Published in Reviews

Diamond dual slot 3850 512MB Ruby Edition tested

by on05 February 2008

Index

 

Testbed:

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Supplied by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Supplied by Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Supplied by OCZ)
        while testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black ( Supplied by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Supplied by Artic Cooling)

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM

ATI Driver:

Sample-R680_xp_vista_8-451-2-080108a
8-1_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_57717

Nvidia Driver:

169.21_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql 


Futuremarks

We tested Diamond HD 3850 512MB card but bear in mind, when viewing the results, that reference HD 3850’s have 256MB of memory. Overclocking was simple enough and we managed to reach stable 735MHz core and 980MHz memory speed. Faster card with more memory easily outperformed the reference one. The cooler performed well and the temperature was below 70 degrees Celsius, no matter the workload, and that’s 20 degrees less than reference HD 3850’s score.

Image

Diamond HD 3850 Ruby Edition card scores well in 3DMarks and it constantly beats 8800 GS, and after we overclocked it, it ended up being on par with reference HD 3870.

Image

Diamond HD 3850 did a good job doubling the memory on their card. If you’re gaming at 1280x1024, the performance increase will not be that great, but as soon as you go for higher resolutions, it definitely pays off - so we see the performance increase of 15%. Geforce 8800 GS beats Diamond’s card, but by such a small margin that it’s negligible. At lower resolutions with antialiasing on, 8800 GS has the edge, but when AA is off, HD 3850 takes the cake.


Image

In F.E.A.R., Radeon HD 3850 beats 8800 GS by a small margin. These two cards go at it hammer and tongs in €150 market segment. Diamond’s 512MB card beats 256MB reference card by up to 9%, and it’s slightly less than the 15% increase we had in Company of Heroes.


Image

World in Conflict did a good job utilizing the graphics memory so we see Diamond’s card easily beating the reference HD 3850 256MB card. Diamond HD 3850’s core ran at 735MHz core and 980MHz memory speed.


Image

In Crysis, Diamond failed to deliver at 1280x1024 and antialiasing on. The card simply couldn’t take this beast on. Not even the 512MB of memory helped, and it performed almost identically to 256MB version. Still, HD 3870 didn’t fare better either and at 1600x1200, it scored the same as Diamond HD 3850. Geforce 8800 GS is slightly better than HD 3850, but we still think that the main problem is ATI’s drivers for XP.



Conclusion

Diamond did a good job with their dual slot HD 3850 with 512MB, and the dual-slot cooler attempted to attract gamers and those who don’t like the single-slot 256MB version. The card runs at reference 668MHz core and 830MHz memory, but Diamond’s cooler will make overclocking easy. Actually, the cooler is what makes this card special, and the GPU temperature during gaming reaches only 63 degrees Celsius. For those who want a 100% noise-free card, Diamond’s cooler might not be the answer, but it will do the trick for an average user. For this price we expeced a higher clocked card.

We’ve seen what Diamond HD 3850 512MB Ruby Edition can do, and it’s definitely more than HD 3850 256MB can, and since this card supports DX 10.1 and PCI Express 2.0, you can most certainly look forward to some of the next-generation games coming our way. As far as multimedia goes, HD 3800 will satisfy most current demands. UVD engine takes care of BluRay and HD DVD reproduction, so your CPU power will not be an issue here.

The price is right - $174 in U.S. and about the same numbers just with € as a currency in Europe. That being said, this card is a really good solution for those on a budget that want a cool and fast enough card.


« Prev Next

Last modified on 11 February 2008
Rate this item
(0 votes)