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The Different 3870 Brands

M

Mana

Member
I've been looking at buying the Radeon 3870, but haven't yet since the different brands are confusing me. Is there any real tangible difference between the different brands for this model? Specifically I'm talking between the Saphire and HIS variants of the 3870.
 
All same, unless you find a Visiontek. They have lifetime warranty (not like you'll need it before you replace the card anyway).
 
I was wondering if that was a misprint! Good thing I got the HIS. Of course, it was the only one in stock at newegg for $219 + shipping at the time.

Sapphire is generally the AMD card price leader. My x1950xt 256 is a sapphire, it has worked great but I'm still waiting after 5 mos for the $30 mir. That has had no bearing on the stability of the card, obviously, and it is in fact a rebadged ati model with the sapphire sticker slapped on it, but I shudder to think what problems I might have if any warranty issues ever came up.

Basically, I would sapphire<all others<visiontek. I haven't seen a visiontek anywhere today other than the listed specs on their web site. I tried to buy one directly from their site with no luck.
 
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
All same, unless you find a Visiontek. They have lifetime warranty (not like you'll need it before you replace the card anyway).
Click to expand...

Damn...had I known I would have gone for a Visiontek but it wasn't in stock and the Diamond card WAS.

Do you know how long Diamond's warranties are?
 
diamond is a year. iirc they're all a year other than VT. Don't worry, in a year the card will only be worth $60 anyway 🙂

I saw a very interesting thread the other day that talked about the "lifetime" warranties that many companies use. basically, most companies with a lifetime warranty really mean that the card is warrantied for its usable lifetime; ie, if you have a lifetime warranty on a 6800ultra right now and it craps out you're SOL. Most of these end up being in the 3 year range total from when the card is first introduced, so if you got a lifetime warranty on an 8800gts a year ago you probably have about 2 more years to go, but it could be as little as 6 mos depending on how the warranty company defines the "lifetime". Interestingly, only XFX and BFG I believe have clarified their warranty policies to explicity state the "lifetime" of the purchaser. EVGA hasn't done so and they've gotten flak for it, but I haven't heard of anybody complaining about EVGA NOT covering a failed card under their lifetime warranty, either.
 
I've been a little dissapointed with the ATI vendors compared to the Nvidia warranty wise. Most I've seen are only one year. I mean hell, at least give a 2 or 3 year warranty if their Nvidia counterparts can shell out lifetime.
 
Originally posted by: Bradtechonline
I've been a little dissapointed with the ATI vendors compared to the Nvidia warranty wise. Most I've seen are only one year. I mean hell, at least give a 2 or 3 year warranty if their Nvidia counterparts can shell out lifetime.
Click to expand...

Well, i've never personally had to use a video card warranty so I suppose I'm lucky. By the time you need the warranty, it'll be beyond 3years more likely than not.
 
Originally posted by: Bradtechonline
I've been a little dissapointed with the ATI vendors compared to the Nvidia warranty wise. Most I've seen are only one year. I mean hell, at least give a 2 or 3 year warranty if their Nvidia counterparts can shell out lifetime.
Click to expand...

QFT...they really need better partners. I wonder what's stopping them. A couple of North American vendors might help.
 
Thanks for the responses guys, this helped a ton. I ordered the HIS 3870 from NCIX, as a bonus it includes the Black Box and Call of Juarez.

I already have the Orange Box and already gave my brother HL2 and HL2: Ep. 1, and was going to get him the Orange Box for Christmas. So now that I can get it this way that's a big bonus 😛
 
Originally posted by: Mana
I've been looking at buying the Radeon 3870, but haven't yet since the different brands are confusing me. Is there any real tangible difference between the different brands for this model? Specifically I'm talking between the Saphire and HIS variants of the 3870.
Click to expand...
Personally, I'm going to wait for Asus' version of the 3870. It has a 3-year warranty plus the package includes COH - Opposing Fronts. Hopefully, Newegg will stock it soon b/c it's stupidly priced and OOS at ZipZoomFly Asus 3870
 
that's only $10 more than their other 3870's iirc. if all sites price them $10 higher that's a good deal with the asus name plus the better warranty.
 
Originally posted by: Bradtechonline
I've been a little dissapointed with the ATI vendors compared to the Nvidia warranty wise. Most I've seen are only one year. I mean hell, at least give a 2 or 3 year warranty if their Nvidia counterparts can shell out lifetime.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Nvidia card companies are definitely better in general. It's not just about the length of the warranty, but also the quality of the warranty service. People have posted about various problems with Sapphire and HIS here in the past; IIRC Sapphire charges you $15 or something to replace a card, while HIS doesn't do any replacements at all themselves and directs you to some middleman who takes months to replace the card.
 
Originally posted by: CP5670
Originally posted by: Bradtechonline
I've been a little dissapointed with the ATI vendors compared to the Nvidia warranty wise. Most I've seen are only one year. I mean hell, at least give a 2 or 3 year warranty if their Nvidia counterparts can shell out lifetime.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Nvidia card companies are definitely better in general. It's not just about the length of the warranty, but also the quality of the warranty service. People have posted about various problems with Sapphire and HIS here in the past; IIRC Sapphire charges you $15 or something to replace a card, while HIS doesn't do any replacements at all themselves and directs you to some middleman who takes months to replace the card.
Click to expand...

But to be fair, it seems to me that Nvidia cards have a higher rate of failure. I could have sworn I've already seen threads of 8800gt owners compaining about artifacts, and if I had a quarter for every time I've seen a thread about some 7-series card artifacting... that would buy me a free lunch or two.
 
it will be intersting to see if 8800gt has a higher rate of failure with these insane clocks and weak single slot cooler on them. I wonder if evga/etc will introduce a dual slot cooler at a later date, maybe the same cooler from 8800gts?
 
I'm surprised Newegg didn't up the price like they did with 8800gt while other sites are doing it. I guess they are tuning in to be the best online reseller.
 
its pretty clear that they are getting a good flow of cards. i've seen them go in and out of stock through out the day. so i'm guessing they don't feel the need to raise the price(s).
 
they are selling both 3870 and 3850 at exactly msrp. I wonder if maybe they cut a deal with amd in which they are guaranteed inventory if they don't go over msrp. seems like a win/win to me.
 
If I were to get a card I'd go for the Powercolor Extreme HD 3870. The Extreme version of the 3850 has been reviewed at a few sites and for the price rocks! As well the PCS (Extreme) versions of the 3870 & 3850 come with higher performance coolers supplied by Zerotherm. I'm just waiting to see what these will cost in my Canadian neck of the woods.

Here are the specs for the PCS (Extreme) version vs the standard version.

Product Name 3870 PCS 512MB GDDR4
Graphics Engine RADEON HD3870
Video Memory 512MB GDDR4
Engine Clock 800MHz
Memory Clock 1200MHz x 2
Memory Interface 256bit




PowerColor HD 3870 512MB GDDR4
Product Name 3870 512MB GDDR4
Graphics Engine RADEON HD3870
Video Memory 512MB GDDR4
Engine Clock 775MHz
Memory Clock 1126MHz x 2
Memory Interface 256bit
 
I've seen pics of the 3870 on Newegg with a single 6 pin power connector, is that a mistake or something?

I thought its power consumption was a little over the 8800GT on load, and that card has two 6 pin power connectors.
 
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