ATi 4870/4850 Review Thread

[gigahertz20]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Sweet it is what we expected, and then theres more to come with the 4870X2....now to make my mind up on which one to get.

Also Hardware Canucks review is up they tested the 4870 with an HR-03 GT and saw near a 40c drop in load temps :thumbsup:

Holy crap, that is a ridiculous drop in temperatures. Either the Thermalright HR-03 GT is just that great of a GPU cooler or the standard heatsink/fan on the 4870 is just that horrible. Going from 82C to 43C at load and 55C to 33C at idle, just from an after market cooler is crazy! I was hoping to see some overclocking scores after they mounted the Thermalright on it, but nope

 

[GoodToGo]

Prediction: the 1GB version will destroy the GTX 280 specially at high resolutions with AA on

 

[n7]

I had thought this card was to be 1 GB.

512 MB is not adequate for my resolution, so i do hope to see some 1 GB GDDR5 action soon...& as soon as i do, i'll be buying one.

Very impressive; absolutely the card of choice for all < 1920x1200 users.

 

[nkdesistyle]

LOL, did anyone read the pcperspective review. LOL they never put the Gtx 260 in the same graph as the hd 4870 even though hd 4870 beat it all the time, it is just hilarious, they put it in the graph with the hd 4850 and hd 4850 crossfire, lol. I don't know why they woudl do that, atleast they didn't fake numbers, they just tried to hide the gtx 260 away from the spanking of hd 4870. I am so returning my hd 4850 to frys if they get the hd 4870 within a month.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: gigahertz20

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Sweet it is what we expected, and then theres more to come with the 4870X2....now to make my mind up on which one to get.

Also Hardware Canucks review is up they tested the 4870 with an HR-03 GT and saw near a 40c drop in load temps :thumbsup:

Holy crap, that is a ridiculous drop in temperatures. Either the Thermalright HR-03 GT is just that great of a GPU cooler or the standard heatsink/fan on the 4870 is just that horrible. Going from 82C to 43C at load and 55C to 33C at idle, just from an after market cooler is crazy! I was hoping to see some overclocking scores after they mounted the Thermalright on it, but nope

Its an great cooler but takes up huge space :! You need to leave more than 3 slots thats not including a mod for the fan. If you want the a fan , then it will take 4 slot :! so yeah... so its got its pro and cons.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com...ics-card-review-5.html

"Through CyberLink?s upcoming Power Director 7, users will be able to simultaneously transcode multiple 1080P videos up to 19 times faster than they would if they were using a dual core processor. Coupled with the low power consumption of the HD4800-series processors, the possibility of using this feature in numerous video encoding and decoding applications is virtually boundless."

Interesting , Video transcoding with PowerDirector v7, now i wonder if it works with older gup series R600/R670.

 

[nkdesistyle]

Originally posted by: n7
I had thought this card was to be 1 GB.

512 MB is not adequate for my resolution, so i do hope to see some 1 GB GDDR5 action soon...& as soon as i do, i'll be buying one.

Very impressive; absolutely the card of choice for all < 1920x1200 users.

it is more that adequate for your and my resolution, though 1gb should be better at 2560 resolution, unless you have a 30" monitor there is not really a great need for 1gb, ofcourse if there is one available soon I myself might grab on, lol. just look at the way it performs at 1920x1200 even with AA< this should be a great card for future games, you can bet that developers are going to make sure their games run good on a card that everyone an afford, this card seems to really do good in shader heavy games, such as bioshock, assasins creed and so on. kudos to AMD/ATI may they live forever. I am certainly supporting them from now on atleast in the GRAPHICS arena.

edit: sorry I might have wrongly thought that you had a 1920x1200 monitor, I think you were referring to other users with 1920x1200 like me, lol.

 

[bryanW1995]

I noticed that AT and expreview were the only ones so far that actually even got a gtx 260 to compare the 4870 against. coincidence? I think not. 5-10% faster than gtx 260 for $100 less = big win for daamit.

nvidia needs to drop gtx 260 to $300. can they do that and be profitable?

 

[ddarko]

Last month, Tech Report tested the Diamond 3870 with 1gb of memory and found the doubling memory made no difference, even at 2560x1600 resolutions. Obviously, the 4870 is not the 3870 but I wonder if they're architecturally similar enough that the 4870 won't really benefit from 1gb. After all, one feature that's been notable about both the 4870 and 4850 is how well they hold up at 2560x1600 with AA. If memory size were a limiting factor, wouldn't we see a far greater performance hit at that resolution and settings than we're seeing? The falloff at 2560x1600 for the 4870/4850 is comparable to the GTX 280/260, which has more memory. If memory were holding the 4000-series back, it seems to me the falloff should be noticeably higher than the 200-series cards? And I never buy current stuff for future-proofing because it invariably doesn't pan out. I'm sure future games will come along that will need more than 512mb of memory but I'd bet money that those games will also require more shaders/bandwidth etc. than current gen cards have anyway. Lack of memory will be one of many factors that cut performance in these future games so I don't worry about current gen cards keeping up with future games.

Here's Tech Report's review of the 1gb 3870:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14654/1

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: nkdesistyle

Originally posted by: n7
I had thought this card was to be 1 GB.

512 MB is not adequate for my resolution, so i do hope to see some 1 GB GDDR5 action soon...& as soon as i do, i'll be buying one.

Very impressive; absolutely the card of choice for all < 1920x1200 users.

it is more that adequate for your and my resolution, though 1gb should be better at 2560 resolution, unless you have a 30" monitor there is not really a great need for 1gb, ofcourse if there is one available soon I myself might grab on, lol. just look at the way it performs at 1920x1200 even with AA< this should be a great card for future games, you can bet that developers are going to make sure their games run good on a card that everyone an afford, this card seems to really do good in shader heavy games, such as bioshock, assasins creed and so on. kudos to AMD/ATI may they live forever. I am certainly supporting them from now on atleast in the GRAPHICS arena.

edit: sorry I might have wrongly thought that you had a 1920x1200 monitor, I think you were referring to other users with 1920x1200 like me, lol.

Yup.

You guys with 1920x1200 are set with this card.

But there's no way i'm buying a card with only 512 MB for my 2560x1600.

I just hope we actually see some 1 GB variants in the next few weeks that don't cost a ton more.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: nkdesistyle

Originally posted by: n7
I had thought this card was to be 1 GB.

512 MB is not adequate for my resolution, so i do hope to see some 1 GB GDDR5 action soon...& as soon as i do, i'll be buying one.

Very impressive; absolutely the card of choice for all < 1920x1200 users.

it is more that adequate for your and my resolution, though 1gb should be better at 2560 resolution, unless you have a 30" monitor there is not really a great need for 1gb, ofcourse if there is one available soon I myself might grab on, lol. just look at the way it performs at 1920x1200 even with AA< this should be a great card for future games, you can bet that developers are going to make sure their games run good on a card that everyone an afford, this card seems to really do good in shader heavy games, such as bioshock, assasins creed and so on. kudos to AMD/ATI may they live forever. I am certainly supporting them from now on atleast in the GRAPHICS arena.

edit: sorry I might have wrongly thought that you had a 1920x1200 monitor, I think you were referring to other users with 1920x1200 like me, lol.

he has a 30" monitor.

edit: drat, you beat me to it!

the problem with these benchmarks is that they rarely if ever get you into a memory-limited situation. many games can get you over 512mb, esp at 2560x1600, so n7 has his priorities in order. at lower res the 512mb should be fine, however.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: ddarko
Last month, Tech Report tested the Diamond 3870 with 1gb of memory and found the doubling memory made no difference, even at 2560x1600 resolutions. Obviously, the 4870 is not the 3870 but I wonder if they're architecturally similar enough that the 4870 won't really benefit from 1gb. After all, one feature that's been notable about both the 4870 and 4850 is how well they hold up at 2560x1600 with AA. If memory size were a limiting factor, wouldn't we see a far greater performance hit at that resolution and settings than we're seeing? The falloff at 2560x1600 for the 4870/4850 is comparable to the GTX 280/260, which has more memory. If memory were holding the 4000-series back, it seems to me the falloff should be noticeably higher than the 200-series cards? And I never buy current stuff for future-proofing because it invariably doesn't pan out. I'm sure future games will come along that will need more than 512mb of memory but I'd bet money that those games will also require more shaders/bandwidth etc. than current gen cards have anyway. Lack of memory will be one of many factors that cut performance in these future games so I don't worry about current gen cards keeping up with future games.

Here's Tech Report's review of the 1gb 3870:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14654/1

512 MB cards fall apart in UE3 games at higher resolutions w/ AA enabled...sadly it seems no one benches those

 

[Cookie Monster]

Impressive to say the least. Power/heat can be alarming (especially the idle power draw), i guess they haven't implemented proper clock gating just like the initial RV670s. Once this is fixed through a BIOs updagte or driver update, it will be one very impressive card at $300.

This kind of performance will probably lead to prices on the G200s to fall which is a good thing. Competition is good.

On a side note, i think its true that HD4870X2 will be based on RV770PRO cores (so clocked lower due to TDP limit) These things are very hot, and having these clocked up to XT speeds is probably not the best of ideas. Power draw is definitely MUCH higher than a single GTX280 if this was the case. So im led to believe that the HD4850X2 should perform lesser than a 2 HD4850 in CF.

 

[dennilfloss]

The boys are back in town!! Go RED!!!

 

[Sind]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
This kind of performance will probably lead to prices on the G200s to fall which is a good thing. Competition is good.

On a side note, i think its true that HD4870X2 will be based on RV770PRO cores (so clocked lower due to TDP limit) These things are very hot, and having these clocked up to XT speeds is probably not the best of ideas. Power draw is definitely MUCH higher than a single GTX280 if this was the case. So im led to believe that the HD4850X2 should perform lesser than a 2 HD4850 in CF.

I agree, great performance and price to boot, I am tempted to snag one to replace this 3870X2.

I am really intrigued by this Sideport talk, let's hope it solves some of the issues in the multi-gpu realm. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in regards to the 4870X2, slapping all that together on a single card after seeing heat numbers on the 4870 coupled with most likely 1gb of ddr5 is going to be toasty unless they are downclocking or have some nice beefy cooler up there sleeve. I really don't call any card running high 80s+ acceptable, even if it is designed as such, I have other components in my system as well that I would like to keep cool and not all of it is blown out the back. I'm sure aftermarket gpu cooling makers are quite ecstatic however!

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Amazing news for PC gaming...intense competition finally back in the video card market.

GTX 280 - while it commands a massive price it is finally a true ultra high end single card/gpu solution since the 8800GTX/Ultra (and I guess the 2900XT ) [win nVidia]

4870 - competes extremely well with the GTX260 for 75% of the cost [win AMD]

4850 - caused nVidia to paper launch the GTX+ and drastically cut the prices to the 9800 series in order to keep this segment from being the runaway no-brainer that the 4870 appears to be [advantage AMD]

now we start getting into the cluster fuck of the 8800GT, 8800GS, 9600GT, 9600GSO, 3870, and 3850...a group starting as low as ~$80 (generally after rebates/sales/deals, and prices are bound to keep dropping across the board here) offering an amazing level of performance rarely seen previously at such price points (and never with such diversity and choice as we have now). Looks like nVidia holds the advantage here, however things could change when the 4600 series hits. [advantage nVidia]

 

[Cookie Monster]

@n7:
After reading hardware canuck's review, (love there reviews, since they provide all the necessary info an enthusiast can think of e.g does a 3rd party cooler fit?, acoustics/heat/power, benchmarks that is easily distinguishable between cards etc) i still think the GTX280 is still the card to buy for people with 2560x1600 resolution (GTX 280s really stretches its legs) where as HD4870 is the card to buy for those with 1900x1200. I think price cuts will come very soon hopefully.

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: ddarko
Last month, Tech Report tested the Diamond 3870 with 1gb of memory and found the doubling memory made no difference, even at 2560x1600 resolutions. Obviously, the 4870 is not the 3870 but I wonder if they're architecturally similar enough that the 4870 won't really benefit from 1gb. After all, one feature that's been notable about both the 4870 and 4850 is how well they hold up at 2560x1600 with AA. If memory size were a limiting factor, wouldn't we see a far greater performance hit at that resolution and settings than we're seeing? The falloff at 2560x1600 for the 4870/4850 is comparable to the GTX 280/260, which has more memory. If memory were holding the 4000-series back, it seems to me the falloff should be noticeably higher than the 200-series cards? And I never buy current stuff for future-proofing because it invariably doesn't pan out. I'm sure future games will come along that will need more than 512mb of memory but I'd bet money that those games will also require more shaders/bandwidth etc. than current gen cards have anyway. Lack of memory will be one of many factors that cut performance in these future games so I don't worry about current gen cards keeping up with future games.

Here's Tech Report's review of the 1gb 3870:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14654/1

512 MB cards fall apart in UE3 games at higher resolutions w/ AA enabled...sadly it seems no one benches those

I wish some site would test Oblivion with Qarls Texture Pack installed, in some scenes it can get over 900mb of texture using with AA applied :Q

 

[nkdesistyle]

Look at rage3d.com's cinema 2.0 article, its like AMD listened to all of us. AMD admitted asking hard core gamers what mattered the most to them, and they said great performance at a great price, so AMD delievered, they are winner this round and I am sure they will capitalize on this, and carry AMD on their shoulders out of the nightmares they have experienced. Ati engineers are fighthers I admit, been with NVIDIA for 2 years not, tried 8800gtx, ultra, and realized that no card is worth the money I paid for, so this time AMD/ATI will be my next rig for sometime to come.

 

[nkdesistyle]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
Amazing news for PC gaming...intense competition finally back in the video card market.

GTX 280 - while it commands a massive price it is finally a true ultra high end single card/gpu solution since the 8800GTX/Ultra (and I guess the 2900XT ) [win nVidia]

4870 - competes extremely well with the GTX260 for 75% of the cost [win AMD]

4850 - caused nVidia to paper launch the GTX+ and drastically cut the prices to the 9800 series in order to keep this segment from being the runaway no-brainer that the 4870 appears to be [advantage AMD]

now we start getting into the cluster fuck of the 8800GT, 8800GS, 9600GT, 9600GSO, 3870, and 3850...a group starting as low as ~$80 (generally after rebates/sales/deals, and prices are bound to keep dropping across the board here) offering an amazing level of performance rarely seen previously at such price points (and never with such diversity and choice as we have now). Looks like nVidia holds the advantage here, however things could change when the 4600 series hits. [advantage nVidia]

LOL I agree with everything you said, but how the hell in the world NVIDIA has Advantage, common man give the RED team some credit, It is all Ati now, go to hard forum, they are nvidia fanboys there and they are turning over to red team, Money talks my friend, and when you get your money's worth there is no better purchase, what you get fo 300 is the 90% of Nvidia performance, for half the price, Advantage ATI. if ATi respects the hard money I earn and gives me best performance at the point, I would happily spend it on their product.

We were rich as hell 2 years ago and now everything is gone after job losses and trouble ecomony, I used to blow money on graphic cards and ultra sli stuff, but let me tell you when you have to work your butt off for money you wanna get every penny's worth, ask that person would they get 85-90% of a 650 dollar product for 300 or no?

 

[Grinja]

I was considering picking up a Radeon 4870 but noticed that intially they will only be 512mb cards.

Is this gonna be a bottleneck or due to speed could it be considered equivelent to 1 gig of GDDR3 mem?

Merged in to the right thread

 

[dennilfloss]

Originally posted by: schneiderguy

I wish some site would test Oblivion with Qarls Texture Pack installed, in some scenes it can get over 900mb of texture using with AA applied :Q

http://img72.imageshack.us/img...0/screenshot306nj2.jpg

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Haha, was reading the Hardwarecanucks review, funny stuff in the conclusion

This means that at this time ATI is in the envious position of being in complete domination of the $300 to $350 price bracket. We should also mention right here and now that we tried getting in a GTX 260 to use in this review but those cards seem harder to find than the cane in a super-sized edition of Where's Waldo.

Indeed, in every AMD document I have seen, the HD4870 was supposed be competing directly with the 9800GTX. Well, they seem to have pulled a fast one on all of us since this card beats the 9800GTX until it's black and blue.

I didnt think the 4870 would offer 100$ worth of performance over the 4850, but I guess I was wrong, it sometimes offers more

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: Grinja
I was considering picking up a Radeon 4870 but noticed that intially they will only be 512mb cards.

Is this gonna be a bottleneck or due to speed could it be considered equivelent to 1 gig of GDDR3 mem?

No, its not a bottleneck you have seen the results. Vendors will likely have the 1GB cards out soon and really, you should only care about 1GB if you have a 30" monitor.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

Originally posted by: Grinja
I was considering picking up a Radeon 4870 but noticed that intially they will only be 512mb cards.

Is this gonna be a bottleneck or due to speed could it be considered equivelent to 1 gig of GDDR3 mem?

Merged in to the right thread

DDR5 is 4*900 on 4870 and DDR3 is 2*1000 on a 260

 

[Bateluer]

I bet AMD was keeping the true performance of the 4870 under wraps so that Nvidia would have to respond after the fact, which seems to be why they are scrambling with price cuts and quick die shrinks to their 18 month old chips.

Time to move some funds around and jump on the 1GB card when they show up at Newegg. Ideally, I should wait for price cuts, but I really would prefer to get the card before the 4th of July so I can play with it.