HD4830(se) has 560, not 640 shaders! Two versions?

[NewLCD123]

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/155

There may be a HD4830se with 560 shaders and possibly even lower clock speeds than the 640 shader HD4830! I hope it's marked on the box and priced even cheaper.

 

[emp]

That version was an early sample sent only to reviewers (from example w1zzard from techpowerup) when ATI wasn't sure on the specs yet, the 560 shader version will not make it into the retail channel.

 

[Dekasav]

Which means we all need to be careful when looking at reviews. No sense judging by a card that's crippled compared to retail. I hope all those who reviewed 560 shader cards manage to redo their reviews, or add in the retail (640 shader) version.

 

[mactronix]

I hope this dosent mean we wil get a 4820 as well ? Its just another line of SP's dissabled after all said and done. But looking at early benchmarks it would probably perform about as well as a 4670 if they did make it so wouldnt be cost effective.
Anyone know if its unlockable yet ? some rumours say that some of the card will even carry bad 4870 chips which should be able to clock higher, i think.

Mactronix

 

[NewLCD123]

Well I heard it's overclock locked on a bios or hardware level. ATI looked bad when they sent 560 shader cards, now people will get the 9800gt instead thinking those are faster. Everyone was so excited for hd4830 now they lost interest.

 

[mactronix]

Ok so now i read the review you posted and it strikes me that someone is taking the piss a bit.
How can it be locked as per this statement "The locking mechanism relies on fuses inside the GPU, or on the substrate - a mechanism similar to Intel's multiplier locking. It is not reversible as far as I know" If at the bottom of teh article they include a Bios flash to up the cards with 560 to 640 ? Either its locked or it isnt. Could this be the propergation of a myth here to stop people overclocking and flashing these chips ? I thing the other 4 series cards have a cap on the speeds in bios as well dont they? Im fairly sure i read somewhere that a new bios was released/leaked from a special edition of the 4870 ?
Mactronix

 

[dagger]

Performance difference is only 3% though. Doesn't really matter.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4830/26.html

 

[mactronix]

Yes but if you buy a card that you beleive has 640 SP's and it has only 560 then it becomes an issue that has not so much to do with the performance and more to do with the principle, besides its all cumalative at the end of the day isnt it. pitty they never included overclocked comparisons. Does it still have 4 backends ?
Mactronix

 

[dagger]

Yes but if you buy a card that you beleive has 640 SP's and it has only 560 then it becomes an issue that has not so much to do with the performance and more to do with the principle, besides its all cumalative at the end of the day isnt it. pitty they never included overclocked comparisons. Does it still have 4 backends ?
Mactronix

While it's not ethical, in the end, it's really the performance that matters.

And it overclocks extremely well, at up to 31%, while perfectly stable.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4830/29.html
The reason for this is it's a crippled and downclocked card, which means it's easier to bump it back up.

4870, in comparison, only manages 5% while stable. Some individuals on the internet have been able to manage up to 10%, but those are unconfirmed claims and stability is suspect. It's already operating at near limit, and getting any additional clock speed is difficult.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Diamond/HD_4870/24.html

9800gtx does better, but still less than 20%.
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/03/geforce-9800gtx-review.html/9

The only card that can even come close to 4830's relative oc amount is 8800gs/9600gso, which is also a crippled version of a higher performing card.

 

[emp]

Guys, those 560SP cards will not make it into the retail channel, there's no reason to getting all worked up about a product that will never see the light outside of a few testing labs.

 

[spuddyt]

has anyone thought about trying to flash a 4830 to a 4850? they have similar hardware I believe, its just whats been locked and what hasn't etc.

 

[mactronix]

Dont know of anyone who tried it yet, most other sites who mention it say ATI told them it was lazer cut, which makes the idea or increasing the 560 boards to 640 with a flash look even less credable. They cant hav eit both ways.

Mactronix