Radeon HD 4830: High-Speed, Cheap CrossFire

[KITH]

In the world of conflict results, under 1920x1200 and 4aa use, you say the 4870 x 2 in untouched by adding AA while the 4830 CF also loses very little.
Then you say the 4830 CF only have a slight advantage when there is a very similar difference between the 8800gt sli and 4830 CF as there is to the 4830 CF and 4870 x 2 30fps - 35fps 16% increase vs 35fps - 41fps 17% increase.

 

[cleeve]

Yes, kith. Interesting observation.

 

[Guest]

I would of liked to see the 4850 in single and crossfire mode in the charts since its the next card up and can be purchased for about the same price AR.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]though he runs suppreme commander just fine at 1024 ...[/citation]
Are you referring to the original or Forged Alliance?

 

[Traciatim]

This seems like an ideal setup from what I want to do with my next PC. I would really like to have 3 monitors, in a custom (ghetto) version of the Digital Tigers Zenview PowerTrio Elite. The two side monitors I was planning on having run off a cheap secondary video card with a nice video card for the middle monitor.

I haven't used SLI (since the voodoo2's) or crossfire so I'm wondering if I can switch between crossfire mode for the main monitor while playing games and then have them each drive separate monitors for work related things that need screen space?

 

[jeep11]

Could of used ATI tool.

 

[randomizer]

These would be nice if they weren't only $15 less than the 4850

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]That's an indoor scene, and I bet it'll be cpu limited at that size.[/citation]

I don't know. I'm running a stock Opty 185 right now with an 8800GTS 640 and it seems to top out my card. So yeah, a better card may hit the CPU barrier. The reason I asked about the opening cave is because there's a section in it where the frames dip sharply. I want to know what the minimum FPS are.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]These would be nice if they weren't only $15 less than the 4850[/citation]

Yeah, the 4850's took a nosedive recently. I never saw that one coming; I assume the 4830's will follow suit sooner or later - kinda have to.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]Cleeve[/nom]Yeah, the 4850's took a nosedive recently. I never saw that one coming; I assume the 4830's will follow suit sooner or later - kinda have to.[/citation]
In the US they have for sure. But here they haven't. The HD4830 is just under $200 with the HD4850 about $210 (and HD4870 at $330). No nosedive, just bad starting prices for the HD4830 I would have expected HD4850 prices to drop a fair bit given they were supposed to lose $20 USD or so, which is about 30 AUD.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]I don't know. I'm running a stock Opty 185 right now with an 8800GTS 640 and it seems to top out my card. So yeah, a better card may hit the CPU barrier. The reason I asked about the opening cave is because there's a section in it where the frames dip sharply. I want to know what the minimum FPS are.[/citation]
Well you're running ddr1 on a slow board with a 3 year old cpu. Sure it's one of the best that were around before c2d, but still. And you've paired it with an old, and slightly crippled, g80 chip. That is going to limit your graphics power. When I went from an opteron 170 (@ 2.6 or 2.7) to a c2d my 8800gtx got more than 30% faster. So while the gpu may be your limit, it's only so because the platform doesn't let it work as fast as it could.

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]Are you referring to the original or Forged Alliance?[/citation]
The original. He doesn't have the expansion.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]The original. He doesn't have the expansion.[/citation]
The author of one of the SBM articles this time around said that Forged Alliance is alot more demanding than the original, which makes sense since my lowly 9600GT plays it fine at 1680x1050 with 4xAA. Although I haven't managed a massive fight scene given I've only played the demo.

 

[Guest]

Cleave, your responses to posts are fast and most appreciated. Its nice to see a reviewer hang around to answer questions. You rock dude. Thanks again and I look forward to more great articles by you.

 

[JoeAverage]

Nice Article. I liked the fact that you put temp and acoustics tests in the article. I'm getting ready to build a new system in the next few months and I want this one to be reasonably quiet. I would like to see a similar article on cases.

 

[Teruo]

Im sorry to post this here, but I dont know how to turn off the "Alert me if new talkback" and i keep getting email, and the instruction were "To unsubscribe from this email alert, click on the envelop icon at the top-right corner of the topic discussion." Which i do not see the envelop icon that can disable the alert, i only see the envelop for newsletter. Help please and sorry again for posting this here but i cant find any solution

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]
The original. He doesn't have the expansion.[/citation]

That explains it. The expansion is even more brutal than the original.

The benchmark is zoomed in on a player's homebase in Forged Alliance, with everything coverd in semi-transparent shields. It's graphicslly and CPU heavy and I'd wager your dad's machine would get about 5 fps in our benchmark.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]BobbyD[/nom]Its nice to see a reviewer hang around to answer questions. [/citation]

Thanks man, I appreciate that!

 

[tpi2007]

Hey Cleeve!

You missed my comment yesterday!

Didn't anybody notice the error ? The 8800GT and 9800GT DO NOT have 128 stream processor!

They have 112.

 

[Phosters]

very nice article. I was just wondering what the cost : benifit would be on my existing 8800 GT vs another 8800 GT or a different card in the same price range. It is nice to know that the ole girl can still hang with the new kids on the block.

 

[Teruo]

[citation][nom]Teruo[/nom]Im sorry to post this here, but I dont know how to turn off the "Alert me if new talkback" and i keep getting email, and the instruction were "To unsubscribe from this email alert, click on the envelop icon at the top-right corner of the topic discussion." Which i do not see the envelop icon that can disable the alert, i only see the envelop for newsletter. Help please and sorry again for posting this here but i cant find any solution[/citation]

 

[Narg]

Too close?!?!? The AMD chip blew the overclocked nVidia card away! This reviewer's obviously an nVidia fanboi.

 

[Proximon]

You guys better be careful, or TH will start getting a rep... as a serious reference site.

Well, you already had that of course, but stuff like this makes a big difference when I try to sound like I know what I'm talking about. The more recent articles have been very nice.

How about getting some Warhammer and AOC benches going though? You would think those guys would throw out some free subscriptions, and both those titles can be challenging. I know one of your competitors have used AOC to bench for a while now.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]Teruo[/nom]Im sorry to post this here, but I dont know how to turn off the "Alert me if new talkback" and i keep getting email, and the instruction were "To unsubscribe from this email alert, click on the envelop icon at the top-right corner of the topic discussion." Which i do not see the envelop icon that can disable the alert, i only see the envelop for newsletter. Help please and sorry again for posting this here but i cant find any solution[/citation]
That email is assuming you posted in the forum, where you would see this icon. It doesn't exist in the comments area. Technically you are posting in the forum, just in a hidden area dedicated to comments. Unless you know where it is you won't be able to unsubscribe. You just need to wait for the chatter to die off.

[citation][nom]Narg[/nom]Too close?!?!? The AMD chip blew the overclocked nVidia card away![/citation]

You must be seing a different set of graphs.

 

[nerrawg]

Great article and great feedback Cleeve - Props!

From what I have seen on Newegg Xmas sales have greatly shifted some card prices.
The 4830 can be had in CF for only $180 with mail-in rebates.
The cheapest 4850 CF solution is $260 - $80 more. Question then is if you get that $80 back in frame rates?

For more info on GPU prices check the forum and this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/258033-33-check-gaming-xmas

 

[tpi2007]

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! HASN'T ANYBODY SEEN THE BLATANT MISTAKE ON PAGE 2 IN THE "Radeon 4830/GeForce 9800 GT comparison" CHART YET?

THE 8800GT/9800GT ONLY HAVE 112 STREAM PROCESSORS, NOT 128!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DIDN'T ANYBODY READ MY TWO PREVIOUS COMMENTS ???????????????