HD 4870 @2560x1600

[lopri]

Originally posted by: natty1
8800 gt sli was a terrible choice for 2560 res, unless of course you bought your monitor later on

Agreed. No, I had my monitor before 8800 GT's. I had a 8800 GTX, and sold it in an anticipation of next-gen, only to find out it was 8800 Ultra. I bought a 8800 GTS 320 to get me through, and upon 8800 GT launch, I purchased one as an impulse. (especially attracted by its single-slot design) Added another later.

Originally posted by: zod96
Would the 4870 benefit me at 1680x1050 with games like Stalker and Oblivion? I'd like to play those with max AA and AF I currently have a 8800GT myself.

Absolutely. As long as you're satisfied with your current gaming experience, however, it's probably not necessary. But I could definitely see the benefit of smooth game play as well as 8AA even @1680x1050. At the resolution 8AA will be practically 'free' with HD 4870.

Thilan29: BenSkywalker explained what's wrong with the AA in GoW. (I understood half of it)

BenSkyWalker: Thank you for the education.

Besides which, I had the CCC setting wrong for AF (THIS IS WHY PROFILES ARE NEEDED, AMD!) and I don't think the angles are not exactly fair to compare AA. So overall the GoW image quality comparison above isn't valid.

There is another observation after playing some more with Company of Heroes. DX10 mode isn't as smooth as DX9 like I mentioned in the first post. And occasionally there are 'skippings'. I believe these occur due to the lack of frame buffer. Basically it's memory swap, but they don't feel like 'traditional' stutters, but rather 'skipping'. It's a single brief moment of 'un-smootheness' instead of multiple draggings of frames. I hypothesize this is an impact of GDDR5, or very short latency and massive bandwidth in contrast to traditional GDDR3. It's very interesting. If RV770 does indeed have enough speed to digest 1GB of RAM, games will be totally flying at this high resolution. We shall see when 1GB version of HD 4870 arrives.

Another note on CoH: DX9 / 2560x1600 / 8AA is faster than DX10 / 2560x1600 / 0AA. I had the CCC setting conflicting with in-game AA, that was why I couldn't see the difference at first. (PROFILES! PROFILES!) After correcting this, now I can clearly see AA in CoH. It's too much to enable in DX10 mode, though.

 

[pcslookout]

Do you think if ATI or nvidia comes out with a video card with 2 GB of video ram that would be safer to buy just to have the cushion room of extra video ram? You can never have to much ram even video ram. I bet Crysis and plenty of games would make good use of 2 GB of video ram. Even at low resolutions but with high AA and AF.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Do you think if ATI or nvidia comes out with a video card with 2 GB of video ram that would be safer to buy just to have the cushion room of extra video ram? You can never have to much ram even video ram. I bet Crysis and plenty of games would make good use of 2 GB of video ram. Even at low resolutions but with high AA and AF.

Originally posted by: lopri

If RV770 does indeed have enough speed to digest 1GB of RAM,

 

[zod96]

Cools thanks for the great review lopri. I may get the 4870. I play BF2, COD4 Stalker and Oblivion and I would like to play it at 1680x1050 with max aa and af

 

[Soccerman06]

What is your impression of 2x 4850s, since you can have them for about $160 a piece with rebates and discounts for multiple purchases if you search hard enough, since they better than a single 4870 for maybe $20-$30 more.

Basically is the heat/noise much worse than a single 4870, yes I know I can look at a review but id rather have personal experience and reactions from an end user.

 

[Intelman07]

II moved from a single 8800GT to a single 4870, and now crysis on very high is playable during single player. It is so beautiful. I play at WSXGA + btw.