Last Updated on Thursday, 25 March 2010 09:43 Written by Chris Hunter Tuesday, 22 January 2008 19:35

AMD's issue is optimizing their drivers for this new dual-GPU system. Unlike the normal "X2" video cards, ATi put both GPUs on the same PCB. The NVIDIA 7950X2 and the 9800X2 video cards have two PCBs. This new arrangement, combined with bad drivers, produces inconsistent results on games such as NFS: ProStreet. In another NVIDIA based game, Bioshock awards the low-res lead to the 8800 Ultra, but the HD gaming performance lead goes to the HD 3870X2. Results are somewhat erratic, but still stronger than the 8800 Ultra. Once this driver issue is solved, the performance envelope should greatly expand.

The synthetic benchmarks provided some real perspective on the differences between the two cards. The Radeon HD 3870X2 led by 30% on lower resolutions and by 43.8 percent on HD resolutions. With 4xAA and 16xAF enabled, ATi's lead did not waver. Lower resolutions go to ATi with a 36% lead, and the HD portion resulted in a 38% lead for ATi. This is a sure sign that the power is available, if the drivers can handle it.

While running the video cards for fifteen minutes at full load, they recorded power draw and temperature readings. The 8800 Ultra maintains a 72C or 161.6F core temperature while drawing 303 watts. The HD 3870X2 maintains a 79C or 174.2F core temperature while drawing 334 watts. Contrary to initial impressions, the power draw and thermal tests favor AMD-ATi. Even though the ATi card uses more power, and sits about 7C or 12.6F hotter than the 8800 ultra, the performance per watt of the ATi card is far greater. This equals out to more performance for less in electricity costs.

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