MSI RX3870-T2D512E-OC (Radeon HD 3870)

Introduction

Introduction

Our first encounter with a Radeon HD 3000 series card was an interesting one indeed. With an overclocked PowerColor Radeon HD 3850 graphics card that has double the frame buffer size for its SKU and a third-party cooler, it was a swell and cool performer, albeit the din of the card could ward off a potential customer. While we haven't had a chance yet to test-drive a stock version of the Radeon HD 3850, today we show you what an overclocked edition of the speedier 3870 variant has to offer with the MSI RX3870-T2D512E-OC.

Just to recap, the Radeon HD 3000 series has a lot in common with the current Radeon HD 2000 series in terms of architecture and features, so don't get carried away with the new naming scheme. In essence, the Radeon HD 3000 series is a 55nm part of the Radeon HD 2000 series where the 3850 and 3870 models take on most the architectural and feature aspects of the Radeon HD 2900 XT. What's new is that the new GPU models are the first to support the DirectX 10.1 standard (and thus Shader Model 4.1 as well), Integrated Universal Video Decoder (UVD, which was formerly lacking on the 2900 XT model) and ATI's PowerPlay technology (a power saving technique in controlling the clocks of the various GPU domains usually found on mobile GPUs).

DirectX 10.1 is completely backward compatible with the existing established DirectX 10 standard, thus there's no incompatibility concerns at all. In fact a lot of the features in the DirectX 10.1 standard are either already supported in the Radeon HD 2000 series (and that of NVIDIA's GeForce 8 series) or can be executed via DirectX 10 code structures. We digress a little further, but it is important to understand that DirectX 10.1 brings about is easier game developer programmability for certain implementations and promotes GP-GPU initiatives with the stricter rules imposed (as opposed to being optional or open ended on DirectX 10). With no prior DirectX 10.1 hardware before the Radeon HD 3000 series and no games targeting this standard, there's simply no concern for any consumer of this new spec. In fact, we've spoken to big time game developers (such as Epic Games - the folks behind Unreal Tournament), small time game developers and Microsoft folks themselves and there is a unanimous consensus among them. None of them have plans to incorporate DirectX 10.1 standards for current or near-term future projects as it is just a slight superset of the established DirectX 10. They view DirectX 10.1 as more of a 'patch' or 'bug fix' than an evolutionary API.

Back to the MSI RX3870-T2D512E-OC graphics card, it stays true to a reference Radeon HD 3870 graphics card, but under the hood, it has been slightly overclocked out of the box to 800MHz for the core. Compare that with the specs of a standard Radeon HD 3870 (and even the Radeon HD 3850 for that matter since they are architecturally similar and differ only in clock speeds). On the NVIDIA front, watch for the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB whose price is in the same ballpark as the ATI Radeon HD 3870.