ATi 4870 & 4850 Price cuts

[AmberClad]

Let's knock if off with the thread derailing, shall we? If your post has nothing to do with the thread topic (or anything else related to video hardware for that matter), then keep it to yourself.

EDIT: I've removed a couple of the posts I alluded to.

AmberClad
Video Moderator

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
The GTS250 is a good match for the 4870. The performance is not too far off and you get a quieter, less power hungry card.

Troll much?

The cheapest 4870 512 is $150 after rebate on Newegg, and that's an overclocked version with an 800MHz core. The cheapest 9800GTX+ 1GB (this is another one of Nvidia's 'launches' where you can't actually buy the product yet I guess... so no GTS250's, gotta use the 9800GTX+) is $140 after rebate with a mighty 2MHz overclock on the core. For your $10 you get a card that will be faster 99% of the time, and often significantly faster at that. Sorry, but the AMD price cuts have basically spanked Nvidia at this price point. The GTX250 can't compete with the 4870 yet costs nearly the same.

 

[Hauk]

Coming from a 285 Tri-Sli owner, I'd be scooping up some 4870 1GB cards if I were in the market. Damn nice card for the money. Gimme three of these!

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Troll much?

Very civil of you


The GTS250 beats the 4870 512 in games like FC2 and Fallout 3 as noted above. Plus it uses less power and runs quieter. Throw in better folding@home performance, double the memory, PhysX, Transparency AA and better AF.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Troll much?

Very civil of you


The GTS250 beats the 4870 512 in games like FC2 and Fallout 3 as noted above. Plus it uses less power and runs quieter. Throw in better folding@home performance, double the memory, PhysX, Transparency AA and better AF.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.

You very well know that the GTS250 doesn't compete with the 4870. But I'll play along.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3501&p=2

The 4870 1GB beats the GTX285 in some games as noted above. Plus it uses less power and costs about half the price. Throw in DX10.1, 8 channel audio, and excellent 8xMSAA performance.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.



See? I can trump up a card to look good against something it clearly doesn't compete with too. If I went into a GTX285 price cut thread and said, "The Radeon 4870 1GB is a good match for the GTX285." I think it'd be safe to say I'm trolling.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Troll much?

Very civil of you


The GTS250 beats the 4870 512 in games like FC2 and Fallout 3 as noted above. Plus it uses less power and runs quieter. Throw in better folding@home performance, double the memory, PhysX, Transparency AA and better AF.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.

You very well know that the GTS250 doesn't compete with the 4870. But I'll play along.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3501&p=2

The 4870 1GB beats the GTX285 in some games as noted above. Plus it uses less power and costs about half the price. Throw in DX10.1, 8 channel audio, and excellent 8xMSAA performance.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.



See? I can trump up a card to look good against something it clearly doesn't compete with too. If I went into a GTX285 price cut thread and said, "The Radeon 4870 1GB is a good match for the GTX285." I think it'd be safe to say I'm trolling.

Very Nice. Way to give them their own medicine. :laugh:

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

See? I can trump up a card to look good against something it clearly doesn't compete with too. If I went into a GTX285 price cut thread and said, "The Radeon 4870 1GB is a good match for the GTX285." I think it'd be safe to say I'm trolling.

Nope I would say is it is safe to say those games wouldn't make the legislated 4 games and settings that we see on every bought and paid for review site.


oops just read ambers post, so I take all that back and just say price cuts are good for all.

 

[Dean]

My worries about these price drops would be an inevitable drop in quality of the cards themselves. When you see a beast of a card like a 4870 for $150, including gddr5 memory, they will need to cut manufacturing costs somewhere.

The prices are great, but they somehow make me feel uneasy. Oh well, I was going to go for a 4850. Since the 4870 is dropping, I will go for that instead.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Troll much?

Very civil of you


The GTS250 beats the 4870 512 in games like FC2 and Fallout 3 as noted above. Plus it uses less power and runs quieter. Throw in better folding@home performance, double the memory, PhysX, Transparency AA and better AF.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.

You very well know that the GTS250 doesn't compete with the 4870. But I'll play along.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3501&p=2

The 4870 1GB beats the GTX285 in some games as noted above. Plus it uses less power and costs about half the price. Throw in DX10.1, 8 channel audio, and excellent 8xMSAA performance.

I'm sure few people would want to sacrifice such features for a fps that probably won't be noticed except on a spreadsheet.



See? I can trump up a card to look good against something it clearly doesn't compete with too. If I went into a GTX285 price cut thread and said, "The Radeon 4870 1GB is a good match for the GTX285." I think it'd be safe to say I'm trolling.

Quoted for emphasis. Perfect.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I thought my $99 4830 was a total steal.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: Dean
My worries about these price drops would be an inevitable drop in quality of the cards themselves. When you see a beast of a card like a 4870 for $150, including gddr5 memory, they will need to cut manufacturing costs somewhere.

The prices are great, but they somehow make me feel uneasy. Oh well, I was going to go for a 4850. Since the 4870 is dropping, I will go for that instead.

ATI's initial strategy with the 48xx series allows for these types of price cuts. They designed these cards using cost effective methods at the onset. That doesn't mean quality suffers; it simply means the components were carefully selected to allow for incremental price cuts. nV's GT200 redesigns were an effort to "catch up" with ATI on board cost effectiveness.

It would cost them R&D dollars to even ponder further cost savers; what you see is pretty much what you get. A lot of chatter here about who's faster; but one can't argue that ATI designed a damn good card here. It seriously kicks ass for the money..

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Dean
My worries about these price drops would be an inevitable drop in quality of the cards themselves. When you see a beast of a card like a 4870 for $150, including gddr5 memory, they will need to cut manufacturing costs somewhere.

The prices are great, but they somehow make me feel uneasy. Oh well, I was going to go for a 4850. Since the 4870 is dropping, I will go for that instead.

The card is very cheap to produce anyway. Remember, 4870 came out from the start with the gpu on 55nm. If you remove the cooler, you'll see a tiny chip, that is inexpensive to make, way smaller then the 65 nm chips Nvidia had for the GT200 cards when they came out.

And if I'm not mistaken, GDDR5 at 3600mhz, might be cheaper then GDDR3 at ultra high frequencies. Oh and let's not forget the 256 memory bus, which is again a bargain to make. I don't know what ATi puts on the PCB, but you can observe the clean layout, with very few capacitors, voltage regulators and so on, so that should not cost too much to make. I don't see the need to cut manufacturing costs, since the card still generates a lot of income, even with the current price drop.

 

[Kraeoss]

hrmmm i wonder if i should also sell my 8800 gt and buy a 4870 also.... though i will need a new psu

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

See? I can trump up a card....

Unlike your post I did not need to trump up the GTS250. It's a very viable option against the 4870 512.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
The GTS250 beats the 4870 512 in games like FC2 and Fallout 3 as noted above...

It's a very viable option against the 4870 512.

I've compared findings from 3 review sites, and I gotta say, the 4870 512MB still has a leg up on even the GTS 250 1GB when strictly gaming.

According to Anandtech, the GTS 250 1GB never breaks 30 frames in FC2. The 4870 512MB does. It only beat it @ 2560x1600, where both cards give slideshows - amounting to no benefit.

According to Guru3D, the GTS 250 2GB breaks the 30 f/s mark by 1 frame and only at 1680x1050 in FC2.

Tech Report is the only review site I've seen where the GTS 250 1GB gets over 30 frames in FC2 and when it did, the 4870 512MB beat it. Granted, it does beat the 4870 512MB at higher resolutions, but if you still can't play what's the point?

In Fallout 3, Anandtech showed it beating the 4870 512MB @ 2560x1600 by 4.5 frames. The GTS 250 1GB was over 30, the 4870 512MB was not. All resolutions prior to that the 4870 512MB had a substantial lead.

However, Guru3D showed the 2GB version being unplayable @ 2560x1600, and when it was playable at 1920x1200, the 4850 512MB beat it.

Again, Tech Report showed both the 4870 512MB and the GTS 250 1GB being playable @ 2560x1600. The GTS 250 1GB beat the 4870 512MB, especially in minimum frames. In fact, their Fallout 3 minimum frames were better than Anandtech's average (or maximum, which ever Anandtech reports...they never say *hint, hint*).

In both games, tech report showed higher framerates for both cards, indicating they probably weren't in the most stressful scenarios in said games.

All things considered, the 4870 512MB beats the GTS 250 1GB for a great majority of the time.

But, as mentioned, CUDA is nice, and beings how we've seen nVidia GPUs work as physics processors while running ATi GPUs in Windows 7 I think for the 1680x1050 gamer it's great. If one looking to putt by until the GTS 250 can't handle things at their resolution, they have a card that does good now and will still have uses even when they get a new GPU.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

See? I can trump up a card....

Unlike your post I did not need to trump up the GTS250. It's a very viable option against the 4870 512.

Since when did the 9800GTX+ counted as a viable option against the 4870 512mb? Maybe because it got a new name?

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

See? I can trump up a card....

Unlike your post I did not need to trump up the GTS250. It's a very viable option against the 4870 512.

Since when did the 9800GTX+ counted as a viable option against the 4870 512mb? Maybe because it got a new name?

Yea... the 9800GTX+ was brought to life by Nvida specifically to counter the 4850. Now the 4870 occupies that price point. Giving the 9800GTX+ a new name doesn't change the fact that it was meant to compete with the 4850.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: josh6079
In Fallout 3, Anandtech showed it beating the 4870 512MB @ 2560x1600 by 4.5 frames. The GTS 250 1GB was over 30, the 4870 512MB was not. All resolutions prior to that the 4870 512MB had a substantial lead.

Fallout is one of those games where 30fps just isn't enough. It's like you are moving in slow motion when you hit anything under 40fps. It's just too unbearable. This is one of those game where you need constant 60fps.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Azn
Fallout is one of those games where 30fps just isn't enough. It's like you are moving in slow motion when you hit anything under 40fps. It's just too unbearable. This is one of those game where you need constant 60fps.

I find that odd, considering I remember 30-35 frames being good enough for Oblivion, and Fallout 3 is based on it.

 

[kmmatney]

So where can you buy these lower priced cards? I see see the HD4870 for over $149 on NewEgg (only there after rebate) and I don't see the NVidia 250 at all. Is there a release date on these?

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Giving the 9800GTX+ a new name doesn't change the fact that it was meant to compete with the 4850.

The 4870 could be considered just a rebadged 4850.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Giving the 9800GTX+ a new name doesn't change the fact that it was meant to compete with the 4850.

The 4870 could be considered just a rebadged 4850.

Grasping at straws now...

 

[mhouck]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
So where can you buy these lower priced cards? I see see the HD4870 for over $149 on NewEgg (only there after rebate) and I don't see the NVidia 250 at all. Is there a release date on these?

Pretty sure the 250 comes out 3/10/09

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Giving the 9800GTX+ a new name doesn't change the fact that it was meant to compete with the 4850.

The 4870 could be considered just a rebadged 4850.

Ummm... No, it can't.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Giving the 9800GTX+ a new name doesn't change the fact that it was meant to compete with the 4850.

The 4870 could be considered just a rebadged 4850.

Of course it can. It has GDDR5 at 3600 mhz opposed to GDDR3 at 1986 mhz of the 4850, it has 125 mhz higher GPU clock, another type of power circuit and of course, another cooler. So in essence, it's the same card, isn't it?:disgust: