Sapphire 3850 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB

alphabetbackward · Post by **alphabetbackward** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:20 pm

Hmm...30 dollars more than the other 512 MB versions. For 229, you could get the Gigabyte 3870.

I'd like to get this video card because it would block the slot above the x16. For whatever reason, my motherboard goes:

x1
x16
PCI
PCI

...and I use both PCI slots. But then again, I think it's cheaper than getting a 512 3850 and the Thermalright.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:49 pm

skj wrote:Newegg has it in stock now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102720

Roughly $70 more than their cheapest 3850 card.

Ha. I should be happy except it's totally killing my budget. Now I have to consider this card for my next Vista build.

skj · Post by **skj** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:00 am

Anyone seen measurements for that heatsink? I didn't see them on the Sapphire site.

I have my motherboard out on the table, and I'm trying to eyeball whether this card would interfere with my NB or CPU heatsinks. I just can't say for sure. I know the HR-03 won't fit for me if mounted the same way, but this Sapphire doesn't seem like it rises up as high off the card as the Thermalright does.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:04 am

I just recalled reading a link posted here about the HD cards and how they could be a decent deal compared to the 8800 cards if price was lower and supply was better. I did a quick check and seems like the HD cards are priced similar to these HD 3000 series. Seems like the 8800s are a better deal in that case.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:01 pm

Matija wrote:Considering the Sapphiretech "heya, Antec suxx0rz, Enermax rullz0rz" mods and the whole thing that happened to a Hardforum user, are you sure you want to buy a Sapphire card?

Let's write this here so Google can pick it up:

DO NOT BUY SAPPHIRE CARDS.

Wow! I had a similar bad experience just recently with a moderator on the Sapphire forums. I've written a letter to Sapphire, but have only been sending it to Sappahire's tech support e-mail as I don't have a better contact. Can anyone suggest a better point of contact. I can post the letter if anyones interested. I'd like to bring this to as many peoples attention as possible...

Joe Public · Post by **Joe Public** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:34 am

Well, you know... Over there, mods are right, and you're wrong. (If you contradict "doctrine").

Not sure, but I think those forums aren't directly controlled by Sapphire, so the mods over there get to act whatever stick-up-their-arse way they want.

DrStrange · Post by **DrStrange** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:53 am

Just to add to skj's post -
I'm considering getting this Sapphire 3850 passive with a Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 or GA-X38-DS5 motherboard. Could anybody who has these boards please tell me the width between the PCI-E x16 slot and the Northbridge cooler? I'm waiting on a reply from Sapphire about the width of the cooler and will post it here when they reply. One person did ask on Sapphire's forum here but it looks like few people have this card yet.

Kato · Post by **Kato** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:00 pm

Hi i got the 3870 from Sapphire, good card i am running it with the stock cooler at present.
New pictures of the Powercooler 3870 SCS3

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?optio ... 6&Itemid=1

leifeinar · Post by **leifeinar** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:39 pm

that powercolor cooler seems really nice, need som reviews of that baby. i actually got room for 2 of those

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:53 pm

DrStrange wrote:Just to add to skj's post -
I'm considering getting this Sapphire 3850 passive with a Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 or GA-x38-DS5 motherboard. Could anybody who has these boards please tell me the width between the PCI-E x16 slot and the Northbridge cooler? I'm waiting on a reply from Sapphire about the width of the cooler and will post it here when they reply. One person did ask on Sapphire's forum here but it looks like few people have this card yet.

Yeah I am in the same boat with a Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H, any info on this please would be great. I would really like to know the height of heatsink to see if it will clear the ram? Thanks

I registered and tried to reply in the Sapphire forums but didn't have sufficient privileges.

DrStrange · Post by **DrStrange** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:54 pm

Bad News for me.

Question to Sapphire Tech:
"Please can you tell me the height of the Heatpipe cooler on the HD3850 passive version. I need to know if it will fit in the space between the PCIE slot and the Northbridge cooler on my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4). Thanks."
Their reply:
"Dear Sir :
Thank you for interesting to our VGA products.
About your question , we are afraid that the heatsink version can not plug into this MB.
The heatsink on the back of PCB dimension is 21.3cm X 7.3cm X 3.2cm(height) , all of these count from your PCI-E slot.
Thanks."

Hopefully the card will fit on a DS5 which seems to have more room between the gfx slot and the NB HS than the DS4. I asked over at Anandtech and a DS5 owner thought that it might fit.

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:07 pm

DrStrange wrote:Bad News for me.

Question to Sapphire Tech:
"Please can you tell me the height of the Heatpipe cooler on the HD3850 passive version. I need to know if it will fit in the space between the PCIE slot and the Northbridge cooler on my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4). Thanks."
Their reply:
"Dear Sir :
Thank you for interesting to our VGA products.
About your question , we are afraid that the heatsink version can not plug into this MB.
The heatsink on the back of PCB dimension is 21.3cm X 7.3cm X 3.2cm(height) , all of these count from your PCI-E slot.
Thanks."

Hopefully the card will fit on a DS5 which seems to have more room between the gfx slot and the NB HS than the DS4. I asked over at Anandtech and a DS5 owner thought that it might fit.

That sux dude. I was a bit worried so had a look at some pics at newegg and thats a fiendish northbridge cooler

I am a bit confused by the dimensions though, at first I thought he meant the 3.2cm height was from the PCI-E slot vertically upwards which is exactly the info I need. But it looks like he is listing the 3 dimensions LxWxH from the graphics card not the PCI slot. I sent them an email hoping they can give me the mobo clearance.

SouthPaw · Post by **SouthPaw** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:30 am

likwidsh0k wrote:I am a bit confused by the dimensions though, at first I thought he meant the 3.2cm height was from the PCI-E slot vertically upwards which is exactly the info I need. But it looks like he is listing the 3 dimensions LxWxH from the graphics card not the PCI slot. I sent them an email hoping they can give me the mobo clearance.

I did the same thing after reading that post!

I asked them "What is the clearance between the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the PCI-e slot when the card is seated" They replied:

"This card is 9" in length 5" height and 4" width.":roll:

They gave me a different email to use if I needed any other info. I've sent another email detailing the measurement I'm looking for. I'll post back if I get a better reply next time...

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:10 pm

They told me exactly the same thing..

"This card is 9â€

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:43 am

I sent them another email asking if they could please be more precise with the measurement because I need to know exactly and they replied it was about 4cm from the golden part of the PCI which is still not what I need to know. The golden bits do not run to the edge of the board so are not an accurate measurement for when the board is seated.

I have sent another email and am hoping they will finally answer the question.

Looking at this resized newegg pic which I think is pretty close to the card dimensions and assuming like most cards when seated the edge of the board is in contact with the PCI slot - it is more like 2.5cm than 4cm to the bottom of the heatsink..

Fred · Post by **Fred** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:31 pm

The 3850 looks really nice... Up until now, i was considering to get a asus 8600GT silent, now i'll have to decide which of 'em to get.

Pretty big price difference though... but so goes with performance too, i hope

Does this card use much power, will a 350 W PSU suffice for this, a GA-P35-DS3 and a E8400(plus a couple of small extra things)? Think it will, but best to ask anyway. Also does it output much heat(or however to phrase it), for example, in comparison to the asus 8600GT?

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:41 pm

Yeah there is a huge difference in performance

I was originally looking at the 8600gt aswell but to play any of the newer games (UT3, Bioshock) at my native res of 1680x1050 is impossible with that card. Plus the 3850 has HD decoding (Dedicated unified video decoder (UVD) for H.264/AVC and VC-1 video formats) and HDCP too which is good for HTPCs.

Not sure about the wattage or heat but I am using a Seasonic 430 with a Gigaybyte GA-MA69GM-S2H which has everything onboard and a low wattage BE2350 cpu, so I think I should be ok.

Sent another email CCed to their RMA/warranty section, 2 days and still no reply.

Found some info..

Power consumption - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1267/1 ... index.html

Heat - http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/sap ... page12.asp

262watts at load, that doesn't leave alot left over for either of us? Though I am a n00b and not sure how much the rest would use like mobo and other things. I am planning to put a TV tuner card in aswell though, the only other thing I need.

Searching around some more I found this "The machine is running at 70 Watts +/- with the GA-MA69GM-S2H board running a BE-2350, 2GB of PC2-6400, a LiteOn SATA DVD burner and 3x WD Caviar GP 1TB drives." Which is very similar to my setup and good news for me

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:29 am

262 Watt load is entire systems pwer consumption ^.~ Peak power consumption of HD 3850 is around 100 W's

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:51 am

thejamppa wrote:262 Watt load is entire systems pwer consumption ^.~ Peak power consumption of HD 3850 is around 100 W's

Aha, I should have read the whole thing not just the picture, what happens when you speed post

Thanks

Fred · Post by **Fred** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:18 am

450Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended.

That's what the sapphire webpage recommend. Would i be fine with my 350W or is it to little? :s

Also... i'm not very cunning when it comes to graphic card outputs and screens... i didn't recognize the outputs of this card... can it be used with your everyday tft lcd screen?

Spare Tire · Post by **Spare Tire** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:25 am

Locklear wrote:hard to judge by the pictures, but it kinda looks like the heatpipes are screwd in place ala the Zalman VNF100. If so the heatpipes can probably be pushed a bit closer to the edge of the card. Don't have any exact measurements to back up this theory though.

Has anyone confirmed this yet? Would be essential if we want to fit it into an NSK2400.

rhysb · Post by **rhysb** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:51 am

I just got one of these cards and unfortunately the heatpipes are soldered on. Great card though.

Fred · Post by **Fred** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:38 pm

what does everybody think about this recommended 450W PSU? I'm not going to use a monster quad-CPU and lots of other stuff, would it be able to run on a 350W PSU?

czbo · Post by **czbo** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:11 pm

I am also interested in the combination of the Sapphire 3850 fanless version on Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H. I made a picture that shows it should fit, although I haven't bought these components.

It doesn't let me post URL because this is my first post...

czbo · Post by **czbo** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:12 pm

let me try again with the picture that shows a mock Sapphire 3850 fanless on the Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H

rhysb · Post by **rhysb** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:26 pm

Fred, I would highly recommend sticking to the manufacturers recommended PSU size. The box says it needs 30amps on the 12v.

It will be able to support any type of display you have.

If you need help calculating what PSU size you will need here's a good PSU calculator for you. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuc ... orlite.jsp

czbo, nice picture. It should fit in there no worries.

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:18 am

czbo wrote:let me try again with the picture that shows a mock Sapphire 3850 fanless on the Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H

Nice pic czbo. I got the Gigabyte 256M one instead. It dropped in price and was $70 AUS cheaper and I had waited a week with no response. Also I had read reviews about 1 guy who had 2 sapphire cards fail just outside warranty and that their service was pretty average, which they proved to me.

My only concern was if the heatsink would contact the ram?

Anyway got the card in now and it is completely silent. I got a bonus I was unaware of Neverwinter Nights 2 which I was stoked about until I read it is a turd of a game lol. Might make some fan noise when playing a game but I can't hear it, and UT3 at 1680x1050 looks amazing!

SouthPaw · Post by **SouthPaw** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:32 am

I've been waiting around for Sapphire's tech support to get back to me with clarification on the measurement between the bottom of the heatsink fins to the top of the PCI-E slot on the motherboard when the card is seated. There was no way I was going to order this card and have it not fit my motherboard and case.

Now what do you know, the card is labeled "Deactivated Item" on newegg's site.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102720

Not "out of stock" but "deactivated..." They were pretty much the only place I know of that had it in the States.

SouthPaw

likwidsh0k · Post by **likwidsh0k** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:50 am

Yeah I got sick & tired of waiting for them, and they proved their customer service is woeful by that and also telling us both when we asked exactly the same clearance question the same stupid default response without reading the question answer of "This card is 9â€

mexell · Post by **mexell** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:50 am

rhysb wrote:Fred, I would highly recommend sticking to the manufacturers recommended PSU size. The box says it needs 30amps on the 12v.

It will be able to support any type of display you have.

If you need help calculating what PSU size you will need here's a good PSU calculator for you. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuc ... orlite.jsp

czbo, nice picture. It should fit in there no worries.

Sorry, that's complete BS you are posting here. You don't need a 450W PSU to run a normal system with a 3870 - even most high-end systems stay well below 300W power consumption most or all the time. And this card is not high-end.

Any decent 380W, or even 330W PSU will power a modest system (no Prescott, one or two disks, one GPU) fine.

And, to make it clear, this card doesn't need 30A on the 12V, because this would mean that it consumed 360W alone. That would be more like 2x8800Ultra.

My system (see sig, E6420, now overclocked, 8600GTS (<-should be the same league, power-wise), two disks) stays below 150W under all normal circumstances (playing, compiling, surfing, office). If I'd do synthetic cross-load tests, then well, I could imagine hitting 200W. But where's the reason to do it?

Sapphire 3850 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB

Measurements?

Measurements

Re: Measurements

Questions, questions! :3

Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H with Sapphire 3850 fanless