Passive ATI HD3650 - PowerColor 3650 or Club3D 3650?

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:43 pm

Both are passive solutions. I was wondering if anyone had purchase one and if they included the HDMI adaptors in the box? Or which is "better".

I'm not really into PC gaming anymore but these are DX10.1/UVD/Passive/Dual DVI. 3450 isn't an option for me as it has 1 VGA and I also read it wasn't powerful enough for 1080p decoding (unless it was a driver bug).

Both are around Â£50

PS If anyone knows how to resize the pic!

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:11 am

I suscpect power colour's card toi be exact the same with club 3D. Same as xpertvision makes same cards with palit. Both I suspect is owned by same major corporation so you can go for either one.

I have had X1600XT for 3 years from Club 3D and it worked extremely well. I just changed my VGA card to drop idle power consumption so I got HD 3450 as I am not gaming anymore with this.

My experience is that Club 3D is pretty much as stock as manufacturer can be with spartan bundle. You get everything you need and nothing else. But I do like their packaging and dark gamecard theme generally.

I'd go for Club 3D.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:21 pm

I bought a PowerColor HD 2600 Pro and it didnâ€™t down clock at idle. I asked them if they supported this feature and they said no so I RMAâ€™d it. I canâ€™t recommend them after that.

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:43 am

It would seem Club3D 3650 isn't available so I might not have much choice anyway!! The 3650 supports PowerPlay so I guess the PowerColor must support clocking down?

kike_1974 · Post by **kike_1974** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:03 pm

The 2600pro has powerplay too, and however the Club3D 2600pro card that smilingcrow had did not support it...

So not all manufactures are implementing the powerplay feature in their designs even if the chip itself supports it.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:16 am

kike_1974 wrote:The 2600pro has powerplay too, and however the Club3D 2600pro card that smilingcrow had did not support it...

So not all manufactures are implementing the powerplay feature in their designs even if the chip itself supports it.

It was a PowerColor card that I had not Club3D. I would ask the manufacturer before purchasing as quite a lot of cards seem to be lacking this feature judging by the high power draw seen in some reviews. GeCube are other culprits so be wary of them also.

snoopygum · Post by **snoopygum** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:57 am

kike_1974 wrote:The 2600pro has powerplay too, and however the Club3D 2600pro card that smilingcrow had did not support it...

So not all manufactures are implementing the powerplay feature in their designs even if the chip itself supports it.

According to ATI, for desktop cards, only the 3000 series support PowerPlay.

2000 series - No mention of PowerPlay
http://ati.amd.com/products/hdseries.html

3000 series - PowerPlay
http://ati.amd.com/products/hd3000series.html

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:46 am

Only laptop HD-2xxx-series has PowerPlay in 2xxx-series. HD-3xxx was first desktop series with PowerPlay.

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:59 pm

I've just found two other contenders - Asus EAH3650 SILENT.

512MB DDR2

http://www.tsi-europe.com/productInfo.a ... f=OR298528

512MB DDR3, 256MB DDR 3 also available

http://www.tsi-europe.com/productinfo.a ... f=OR298530

I've never heard of this company (TSi).

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:35 am

Sorry but got to post a usless post as it won't let me post URL's in my first post, so ignore this one and read the next one!

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:43 am

tutu wrote:I've just found two other contenders - Asus EAH3650 SILENT.

512MB DDR2

http://www.tsi-europe.com/productInfo.a ... f=OR298528

512MB DDR3, 256MB DDR 3 also available

http://www.tsi-europe.com/productinfo.a ... f=OR298530

I've never heard of this company (TSi).

I too have been looking for a passive 3650.

Edit:Opps just realised you have linked to this one above, thought it was th 256mb verison!

There's another card you have not listed above, it's the Asus EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M Graphics Card Radeon HD 3650 512MB PCi-E DVI-I HDTV (EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M)

Asus webpage

This one includes a built-in multi-channel 5.1 surround audio over DVI-HDMI Adaptor.

This is also listed on the TSI Website but I've never heard of them before and they don't state stock levels, just phoned them and they have just phoned back, stocks are expected on the 1st of April.

I've also found them on the More Computers, but the shipping date keeps slipping back, now the 31st March.

So I guess it's a waiting game then, unless anybody knows of another passive 3650 that is available.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:32 am

Just found that Ebuyer have the Power Colour card in stock.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140261 Edit: Wrong one, misread the part number - this one has a fan!

So I'm off to order it!

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:34 am

eBuyer don't stock the passive one ASFAIK. The product code should be AX3650 512MD2-S3

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:54 am

tutu wrote:eBuyer don't stock the passive one ASFAIK. The product code should be AX3650 512MD2-S3

Thanks very much for pointing that out, don't know how I missed that!

Turns out City Link have lost my order, so they have done me a favour really, I will just cancel it.

It wasn't clear whether that one comes with the DVI to HDMI adapter, and as it has on board sound ATI make a special adapter which seems hard to get hold of.

Guess it's back to waiting for the other one.

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:39 pm

My Powercolor 3650 arrived today from komplett.co.uk. No HDMI adaptor despite the Powercolor website saying the opposite

I didn't have a need (using VGA) at the moment but I wanted the option in case I ever upgrade to a full 1080p TV.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:02 am

tutu wrote:My Powercolor 3650 arrived today from komplett.co.uk. No HDMI adaptor despite the Powercolor website saying the opposite

I didn't have a need (using VGA) at the moment but I wanted the option in case I ever upgrade to a full 1080p TV.

I don't currently need the onboard sound either at the moment, but would like the option, I had been trying to find the adapter for sale, but can't find any in the UK, apparently they do appear on Ebay from time to time.

Was this the part number of the one you ordered from Komplett #: 346539/Manufacturer P\N: CGAX-H3652DDY as it clearly states HDMI on Kompletts site.

Where as this one Komplett #: 345335/Manufacturer P\N: 47125050 22437 does not state HDMI on Komplett

I've now found an adapter, it's also supplied by Komplett

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=344881

and this post confirms it works

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... st13412522

Could you measure the length of the card for me please, I need to know it will clear my Blu Ray drive, thanks

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:30 am

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=345335

It doesn't mention a HDMI adaptor but the Powercolor website does.

http://www.powercolor.com/Global/produc ... uctID=1747

I don't have anything to measure it with at the moment

My ruler is at work.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:47 am

tutu wrote: http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=345335

It doesn't mention a HDMI adaptor but the Powercolor website does.

http://www.powercolor.com/Global/produc ... uctID=1747

I don't have anything to measure it with at the moment My ruler is at work.

My bad, the one on Komplett that mentions HDMI is the Club3D one.

The Powercolor site states it has HDMI output support, but does not make it clear if it has the adapter, this seems to be a complaint on a lot of forums, that suppliers just don't make it clear. Although the box clearly shows the adapter in the picture, again I've seen complaints about this on forums - might be worth an email to Powercolor, especially if your box shows one.

Don't worry about measuring it, I've taken a chance and ordered one and hopefully it will be here tomorrow, with a bit of luck it will fit.

I'll let you know if there's an adapter included with mine.

kike_1974 · Post by **kike_1974** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:18 am

Is any of these passive HD3650 confirmed to have powerplay working properly?

Has anyone tested and compared its power consumption in idle to a 2400pro/xt? What I have already seen in some reviews is that the HD3650 has a similar consumption in idle as a HD3450, but I'm still not sure of how it compares to a HD2400.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:34 am

My card's just arrived and there's no adapter in the box, good job I ordered the HIS one, which does have ATI on it.

The card will also fit in my machine, which is good news.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:55 pm

kike_1974 wrote:Is any of these passive HD3650 confirmed to have powerplay working properly?

Has anyone tested and compared its power consumption in idle to a 2400pro/xt? What I have already seen in some reviews is that the HD3650 has a similar consumption in idle as a HD3450, but I'm still not sure of how it compares to a HD2400.

Powerplay certainly seems to work, when just viewing an idle desktop the clock is 300Mhz, when watching TV that changes to 725Mhz.

I can also confirm that sound works over HDMI with the adapter I mentioned above.

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:35 pm

Mine seems to be doing OK. 300 Mhz at 37c (PowerPlay). VC-1 acceleration is amazing - 14% CPU usage (max) during Harry Potter Blu-Ray (C2D was running at 2 GHz - Speedstep).

I haven't tried any games but I don't expect performance to be upto much (128-bit bus and DDR2 (not GDDR2) memory). I would like to see some benchmarks.

My gaming res is only 1280*1024 and I don't really play PC games anymore. I use the 360 mostly for that.

I do play Dawn of War/World of warcaft (but not very often, subsciption cancelled atm) so this card should handle those.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:05 am

I'm very pleased with mine, it's for a media center PC, so no gaming. I've found the Catalyst software to be far better than Nvidia's offerings and the cards also cured some annoying problems I had with my old Nvidia card as well.

kike_1974 · Post by **kike_1974** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:00 pm

I was thinking in this asus:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2& ... odelmenu=1

It comes with DDR2, it is not for hard gaming, but I will use it for some light gaming (in fact my wife will). It is really cheap in here (52â‚¬). Do you think it is worth to spend some extra cash (20â‚¬ more) in a DDR3 version like this one?:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2& ... odelmenu=1

From the gaming point of view they are both crappy cards, but is there a noticiable difference between them in games?

Thanks for your answers

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:50 am

There's also a 512mb version

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2& ... odelmenu=1

Which was what I was trying to get here in the UK, but the stock expected date kept slipping back.

I expect there would be a very small increase, but not much.

Edit:I believe that this one also comes with the HDMI adapter

valnar · Post by **valnar** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:13 pm

Did anyone get one of these silent 3650's? I'm looking at the ASUS passive EAH3650 myself. I have an Antec P150 case that I want to keep silent. I was wondering how much heat these things put out.

Robert

af9pk · Post by **af9pk** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:38 pm

valnar wrote:Did anyone get one of these silent 3650's? I'm looking at the ASUS passive EAH3650 myself. I have an Antec P150 case that I want to keep silent. I was wondering how much heat these things put out.

Robert

Not much in office work. My Powercolor 3650 currently has a GPU temp of 45C according to ati catalyst control center. The heatsink is not even mildly hot.

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:53 pm

valnar wrote:Did anyone get one of these silent 3650's? I'm looking at the ASUS passive EAH3650 myself. I have an Antec P150 case that I want to keep silent. I was wondering how much heat these things put out.

Robert

I have one in my Elonex Artisan media center case, which is not even designed to take full height graphics card, but I've still managed to fit it, and have no problems at all.

As long as you have a reasonable flow of air through the case you will not have any problems.

tutu · Post by **tutu** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:44 pm

In my P182 it ran about 44c (ish from memory) on the desktop. I sent it back however as I picked up a 3870 XT second hand for a decent price and fitted a S1.

wayner · Post by **wayner** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:55 am

Sapphire also makes a passive 3850 which I am running - the cost was about Canadian$175. It is cool to the touch when idle - very impressive.