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Product ReviewsSapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB GDDR3 AGP 2XDVI HDCP HDTV Out Video Card
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73%
9%
18%
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With 11 User Reviews
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 Rating: Review Date: 03/13/10  |
Cons: Must use the provided drivers, not recommended with Ubunto.Recommend to download the latest driver from Sapphire instead of using the included disk.
Pros: Brings your AGP system back to life, play blu-ray, video games, DDR3 vs. DDR2 memory on most available AGP cards. Box came with several adapters. |
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Rating: Review Date: 02/10/10 |
Cons: none
Pros: fast agp card for the price Comment:
I installed this in a p4 478 3 ghz machine, much faster than the radon x1950pro I had in there, about 30%. Will speed up any agp system, I highly recommend this card. I also tried it in a AMD 1.4 Sempron system, woke it right up, completely new computer. I have found that the video card is the bottle neck in most slow systems, a smoking fast card in any old box will bring new life to it. |
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Rating: Review Date: 10/10/09 |
Cons: Size
Pros: Brings latest graphics to old computers, Price Comment:
I was very happy to find this card to upgrade my old AGP rig. Thanks to this card I have all the latest shading technology etc so I can run the latest games some of them at max settings, I haven’t found any yet it won’t do at least on mid settings. The only negative thing I can say is that this card is big, it almost didn’t fit in my case. Right now it is just overlapping the cords for my HDDs. Now the only thing limiting my computer is the processor. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/27/09 |
Cons: Fan can be a little noisy.
Pros: Inexpensive upgrade to extend the life of an AGP system. Comment:
I bought this card to extend the life of my AGP-based system. I know that since I'm only running an Athlon 2800+ with 3GB of memory that there'll be some bottle necking, but that isn't of my concern. There were games where my computer would meet the requirements except for the video card. Though I haven't bought any games that requires a video card that's better than a x800XT at the moment. Aside from the noisy fan the 3850HD has been working great!One thing that I have done is change the stock cooler with a Zalman VF900-CU cooler and utilizing the fan socket on the board so that the card takes care of controlling the fan (used the connector from the stock fan of my AIW x800XT). Not only does this cool my GPU with 0% activity at 38C, it's much quieter too.A very good power supply of 450 watts with 30A on the 12V rail is a must! Go with one of the well known name brands such as Antec, Corsair, Enermax or other good brand names that use high quality components. Don't settle for any cheaply made power supplies of the same wattage. I would recommend this card to anyone who is not in the position of getting a new computer and wants to extend the life of their current AGP-based system. |
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Rating: Review Date: 02/17/09 |
Cons: None.
Pros: Great boost for certain systems. Comment:
Bought this for my dad. His computer is generally okay but needed a boost for Photoshop. Highlights:- frees up System RAM (MB only supports 1GB, freeing up 128MB helps)- Photoshop CS4 can use this for GPU acceleration- High Def video can be decoded (I prefer K-Lite with WMPC-HC for DXVA. CPU dropped from unusable at 100%+ to no more than 20%)- gaming (some half decent titles)It's a tough call when to upgrade a system but this is a good example. If you also need to add older, more expensive RAM on a System of 4years+ where other parts are wearing out it a new system seems a better idea.This is an AWESOME card.Installation checklist:0) Download correct video drivers from ATI (don't bother with CD)1) Uninstall any Video drivers (add/remove in Control Panel)2) Turn OFF computer.3) Open case and remove an older AGP or PCI video card if needed (no need to open for Integrated Graphics)4) Start AND enter BIOS (DEL). Video to AGP first, i.e. "AGP->IGP"5) Boot to Windows6) Cancel any request to search for software/drivers. Wait until system starts completely.7) Install the latest ATI drivers8) Install any other software 9) Test (3DMark2001, a game, Photoshop CS4, High Def video, etc.) This review was modfied by poster @ 02-17-09 05:28 PM |
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Rating: Review Date: 02/04/09 |
Cons: compatibility issuesnot functioning yetso it wouldn't be prudent to tout the weaknesses
Pros: not functioning yetso it wouldn't be prudent to tout the strengths Comment:
well, i purchased this card in hopes it would prolong the life expectancy of my computer so i could save for a new build, but it seems to conflict with my old Asus P4PE motherboard only working intermittently and then not at all. I had a local computer shop do a test on the card and it and it is fine so the product isn't defective. I also purchased a new power supply to accommodate it, and it's still functioning correctly. now if i buy a new mother board for the graphics card, that means, i bought a new PSU, GFX card, ram.... or i just built a 3 year old computer k_k;... any suggestions in this matter would be greatly appreciated |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/07/08 |
Cons: Cooler is pretty weak.
Pros: Plenty of juice. Comment:
With the stock cooler I was able to heat this puppy up to 90 degree's celcius... I fixed that with a Accelero S2 along with some arctic fans. Now it runs at 50 degrees max (celcius). As far as performance... what can I say, it's the best. I think it's a little bottle necked being that my system is a Pentium 4 3.2 Prescott, 2 gigs of ram.... etc. etc. But the video card is all that is promised and more. Nice job. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/06/08 |
Cons: Little Pricey but thats AGP for you
Pros: Ver Good AGP Card Comment:
Overall i am satisfied with the product. Great AGP Card, Easily installed and not to loud. If you are considering an AGP Video Card this is definetly one to check out. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/18/08 |
Cons: It gets very hot. ATI driver issue!!!
Pros: Powerful card than my x800pro, Can max out old games or playable recent games. Comment:
A8v system with dual core, 2G ram , this card runs smooth however 50c idl and 65c load. overclk 75c. Consider a HR-03 GT vga heatsink (it fits HD3850agp) with 92mm noctua fan for this sucker. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/15/08 |
Cons: only drivers available that work are on Sapphire site.Card is still new
Pros: Has breathed new life into my system.Gives me breathing room till Nehalem is fine tuned. Comment:
This card has improved my system by 100 percent.I had an x800 pro.My system is a 3.2e 2 gigs ddr400 Win Xp 450 watt true power |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/10/08 |
Cons: - Power hog, check if your PS can support this card (I had to buy new PS as well)
Pros: - Huge upgrade for legacy AGP users- Easy install (small in size)- Quiet operation Comment:
This card has easily extended the life of my system for another 6months. I will include some benchmarks below, definitely something to consider for AGP users as this may be the last *good* card to come out.System Specs:Intel 3.0ghz E HT2GB Kingston RAM36GB WD Raptor hard diskMy old card: Nvidia 6800gsRes: 1280x10243DMark Score2031 3DMarksSM2.0 Score844 HDR/SM3.0 Score797 CPU Score769 Game Score N/AGT1 - Return To Proxycon6.966 FPSGT2 - Firefly Forest7.103 FPSCPU1 - Red Valley0.244 FPSCPU2 - Red Valley0.388 FPSHDR1 - Canyon Flight6.890 FPSHDR2 - Deep Freeze9.046 FPSNew Card: ATI 3850agp3DMark Score4694 3DMarksSM2.0 Score2019 HDR/SM3.0 Score2756 CPU Score850 Game Score N/AGT1 - Return To Proxycon17.058 FPSGT2 - Firefly Forest16.589 FPSCPU1 - Red Valley0.270 FPSCPU2 - Red Valley0.428 FPSHDR1 - Canyon Flight32.096 FPSHDR2 - Deep Freeze23.021 FPSIn terms of actual game play... my CoH, CoD4 and TF2 in game experience is much better. Almost all of the aforementioned games are now running at max details with average FPS of 25-30. Of course lower in game graphics produce higher fps. In short, if you're looking to extend the life of your s478 or equivalent system, this is the card to get. |
I am running blu-ray movies with an older athlon 3000+ with a gig of ram, and a 8 year old MSI mobo...even with cheap audio coming from mobo the cpu is taxed at 40% with blu-ray, 20% with just DVD's. I would assume CPU usage would go down even further with a dedicated sound card. I heard complaints on the sapphire drivers, but found they installed great over XP...perhaps Sapphire have gotten their act together and made cleaner drivers. This is probably the fastest card you'll see for AGP, so if you wish to stretch your system for the last time, buy this card...like many products for Linux, limited driver support is usually an issue...after installing on Ubunto I found that the drivers gave this card less power than a crappy FX5200 pci card...so don't waste a great card like this on Ubunto, but use it for windows....cheers!