ATi 4870/4850 Review Thread

[JPB]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Use this PSU calculator if anyone wants to calculate PSU requirements for your PC. I hope 4870 CF works with my 800W PSU.

Look at AMD's Certified Power Supply List. I think your PSU would be fine.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Jeebus, if anyone needs more proof that Anandtech is in nVidia's pocket...

Talk about a bias review, especially the conclusion!

If nVidia had released something along the lines of the 4850/4870, the conclusion would read something like...

Praise the nerd gods, Hallelujah! All praise nVidia for showing ATi how it's suppose to be done. Perfect execution: efficiency, performance, value: all in the same package! And a hard launch no less!!! Run (don't walk) to your nearest store and buy one of these now because there is simply no greater value on the market today! I truly do fear for AMD. I have no idea how they'll ever compete. They really need to go back to the drawing board before it's too late. For now they really have to settle for third (or perhaps fourth best). nVidia has truly given us a blessing today with such amazing, affordable technology. What a great company! Long live nVidia! Long live the beloved king!

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Bunnyfubbles, most of what you say I could agree with, but I think AMD is even more of a winner having a $300 card outperforming Nvidia's 400$ card, and performning near Nvidia's $650 card, at like 80-85%, and sometimes beating it. It goes past owning the 200-300$ price point. Very little people will want to shell out $650 for a product when they can buy 80% of it's performance for half the money.

Yes, maybe I didn't make it quite clear how big of a victory that is (of course it is all subjective, for me the 4850 concerns me most as I've most often limited myself to $200 for my video cards). However I think many of us enthusiasts tend to neglect the lower end niches where a huge chunk of the pie is, and right now nVidia has the advantage in that area. It might be boring for us but I think if AMD really wants to stick it to nVidia, they'll have to score some runs with the 4600s (they look like they'll have the specs, they just need the appropriate price).

 

[BFG10K]

Jeebus, if anyone needs more proof that Anandtech is in nVidia's pocket...

Talk about a bias review, especially the conclusion!

Eh? Did we read the same review?

For now, the Radeon HD 4870 and 4850 are both solid values and cards we would absolutely recommend to readers looking for hardware at the $200 and $300 price points. The fact of the matter is that by NVIDIA's standards, the 4870 should be priced at $400 and the 4850 should be around $250. You can either look at it as AMD giving you a bargain or NVIDIA charging too much, either way it's healthy competition in the graphics industry once again (after far too long of a hiatus).

That doesn't look like an nVidia bias to me.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: JPB

.

<GTX 280 - while it commands a massive price it is finally a true ultra high end single card/gpu solution since the 8800GTX/Ultra (and I guess the 2900XT ) [win nVidia]

4870 - competes extremely well with the GTX260 for 75% of the cost [win AMD]

4850 - caused nVidia to paper launch the GTX+ and drastically cut the prices to the 9800 series in order to keep this segment from being the runaway no-brainer that the 4870 appears to be [advantage AMD]

Please explain why the highlighted part is a win for Nvidia ? Don't they actually have to sell those cards at that price for it to be a win ?

Now don't get me wrong, but if they drop in price, I may be tempted to pick one up as well just to play with. But the GTX 280 would have to hit $450-$499 and the GTX 260 would have to hit $350-$399.

Then and only THEN would it be a win for NV.

Its a win because they have the fastest part. Flagships don't necessarily have to sell themselves to be useful assets. Right now nVidia technically has bragging rights. Maybe its not impressive to the educated consumer, but as a marketing tool they can claim (for the time being, R700 will probably change that) to have industry leading performance and what not.

 

[BFG10K]

I still prefer 8xS compared to 8xMSAA. What you reckon BFG?

Me too, usually. 8xMSAA does have an advantage on vertical and near vertical edges though.

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Jeebus, if anyone needs more proof that Anandtech is in nVidia's pocket...

Talk about a bias review, especially the conclusion!

If nVidia had released something along the lines of the 4850/4870, the conclusion would read something like...

Praise the nerd gods, Hallelujah! All praise nVidia for showing ATi how it's suppose to be done. Perfect execution: efficiency, performance, value: all in the same package! And a hard launch no less!!! Run (don't walk) to your nearest store and buy one of these now because there is simply no greater value on the market today! I truly do fear for AMD. I have no idea how they'll ever compete. They really need to go back to the drawing board before it's too late. For now they really have to settle for third (or perhaps fourth best). nVidia has truly given us a blessing today with such amazing, affordable technology. What a great company! Long live nVidia! Long live the beloved king!

Yeah, I thought the conclusion was a bit underwhelming as well considering how great the product is at the price point. I also find it very annoying how AT often doesn't put thermal readings in the reviews, even though there is a section labeled "Power, Heat, and Noise." I also hate those little tiny charts. they ahve one big chart for each game, and then one little tiny chart that is an eye strain to rad and match against other components. Meh to Anand.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: spittledip
I also hate those little tiny charts. they ahve one big chart for each game, and then one little tiny chart that is an eye strain to rad and match against other components. Meh to Anand.

You can click them to enlarge them, and from then you can click them again to see them full size. If you're still straining from there...well then I can't help

 

[ajaidevsingh]

Hey tweaktown's review is odd, they used a 280 AMP and a 260 XXX both are factory OCed!!

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles

Originally posted by: spittledip
I also hate those little tiny charts. they ahve one big chart for each game, and then one little tiny chart that is an eye strain to rad and match against other components. Meh to Anand.

You can click them to enlarge them, and from then you can click them again to see them full size. If you're still straining from there...well then I can't help

It is less of an eye strain and more of a pain in the ass to try to compare figures with those crappy charts. The first charts are always good, but then the subsequent resolution charts are horrid.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Sweet it is what we expected, and then theres more to come with the 4870X2....now to make my mind up on which one to get.

Also Hardware Canucks review is up they tested the 4870 with an HR-03 GT and saw near a 40c drop in load temps :thumbsup:

Wow, that's pretty impressive. So, it also looks like the GT comes with all the required ramsinks. They didn't say how they attached them though. I've always heard that the thermal tape that comes stock on the bottom of those sinks is kind of dubious, and doesn't really have a good hold.

I wonder if the AC S1 Rev 2 has the right ramsinks too. They said that the heatsink itself fits just fine, but didn't show pictures of it.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Sweet it is what we expected, and then theres more to come with the 4870X2....now to make my mind up on which one to get.

Also Hardware Canucks review is up they tested the 4870 with an HR-03 GT and saw near a 40c drop in load temps :thumbsup:

Wow, that's pretty impressive. So, it also looks like the GT comes with all the required ramsinks. They didn't say how they attached them though. I've always heard that the thermal tape that comes stock on the bottom of those sinks is kind of dubious, and doesn't really have a good hold.

I wonder if the AC S1 Rev 2 has the right ramsinks too. They said that the heatsink itself fits just fine, but didn't show pictures of it.

I also wonder how the Zalman 92mm fan attaches.

Here

 

[MegaWorks]

Lol!! nVidia got owned!! Time to sell my 3870s.

Kudos for AMD for giving us such a fantastic product. :thumbsup:

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Sweet it is what we expected, and then theres more to come with the 4870X2....now to make my mind up on which one to get.

Also Hardware Canucks review is up they tested the 4870 with an HR-03 GT and saw near a 40c drop in load temps :thumbsup:

Wow, that's pretty impressive. So, it also looks like the GT comes with all the required ramsinks. They didn't say how they attached them though. I've always heard that the thermal tape that comes stock on the bottom of those sinks is kind of dubious, and doesn't really have a good hold.

I wonder if the AC S1 Rev 2 has the right ramsinks too. They said that the heatsink itself fits just fine, but didn't show pictures of it.

I have fitted and used 2 HR-03's now (one when I had a 8800GTX and the other is still on my 2900XT) and each one has come with thermal tape on the bottom of the sinks, I never had a problem with them falling off but they aren't exactly the most securely stuck on fit. However they are handy since, you get in the pack two sinks that do not have high fins so as not to interfere with the fitting of the card, so there should be no compatibility problems with any recent cards.

I also wonder how the Zalman 92mm fan attaches.

Attaches via fan clips that hook into the HR-03 and support the 92mm fan.

 

[Genx87]

The 4870 is a nice card in the 300 dollar range. Definately competes with the 260 line of cards. Is there a plan for a 4870x2 card? I only scanned through the benchmarks in the article.

 

[epphllps]

4870x2 should be out around 8 weeks from the release of the 4870

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Genx87
The 4870 is a nice card in the 300 dollar range. Definately competes with the 260 line of cards. Is there a plan for a 4870x2 card? I only scanned through the benchmarks in the article.

Yes, R700 is a dual-RV770 card. Whether or not it is CF on a stick again or a more elaborate solution is unknown at this point.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Amd/ATI did a great job of handling this release . Hats off to you guys. Lets not spoil the R700 release with a bunch of thread crapping. One thing we should all have learned from this launch is that it is possiable to keep things quite. IF you choose to . Lets wait and see if the 4870x2 has a rabbit up its sleeve . I am betting its a energizer bunny. But water cooling is maybe a good idea.

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
nvidia needs to drop gtx 260 to $300. can they do that and be profitable?

Considering the 260 is made from rejected 280 parts, they either have to move them for a sensible amount of money or scrap them. My guess is it will drop to $350 quickly. They might be too stubborn to drop to $300 right away.

 

[wwswimming]

makes me think about buying AMD stock -

http://quote.yahoo.com/q?s=amd

does anybody know any reviews that tested drivers for Maya &
3D Studio Max ?

 

[SunnyD]

I can has vertex data??? Wtf?

 

[hooflung]

nRolo needs to pretty much apologize to the forum for the FUD he was trying to spread about the 48x0 cards and trying to position the 280 as something to behold. The Rv770 is stunning and hits the perfect price points all around.

 

[SniperDaws]

omg i cant believe it, Well done ATI you have just pulled infront of Nvidia this time round

www.scan.co.uk prices for UK


ATI 4870 £176

Nvidia 260GTX £250

ATI card is more advanced i.e DX10.1 and has a rake of newer features.


ill upgrade every year at those prices ATI keep it up.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Sweet it is what we expected, and then theres more to come with the 4870X2....now to make my mind up on which one to get.

Also Hardware Canucks review is up they tested the 4870 with an HR-03 GT and saw near a 40c drop in load temps :thumbsup:

Wow, that's pretty impressive. So, it also looks like the GT comes with all the required ramsinks. They didn't say how they attached them though. I've always heard that the thermal tape that comes stock on the bottom of those sinks is kind of dubious, and doesn't really have a good hold.

I wonder if the AC S1 Rev 2 has the right ramsinks too. They said that the heatsink itself fits just fine, but didn't show pictures of it.

I have fitted and used 2 HR-03's now (one when I had a 8800GTX and the other is still on my 2900XT) and each one has come with thermal tape on the bottom of the sinks, I never had a problem with them falling off but they aren't exactly the most securely stuck on fit. However they are handy since, you get in the pack two sinks that do not have high fins so as not to interfere with the fitting of the card, so there should be no compatibility problems with any recent cards.

I also wonder how the Zalman 92mm fan attaches.

Attaches via fan clips that hook into the HR-03 and support the 92mm fan.

Also if you buy the wire clips for 120mm fans that go on the TR120 you can use that to mount a 120mm fan on the HR ( like I am doing)

The thermal tape is very strong, provided you have cleaned the chips down well. For example I can hold my card from a ram sink with no problem, but one of my mosfet sinks is really really lose since I didn't clean that chip enough

 

[Kuzi]

Diffenetly getting a 4870 card now, + a 24" LCD