Powercolor 4870 1GB review

[thilanliyan]

http://www.hardwarezone.com/ar...php?id=2684&cid=3&pg=8

It's nice to see the 4870 keeping up with the 280 in Crysis finally (in Vista at least).

I have to say, nV did a marvelous job in keeping idle power consumption down...40+ watts difference between it and the 4870!!! :Q

EDIT (21/09/2008): review from Hexus:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15463&page=1

Check out the temps and overclocking page. Good to see some better coolers than stock...although even this one doesn't exhaust heat out.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Only problem is, their crysis numbers for a 512MB 4870 don't match up to what everyone else says. Most sites place the gtx280 above the 4870 in crysis. at 1600x1200

 

[Keysplayr]

Noticed that to. ^

 

[Tempered81]

wierd, they used old drivers for a review sept. 8th


* ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB (Catalyst 8.6)
* ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB (Catalyst 8.6)
* ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB (CrossFireX) (Catalyst 8.6)
* NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1GB (ForceWare 177.34)
* NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB (ForceWare 177.34)

 

[apoppin]

what kind of tech site uses old drivers?

I think their results are ridiculous in Crysis

so .. what else is there to look at?

i think the only difference is a very mild OC and a larger framebuffer

However, that larger frame buffer probably IS important at 19x12. The HD4870 is often not smooth at what should be playable frame-rates - it appears to 'hitch'; it does not do this as much at 16x10, so i am guessing it is running out out of vRAM.

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Only problem is, their crysis numbers for a 512MB 4870 don't match up to what everyone else says. Most sites place the gtx280 above the 4870 in crysis. at 1600x1200

Part of that may be that the gtx 280 seems to tank when dx10 is enabled.

 

[Tab]

Wow, can any card play Crysis at 1920xWhatever? Is this the best we can do?

I wonder how this will stand up to games like the new Brothers in Arms and all...

 

[Nemesis 1]

That whole review is fuzzy. Why a 2,66 cpu speed. push the cpu up tp 3.6 and update drivers.

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: Tab
Wow, can any card play Crysis at 1920xWhatever? Is this the best we can do?

I wonder how this will stand up to games like the new Brothers in Arms and all...

BiA is a console port so it shouldn't be too stressfull

STALKER clear sky on the other hand...

 

[deerhunter716]

Well still like all 1 GB cards; no real performance increase that is worth the extra $$$ in my opinion. I got the 512 MB 4870 and having no issues at all with any games at 1920x1200. Hell I can play Crysis damn fine at high and just turn shadows to low and post-processing to low. Game looks and runs great.

I do not see a need at all for the 1 GB cards to be honest; unless you just have to have one.

 

[dennilfloss]

I don't say this often but repost!:laugh:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2225382&enterthread=y

On the same page too.

 

[airhendrix13]

I'm happy to see that there is FINALLY a 4870 1GB review. Seems like the extra memory helped at high resolutions overall, but for the price, I don't know if it is justifiable. The GTX 280 is just starting to hit the upper $300 region after rebate, and overall outperforms the 1GB 4870, but these are very early judgments, and perhaps other reviews will point to the 4870 1GB in favor.

My overall opinion is if you want something that is more powerful than the 4870 or GTX260, then the GTX280 seems to be the better deal, and the 4870X2 if you want the best single card solution.

EDIT: Features are also a selling point, don't forget those.

 

[taltamir]

if you want something fasthing faster then get two 9800GT for 110$ each and SLI them

the 4870 1GB.. well, it really depends on its price.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
I don't say this often but repost!:laugh:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2225382&enterthread=y

On the same page too.

Oops sorry mate,
didn't see that.

To a MOD: Please lock this thread.

 

[dennilfloss]

Originally posted by: airhendrix13
I'm happy to see that there is FINALLY a 4870 1GB review. Seems like the extra memory helped at high resolutions overall, but for the price, I don't know if it is justifiable. The GTX 280 is just starting to hit the upper $300 region after rebate, and overall outperforms the 1GB 4870, but these are very early judgments, and perhaps other reviews will point to the 4870 1GB in favor.

My overall opinion is if you want something that is more powerful than the 4870 or GTX260, then the GTX280 seems to be the better deal, and the 4870X2 if you want the best single card solution.

EDIT: Features are also a selling point, don't forget those.

You can buy a 1GB 4870 for $316CAN,

 

[dennilfloss]

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
I don't say this often but repost!:laugh:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2225382&enterthread=y

On the same page too.

Oops sorry mate,
didn't see that.

To a MOD: Please lock this thread.

Or maybe lock mine as this one seems to have better legs.

 

[thilanliyan]

Edited OP with Hexus review:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15463&page=1

 

[dug777]

Very nice

 

[dennilfloss]

Might be noteworthy that some people mention the fan on the the Powercolor as being very loud. Might be important for those who care about noise level.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Might be noteworthy that some people mention the fan on the the Powercolor as being very loud. Might be important for those who care about noise level.

Really?? I didn't know that. I thought it would be quieter...it looks like the old 7800GTX cooler.

 

[coreyb]

http://www.overclockersclub.co...ews/powercolor_hd4870/

 

[AzN]

I hate these pointless reviews to show the difference between a 1gig vram vs 512mb v-cards. They should have included 8x AA + ADAA or higher to show what kind of effect it has on frame rates considering higher AA uses more vram. Not to mention it gives you better image quality.

It's not like 4xAA is some standard everyone should use. Depending on the video card strengths and weakness a user adjust their settings around it. Kind of sick of seeing these mindless reviews of the same old 4xAA with the same old games for every single web site.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: airhendrix13
I'm happy to see that there is FINALLY a 4870 1GB review. Seems like the extra memory helped at high resolutions overall, but for the price, I don't know if it is justifiable.

Don't forget the 1GB card is also running at 800mhz gpu vs. 750 for the stock 512mb one screwing the results.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: coreyb
http://www.overclockersclub.co...ews/powercolor_hd4870/

Pros:

* Performance equal to or better than the GTX 280

:Q

 

[Gary Bechtold]

I had the card. Key words had the card. First the good. The cooler really works well and was quiet. Didn't notice the fan at 25% which was enough to keep the temps in the low 50's celcius. 40-100% were progressively noticeable, but not that bad. The bad. Memory has a smooth copper heat spreader on it. It has no fins at all on it. Not really sure how that helps to cool the memory which is slightly overclocked. The next bad thing and this is the deal breaker is the drivers. Tried 8.8 and 8.9 drivers and got nothing but random reboots. Interestingly enough I tried all the profile things that other people were doing with the Sapphire and other 4870 cards and they didn't help. While it made things more stable, it would still lock up even though I locked the speed at the defaults. Overall I loved the card. It was quiet and fast when it worked, but the random reboots and general instability have this thing going back to Newegg. I guess I'm going to be getting an NVidia GTX 280 card now. Not sure what to do.