Test System
- Motherboard: EVGA 775 680i SLI-A1
- CPU: Intel Core Duo E6750@2.66GHz
- Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC8500
- CPU Cooler: Rosewill RCX-Z4
- VGA: Diamond Viper 3850 HD 512MB Edition
- PSU: CoolerMaster 850w SLI Certified
- Hard Drives: Dual WD Raptor 75GB SATA150 RAID 0
Test Software
- 3Dmark 05/06 DX9
- PCmark 05
- Stalker DX9
- BIOSHOCK DX10
- Lost Planet DX10
- Quake Wars DX9
- Crysis DX10
- Microsoft Vista Home Premium 32Bit
Drivers
Windows Vista 32-bit is used in all of our testing on the video card test platform to ensure compatibility with the latest DirectX 10 games. Vista is the latest operating system from Microsoft released last year and has replaced XP in most gamer's computers despite early adoption problems that are to be expected from a new OS with billions of possible hardware and software combinations.
Setup
The 3850s installed correctly in Vista and I was able to enable Crossfire without so much as a minor issue, in fact, Crossfire was enabled out of the box after installing the latest 8.1 Catalyst drivers from ATI's website. Testing proceeded with both single card and Crossfire mode, as we've never had the opportunity to test two 3850 512MB cards until today. The performance was only slightly better than the 3850 Doc reviewed last year due to the maturing ATI's drivers have done and the higher memory (256MB versus 512MB).
