Radeon 4800 series chips ahead of schedule- shipping to partners

[hcforde]

Toms posted this about 10:30 CST/DST

This is good news as I have put off buying an HD3870x2

Mountain House (CA) – Unlike the ATI that we knew before, it appears that AMD’s graphics division is running perfectly these days – and ahead of deadlines. Even though the graphics unit has posted an $8 million loss in the first quarter of this year – in an effort to improve market share rather than average selling prices - the graphics business is making progress: We hear the company has struck gold with the RV770 and will be bring the chip to market earlier than expected.

AMD’s next graphics cards are being prepared for launch: During the Q1 earnings call, president and chief operating officer Dirk Meyer stated that the company will roll out a significant number of products in May and our sources now confirmed that the introductions will include desktop and mobile (M88) graphics parts.


Read more here>>> http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-radeon-4800,5213.html

 

[chris312]

I can't wait to see benchmarks. I just bought a 9600 but I want to see technology improve a lot before my Nehalem build sometime next year :] Considering I just hooked myself on Crysis, lol

 

[densetsu612]

I am most interested in the 10 watts @ idle on the new card.
If the claim is true, Power consumption comparison of the ATI and NVIDIA cards will make NVIDIA's solution... well,... not-so-"Green".

*Edit*
In the USA, a KWH is around 9 cents depending on where you live (and time of day, etc). A 100 watt light bulb running 24/7 for a month would cost you roughly
((24x100X30)/1000)X.09 = $6.48, or $77 per year.

Assuming an Idle power difference of 100 watts, you can buy a new $150 mainstream video card every 2 years from just the electricity cost savings!!

 

[englandr753]

Im a happy Nvidia owner but I do hope that the 4000 series AMD cards kick some green butt for the next year and a half to boost sales and get them out of the red.

Im with you chris on wanting things to improve as much as possible. This is good for everyone and we are starting to become overdue for a good release.

 

[RPAaggieDude]

I'm glad I waited on my build now. I'm curious to see how the RV770 will perform. Specifically if the 4870 will outperform most if not all of nvidia's offerings! What are yalls thoughts on it?

 

[quanger]

i dont think ati can produce a card that idles at 11w. thats just so low, i mean really low.
i hope ati will continue to dearly support crossfire and i myself will be interested in a 4850 cfx with my current 3870x2.

but i do hope ati does well because it will keep amd from going under.

 

[englandr753]

i hope ati will continue to dearly support crossfire and i myself will be interested in a 4850 cfx with my current 3870x2.

Wouldnt that slow down the 4850 to the speed of the 3870X2?

 

[jaguarskx]

I am most interested in the 10 watts @ idle on the new card.
If the claim is true, Power consumption comparison of the ATI and NVIDIA cards will make NVIDIA's solution... well,... not-so-"Green".

*Edit*
In the USA, a KWH is around 9 cents depending on where you live (and time of day, etc). A 100 watt light bulb running 24/7 for a month would cost you roughly
((24x100X30)/1000)X.09 = $6.48, or $77 per year.

Assuming an Idle power difference of 100 watts, you can buy a new $150 mainstream video card every 2 years from just the electricity cost savings!!

Damn, I wish I was only paying $0.09 per KWH. That's half of what I pay.

 

[jaguarskx]

i dont think ati can produce a card that idles at 11w. thats just so low, i mean really low.

Sure it's possible, as long as the GPU can shut down the 3D acceleration parts of itself when not in use, lower the clockspeed / mem speed and drop the voltages too.

 

[quanger]

Wouldnt that slow down the 4850 to the speed of the 3870X2?

its clock identicle to the 3870x2's so technically it wouldnt slow it down. i am interested in how well it scales.

(3870x2 + 4850) vs (3870x2 + 3870)

If there is no difference then i would obviously go with a 3870 which is a no brainer. I can clock the 3870 to 850/1800 so that it matches the 3870x2's clock.

 

[yipsl]

I definitely plan on getting a 4870 this fall. Then I can put the 3870x2 in a spare gaming PC because not every game supports dual GPU's all that well.

I'm still trying to figure out if there's a problem with my MSI 3870x2. GPU-Z reads its the first GPU as 421/421 and the second as 421/850, with the memory at 901. The older CCC read it the same. Catalyst 8.4 doesn't seem to have Overdrive in the list for my supposedly factory overclocked card.

So, I know the GPU clocks down when not in 3D mode, that accounts for the 421, but shouldn't both GPU's read 421/850? I'm wondering if I have a bad card with one GPU failing to clock adequately. My benchmarks seem a bit lower than what I've seen on review sites.

So, do I have a defective card that's actually doing Crossfire at 421 megahertz per GPU? Which GPU does it use when Crossfire's not supported? The 421 or the 850. It seems fast to me regardless, but my prior card was a 7600gs so even an underclocked 3870 would seem fast.

At any rate, I think I'll send this back for warranty replacement when I can afford to get a 4870. Then, when I'm sure I have a good 3870x2 that's 850 with each GPU, it can go in the other gaming PC.

If I do decide on CrossfireX when I get a Deneb and a new board next holiday season, a 3870x2 and a 4850 would be clocked the same except for memory, though it's the 4870 that Nordic Hardware said was as fast as a 3870x2.

 

[quanger]

i would think most of not, all future games will support multi gpu cards. its the wave of the future

 

[DarthPiggie]

You cant predict where the future will be especially for the technology sector. I really hope that the 4870 will igve me a reason to ditch my 8800GT, but from the supposed 50% increase i heard, i might stick with the GT and keep waiting. That 4870 better perform better than everything out today if ATI really struck gold. RV770 was meant to compete with GT200/G100, so i guess that means that it should breeze by the 9800GTX and the GX2 right, it better, 480SPs aint no joke, although technically only a fraction of those are 'real' shaders.

 

[LukeBird]

RV770 was meant to compete with GT200/G100, so i guess that means that it should breeze by the 9800GTX and the GX2 right, it better, 480SPs aint no joke, although technically only a fraction of those are 'real' shaders.

But look what difference those SP's and DX10.1 seem to do in Assassins Creed...
If that's how things are looking in the future, I'm liking where things are going!
If AMD can get an early ship on the 4xxx's, that could really hurt Nvidia, will be interesting to see what happens 😀

 

[dtq]

This could liven things up, hope for something well and truelly beating the antiquated GTX and ultras in single gpu mode... Would be nice to finally let my gtx's retire to my kids computers...

Lets hope its more than hype and a new a coat of paint on the old chips...

 

[area61]

If AMD can get an early ship on the 4xxx's, that could really hurt Nvidia, will be interesting to see what happens 😀

well........hope the prices dont get inflated like it happend at the release of 8800GT

 

[LukeBird]

well........hope the prices dont get inflated like it happend at the release of 8800GT

I'm sure they will be, retailers will always try and make a quick buck on the newest stuff...

 

[area61]

why hasnt any chinese sites comeup with a early review?

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

I definitely plan on getting a 4870 this fall. Then I can put the 3870x2 in a spare gaming PC because not every game supports dual GPU's all that well.

I'm still trying to figure out if there's a problem with my MSI 3870x2. GPU-Z reads its the first GPU as 421/421 and the second as 421/850, with the memory at 901. The older CCC read it the same. Catalyst 8.4 doesn't seem to have Overdrive in the list for my supposedly factory overclocked card.

So, I know the GPU clocks down when not in 3D mode, that accounts for the 421, but shouldn't both GPU's read 421/850? I'm wondering if I have a bad card with one GPU failing to clock adequately. My benchmarks seem a bit lower than what I've seen on review sites.

So, do I have a defective card that's actually doing Crossfire at 421 megahertz per GPU? Which GPU does it use when Crossfire's not supported? The 421 or the 850. It seems fast to me regardless, but my prior card was a 7600gs so even an underclocked 3870 would seem fast.

At any rate, I think I'll send this back for warranty replacement when I can afford to get a 4870. Then, when I'm sure I have a good 3870x2 that's 850 with each GPU, it can go in the other gaming PC.

If I do decide on CrossfireX when I get a Deneb and a new board next holiday season, a 3870x2 and a 4850 would be clocked the same except for memory, though it's the 4870 that Nordic Hardware said was as fast as a 3870x2.

The 421 clock has something to do with what the first card cab actually do, and in 2D its doing 421, so the other card has to clock down to it. It clocks up in 3D mode, and the second card follows.Im interested in the MCM that supposed to be coming out, and may be the "thunder" rumors weve been hearing about. It allows a 2chip (X2) to share the memory within each card, so no mirroring of memory. So with this, when you have a say 4870 with 1 gig memory, both chips will have access to all 1 gig. This should do 2 things. Speed up the process (how well, guess we will soon find out) and makes for a cheaper, cleaner product

 

[yipsl]

The 421 clock has something to do with what the first card cab actually do, and in 2D its doing 421, so the other card has to clock down to it. It clocks up in 3D mode, and the second card follows.Im interested in the MCM that supposed to be coming out, and may be the "thunder" rumors weve been hearing about. It allows a 2chip (X2) to share the memory within each card, so no mirroring of memory. So with this, when you have a say 4870 with 1 gig memory, both chips will have access to all 1 gig. This should do 2 things. Speed up the process (how well, guess we will soon find out) and makes for a cheaper, cleaner product

I'd originally thought that the 421 was clocked down for 2D, but shouldn't that be shown as 421/850 for both GPU's with 901 as the memory? Perhaps dual GPU cards are harder for GPU-Z, Rivatuner and even CCC Overdive to detail than single GPU or normal Crossfire setups?

Thunder seems like another step towards dual core GPU's and not simply dual GPU's. Sharing the same memory is good. The 3870x2's marketed as having a gig of RAM at 1800 megahertz, but it's really 512 for each GPU at 901.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Yeah, and I can see the confusion once this hits " I have a 3870x2 with 1 gig of memory, doesnt this mean I have a whole gig like the 4870s?" and then having to explain all this.... but be that as it may, if this works like the IMCs in cpus, then bandwidth will never ever be a problem, and youll actually have the gpu processors going full tilt and not ever waiting, and when you buy a card with 1 gig, itll all actually be used, instead of mirrored and wasted

 

[DarthPiggie]

Your right its about time that 1GB is used. Im liking ATI's white paper offering. I also like the fact that you can use CF on most boards with 2+ PCI-E lanes, unlike Nvidia-chip exclusive SLI offering. WHy Nvidia is still allowed to do this is beyond me. Yea the 480 SP, 1050 mhz core, 4400mhz memory (effective) , 16 ROPs( ), 32 TMUs ( ), good for the most part.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Theres been a little confusion on whether the clocks would be 1Ghz or 850Mhz. I just saw a chart showing that the chip will run at 850Mhz, and the shaders at 1050Mhz. Thats why maybe this has been reported several ways. They can lock the shaders at +200Mhz, and it looks like thats what they did

 

[LukeBird]

Theres been a little confusion on whether the clocks would be 1Ghz or 850Mhz. I just saw a chart showing that the chip will run at 850Mhz, and the shaders at 1050Mhz. Thats why maybe this has been reported several ways. They can lock the shaders at +200Mhz, and it looks like thats what they did

Well the rumour is that it will be the first chip to breach the 1GHz core speed which will be interesting!
I just noticed one funny thing about this thread, if it was about ATi shipping late, it will be 4 pages long with Nvidia fanboys filling it with pointless comments...
Seems they can do nothing to but beat ATi down!
I'm personally looking forward to these cards.
I fancy a fast Phenom (at the moment, thinking 9750/9850 or faster if there are any coming...), but don't want an SLi board. I want a 790FX board ideally, so I can see a change to a 4870/4870X2(s) or such

 

[DarthPiggie]

screw SLI, CF scales better across the board, maybe with the exception of the 9600GT which scales really well. Anyone else dissapointed with ROPs and TMUs? 1GHz core will run very hot BTW, and consume lots of energy. It'll be a while before we move onto 45nm process, how much smaller can those things get, really? 60 femto meters? sheeesh