There’s always been a couple of chipset-exclusive brands available in the videocard market such as XFX which only sells Nvidia videocards, or PowerColor, which concentrates on ATI products. With the rising popularity of ATI products, we also see some previously one-brand videocard makers also adopting ATI chips, as well as totally new brands popping up in the market to wholly concentrate on producing ATI-based videocards. One such company that only recently increased its presence locally is Force3D, of which we have two sample cards.

Surprisingly, these cards aren’t exactly low-end as we would expect from a relatively new brand sending samples for us for review – we got both an HD 4870 and an HD 3870. Skipping ahead of all of the specifications already well-known by most savvy PC consumers, and previously mentioned in this post, the HD 4870 is one of the most efficient (in terms of performance-per-watt) in the videocard universe. It is also the foundation of what many would argue is the highest-performing videocard currently available, the 4870 X2.

                                             Arctic Cooling seems to be a common choice for many videocard vendors wanting ti improve cooling. Force3D's 3870 sports an Arctic Cooling solution here.

                                            The large cooler should do a good job of wicking away heat from the 487's core.

For a company relatively new to the local market, the products are quite accomplished-looking, the 4870 uses the typically red PCB of most ATI cards and adds to it a light but large aluminum heatsink-and-fan combination that doesn’t copy other available designs – in other words the cooling solution is unique to Force3D – a brushed-black aluminum cap covering a multi-fin arrangement that’s threaded with three copper heatpipes. The aluminum fins are in a “floating” arrangement with plenty of room between the PCB and the bottom of the aluminum fins. The rest of the card is standard ATI fare, including the dual six-pin power sockets, dual DVI connectors, single S-Video out, and dual CrossFire golden fingers.

                                             A single 6-pin power connector for the 3870.

                                           The 4870 requires dual 6-pin connectors for power.

The HD 3870 repeats Force3D’s level of standardization – an Arctic Cooling heatsink and fan solution similar to Palit and Manli’s many models grace this 3870, but is in a combination of sinister black and white in this incarnation. The HD 3870 is nearly as long as its bigger 4870 brother. Main differences include a single six-pin power connector instead of the 4870’s two, and the lack of an exhaust port integrated onto the back plate. The Dual DVI, single S-Video and dual golden fingers remain the same.

                                             Although both occupying dual slots, the 3870 (top) does not have a cooling vent.

Force3D surprises again with its packaging – while there’s no overly ambitious addition in both packages, a clean and organized approach lends itself well to Force3D’s bundling of items – a neat cardboard box is book-ended by two foam ends, which fits snugly into the main box along with another small box containing six-pin power to molex converters, an S-Video to RCA converter, S-Video to RCA-In, and a CrossFire bridge connector. The 4870 has an additional DVI to VGA and DVI to HDMI connector. The installation CD is contained within a nicely-executed CD-case that looks like it came from a well-established brand such as Asus. The outer boxes themselves are presented in a no-frills manner which nonetheless conveys a clean look using a combination of black and red – the regular ATI colors.

                                             The standard black and red motif of most ATI cards are also applied here.

Other than the two samples in our hands, Force3D also has other notable ATI products like the 4830 and 4550, and has already garnered the attention of many online review sites, including Guru3D and Hexus. A lot of the performance of these cards naturally lie with the chipset it comes with, and in this manner we can be sure that AMD/ATI will deliver the goods. A harder consideration is the videocard manufacturer’s ability to support the buyer after the item has been purchased, and also how much the manufacturer can improve upon the base performance of the ATI chips.

                                             Above is the 4870 bundle. The 3870 lacks only the two DVI converters in the middle.

                                            Neatly arranged packaging has a clean look.

The standard bundling, solid packaging and just enough special bits on the cooling side make these two cards a solid example and a good starting point for Force3D, saying much for their focus on priorities, hopefully soon to be apparent in their customer relations. There will surely be more unique features and improvements on Force3D’s cards in the near future if their current efforts are any indication, making me look forward to the rest of its lineup and any future efforts that may come our way. More pictures to follow.

                                             Dual CrossFire golden fingers.

                                             The 4870's cooling solution employs three heatpipes.

                                             Clear space beneath the heatsink ensure proper air circulation.