RADEON HD 3650/3850/3870 Graphics Cards Tested - [hardware] 06:06 PM EDT - Mar,10 2008 - post a comment Digit-Life
has posted a review on four overclocked RADEON HD 3650/3850/3870 graphics
cards:
The RADEON HD 3650 expectedly performs like the RADEON HD 2600 XT, being
outperformed by the latter strictly proportional to the difference in operating
frequencies. Unlike the 2600 cards, the 3650 cards now support DirectX 10.1.
This feature will be praised by marketing specialists to the skies, but it will
bring little to end users, because there are no such games so far. Besides, you
will have to disable lots of effects to play the latest games on such cards
(have a look at CRYSIS results). That is, when you buy such a card, you should
not think that you can enable all bells and whistles in the latest games and
play them at acceptable speed.
Thus, I've proved my initial thesis that the 3650 is essentially identical to
the 2600 PRO/XT. Do not get carried away with the numeral 3 in the name of the
card. It's just a cunning trick, which stands for a new fabrication process,
DX10.1, and improved AVIVO (we haven't tested it yet). But we should point out
one important detail: price. It will be lower than for the RADEON HD 2600 cards.
In fact, the 3650 will replace these products (the 2600 family will be
discontinued). It will be about 100 USD, may be a tad higher. I want to draw
your attention to 512 MB of video memory used in these cards. This memory volume
will soon become a standard even for such cards, which performance is sufficient
in modern games only in low resolutions. That will be the minimum size. Cards
with 256 MB of memory will become a thing of the past, just like 128 MB
products.
- HIS IceQ RADEON HD 3650 Turbo 512MB PCI-E is an improved modification
of the 3650 (in frequencies and in its cooling system). It's a good choice, if
the price is adequate. And you shouldn't forget about the two-slot cooling
system.
- HIS IceQ III RADEON HD 3870 Turbo 512MB PCI-E is actually the best 3870
card of all. It's a tad inferior to the 8800GT, so it must be cheaper. If
this condition is true, it will be the best choice (but we should wait for the
GeForce 9600, which may shake positions of the 3870 cards). If the 3870 cards
have the same prices or are more expensive than the GeForce 8800 GT, the latter
will be more preferable.
- MSI RADEON HD 3850 OC 256MB PCI-E is the standard reference card, it's
just slightly overclocked. It offers no special features and comes with a modest
bundle. So you just compare the prices and choose a card. The other conclusions
on the 3850 have been drawn already.
- PowerColor RADEON HD 3650 Extreme 512MB PCI-E is currently the best
3650 product. Its increased frequencies yield performance on a par with the 2600
XT, and it's equipped with a highly efficient cooler.
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