This is the first test of AMD/ATI's new flagship graphics card, the Radeon HD 3870 X2, codenamed R680.

http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=2275

The card is two RV670 (Radeon HD 3870) cores on one PCB, making for single-package Crossfire along with a speed boost due to faster communication between cards and also a rewritten driver now that Crossfire is mainstream. It is due to be launched Q1 2008, but the hardware has been ready for a while and seen at consumer electronics shows; the delay is due to the still-in-development driver.

As you can see from the synthetic benchmark below, R680 beats the 8800 Ultra (the current leader) with 20% more points at the same resolution, even though the 8800 Ultra ran with a much faster processor. R680 is recognised as HD 3870 because it is not a released card, although the card being tested is certainly R680 because HD 3870 would not score that high alone.

It will be possible with the new driver to put two R680 cards in Crossfire, further increasing the performance.

This will be the new ultimate graphics card!

ehhhh we will see how this pans out, i am skeptical though.

I am skeptical...and I'm guessing the performance per dollar won't be worth it, and an 8800 GT would be money better spent.

Didn't I say "20% faster than an 8800 Ultra"?

If you want price/performance, then an HD 3870 or 8800 GT is the way to go, but remember high-end launches always trickle down to the sweet spot fairly rapidly.

sweet... now if these things didn't cost so much. Still, my 7800gt has been okay so far.

so basically the 9800 GX2 will be faster. ATI's fastest video card title will be short lived..

Graphics technology certainly doesn't stand still does it. Lets hope the price gets down to a more reasonable amount soon. Of course the real test of any graphics card is whether it can handle Crysis!

QFT, Also it is worth noting that this is the equivalent of 2 8800 Ultras not one.

It looks like ATI is making its entry back onto the market from its merger with AMD which is a good thing but it sounds like this card is going to be on or around 8800 GTX levels and the GTX came out in 2006. Not saying AMD/ATI is dead in the graphics market or even close to it, but unless this comes out at a competitive price point I don't think this is going to revitalize the interest.

I am currently expecting this to debut at around $700-800 (hoping to be pleasantly surprised otherwise) and by the time it drops into a reasonable price nVidia will likely have the 9k series launching. So I expect the next iteration of the AMD/ATI GPUs after this to be when they become competitive again, and I look forward to it as it seems like nVidia did exactly what a lot of people expected them to do and that is of course sit back on their laurels and soak up cash while nobody competes with them. I think if ATI had been in full competition the 9ks likely would be out already (Nov '07) or coming out extremely soon..

edit: Oh hell, this isn't even a proper benchmark yet, I'm sure its indicative of aproximately where the card will be at in performance but until its benchmarked under a proper setup this seems a bit premature.  The difference in scores could grow or shrink by as much as 1.5k just based on the other hardware. 

I'm guessing not. That card is two G92 on one PCB, and I think ATI's better driver will match Nvidia's better core to give actual competition at the high-end.

R700/G100 is yet to come though; that will be the real decider.

ATI will be dragged down by AMD's losses, however - AMD's stock has lost three-quarters of its value in a year.

"I am currently expecting this to debut at around $700-800 (hoping to be pleasantly surprised otherwise) and by the time it drops into a reasonable price nVidia will likely have the 9k series launching. "

And ATI will have their next-generation too, R700.

"Oh hell, this isn't even a proper benchmark yet, I'm sure its indicative of aproximately where the card will be at in performance but until its benchmarked under a proper setup this seems a bit premature.  The difference in scores could grow or shrink by as much as 1.5k just based on the other hardware. "

You're right; I would expect the performance to increase realtive to the 8800 Ultra because the Ultra tests were done on faster hardware (2.93GHz vs. 2.4GHz Conroe) and the driver isn't finalised.

 Good the sooner ATI gets back into the competition the better for everyone.  I've never really cared about brand loyalty when it comes to video cards..they are both very reliable and they help keep the prices a lot lower. 

But to be honest I don't think ATI will have their next high end card out for another 3 to 5 months..I could be wrong but they stated "first half of '08" so I sort of figured they would mean towards the end of that period into the Apr-Jun timeframe otherwise they would of said first quarter of 2008.