What's interesting is that even though Crysis is often held up as the poster child for DirectX 10 gaming, DirectX 10 itself does not appear to be the chief factor in why this game is so challenging for current hardware. We suspect game developers will continue to add DirectX 10 features to their games slowly, so while the DirectX 10 performance outlook games remains elusive, as Crysis shows, DirectX 9 can still challenge even brand new 3D hardware. The solution for now is to dial down the image quality and the resolution, at which point you should be able to achieve a more playable frame rate.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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1,600 x 1,200, high quality |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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1,600 x 1,200, high quality |
On top of performance, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 brings with it a few advanced features, some that matter, some that don't. Probably the most important is its PCI Express 2.0 support. You can still use the Radeon HD 3870 X2 in current generation PCI Express 1.0 slots, but with added PCI E 2.0 capability, this will open the card up for forthcoming motherboards with these next-gen slots and their wider data bandwidth. Like DirectX 10, PCI E 2.0 is a forward-looking feature, but especially if you pair up two X2 cards in a CrossfireX configuration (ATI's 3 three and four-3D chip technology, available as soon as driver and motherboard support allows), all that 3D processing capability may very well need a fatter data pipe to feed it enough information. Time will tell.
Like its other 3000-series 3D cards, AMD also touts the 3870 X2's DirectX 10.1 support. Do not buy this card for that reason alone. No games use DirectX 10 yet to full effect. DirectX 10.1 (which adds only a few graphical tweaks beyond vanilla DX10) is even farther away. Having that capability now only ensures that some day when DirectX 10.1 games arrive, this card will technically support those features. But by that time both ATI and Nvidia will likely have released newer cards in this price range. Adding DirectX 10.1 support is harmless, and we always welcome future-proofing, but it won't show its value until likely 2009.
Otherwise, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 comes with most of the common features we expect from 3D cards these days. It has full HDCP-compatibility, so you can use it in systems that have a protected Blu-ray or HD DVD optical drive. You can also use the Radeon HD 3870 X2 to power two displays, including two 30-inch LCDs, each at 2,560x1,600.
Installing the Radeon HD 3870 X2 doesn't require anything beyond a power connection, a PCI Express graphics slot, and room for a double-wide 3D card. You'll need a typical six-pin power connection to your PC's power supply. The card also has a separate eight-pin connector, which you'll need to use if you intend to overclock it. AMD makes no official power supply recommendation for a single 3870 X2, although its Web site does suggest at least a 550-watt power supply for two standalone Radeon HD 3870 cards. We suspect you wouldn't want to go any lower than 450 watts or so for a single 3870 X2, especially if you paired it with a quad-core CPU.
The only other thing we'll add is that the 3870 X2 is one of the heaviest 3D cards we've encountered. It weights a hefty 2.25 pounds. Its weight won't affect DIY hobbyists that much, just be sure to use those bracket screws. System builders who have to ship systems to customers will have a harder time. We suspect the use of card retaining brackets will become more popular this year.
Thanks, as always, to James Yu and Sarju Shah at GameSpot for their benchmarking expertise.
What You'll Pay
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