Diamond Multimedia Viper Radeon HD 3850 Graphics Card

Wonderful Card

Strengths: Fast, Relatively quiet, Not very expensive

Weakness: This thing is HUGE

This is a very good card. It runs every game perfectly. The only downside is that it is very big - it could barely fit in my case. I had to move some stuff inside to make room for this monster. Overall, I am very satisfied with this card and would recommend it to anybody.

By bulakh - May 29, 2008

Excellent card for this price

Strengths: price very stable low power utilization

Weakness: a little bit hot on load fan noise

This is the best video card for sub $100. This is the bang for the buck. Vista Aero and gaming rating is at maximum (5.9). Runs NFS Carbon: 1200x1600, maximum details, and AF/on and AA=2x @ 40FPS. Very stable, low power utilization but a little bit hot on load (80°C); the VC fan speeds up when the temp reaches 80°C which is late. I think they set it like this to make the VC very quit on idle. I...
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This is the best video card for sub $100. This is the bang for the buck. Vista Aero and gaming rating is at maximum (5.9). Runs NFS Carbon: 1200x1600, maximum details, and AF/on and AA=2x @ 40FPS. Very stable, low power utilization but a little bit hot on load (80°C); the VC fan speeds up when the temp reaches 80°C which is late. I think they set it like this to make the VC very quit on idle. I am very happy to own this card!
My system is:
MB: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
CPU: Intel C2D e6750
RAM: Supertalent 800MHz 2GB 4-4-3-8/2.15V
VC: HD 3850 256MB
HDD: WD 7200RPM 160 GB 8MB
PSU: Thermal take 420w
DVD: LG DVD W/R x20
OS: Vista Home Premium

By pastel_wzb - Sep 11, 2008

Diamond Viper Radeon HD 3850

Strengths: Decent price. Audio over HDMI adapter.

Weakness: ugly and bulky. Fan a little loud.

I got this video card primarily to set up a multimedia entertainment computer for HDTV - because this card carries audio over its special DVI-HDMI adapter. Gaming is only my secondary concern. However, its fan is just a little loud - you can definitely hear it in the quieter scenes during a movie. There are only three wires going to the fan - it doesn't seem to adjust its speed with temperature....
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I got this video card primarily to set up a multimedia entertainment computer for HDTV - because this card carries audio over its special DVI-HDMI adapter. Gaming is only my secondary concern. However, its fan is just a little loud - you can definitely hear it in the quieter scenes during a movie. There are only three wires going to the fan - it doesn't seem to adjust its speed with temperature. I've only tried playing Gears of War with this card, and frame rate seems to be pretty decent.
I have also called Diamond's customer support regarding the slightly different part numbers they have for this card. They told me that 3850PE35120 and 3850PE35120SB are identical.
Its price was pretty cheap at the time of my purchase. However, Diamond Multimedia's rebate reputation is not the best out there...
The retail package unfortunately shows no picture of the card, and it makes no mentions of the its thickness (double slots). There's no plastic covering to direct air straight to the outlet vent, so it's likely that hot air can still end up circulating in a computer.

By jjmai - Sep 11, 2008

Excellent Mid-range Card for its cost

Strengths: Can be overclocked. Can run in crossfire.

Weakness: None so far

For $100 after rebate, you get a excellent card that can run almost all modern games beautifully and will last for a while. Also, this card comes overclocked, and this is a very surprising bonus for me. If you have two of these cards and run them in Crossfire, nothing cannot be done with this monster.

By florabing8 - Sep 7, 2008

Great quiet card

Strengths: The card runs quiet and effective. Had no problems with installation. Works well with vista

Weakness: N/A

The card runs quiet and effective. Had no problems with installation. Works well with vista. Tested COD4, HL2 and ran smoothly without a hitch. I recommend this product

By gokou20 - Aug 9, 2008