VisionTek Radeon HD 3870 Graphics Card

True VisionTek revision 1 is a great card but READ more!!!

Strengths: If you get a true VisionTek card or the Overclocked cousin the 900226 they are great cards with great heatsinks copper heatsinks. Good memory good clock & memory speeds!

Weakness: -VisonTek has for more than 4 months (mistakenly) sent a lesser ATI reference card to some people that ordered the 900202 card. -Overheating because the BIOS is set too low for a fan speed.

PRICEGRABBER: VISIONTEK 3870 I have been researching & in the market for a 3870 or 8800GT for a while now. I have spent the last couple of days researching a handful of ATI 3870 dual slot heatsink fan cards which exhaust the hot air outside the case. (I much prefer those cards if space permits for the lower temperatures it results in the case & system wide. VisionTek is the only ATI card maker...
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PRICEGRABBER: VISIONTEK 3870

I have been researching & in the market for a 3870 or 8800GT for a while now.
I have spent the last couple of days researching a handful of ATI 3870 dual slot heatsink fan cards which exhaust the hot air outside the case. (I much prefer those cards if space permits for the lower temperatures it results in the case & system wide.

VisionTek is the only ATI card maker that offers a LIMITED Lifetime warranty. That means a lot to me. However surrounding this particular card SKU 900202 the company has some known issues.
www.visiontek.com/foru...

The first one is what will you get in the box? Will you get the ATI reference card called (BBA - Built by ATI) in the forums or will you get a VisionTek built card? And which revision Revision 1 with the dual slot exhaust out the back of the computer case or the newly announced heatsink orbs that vent the hot air inside the case.

Why does that matter. Well for starters they have different heatsinks, they have different BIOS's (the Basic Input Output Instructions) that tell the card how to operate. So when it comes time to flash the BIOS for fixes, flashing the wrong BIOS would likely create a door stop that would have to be RMA'd back at a cost of $10 & time without the card.

Yes, BIOS flashing is not a common everyday users' issue. But the reason I bring it up is because of a VERY LARGE problem that these cards have (both BBA & the VisionTek cards) & that is HEAT (specifically that heat not being vented).
This is because the card does not spin fast enough because of incorrect instructions in both the VisionTek's BIOS & also the BBA's BIOS's, the heatsink on the VisionTeks is better but both heatsinks/fans can cool just fine had they been given the proper instructions.

Why flash the BIOS & who does it affect? Well if you are using the card to surf the internet than you seriously overpaid & have a great deal more card then you need for that. But if you are a gamer then these cards have a problem with the fans not spinning up fast enough & if you are running graphically intense games soon enough you can reach temperatures over 90+C. There have been a number of UNofficial Fixes for the fan BIOS problem as long ago as January for some of the cards but using them can/will void your warranty...initially not specifying which BBA or VTek they applied to. Now there have been a number of OFFICIAL BIOS fixes that have not yet fixed the fan issue in the BBA cards. It took ATI until middle of March before they sent VisionTek or before VT put pressure on ATI & got the drivers for a card that's been out for 5-6 months prior. Unfortunately, the BIOS did not contain the correct fan settings. There was a BIOS on other OEM's sites that did but that didn't arrive until April. Problem is again it’s only for BBA Cards & even some of those it is breaking the card after the flash. VT is honoring the RMA but according to reviewers you will not get your card back but another used card (presumably one that the BIOS chip or other repairs was made to it).

AND AS OF 10 minutes ago when I checked...VisionTek's Forum, moderator "Bangdit" stated that VisionTek cards don't have the overheating issue (stated back in March). He has since updated that to say that there is no VisionTek Bios flash yet.

Now if you own one or are thinking about buying one; there are at least three very good programs Riva Tuner, ATI Tool, & ATI Tray Tool that can be used to turn up the fan to an appropriate level. What can happen if you are gaming & don't act proactively to turn up the fan speed via the third party programs or set the programs to spin up faster based on temperature readings...well artifacts & shutdowns can be an annoyance. But shortened lifespan of the equipment, and a corruption of your Catalyst ATI drivers-If you are lucky you can use system restore to revert back to a time when they were working or if you regularly backup / image your drive you can restore from that etc. Otherwise you may have to reinstall due to an overheating issue that on a card marketed heavily to gamers should never exist, especially when a simple (or not so simple) BIOS fix can solve the problem.

Yes, again VisionTek has a great warranty, but if your time & frustration level is worth nothing to you then you need not bother. RMA'ing waiting & reinstalling because you don't know which version of the VisionTek 3870 will be RMA'd back to you (some sending in the VisionTek version have reported receiving the ATI reference cards in its place).

Last point: In the past there have been two versions of SKU #900202 that you might receive - The VisionTek model you paid for or the ATI reference board with a lesser heatsink.
Now VisionTek has began making a REVISION TWO version which has ORB style coolers that vent the hot air only to the interior of your computer's case. It is no longer designed or capable of venting externally.
I don't know if they misunderstood the problem with the overheatings and thought it was the fault of the dual slot external heatsink fan....but this is a shame!

If you get a true VisionTek card or the Overclocked cousin the 900226 they are great cards with great heatsinks. I’d suggest just running the third party cooler until they get the BIOS’s worked out.
I like the fact that this on the true VisionTek REVISION 1 is a true copper heat pipe heatsink that exhausts externally out the back of the case.
The HiS versions of this card use an aluminum heatsink that is painted (paint is an insulator) on a heatink, but they paint it copper color; how shady is that?

I would buy one of these but only because I know exactly what headaches & problems I face and I will biotch until I get an actual VisionTek card if they send a ATI BBA card instead!

By bdubslawman - May 8, 2008

Great card for great price line

Strengths: New card and visiontek has lifetime gurantee and great service. Card is really well balaced. If you looking for high end and low price. This is it.

Weakness: Can't handle high setting for crysis, but any other 8800 card might have same situation.

I love this card and I don't have any complains with this card. This card is in high demand, so you might having hard time to find this card, so good luck!

By wildstar7 - Jan 2, 2008

Radeon HD 3870

Strengths: GDDR4, PCI Express 2, HDCP, cost, hdmi

Weakness: size

This is a very large card that takes up two slots. the card is great value considering the performance. I have been very impressed with the ATI/AMD cards recently released. I have not had problems running these cards with recent drivers in Vista 32 bit machines. Visiontek has lifetime warranty which I fortunately have not had to use.

By stockshowgypsy - Jul 12, 2008

VisionTek Radeon HD 3870 512MB PCIe 900202

Testseek.com has collected 4 expert reviews for VisionTek Radeon HD 3870 512MB PCIe 900202 and the average expert rating is 88 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.
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By testseek.com - Nov 4, 2008

Radeon HD 3870 review

The Radeon HD 3870 features a long list of impressive specifications and an attractive price. But is it a GeForce 8800 GT contender?
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By Techspot - Nov 30, 2007