ATi 4870 X2 (R700) previews thread

[BFG10K]

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Rage3D
Scaling up to 104%?

 

[schneiderguy]

Techreport
Hexus

Anandtech's GRID results are a little weird but thats good if it can get better scaling in games where regular CF doesn't get any performance increase.

Power usage is really high but it makes sense since its two 100+ watt cards.

 

[lopri]

What a sneaky launch!

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: lopri
What a sneaky launch!

Not a hard launch though Who knows when these will be available to actually buy

 

[n7]

This combo card is a monster @ 2560x1600.

 

[tigersty1e]

The thing that's so scary about the reviews is that the 9800GX2 and the 3870x2 perform so poorly after only being out for 7 months.

 

[5150Joker]

Minimum fps is what counts to me and the R700 falls behind the GTX 280 in several instances. Oh well I doubt my damn shuttle could even handle a GTX 280 even if I wanted one.

 

[n7]

Sampsa is finding micro-stuttering is seemingly gone in his testing too.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...=3138116&postcount=579

He's now tested a bunch of games, not just Crysis.

I still want to hear more people's results on this though before i'd be certain.

There's a chance n7 could be returning to a multi-GPU card if everything turns out to peachy with this 4870X2.

If stuttering is truely gone, i likely wouldn't even have such an issue with games that don't scale well with CF (these are still going to be an issue guaranteed), since even if only one GPU is working, a 1 GB 4870 is still very good, not far behind a 1 GB GTX 280.

Exciting times.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
Minimum fps is what counts to me and the R700 falls behind the GTX 280 in several instances. Oh well I doubt my damn shuttle could even handle a GTX 280 even if I wanted one.

Don't know where you are reading but the R700 provides the same if not alot better minimums to the GTX280 in almost every instance from PcPerspective Driverheaven .

This will be my next card, High rez + AA is what counts and this is the best out there- sign me up.

 

[HurleyBird]

AMD walked a fine line with this one. Any higher power consumption and this board would probably be impossible.

 

[OCGuy]

Hmmm...some of those benches sure look interesting....


is AMD trying to keep expectations lower and then release good drivers @ launch?

 

[nkdesistyle]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
Minimum fps is what counts to me and the R700 falls behind the GTX 280 in several instances. Oh well I doubt my damn shuttle could even handle a GTX 280 even if I wanted one.

Do we really play at minimum fps, common now, minimum fps is the worst case scenario when it comes to fps, by the way the minimum fps is either equal or better than gtx 280,

we don't play all games at worst case scenario, all games are playing at decent framerate most of the time, if ati was more in the optimization with the developers may be their minimum fps would not suffer that much, I believe that the minimum fps has a lot to do with your driver level optimization for the game, and if the game is stressed and tested on an nvidia hardware it seems to be performing better on nvidia hardware when it comes to minimum fps.

for example all the TWMTBP games are all tested and stressed on nvidia hardware and that is why amd is always releasing drivers that increase performance months after the games come out, but I believe they seem to be getting in the game more though.

It really depends on a game when you look at the minimum fps, take call of juarez and I bet even the single hd 4870 performs better than the gtx280 or close to it in minimum fps, even though it only has half the ram.

 

[n7]

I would say minimum fps is actually very important, in many, even most, cases, moreso than average fps.

Generally, if you have a well matched card for the rez/settings/etc. in the games you want to play, you'll be getting adequate fps on average.
But the minimums are what get annoying.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: n7
I would say minimum fps is actually very important, in many, even most, cases, moreso than average fps.

Generally, if you have a well matched card for the rez/settings/etc. in the games you want to play, you'll be getting adequate fps on average.
But the minimums are what get annoying.

:thumbsup: agreed 100%

 

[nkdesistyle]

Originally posted by: n7
I would say minimum fps is actually very important, in many, even most, cases, moreso than average fps.

Generally, if you have a well matched card for the rez/settings/etc. in the games you want to play, you'll be getting adequate fps on average.
But the minimums are what get annoying.

Ido agree they get annoying but what I was trying to say is that minimum fps is only encountered here and there with these cards, if you are playing constantly at 50+ and here and there the fps dips to 30 but still smooth than I don't have problem at all, but yea a constant dip to low fps could certainly annoy the crap out of me, but if that was the case than the average would not be high, the minimum fps is important but whats more important to me is how ofter it is encountered in a particular game.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: schneiderguy

Not a hard launch though Who knows when these will be available to actually buy

Not hard enough?

Originally posted by: Derek Wilson

Today however, is about the 250W, $500 multi-GPU solution - internally known as R700. Hot on the heels of the Radeon HD 4800 series launch, AMD shipped out ten R700 cards worldwide, attempting to capitalize on the success of the 4800 and showcase the strength of AMD's small-GPU strategy.

I guess not. :laugh: Although I wonder how AMD plan to capitalize those 10 cards.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e

The thing that's so scary about the reviews is that the 9800GX2 and the 3870x2 perform so poorly after only being out for 7 months.

Agreed.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Hmmm...some of those benches sure look interesting....


is AMD trying to keep expectations lower and then release good drivers @ launch?

:laugh: ?

Keep expectations lower for only smashing the GTX and leaving it in an even worse position than it already was?

That said, from the sites I read only driverheaven shows a nice increase from the X2 to the regular 4870 CF, so drivers will have to improve (and theres still one month to go so theres plenty of time)

Oh and yeah its a paper launch I know that, but so was the GTX+, so I dont wanna hear a word about it

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
Minimum fps is what counts to me and the R700 falls behind the GTX 280 in several instances. Oh well I doubt my damn shuttle could even handle a GTX 280 even if I wanted one.

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: n7
I would say minimum fps is actually very important, in many, even most, cases, moreso than average fps.

Generally, if you have a well matched card for the rez/settings/etc. in the games you want to play, you'll be getting adequate fps on average.
But the minimums are what get annoying.

:thumbsup: agreed 100%

err :! :! R700 has better minimum fps and also its also solves the micro shutter problem making it the best multigpu solution on the market

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15105/3

Crysis 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 24.8 average /17 min
$499 GT280 : 20.3 average /17 min

Race Driver 4xAA 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 111.9 average / 77.0 min
$499 GT280 : 67.6 average / 56.0 min


http://www.driverheaven.net/re...?reviewid=588&pageid=1

Call of Duty 4 - 2560x1200 4xAA 16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 90 average / 49 min
$499 XFX GT280 XXX : 65 average / 33 min


Call of Duty 4 - 2560x1200 4xAA 16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 61 average / 47 min
$499 XFX GT280 XXX : 44 average / 38 min

HL 2 Episode 2 2560x1600 8xAA
$499 4870 X2 : 110 average / 30 min
$499 XFX GT280 XXX : 69 average / 29 min

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: lopri

AMD shipped out ten R700 cards worldwide[/b], attempting to capitalize on the success of the 4800 and showcase the strength of AMD's small-GPU strategy.

Hmm, ten cards but only seven reviews. Maybe we should have a competition to find the other three.

 

[tuteja1986]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354&p=4

Anandtech's Benchamrk

Age of Conan 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 44.8
$499 GT280 : 22.7

Crysis 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 39.1
$499 GT280 : 34.3

Oblivion 2560x1600 4xAA 16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 50.3
$499 GT280 : 36.8

Grid 2560x1600 4xAA
$499 4870 X2 : 84.2
$499 GT280 : 40.6

========================================

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15105/3

Techreport's Benchmark

Half life 2 episode 2 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 84.6
$499 GT280 : 65.5

Quake War 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 100.2
$499 GT280 : 74.2 /

Crysis 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 24.8 average /17 min
$499 GT280 : 20.3 average /17 min

Race Driver 4xAA 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 111.9 average / 77.0 min
$499 GT280 : 67.6 average / 56.0 min

========================================

http://www.driverheaven.net/re...?reviewid=588&pageid=1

Driver Heaven's Benchmark

Call of Duty 4 - 2560x1200 4xAA 16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 90 average / 49 min
$499 XFX GT280 XXX : 65 average / 33 min


World in conflict - 2560x1200 4xAA 16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 61 average / 47 min
$499 XFX GT280 XXX : 44 average / 38 min

HL 2 Episode 2 2560x1600 8xAA
$499 4870 X2 : 110 average / 30 min
$499 XFX GT280 XXX : 69 average / 29 min

more benchies coming

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Originally posted by: lopri

AMD shipped out ten R700 cards worldwide[/b], attempting to capitalize on the success of the 4800 and showcase the strength of AMD's small-GPU strategy.

Hmm, ten cards but only seven reviews. Maybe we should have a competition to find the other three.

Rage3d has one : )

 

[Noya]

This will be my next card, High rez + AA is what counts and this is the best out there- sign me up.

I hope you're also going to jump to an overclocked Q9xx0 / e8400.

Is it not hilarious to see GTX 280's on Newegg with their full MSRP at $649, then you click "see price" and it's all the way down to $469 with a $30 rebate? Hasn't the card only been out a month or so?

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: lopri

Originally posted by: tigersty1e

The thing that's so scary about the reviews is that the 9800GX2 and the 3870x2 perform so poorly after only being out for 7 months.

Agreed.

Okay time to tackle this issue :!


http://techreport.com/articles.x/15105/3

Techreport's Benchmark

Half life 2 episode 2 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 84.6
$499 GT280 : 65.5
9800GTX SLI : 75.4
9800GX2 : 66.4

Quake War 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
$499 4870 X2 : 100.2
$499 GT280 : 74.2
9800GTX SLI : 82.3
9800GX2 : 69.6

Crysis 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 24.8 average /17 min
$499 GT280 : 20.3 average /17 min
9800GTX SLI : 28.1 average /21 min
9800GX2 : 24.7 average /21 min

Race Driver 4xAA 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 111.9 average / 77.0 min
$499 GT280 : 67.6 average / 56.0 min
9800GTX SLI : 88.2 average /48 min
9800GX2 : 85.5 average /72 min

Well sir , these result make your false !

More benchies analysis coming soon :!

Also the 3870X2 was a disaster :! i feel sorry for anyone who bought it :! Anyways , I am looking at few benchmark grap and i think micro shutter problem may have been solved.

Now to take a break

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: Noya

This will be my next card, High rez + AA is what counts and this is the best out there- sign me up.

I hope you're also going to jump to an overclocked Q9xx0 / e8400.

No. At 1920x1200 4xAA I am still very much GPU limited and a new CPU will do nothing for me.

I prefer a preview article like this opposed to another months worth of speculation with various sites reporting varying results and so forth- at least it provides a clearer picture on what to expect when the details are released.