HD 3870 - today equivalent hands on help

[Motorheader]

I'd to change my video card. My failing eyesight prevents me from gaming like I used to but I still like to fire up CSS occasionally.

I have a Q9650 based rig running an ATI HD3870 (the fanless one) running on a Samsung 203b at 1400x1050. With my vision widescreen monitors and tiny fonts just don't mix well for even day-to-day computing and I'm happy with the 203b.

I've tried editing the bios to try to lower voltage and ramping up on 3d demand but going lower than 2 recommended voltage choices in RBE for any of the ATI power settings leads to blank/black screens and no significant change in temps.

After looking through multiple threads of what to look for that has a fanless equivalent I keep coming back to the 6670 or the 6750. My 3870 is running fine but my idle and load temps are roughly mid 50's and 80 and they've been that way since the day I got the card 3 years ago. Since it is at idle or doing 2d stuff most of the time I'd like to do something about lowing temps and power consumption but not have to be concerned with a bad (even if limited) gaming experience.

Is the 6670 a true equivalent or would the 6750 be a better choice and still have lower idle/2d power draw I'm looking for. I'm looking at fanless remember.

Any input greatly appreciated.

 

[Rifter]

you are not going to get much lower than your reported temps with a fanless card unless you attach a heatsink the size of your case to it.

That said any of the cards you mentioned have lower power use.

 

[Termie]

The HD6670 GDDR5 is definitely faster than the 3870. It's about as fast as a 4770.

Here's the best deal on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102950

If you don't need something faster than the 3870, but instead would be satisfied with equivalent speed, go for this HD6570 DDR3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161374

It's compact and will definitely run cooler than your current card. It's power consumption will be far lower, especially at idle. Probably 15w lower. And at load, it will be about 50w lower.

 

[Motorheader]

I went with the Sapphire Ultimate HD6670. I had the Gigabyte 6750 in the cart too but the noted electrical noise at Puget Systems review of the Gigabyte 6770/6750 made it easier to stick with the HD6670.

Thanks to all

 

[Yuriman]

Any particular reason you wanted to change the card? I don't think you'll justify the cost in power savings for several years.

 

[sangyup81]

according to http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,3018-7.html

ATI HD 6570

 

[Motorheader]

Trying to lower my ambient temps in my great room.

This summer it became more apparent than ever that the room temperature was impacted by the PC with the video card being the culprit. I know that the heat generated has to go somewhere and have always tried to use the quietest solution to computing. As mentioned before I tried to adjust the power curve of the card by editing the bios (I have probably 30 different iterations of the stock bios) but that had little effect or made the card unstable.

With the 3+ year newer technology of the die shrink and the power curve settings I'm looking for positive results regarding idle temperature and still have some decent performance.

I'll know tomorrow when the card arrives.

 

[Motorheader]

I saw that chart and it is a great tool. Any 6570 I found (and it wasn't for lack of looking) was DDR3 based.

I've been using this one for as long as I can remember:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=547&card2=654

 

[Termie]

I think you'll be happy with that HD6670 GDDR5. You'll definitely have much lower temps than with the 3870, both at idle and at load.

 

[Yuriman]

Good luck!

I'd recommend setting a low speed 120mm fan nearby the cooler if you're concerned with card temps, though these cards really are designed to run for years at temperatures in excess of 80c. As for house temperatures, the cooling solution you use is irrelevant since the same heat is being produced. Downclock and undervolt but don't toss the fans.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

I know this is a bit off topic, but it is amazing to me that the iGPU on the AMD A8 chips is, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to a 3870 (400sp rather than 320, but lower clocks pretty much even out that advantage). Granted the 3870 is going to have a significant (well more like massive) advantage in available bandwidth, but in terms of number crunching they are peers.

 

[Motorheader]

Nimotigerwvu:

I saw something about that a few months back - it is amazing that that much power can be combined on die. AMD seems to be ahead when it comes to desktop and power curve/performance. I looked for an Nvidia solution (the Sparkle GTS 450) but the power envelope appeared to be the same/worse than than what I was replacing.

Yuriman - and everyone else:

I'm sitting at 38-39 right now idle and I'll be running a few benchmarks later.

 

[Motorheader]

Finally able to do a bit of gaming last night. After running some benches - Cinebench and RTHDribl - as well as running on steam for a couple of hours. Highest temperature was 57 and settled back to around 40 after shutting things down and getting back to idle/2d stuff.

Kind of funny though to see some of the posts about dual/tri card setups and worrying about having enough horsepower for BF3. Here I am lowering my output from ~105w and people are already at near 240w for single card and looking to add or change to higher draw.

I'm pleased with the purchase and the outcome.

 

[Termie]

Finally able to do a bit of gaming last night. After running some benches - Cinebench and RTHDribl - as well as running on steam for a couple of hours. Highest temperature was 57 and settled back to around 40 after shutting things down and getting back to idle/2d stuff.

Kind of funny though to see some of the posts about dual/tri card setups and worrying about having enough horsepower for BF3. Here I am lowering my output from ~105w and people are already at near 240w for single card and looking to add or change to higher draw.

I'm pleased with the purchase and the outcome.

Excellent to hear that this worked out for you. Would you say the performance is better than your 3870? Certainly the temps/power use are improved.

The great thing is you could get pretty good performance in BF3 with that card, if you lower the settings.

 

[Motorheader]

Termie:

I would say that for some reason color seems better - if possible. For what I've done with it so far the performance seems at least on par and maybe a bit better. That may be due to change/being new but it seems real. The theoretical memory throughput/bandwidth are relatively close but the efficiency due to die shrink and tweaks likely pay a part as well.

I changed nothing else in my rig but the card and dropped at least 40w at peak draw. It may not seem like a lot, but when you are going for quiet/silence it does.