R680 Has Landed: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

In the days leading up to this launch, we were contacted by a number of ATI’s board partners and given information regarding their Radeon HD 3870 X2 offerings.  The cards pictured below come from Asus and HIS.

    
Asus Has Two Radeon HD 3870 X2 Cards In The Works
 

We received word of two Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards Asus plans to release.  One model is essentially a copy of ATI’s reference design with the same clock speeds and 1GB frame buffer.  But Asus claims their card will ship with highly-overclockable .8ns RAM.  The other Asus-made X2 features a custom cooler design and quad DVI outputs.  Although the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is clearly designed for gamers, we can see Asus getting some attention from investment professionals and CAD workstation types that regularly use multi-monitor setups.  We should also point out that both of Asus’ offerings will include a copy of the DX10 game Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts.  You can expect full reviews of these cards in the near future.

     


     
The HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2
 

The HIS Radeon HD 3870 X2 is also based on ATI’s reference design, sans the large decal on the fan shroud.  With this setup, it’s easy to see the dual-copper heatsinks affixed to the GPUs and the aluminum heatsinks fins in the center that covers the on-board PCI Express fan-out switch.

HIS includes a couple of noteworthy accessories with their Radeon HD 3870 X2 card.  Along with a DVI to HDMI adapter, dual DVI to VGA adapters, a CrossFire bridge connector, and HD component output dongle, the card ships with a driver CD, a case badge, and a certificate for Valve’s Black Box gaming bundle, which is comprised of Half Life: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.  Also included is a handy pen-screwdriver branded with a large HIS logo.