HD3870 Initial impressions + S1 Swap and OC

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:26 am

Hey Gents,

I got my 3870. I actually had to remove my motherboard to install it! You see, my thermalright NB heatsink had screws that were too long and poked the video card. I had to remove the motherboard, remove one of the mounting screws, replace the screw with a smaller one. I also used a hacksaw and a grinder to trim the nut down about 70% from the origional length. After all that, it was still too long, and I used a pliers to cut the extruding length of the screw afterwards. Enough about that!

Initial Impressions:
It's big! The PCB is bigger than my current VGA card. The stock cooler is large and sucky. I know I can do better than that

Once I got it installed, windows Vista was very confused. It saw a new video card, but had Catalyst installed anyway. I think it installed the video card like 2 times, and then I downloaded catalyst drivers and installed it again, lol.

Benchies:
Running 800/1200 speeds, which is a very slight OC on the core, I compared some benchmarks to known bechmarks that I got w/ my OC'd x1800XT.

Crysis: 1280x1024
Medium Quality: x1800XT 17.755 FPS HD3870 30.975
HQ, 4x AA: x1800XT 7.965 HD3870 18.775

You can see that the new video card really handles Crysis better than the old card, even running DX10 vs. DX9

World in Conflict: 1280x1024
Medium Quality DX9 AVG/LO/HI
x1800XT 25/16/47
HD3870 43/19/102

In DX10 mode the framerates really came down, so I tested the new card in DX9 mode for a better comparison.

3DMark06 1280x1024 default setttings
x1800xt: 4789
HD3870: 9518

So there you have it. 3870 beats my old video card hands down. Nice overall performance on some new games.

Overclocking: I still need to work on this. Catalyst overdrive was taking my core up to 860 MHz! But it crashed, so I think more voltage is needed. Strangely the peak temps didnt' seem to get much higher from 820-860 I think it was tempered w/ increased fan speed. Memory clocked to 1290 no problems.

Future plans: Time to install the accelero S-1 w/ a soft mounted 120mm fan, and see what this baby can really do. Some guy got his GPU to break 1GHz w/ an S1 and air cooling.

tsmvengy · Post by **tsmvengy** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:23 am

About Vista's problem seeing the card - did you do the usual procedure of uninstalling the old card drivers, restart, shutdown, remove old card, insert new card, install new drivers?

pipperoni · Post by **pipperoni** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:00 am

For overclocking, I remember reading that there was a core frequency ceiling (860 perhaps?) and that there was some hack or patch if you wanted to go higher.

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:44 am

No, I didn't use the correct method I guess. Hmm. It's working now. Maybe I should uninstall/reinstall the video card??

Oh, here's an update on temps. I just swapped in an AC acclero S1 and mounted it on the GPU, left the stock heatsinks on the memory and VRMs, and then soft-mounted a Scythe Slipstream 800RPM on the left half of the S1.

Idle temps:
Stock cooler: 68C
S1 + Slipstream: 40C

3DMark06 Peak temps:
Stock cooling: 92C
S1 + Slipstream: 52C

It was idling at 28C at stock clock speed, lol. Noise is lower, especially under full load since there is no ramp-up. Running 3Dmark06 for a stability test right now, and then maybe shoot for more of an OC.

Seriously, is that impressive or what?

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:44 am

Good results.

Have you tried running it fully passive (assuming you have good airflow)?
Or with fan slowed down to 500RPM (I see no reason to keep it at 800RPM which is a little noisy for me when it would probably work just as well at lower speeds)?

And one last question, a general one, how many slots do you lose with S1 + fan installed?

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:21 pm

I didn't try running it passive, and here is why. To simplify installation I left the stock heatsinks for the memory and the VRMs on there. They are designed to have airflow, and I didn't feel they would work well passively. I may try later on to affix the S1 memory heatsinks and some sort of VRM cooling, at which point I'd be very comfortable running passive given the performance of the S1.

I didn't try running at 500 rpm, but I could, if you want me to test it for you. I have a spare ULNA around I could use. I know for a fact that the S1 works well with low airflow. It has very wide spacing and low impedance (shallow depth). I also some some other gentleman testing this same setup with a larger 1200rpm fan, and his temps were the same as mine, leading me to believe you dont' need too much to be effective.

With a fan, it's a 3-slot solution. You'd have to rig up something else if you wanted crossfire. Without a fan/ or a fan in different location it's a 2-slot solution.

AznJason · Post by **AznJason** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:54 pm

Is that 2-slots extra (3 slots total) for the S1 w/o a fan? Or is it straight up, two slots (as in what the stock cooler already takes up)?

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:12 pm

2 slot meaning it takes up 2 slots
3 slot meaning it takes up 3 slots

w/ the S1 it takes up the same space as the stock cooling solution. With a fan it takes up an additional slot, so 3 in total.

Kaleid · Post by **Kaleid** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:00 pm

pipperoni wrote:For overclocking, I remember reading that there was a core frequency ceiling (860 perhaps?) and that there was some hack or patch if you wanted to go higher.

That's correct and I have already downloaded the firmware and the flashtool to allow higher overclocks.

They're called:
ATI.HD3870.512.071102.bin
Atiflash349.zip

/ I'll be using my 3870 with a Thermalright HR03(A) plus fan and perhaps some memory heatsinks.

a_punker · Post by **a_punker** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:55 am

Do you have any power consumption details of your HD3870? I've just been using one of those mains plug in devices to measure my entire system draw.

Idle 87W
ATI tool 3D view on 195W
(Seasonic S12 rev1A)

beraring in mind that idle uses Cool'n'Quiet and that ATi tool causes CPU and GPU both to 100%; i don't know a way of measuring the effect of just the GPU load. ATi tool used to report current draw of my x1950XT, but it doesn't appear with this HD3870.

mattthemuppet · Post by **mattthemuppet** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:39 pm

a_punker wrote:Do you have any power consumption details of your HD3870? I've just been using one of those mains plug in devices to measure my entire system draw.

Idle 87W
ATI tool 3D view on 195W
(Seasonic S12 rev1A)

beraring in mind that idle uses Cool'n'Quiet and that ATi tool causes CPU and GPU both to 100%; i don't know a way of measuring the effect of just the GPU load. ATi tool used to report current draw of my x1950XT, but it doesn't appear with this HD3870.

you could stress only the CPU (with Prime95, CPUBurn etc) and then subtract that value from the ATITool+Prime95 figure to get the GPU only power consumption. It's what most test sites (SPCR included) do, so it's a valid approach.

a_punker · Post by **a_punker** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 3:22 am

i'll try that, thx.

AndrewD · Post by **AndrewD** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:41 am

I picked up a Powercolor HD3870 card the other day and thought I'd post my results so far. It's a great card - performs well, and very good power consumption:

Idle 80W (Windows desktop)
Load 165W (RTHDRIBL - GPU at 100%, CPU at 50%)
Load 188W (RTHDRIBL + Orthos - GPU at 100%, CPU at 100%)
Load 176-182W (Crysis GPU benchmark)

This is total system usage from the outlet using a 240v Kill-A-Watt style device. System specs are:

Intel E6750
XP-120 w/Nexus 120mm @ 7V
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DSR2
Crucial 2Gb
1x 3.5" HDD (Maxtor DM10 200Gb, AAM enabled)
1x Samsung 20x DVD/RW
2x Scythe Sliptream 800rpm @ 5V (both intakes)
Seasonic 430-S12
XP Pro SP2
Catalyst 7.12

Everything at stock speeds/volts. Only got this gear together yesterday, so I haven't played with RMClock for undervolting yet. But for stock with no tweaking, I'm very happy with the performance and power usage.

For Crysis, I'm getting 35FPS at 1680x1050 with mix of High/Medium settings (with all settings at High, I get 25.5FPS). At the 35FPS settings, it's very playable and still looks amazing

.

As expected, the stock cooler isn't that good. The fan is fairly quiet at idle (30% speed), but has an annoying buzz and I've just noticed an additional whine when under load. Overall, while not horrible, it's the most offensive noise source in the setup.

At idle its sitting at 45-48degC, at load it hits 86degC (has peaked temporarily at 89C). This is with 1 of the slipstream intakes blowing towards it. I'm not sure this helps much if at all. I've never heard the fan ramp up. From what I've read it needs to hit 90C before that happens. At load the entire card gets quite hot, and the exhausted air is hotter than I expected. It's somewhat worrying, but so far its been 100% stable.

I've got an Accelero S1, so I'm going to put that on very soon and see how it goes. I'll post results some followup results here. Hoping for a reasonable improvement, as with stock cooling I'm not comfortable using it for extended periods of time.

Anyway, it seems like a great card for the price and a nice upgrade from my old X800xl, just the stock cooling lets it down

.

Ryan Norton · Post by **Ryan Norton** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:01 pm

OP, how'd you soft mount your fan on the S1? Right now I've got a Yate-Loon D12SL-12 strapped to the S1 on my 7900GTX with basic small zipties. I doubt I'd make it less quiet by using a different method, but I'm curious what other people have done.

jimmyzaas · Post by **jimmyzaas** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:24 pm

AndrewD wrote: For Crysis, I'm getting 35FPS at 1680x1050 with mix of High/Medium settings (with all settings at High, I get 25.5FPS). At the 35FPS settings, it's very playable and still looks amazing .

Wow.. I have a 8800 GT.. i play at 1280x800 lol.. with everything on high.. plus 2x FSAA..

and damn! the last level was almost a slideshow.. especially the final boss fight.. the entire reckoning level was hitting 15s and 16s alot of the times..

let me know what you get when you hit that level. cuz i've heard radeons have smoother gameplay.. due to more shader power? no idea..

looks like a 9800 GTX/GTS/GT is needed badly for this game..

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:19 am

Ryan Norton wrote:OP, how'd you soft mount your fan on the S1? Right now I've got a Yate-Loon D12SL-12 strapped to the S1 on my 7900GTX with basic small zipties. I doubt I'd make it less quiet by using a different method, but I'm curious what other people have done.

I have some closed-cell foam that is adhesive backed. I think it was weather stripping. It's about 1/4" thick and very dense. I used that on the fan corners, which are the only parts to touch the heatsink. I then used some zip-ties to press it against the heatsink. This also has the advantage of reducing some of the airflow noise, which usually isn't too bad on the S-1 (see the SPCR review)

AndrewD · Post by **AndrewD** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 1:47 am

Update: I've installed the S1 on my HD3870. The installation went smoothly. I'm running it passively, but with the case intake fan (Scythe 800rpm slipstream) blowing directly towards it.

Temps (ambient ~24degC):

Idle - 45degC (Slipstream at 45% in SpeedFan - 515rpm)
Load - 77degC (Slipstream at 45% in SpeedFan - 515rpm)
Load - 67degC (Slipstream at 80% in SpeedFan - 790rpm)
Load - 65degC (Slipstream at 100% in SpeedFan - 880rpm)

Using RTHDRIBL to load the GPU.

I've settled on the 45%/80% config as a good compromise of silence at idle and quiet but sub 70C temps at load. But even with the intake at 500rpm, it's still a 10C improvement over stock cooling.

lucinski · Post by **lucinski** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:04 am

djkest wrote:I didn't try running it passive, and here is why. To simplify installation I left the stock heatsinks for the memory and the VRMs on there. They are designed to have airflow, and I didn't feel they would work well passively.

By observing several pics with the stock cooling of the HD3870, I've seen that the airflow of the stock cooler cooler touches only the GPU and nothing else. The VRAM is almost sealed away by the large stock cooler and perhaps only a side fan could blow on the VRAM heatsinks (with marginal impact I reckon). So are you sure the aforementioned heatsinks are not designed for passive cooling?

You might at least give it a try with the passive cooling.

HD3870 Initial impressions + S1 Swap and OC

HD3870 Initial impressions + S1 Swap and OC

Power consumption

Re: Power consumption