ASUS EAH3850 Trinity crams three Radeon GPUs onto one card

Forget FPS and polygon crunching, we want one of these ASUS EAH3850 just for its sheer logic-defying properties. ASUS really took AMD's CrossFireX multi-GPU capabilities and ran with them, stuffing a ludicrous trio of GPUs onto a single "concept" card. Three RV670 cores power the setup, and it's kept cool by some heatpipes and a water block. If your box doesn't implode in incredulity, that means you can power four monitors with the three GPUs, or power a single monitor with all four at once for some seriously serious World of Warcraft, though we'll have to wait for benchmarks to see how well this setup actually runs.

[CJ @ Mar 25th 2008 11:47AM]

WOW! Some serious hardware there. Who wants to bet it'll melt your rig?

[Flashpoint @ Mar 25th 2008 11:51AM]

this thing is so big and bulky, when I first looked at it, I thought it was a network server in a clean room.

[disophisis @ Mar 25th 2008 12:46PM]

it's got a water block, so it shouldn't...

Then again... 3 rv670... uhh... I retract my previous statement.

[eidorian @ Mar 25th 2008 11:48AM]

but can it run Crysis?

[painty @ Mar 25th 2008 12:57PM]

guaranteed to get you 10 fps....

[Flashpoint @ Mar 25th 2008 11:50AM]

What exactly do I need to run Crysis in highest detail?

...on a 27 inch LCD monitor.

[Dorz @ Mar 25th 2008 12:16PM]

errr, something that hasn't been manufactured yet.

[Ryan @ Mar 25th 2008 11:50AM]

Will it work with my mac?

[Flashpoint @ Mar 25th 2008 11:52AM]

nothing works with mac.

[Tallest Skil @ Mar 25th 2008 11:57AM]

Not even viruses.

[helloUser @ Mar 25th 2008 11:59AM]

LMFAO @ Tallest Skil

[Anton @ Mar 25th 2008 12:03PM]

Apple doesn't believe in being up-to-date with graphic cards.

[helloUser @ Mar 25th 2008 12:15PM]

Anton: that is true, they released the 2008 Mac Pros with Geforce 8800s and have done nothing since january when released to make it work with all previous mac pros. Its been about 2 years since the mac pro was relased, and, idiotically, jobs called it the most expandable mac ever. Since that time, there have been NO upgrades available in terms of graphics, the best card that will run on it is the ATI X1900 XT, which is a 2 year old card anyway. Whats worse, and more embarrassing is that the 2008 mac pro ships with an 8800, which is also nearing its end of life, as the 9800 GT comes out soon. With that said, even an 8800 GT is a *LATE* upgrade.


This is a slap in the face to all people that bought a mac pro. Piss poor management by apple on getting things done and fraudulant advertising by steve jobs; most expandable mac ever? Bullshit.

[n3rd @ Mar 25th 2008 1:18PM]

"This is a slap in the face to all people that bought a mac pro. Piss poor management by apple on getting things done and fraudulant advertising by steve jobs; most expandable mac ever? Bullshit"

technically... he didn't... the most expandable mac is not saying very much

[Wwhat @ Mar 25th 2008 5:22PM]

Computers that don't have games don't need high-end graphics cards.

[ammi @ Mar 25th 2008 12:01PM]

Of course the moment you install this your box will overheat while using liquid nitrogen coolant >__>.

...Okay, it's probably not that bad. That card is HUGE, though. I don't think I want to know what kind of power consumption it requires. Or the price. I kinda liked the feeling of money in my wallet.

[phanbouy @ Mar 25th 2008 3:14PM]

you got my mind workin' overtime with potential metaphors there. =D

[ammi @ Mar 25th 2008 4:00PM]

oh, you. XD

[phanbouy @ Mar 25th 2008 4:27PM]

hey at least i'm tasteful

[phanbouy @ Mar 25th 2008 4:28PM]

grrrr it killed my emoticon!

[phanbouy @ Mar 25th 2008 4:28PM]

ohhhhh it had a less than symbol i forgot ok let's retry it {;-)

[lothar @ Mar 25th 2008 11:54AM]

I wonder what the power requirements are for that beast, it might need its own power supply.

[Fernando G. @ Mar 25th 2008 12:12PM]

looks big enough to have it's own power supply on board =P

[Wwhat @ Mar 25th 2008 5:24PM]

There's a reason they picked 3850's and not 3870's obviously.

[digitalslacker @ Mar 25th 2008 11:56AM]

Looks like 3 laptop video cards on a pcix 'host' if you will. The more I look at those slots it reminds me of the MXM slots.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/typo3temp/pics/2ef559b2a7.jpg is a picture of an MXM card.

[Grizz @ Mar 25th 2008 12:02PM]

Wow, not only did you nail that one, but it also leads me to believe the cards would be upgradeable.

[GrizzlyAdams @ Mar 26th 2008 7:33AM]

That looks like what it is, except you meant to type PCI-e, and not PCI-X. You gotta remember PCI-X is what Apple used in the G5 towers and some old server boards from before PCI-e used. Though I wonder how many lanes they are able to route to each card. In theory 6-5-5. or 8-4-4 should be possible, but maybe they only went with 4-4-4 or 5-5-5.
Can't wait for them to make a board with crossfireX support and four (full) x16 slots. Current boards may have 4 slots, but usually you are limited to 40 lanes max on the board (sometimes less).

[NHAnimator @ Mar 25th 2008 12:03PM]

I can actually feel the heat from that thing standing here in New England.

And I know it's not the sun. We haven't felt the heat from that since last August.

[gfar @ Mar 25th 2008 12:11PM]

Feel any heat in March?
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/18-1/

[Joe @ Mar 25th 2008 12:18PM]

@gfar:

18-1 > 14-6

[NHAnimator @ Mar 25th 2008 12:37PM]

@gfar:

1. The Patriots went 18-0 before losing in the Super Bowl.

2. I was over it in about 24 hours.

3. I'm looking forward to next year.

[JVH @ Mar 26th 2008 2:36AM]

lol awesome link

[Mark @ Mar 25th 2008 12:07PM]

Will they support 4 of these cards on a rig? That might be able to play Crysis in full detail @60fps

[GrizzlyAdams @ Mar 26th 2008 7:42AM]

currently: no.
You'd need a board with enough PCI-e lanes. And I believe the current drivers are limited to either 3 or 4 GPUs. Also you are taking a performance hit for each additional chip you stuff on the card. Maybe someday we will get crossfireX motherboards with four (full) x16 slots.

[ermski2k @ Mar 25th 2008 12:11PM]

on another note looks like SLi will be dead, long live Crossfire

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/25/1435259&from=rss

[root.alt @ Mar 25th 2008 12:14PM]

Rank 4 FACEMELT

[tom @ Mar 25th 2008 12:19PM]

To whom it may concern,

It probably will play Doom, so don't ask!

tom~

[Wisam @ Mar 25th 2008 12:35PM]

Can it play Doom ?

[morcheeba @ Mar 25th 2008 3:14PM]

probably.

[Brad @ Mar 25th 2008 12:23PM]

I understand how you can run four monitor's from three GPU's, but how do you run one monitor from four GPU's on a three GPU card?

[tom @ Mar 25th 2008 12:25PM]

It is just parallel processing - sharing workload

[Brad @ Mar 25th 2008 12:29PM]

I understand they share the work load, but how can 4 GPU's share a workload on a card with only 3 GPU's?

[Adam @ Mar 25th 2008 1:03PM]

"If your box doesn't implode in incredulity, that means you can power four monitors with the three GPUs, or power a single monitor with all four at once for some seriously serious World of Warcraft,"

English language is always up for interpretation.
Power 4 monitors with 3 GPU's. Or Power 1 Monitor with all '4' Monitors...

[initialxy @ Mar 25th 2008 12:27PM]

it's tooo long. it's gonna stick out of the back of your case

[Jake @ Mar 25th 2008 2:38PM]

initial, that's what she said followed by what I said.

it's like you were there!

-jp

[S&M @ Mar 25th 2008 12:28PM]

If if has 3 GPUs, how do all 4 power a single monitor?

I can't wait to try Folding@Home on a beast like this!

[retro77 @ Mar 25th 2008 12:45PM]

Wow...no others words needed...just wow...

[Digital1 @ Mar 25th 2008 1:22PM]

Will it blend?

[retro77 @ Mar 25th 2008 2:52PM]

Hahaha! Watch out for trolls, they hate the blend references.

[Digital1 @ Mar 25th 2008 2:58PM]

OK.... LOL. Thanks! :) I think its blendability is worth discussion...