ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 R680 at CES

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 02:00 PM EDT

While making our way through various exhibits at CES, Dave and I got a chance to get hands on time with AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card. As we mentioned in our initial coverage of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series back in November, the 3870 X2 is a dual-GPU powered card that leverages ATI's CrossFire technology. Here's an up close and personal look at the card...

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 In The Flesh

We can't disclose any specifications just yet, but can say that the 3870 X2 has a pair of R670 GPUs on single PCB coupled together via a PCI Express fanout switch from PLX. Frame Buffer memory configurations are likely to be similar to existing Radeon HD 3870 cards - per GPU - but representatives from ATI informed us that board parters are likely to design cards with up to 2GB frame buffers. As for power and performance, once again, we can't give specifics for now. However, think less power than a 2900 XT with performance on par or better than a Radeon HD 3870 CrossFire configuration.

Tags: ATI, Radeon, HD, CES, X2, Radeon HD, ATI Radeon, 680

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com