ATi 4870 X2 (R700) thread

[Compddd]

Originally posted by: praesto
Now, poor me hoped that my gorgeus orange/black coloured corsair vx550 pew pew psu would hold up for a video card upgrade (8800gt currently), but looking at load consumption of a single hd 4870 tells me that a vx550 will nothing but short when it comes to delivering enough juice for a 4870x2. Soo, would a corsair tx650 suffice for a e4300 @ 3ghz, 2 harddisks, 3 fans and a 4870x2?

I'm running a E6600 @ 3.2GHz, a 300gb raptor, a 500GB WDSE16, Xifi sound card, 2 case fans, and a 4870 with an old 430W Seasonic S12

imho you should be fine with what you have now man

 

[Janooo]

Micro-stuttering should be gone.

Crysis 16x12; high settings ~ 46fps.


Some slides here.

Vantage score X6920.
Release date Aug/12.
8.8GFlop/Watt -> 2.4TFlop -> ~270W?

 

[ChronoReverse]

I don't see any GX2 for as cheap as $290 but I probably just don't know where to look.

As for the microstuttering, I'll want them to do more tests before I put any stock into it.

 

[taltamir]

awesome! microstutter is fixed?
now I can't wait a whole month!

now I gotta ask... is this only for the x2 version? what about running two x 4850 or two x 4870?

 

[dasracht]

HD 4870X2 R700 launch on Aug 12th

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: dasracht
HD 4870X2 R700 launch on Aug 12th

Wow there's a lot of info in that link, clocks still TBD though. Sweet.

 

[CreasianDevaili]

Originally posted by: dasracht
HD 4870X2 R700 launch on Aug 12th

So now augest 12th. Some said a limited few would be out by july 15th, with more at the end/beginning of july. Now its 12th of augest. Gah.

Least the nda should be up soon so we can determine if it is worth it to wait. Got the funds to get 4870CF but was hoping to go for the 1gb ones for my mmorpgs and especially oblivion texture mods.

 

[Aberforth]

Any idea how much power it sucks? I only have a 800W PSU, if I buy a 4870X2 I won't be buying a new PSU.

 

[taltamir]

hehe.. ONLY an 800watt PSU...
Holy japalepenos, 800 watts is a TON of power.

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: taltamir
hehe.. ONLY an 800watt PSU...
Holy japalepenos, 800 watts is a TON of power.

I have 7 Hard discs, overclocked quad core, dusty 8800GTX and a Bluray/DVDWriter. I have a feeling that my PC is already overloaded...anyway lets lee what happens.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: Janooo

Micro-stuttering should be gone.

You can't infer that from that link. He might've simply become CPU limited after he dropped in his 4870 X2 so micro-stutter is no longer showing in that instance.

 

[taltamir]

hard disks take 5 watts under LOAD (actively writing data)!

 

[Janooo]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Originally posted by: Janooo

Micro-stuttering should be gone.

You can't infer that from that link. He might've simply become CPU limited after he dropped in his 4870 X2 so micro-stutter is no longer showing in that instance.

Crysis does not appear CPU limited here.
I hope his CPU is fast otherwise you are right. He is preparing a review so I hope he knows what he is doing.

 

[BFG10K]

Interview with AMD (confirms August launch):

http://www.techtree.com/India/...AMD/551-90984-579.html

Originally posted by: Janooo

Crysis does not appear CPU limited here.
I hope his CPU is fast otherwise you are right. He is preparing a review so I hope he knows what he is doing.

He tested 2 seconds in a spot we don't even know where. For all we know he could be staring at a wall.

Micro-stutter will only happen if you're sufficiently GPU bound so that the time between GPU frames becomes a function of CPU render time, not GPU render time. If he?s not in that situation the frames will be spaced evenly.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Micro-stutter will only happen if you're sufficiently GPU bound so that the time between GPU frames becomes a function of CPU render time, not GPU render time.

That's called being CPU-bound, though I know that you already knew that. Just wanted to make it clear for the people who didn't know.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Interview with AMD (confirms August launch):

http://www.techtree.com/India/...AMD/551-90984-579.html

Originally posted by: Janooo

Crysis does not appear CPU limited here.
I hope his CPU is fast otherwise you are right. He is preparing a review so I hope he knows what he is doing.

He tested 2 seconds in a spot we don't even know where. For all we know he could be staring at a wall.

Micro-stutter will only happen if you're sufficiently GPU bound so that the time between GPU frames becomes a function of CPU render time, not GPU render time. If he?s not in that situation the frames will be spaced evenly.

That doesn't make sense to me. I thought it was simply because the two GPU's aren't synchronized and so output frames at a different rate. So the first one will output a frame every 50ms, and the second one will as well, but they will only output frames 10 ms from each other. So the frame timing would be like this:
0ms
10ms
50ms
60ms
100ms
110ms
etc...

so it would look like the output rate would be 40ms, instead of the average of 25ms that the two are outputting frames. They could fix this by simply delaying the second frame, or using some sort of algorithm to distribute the data at the proper rate to the two GPU's (or not use AFR).

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

I dont think Sampsa is as clueless as you think... Theres a reason he always gets cards early and is one of the best overclockers... Im sure he knows what hes talking about

 

[taltamir]

I have a microstutter example for you... from my thread about being CPU limited, specifically, on a an E8400 @ 3.6ghz on mass effect:

I figured out something, I was calling them "jitters"... but actually they are textbook cases of "micro-stutter"... I heard about single card micro-stutter before, and now I see it. Obviously the cause of this is not the GPU by the CPU... since the example I found was (11 to 41.6 to 15 ms to draw a frame; in FPS that is 90, 23, 66 instantaneous FPS) at the 720x480 resolution, where my GPU shows a utilization in the low 20%, while the CPU is 100%. Unless there is a bug or something causing it. Who knows. I personally felt that the micro-stutter was actually lessened when I turned off frame-smoothing, I will try it again with frame smoothing as it is supposed to combat exactly that.

As you can see, the time to draw a frame went from 11, to 41.6, to 15ms (rounded to nearest .1). Which is 90, 23, 66 FPS (the overall FPS measured was a lowest of 43, but that is because all the frames drawn that second are averaged together).
Those were frames 606, 607, and 608 in that test.
At that exact point I felt a "jitter" as I called it... But this is clearly a textbook case of micro-stutter.

While it is possible to play with, it is definitely not as fun, the game never felt smooth, I complained that my frame rate was in the 20s before I actually ran fraps and found out that I am averaging 52fpsand never going below 40 (except if I am staring down the water fountain in the citadel tower)... It just FEELS like it is in the 20s cause it dips into it with micro-stutter, and it seriously lowered the quality of the game for me (mass effect).
So I now have as a priority to upgrade my CPU first (I am thinking a quad core @ 3.6ghz).

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
I dont think Sampsa is as clueless as you think... Theres a reason he always gets cards early and is one of the best overclockers... Im sure he knows what hes talking about

That Sampsa guy is definitely not "clueless"- if he says microstutter is fixed, there may well be some validity to it. Good news if true.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: SteelSix

Originally posted by: dasracht
HD 4870X2 R700 launch on Aug 12th

Wow there's a lot of info in that link, clocks still TBD though. Sweet.

It says 2.4 Teraflaps.. For two RV770's to achieve that number *theoretically*, each should be clocked at 750MHz just like regular HD 4870.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: Aberforth

Originally posted by: taltamir
hehe.. ONLY an 800watt PSU...
Holy japalepenos, 800 watts is a TON of power.

I have 7 Hard discs, overclocked quad core, dusty 8800GTX and a Bluray/DVDWriter. I have a feeling that my PC is already overloaded...anyway lets lee what happens.

dude, you psu is great. it will easily handle the 4870x2.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: Martimus

I thought it was simply because the two GPU's aren't synchronized and so output frames at a different rate. So the first one will output a frame every 50ms, and the second one will as well, but they will only output frames 10 ms from each other. So the frame timing would be like this:

Yes, and that will only happen if the time taken for a GPU to render a frame is sufficiently higher than the time taken for the CPU to render a frame.

They could fix this by simply delaying the second frame, or using some sort of algorithm to distribute the data at the proper rate to the two GPU's

There's nothing simple about that. You never have a constant framerate so you'd have to constantly issue adjustments but not do it too often so that your framerate is impacted.

(or not use AFR).

It?s highly unlikely either vendor will drop AFR given AFR produces the prettiest graphs.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: nRollo

That Sampsa guy is definitely not "clueless"- if he says microstutter is fixed, there may well be some validity to it. Good news if true.

He might not be clueless but very few people truly understand micro-stutter so it?ll take more than a random internet post showing 2 seconds of gameplay to convince me.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

He might not be clueless but very few people truly understand micro-stutter so it?ll take more than a random internet post showing 2 seconds of gameplay to convince me.

I agree. A lot of people seem to think of 'regular' stutters as 'micro-stutters'. Granted there is no official definition of it, the micro-stutter that occurs in multi-GPU configuration is very different from jerkiness or choppiness. I don't believe I could ever have noticed without learning it first. Multi-GPU configuration can cause more 'regular' stutters than single GPU configuration, but it's not the same as the stutters occuring due to different intervals.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Wow this card is looking to be the knockout blow to Nvidia. Sign me up!