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At first glance, the VisionTek HD 3870 almost looks like a HD2900XT -- unlike the other HD 3870's we've tested, the plastic enclosure of the dual-slot cooling solution encompasses almost the whole card. A 21-vane fan dominates the right portion of the card, big enough to cause a bulge on the top of the card. The fan pushes air through a long aluminum heatsink, which looks roughly twice the size of the reference board heatsink. The heatsink is further assisted by a pair of U-shaped copper heat pipes that run vertically through the sinks.
Judging from the amount of air rushing out the rear of the card when in operation, the cooler does seem effective at pushing hot air where it should be: outside of your case. The cooling solution also covers the cards GDDR4 memory well, which is nice to see.
Size-wise, the VisionTek HD 3870 is on the 'big' side of things, and compares in length to top-end cards such as the HD 2900 XT.
Below: A PowerColor HD 3850 PCS Xtreme, today's VisionTek HD 3870, and a MSI RX2600XT Platinum.
The clocks of the VisionTek HD 3870 are a bit above the standard/default HD 3870's speeds. While the standard HD 3870 is clocked at 777 for the core, and 1126 for the memory, the VisionTek HD 3870 comes in a bit higher at 800 / 1170. While 13 MHz isn't going to make or break any 16-hour straight gaming sessions you might get into to, its nice that VisionTek did give the clocks that boost without plastering their retail boxes with 'OC' stickers.
At the heart of the HD 3870 is 320 stream processors, 16 texture units and render output units, and the RV670 GPU, which is made using a 55 nanometre manufacturing process. This smaller nano-scale process translates into a lower power consumption relative to the majority of older GPU's. A 256-bit memory interface feeds the 512MB of GDDR4.
Standard for cards in this class, the VisionTek HD 3870 has two DVI outputs, so you can run multiple displays. As well, this card has built in HDMI video and 5.1 audio and ATI's Unified Video Decoder, which offloads the processing of digital HD video from HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs from the CPU. This video output can then be displayed at resolutions up to 2560x1600 (1080p+).
If you are looking to power this DirectX 10.1, PCI Express 2.0 video card, you'll need a standard PCIe power connector, and recommended 450 Watt or greater power supply.
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1. In CCC the Overdrive utility only allows a GPU OC from the default 800 to 840 and there is no ability to OC the RAM as it's set at 1170 at both ends and the slider is grayed out.
2. PowerPlay is neutered in that all settings including 2d are set to 800/1170 albeit with lower voltage for 2d and low power 3d
Other than that it's a good card, but these things should be addressed IMO by a bios update.
I would have liked some pics with the cooler removed (or to see actual rated speeds for the DDR4 on the board). Would you happen to know what those chips are rated at?
To zpackrat - powerplay has some real issues, and it's very likely that the catalyst overdrive is limited because of how the card's support of powerplay is "removed" (or rather nullified). I suggest you try RivaTuner for your fan/clock needs.
On that point, kudos to VisionTek for releasing a product that isn't crippled by powerplay bugs
Powerplay most definately is helping ATI break back into the laptop market in a big way, but personally it needs an on/off switch
I'm all for manufacturers releasing updated BIOS (I remember when this was commonplace), but I don't think they will reintroduce powerplay into a card they worked hard to fix (remove) those issues from. There are more than a few card makers not even bothering to help the consumer in this way bleh