PCB Design and Specifications
MSI took the newest top-end solution from AMD, ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, as the basis for the flagship of the R series.
MSI’s card differs but slightly from the reference dual-chip monster. Excepting the picture on the cooler, the R3870X2-T2D1G OC is a copy of the card we discussed in our The Single-Decker Champ: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 Graphics Card Review.
The card is based on two RV670 GPUs. The GPU clock rate was increased from 775MHz to 825MHz on the Radeon HD 3870, but MSI didn’t stop at that and lifted the frequency up to 850MHz. In addition to the high clock rate, the new card can boast 640 ALUs grouped into 128 execution units with 5 ALUs in each. It also has 8 texture processors and 8 raster back-ends.
The R3870X2-T2D1G OC uses GDDR3 memory. Each GPU is surrounded with eight Samsung K4J52324QE-BJ1A chips, four on the front side of the PCB and four on the reverse side of it. The chips have a capacity of 512Mb (16Mb x 32), a voltage of 1.9V and a rated frequency of 1000 (2000) MHz. The card has a memory frequency of 900 (1800) MHz, just as on the reference sample, probably to ensure higher stability. The total amount of memory is 1024 megabytes, but 3D applications can only access 512 megabytes.
MSI’s product has the same connectors as the reference Radeon HD 3870 X2: two dual-link DVI-I ports with support for audio-over-HDMI, and a 7-pin mini-DIN port for analog video output in Composite, S-Video and YPbPr formats.
