FebruaMaximumPC 2008 02

On paper, the Radeon HD 3850 looks remarkably similar to the

Radeon HD 3870, but key differences in clock speeds and mem-

ory render the former a tortoise and the latter a hare.

W

e were so pleased with the price/performance ratio of AMD’s Radeon HD

3870 that we awarded Asus’s implementation of it a 9 Kick Ass verdict in our

January 2008 issue. We’re not nearly as impressed with the gaming performance

of the architecture’s cheaper cousin, the Radeon HD 3850.

The two GPUs share many features, including the same number of stream

processors (320), the same 256-bit memory interface, and AMD’s Unifi ed Video

Decoder (for offl oading all HD-video decoding from the host CPU). Both parts also

provide HDCP support on both DVI links, so Blu-ray and HD DVD movies can be

displayed on a 30-inch panel at the screen’s

native resolution.

And like the 3870,

the cheaper 3850 sup-

ports PCI Express 2.0,

Direct3D 10.1, and

Shader Model 4.0 (none

of Nvidia’s GPUs support

the latter two features,

although it will be a

long time before this

advantage really means

anything). But while the

3870 reference design

features 512MB of

GDDR4 memory and a

dual-slot cooler, the 3850

board we received was outfi tted with just 256MB of GDDR3 memory, a single-

slot cooler and relatively tame core, and memory clock speeds of 670MHz and

829MHz, respectively.

For gaming, the Radeon HD 3870 was at least competitive with Nvidia’s

8800 GT, but the Radeon HD 3850 is a laggard when it comes to gaming at the

native resolution of a 24-inch screen (1920x1200). The frame rates we achieved

were roughly half of what we obtained with the 8800 GT. If the 3850 cost half as

much as an 8800 GT (average street price: $260), this card would garner a Kick

Ass award, but at press time, the average street price for these boards was $190.

The extra $70 not only buys a faster GPU, but a frame buffer that’s twice as large.

If gaming isn’t your bag, the Radeon 3850 is a fi ne GPU for watch-

ing high-defi nition movies. But we

prefer videocards that can do it all.

—MICHAEL BROWN

AMD Radeon HD 3850

One step forward, one step back

W

e’re going to get this out of the way up front. If you’re looking for raw speed,

the MediaSmart isn’t for you. We’ve tested faster NAS boxes, but we’ve never

tested a network storage device that delivers the same level of functionality as this

little Windows Home Server-based wonder.

The svelte hardware looks more at home on your bookshelf than a server

rack, and it’s virtually silent. Based on its hardware specs, the EX475 appears

to be either a supercharged NAS box or an underpowered server. With a 1.8GHz

single-core Sempron processor, 512MB of RAM, and two 512GB drives, it straddles

the server/NAS box line. We wouldn’t have minded seeing larger drives, but with

two free tool-less drive bays, adding more

storage takes seconds. This rig isn’t about

hardware but rather the

delicious software inside.

HP started with the

basic Home Server pack-

age (reviewed January

2008). With automatic

system backups, central-

ized music/photo/video

sharing, and the ability to

share your fi les remotely,

Home Server is a win. But

HP took the experience

a step further, including

an iTunes server along with a fully featured photo-sharing suite. When you factor in

these new changes with the handful of eminently useful plugins available, you’ve

got an extremely powerful device that could serve multiple uses inside any home.

We’d hoped to see slightly better performance from the MediaSmart, but

given its low price, we’re willing to make some allowances. Compared to a stand-

alone Home Server rig sporting an Athlon X2 4800 CPU with 2GB of RAM, the

MediaSmart took almost twice as long to complete large fi le transfers. The small-

fi le transfer test took 32 seconds longer. Of course, the lower-powered MediaSmart

draws less power every month than our full-size box. You have to decide

whether speed or power is more

important to you.

—WILL SMITH

HP MediaSmart EX475

This is one sassy little server

reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

9

HP MEDIASMART

7

AMD RADEON HD 3850

$190, http://www.amd.com

$750, http://www.hp.com

HP’s MediaSmart

includes four

tool-less drive

bays and an

eSATA port.

Adding more stor-

age takes mere

seconds!

70 MAXIMUMPC | FEB 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com

Best scores are bolded. The homebrew server is an Athlon X2 4800+ with 2GB of

memory and 2 Hitachi E7K500 hard drives.

BENCHMARKS

3DMARK06 GAME 1 (FPS) 14.4 30.0

3DMARK06 GAME 2 (FPS) 16.7 22.9

WORLD IN CONFLICT (FPS) 14.0 32.0

LOST PLANET (FPS) 16.2 34.3

3DMARK06 GAME 1 (FPS) 15.6 28.0

3DMARK06 GAME 2 (FPS) 16.4 22.3

WORLD IN CONFLICT (FPS) 7.0 20.0

LOST PLANET (FPS) 12.0 22.0

BENCHMARKS

Best scores are bolded. AMD-based cards tested with an Intel D975BX2 moth-

erboard; Nvidia-based cards tested with an EVGA 680i SLI motherboard. Intel

2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPUs and 2GB of Corsair DDR RAM used in

both scenarios. Benchmarks performed at 1920x1200 resolution on ViewSonic

VP2330wb monitors.

WINDOWS XP AMD RADEON GEFORCE

(DIRECTX 9) HD 3850 8800 GT

WINDOWS VISTA AMD RADEON GEFORCE

(DIRECTX 10) HD 3850 8800 GT

MEDIASMART HOMEBREW

EX475 HOME SERVER

WRITE TEST

LARGE FILE (SEC) 151 88

SMALL FILES (SEC) 99 67

READ TEST

LARGE FILE (SEC) 354 158

SMALL FILES (SEC) 156 159

POWER USAGE (WATTS) 220 82