ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 Video Card Review

Temperatures

Since video card temperatures and the heat generated by next-generation cardshave become an area of concern among enthusiasts and gamers, we want to take a closer look at how the Radeon HD 3870 X2 does.

With the ATI Tool open, the video card was rendering the object in the picture above at an average 931 frames per second. Rendering this object puts the GPU at 99% load, which is great for heating up the card. We let it run for half an hour and it was enough to get the Radeon HD 3870 X2 up to 80 degrees Celsius from 53 degrees Celsius at idle. It should be noted that this was done on the open test bench with the motherboard laying flat, so expect slightly higher temperatures with the card installed in a case.

Let’s take a look to see how the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 and see how it does against other ATI Radeon HD graphics cards when it comes to heat.

Benchmark Results: The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 does get pretty good at full load even with the use of copper and aluminum heat sinks. The idle and load temperatures were actually lower than a single ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics card, but the fan is bigger and louder on the Radeon HD 3870 X2.