ATi 4xxx Series Review

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
4870 Product Page Up. (Thanks to Jetway)

4870pro?

 

[pcslookout]

Here are some early ATI 4870 benchmarks for everyone! Link

 

[lopri]

I hope the 4870 will live up to the hype AND not arrive late. HD 4850 so far looks pretty amazing. Thanks for the screenshots. Never thought HL2 could looks that good. And Assassin's Creed looks incredible and so do the FPS.

With the knowledge of GDDR5, I'm curious what the dynamics of bandwidth vs frame buffer is? I was originally thinking of getting a 1GB version of HD 4870, but will it be of any use over 512MB GDDR5?

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: Aberforth

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Do you guys think NV will lower 260 prices?

Maybe. Who do you think has better drivers?

I dunno about ATI but NV definitely has worse drivers, they haven't completely resolved Vista driver issues since Jan 2007.

What issues are you referring to?

Plenty, to begin with there are TDR errors, problems hibernate/sleep mode, SLI scaling, performance drop in games especially in DX10 mode. Goto forums.nvidia.com to find out more. The same problems are being posted over and over again but not yet resolved though.

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

if 9800gtx+ is any indication, I think that nvidia will immediately drop gtx 260 to $299 unless availability is VERY low.

I doubt they would go that low, $350-$400 sounds more realistic. GT200 is a huge chip and costs $$$$$$$ to make.

Also, when does the GTX260 release? 😕

 

[Aberforth]

I think GTX 260 will be released June 27th.

 

[bryanW1995]

well, their problem is that they're not going to actuall SELL any of them if 4870 even comes close to its hype unless gtx 260 is cheaper or at least comparably priced. if they're within 5-10% of price and 5-10% of performance then both cards should do well, but if 4870 is really released at $299 and it has better performance than gtx 260 as expected, nvidia is going to be in a world of hurt.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Here are some early ATI 4870 benchmarks for everyone! Link

that bandwidth number on gpu-z is incorrect. is it just using 2x900 instead of 4x900?

the numbers look believable. 3600 system on extreme 3dmark vantage is about 25% faster than 4850 iirc. what does gtx 260 get in that one?

edit: ok, found gtx 260 extreme setting on exactly one site. overall score of 3834 on extreme with a QX6850 at stock instead of the e8200 @ 3.2 that the 4870 has. These benchies are definitely believable as they put 4870 and gtx 260 neck and neck, at least in this one benchmark.

http://www.hothardware.com/Art..._260_Unleashed/?page=7

 

[Quiksilver]

delete.

 

[sagrada]

The GDDR5 is correct. Its not being detected correctly by GPU-Z but the reason is that GDDR5 operates at 900 MHZ memory but its effective is actually 4 times that so 3.6 GHz effective.

 

[GoodToGo]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Well, here is the leaked benchmarks of Radeon 4870, scores 8096 in 3DMark Vantage and 13k in 3dmark 06.

I don't think trusting Tom's fartware is a good idea, those guys are NV shills...I would definitely wait for AT review...

 

[GoodToGo]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: LightningRider

Do you guys think NV will lower 260 prices?

Probably once the HD4870 releases. Maybe earlier.

if 9800gtx+ is any indication, I think that nvidia will immediately drop gtx 260 to $299 unless availability is VERY low.

They better drop the price otherwise they risk losing out to ATI big time...If availability is low, people will just switch to ATI, why wait for a higher price card that offers almost no performance gain?

 

[GoodToGo]

Originally posted by: lopri
I hope the 4870 will live up to the hype AND not arrive late. HD 4850 so far looks pretty amazing. Thanks for the screenshots. Never thought HL2 could looks that good. And Assassin's Creed looks incredible and so do the FPS.

With the knowledge of GDDR5, I'm curious what the dynamics of bandwidth vs frame buffer is? I was originally thinking of getting a 1GB version of HD 4870, but will it be of any use over 512MB GDDR5?

If you plan on playing on higher resolutions and/or with AA, the 1GB will make a difference...

 

[BFG10K]

I don't think trusting Tom's fartware is a good idea, those guys are NV shills

I doubt that very much. They've slammed the cooler on both the 9800 GX2 and the GTX 260/280 for example.

 

[Noya]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I don't think trusting Tom's fartware is a good idea, those guys are NV shills

I doubt that very much. They've slammed the cooler on both the 9800 GX2 and the GTX 260/280 for example.

Yeah, but every tech site worth a damn on the web had 4850 coverage except for who...?

I mean come on, this is ATi's best new product in YEARS and they don't even have a headlining article on their website yet I can go down to the local BestRipoff and pick one up...

And to top that off, they had not 1, or 2, but 3 Nvidia articles on the front page. One specifically talking about the 9800gtx+ beating the 4850.

Tom's has been ad infested sellouts for quite a while.

 

[BFG10K]

I mean come on, this is ATi's best new product in YEARS and they don't even have a headlining article on their website yet I can go down to the local BestRipoff and pick one up...

Well, they do have this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...-Radeon-4850,5728.html

They have some pretty positive comments about it too.

 

[dasracht]

Wow, I'm surprised to see that Tom's has no 4850 review... and the three NVIDIA features on the main site is pretty damning.

I had no idea they were tilted like this. It could be a coincidence I guess, but it looks like bias to me.

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Well, they do have this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...-Radeon-4850,5728.html

They have some pretty positive comments about it too.

That's far from being something equivalent to a review.

 

[Noya]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I mean come on, this is ATi's best new product in YEARS and they don't even have a headlining article on their website yet I can go down to the local BestRipoff and pick one up...

Well, they do have this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...-Radeon-4850,5728.html

They have some pretty positive comments about it too.

Yeah, that was just posted and is no where near an article/review/preview.

 

[flexy]

whow..just read this...i want to gratulate AT(cough)..AMD to come out with a budget priced "high-end" card, i am truly impressed.
This card even owns my 8800GTS which is not that old either. This card looks like on the best and most promising single-gpu launches in YEARS...i have been with ATI for many, many years but was "forced" to get a 8800 GTS for my current build. I dont say it is bad, but i always had a preference for ATI in terms of AA image quality.

Also, in regards to the joke from one or two weeks ago, that NV card for EU700 which performs like sh*t (sorry to be so blunt)..i am glad we have a serious contender back making it harder for NV to ask fantasy prices for overrated cards! This is the best thing since radeon 9700/9800, IMHO.

 

[imported_Montana]

nice review for crysis with ati 4850 🙂

 

[LightningRider]

I kind of wish that I hadn't bought a 9800GTX a few months ago so I could have gone out and supported ATi. But with eVGA's step up, even if I get a GTX280... it will be cheaper than getting a HD4870. But I do salute ATi for doing a good job, but I don't feel that this is 9700Pro vs 5800 Ultra over again. 9700 Pro had better performance than the GeForce FX. nVidia does have answers to the HD4000 series, the GTX 280 should beat the HD4870, but the prices just don't make sense. There's already a report on nVidia hurting from the GPU price wars. Once HD4870 comes out, I'm pretty sure it will beat the GTX260, I've even seen some preliminary benchmarks where it scored just ahead of the GTX260 and slightly behind the GTX280 so that's where I think, and I think most think, the performance is gonna be. They will then be forced to drop the price to at least $300 on the GTX260.

Here's the link on the nVidia price wars:

http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=13961

 

[lopri]

I have just learned about Assassin's Creed, DX10.1, and UBi Soft and NV.. all that.

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/14707

Obviously I'm terribly slow these days (the above article was published on May 8th).. I knew there was some buzz around the Assassin's Creed, but didn't know the behind-the-story is so disturbing. (And this also explains the strange/vague criticism on NV's DX10.1 stance in AT's GT200 review)

It is quite strange that there isn't a huge outrage to this kind of business tactic. Nevertheless, this gives me a convincing reason to avoid NV products for the foreseeable future.

P.S. Not sure if this was discussed or not and didn't want to start a controversial thread, so I just posted what I've found here. Kinda off-topic, I know. If mods think this post is inappropriate, feel free to remove it. Thanks.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I mean come on, this is ATi's best new product in YEARS and they don't even have a headlining article on their website yet I can go down to the local BestRipoff and pick one up...

Well, they do have this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...-Radeon-4850,5728.html

They have some pretty positive comments about it too.

101 ATI AA mode guide
Narrow-tent = blurs the image
Wide-Tent = blurs the image
box & Edge-detect = They are good quality mode
8x Edge Detect + Quality Adaptive AA = Ass whopping AA mode that destroys everything.

different 8xAA mode comparison :

http://doomstar.awardspace.com/ATI_AA_modes.html

I will update it with bit more explanation.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: GoodToGo

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Well, here is the leaked benchmarks of Radeon 4870, scores 8096 in 3DMark Vantage and 13k in 3dmark 06.

I don't think trusting Tom's fartware is a good idea, those guys are NV shills...I would definitely wait for AT review...

p8000 is very believable. that site I looked at last night was a little over 7k for both gtx 260 and 4870.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: Noya

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I mean come on, this is ATi's best new product in YEARS and they don't even have a headlining article on their website yet I can go down to the local BestRipoff and pick one up...

Well, they do have this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...-Radeon-4850,5728.html

They have some pretty positive comments about it too.

Yeah, that was just posted and is no where near an article/review/preview.

tom sold the site last year to some publishing company. they're all about the benjamins now. 🙁