Radeon HD 4870: Better Than GTX 260!

[Guest]

The performance of AMD's Radeon HD 4850 surprised everyone – including Nvidia. The 4870 continues the tradition, delivering excellent price/performance.

Radeon HD 4870: Better Than GTX 260! : Read more

 

[Guest]

finally ATI is getting some love
I have the 4950 and it is great

 

[sidereus]

nice review..I wonder why the 4850 can not render race driver : GRID

 

[mpasternak]

for the pure gamer at heart, the 4870 seems to be a steal.

however, what are the possibilities for a CUDA like processing environment or handling Physics engines? I think AMD has done a great job making a pure video card, but I believe the future will be with unified technologies of having the GPU assist in other tasks as well.

Time will Tell

 

[eltouristo]

Would REALLY help alot if there were charts with these new cards and some of the last gen (what's in the desktop charts now) that way I could
see how much I could gain by upgrading. Maybe thats an update to the desktop charts that just hasnt been dont yet? Seems like it would have already been.

 

[lightfoot__]

Under load, the heat sink did its job and the temperature didn’t rise all that much – at least not as much as the little Radeon HD 4850.

The 4850 went up 6* and the 4870 went up 10*... I think the 4870 went up more, but you (Tom's) said it went up less.

 

[Guest]

LOL you don't even have your drivers working properly if a 3870 and 3870x2 are matching each other in performance. Crossfire on the card isn't even working properly, check any bench of a 3870x2 vs 3870 in Call of Duty 4 (ATI preferred drivers).

 

[oafed]

The real key is what all the prices on these cards are when Nehalem is released.

LOTS of enthusiasts are planning a Nehalem build toward the end of the year. I image they will be getting 4850/4870s or GTX260/GTX280s. All depending on where the prices are I imagine.

 

[septagent]

[citation][nom]eltouristo[/nom]Would REALLY help alot if there were charts with these new cards and some of the last gen (what's in the desktop charts now) that way I couldsee how much I could gain by upgrading. Maybe thats an update to the desktop charts that just hasnt been dont yet? Seems like it would have already been.[/citation]


I agree about the charts. I don't consider buying a 4870 vs an older card like an x1950, but it sure would be nice to see how much it has improved over time.

 

[timaahhh]

Thank you ATI. Though I won't be buying your card cause I just bought an 8800 GT maybe this will force nVidia to drop there prices and give me a cheap step up .

 

[eurodj]

I loved ati since the rage era, im so glad they are back in the game again, i might even consider trading in my 9800gtx sli for a 4850 crossfire down the line, maybe when i setup to ddr3. But for now best bang for the buck cards are the 9800gtx and the 4850 in my opinion

 

[jimmysmitty]

I want either a 48701GB or a 4870X2. I have a 2900Pro 1GB and going to 512MB would not work for me. Plus I wounder if at much higher resolutions if another 512MB would help.

 

[Chazwuzzer]

Gawd, I can't wait to get my mits on one of these. I should prolly get my order in now...

 

[caamsa]

I wonder where they tested these cards? My 4850 runs between 52C idle and usually never above 65C while under load. I just use ASUS SmartDoctor which allows you to control the fan speed. Before using smartdoctor the fan speed never changed and it did run at 80C under load.

 

[martel80]

WTF is going on with those locked minimum clock speeds? I'm already pissed off by HD 3870 running at 300/1126 in XP, what a waste of power! Why don't they offer the possibility to manually (in control panel) underclock the card all the way down to 150-200/300-400 MHz is beyond me.

 

[Shadow703793]

Finally AM/ATI's on the field. Glad to see the card is performing well esp. given the price. Now all ATI has to do optimize the drivers. Congrats to Toms on a good article written in a while.

 

[falchard]

Would be interesting if they actually tested these cards on an AMD Platform. Why do that always test AMD parts seperately?

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]martel80[/nom]WTF is going on with those locked minimum clock speeds? I'm already pissed off by HD 3870 running at 300/1126 in XP, what a waste of power! Why don't they offer the possibility to manually (in control panel) underclock the card all the way down to 150-200/300-400 MHz is beyond me.[/citation]
This is because just like underclocking a CPU there is a minimum frequency and a minimum voltage that is needed. Also these are gaming class GPUs aimed at raw power(= more power use + heat)and not really to be energy efficient. Although energy efficiency (usually goes hand in hand with heat output) counts to a certain extent when OCing and higher clock speeds these negatives of lower energy efficiency can be overcome through better HSFs/smaller manufacturing process etc.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]Would be interesting if they actually tested these cards on an AMD Platform. Why do that always test AMD parts seperately?[/citation]
Because the Phenom's aren't very good!

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

From what Ive heard, the 150 clock is one of the gen clocks on a few of the bios, just not implemented yet. Give it time

 

[homerdog]

Yes, the idle clocks aren't going nearly low enough with the current BIOSs. I've actually seen a BIOS floating around that had the right idle clocks (160/500MHz I think). Hopefully this will be corrected soon.

On a separate note, what's up with RV770 and UE3? I hadn't realized until now that the GeForce cards really pull ahead in those tests. With any other engine it wouldn't be that big a deal, but UE3 is kind of important.

 

[ram1009]

I've had nothing but problems from all the ATI boards I've owned. Very bad drivers. I'll stay with Nvidia.

 

[Haiku214]

I think you mean 4850. My 4850 renders GRID quite well.

 

[ZootyGray]

Re 4850/4870 temps at idle and load - FAN SPEED WORKAROUND!

Check This Out!
http://www.techpowerup.com/64398/ATI_Radeon_HD_4850_Fan_Speed_Workaround_Posted.html

AND this!

This was the first info I found re temp/fan controls.
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2751569#post2751569

Seems you can dial in a lower temperature by changing the stock fan speed. And you can tweak your preferred noise level. Interesting read. I expect driver updates, as do others. I copied this info, cos I get a feeling it's going to be del'd. (?) Personally, I have not done this, cos I don't have a card to do it on! But it's a HOT item.

 

[urahozer]

i want to know the quality settings used on Crysis, was it on Very High?