Official ATI 4870 X2 reviews thread.

[bigboxes]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I'd imagine it's just a matter of time before we see aftermarket cooling for the X2.

Unfortunately (IMO) it'll probably be just like most other "enthusiast" GPU cooling solutions. It will have a massive heatsink and a 120mm fan with a speed control attached to a PCI bracket. It will dump all of the (considerable) heat right back in the case. :roll:

To me, this is self-defeating. You cool the card a little more so you can overclock it a bit higher, which generates more heat, which you are now dumping right back inside the case...which raises case temps AND GPU temps.

I would agree that the best cooling would be water cooling if one's goal was to o/c. My goal is to find a way to quiet that beast and still remain stable.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: bigboxes
Anyone know if there are any aftermarket cooling (air) for these X2 video cards? I e-mailed Thermalright a couple months ago and was told no. Their reply: There isn't a big enough demand. The X2 video cards are for enthusiasts. I told the rep that describes Thermalright.

That's quite ridiculous reasoning.

There's big enough demand to offer aftermarket mosfet heatsinks like the HR-09s? Ones that only work for certain specific motherboard models from only two or three manufacturers?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
I think I've read that if it fits the 3870 X2, it will fit the 4870 X2.

Actually I think the 4870 x2 has a different PWM arrangement. The cores should be spaced the same but some of the other PCB items will be different.

 

[Tempered81]

yah it takes a different mount. There are already 3 waterblocks out for R700. not sure about air cooling

 

[dennilfloss]

This tri-Fire testing might interest Apoppin.

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33929979

 

[bryanW1995]

as more and more r700's hit the market I have a strong feeling that we'll start seeing upgraded aircooling units become available. perhaps something like the s1 v2 but with a couple of 120mm fans attached for example...

 

[BFG10K]

4870X2 CF vs Tri SLI:

http://www.driverheaven.net/re...?reviewid=609&pageid=1

 

[Tempered81]

4870X2 CF vs GTX280 Tri SLI -
Hl2 Ep2 2560x1600 8xAA/4xAA 16xAF:

Driverheaven (8xAA):
http://www.driverheaven.net/re...reviewid=609&pageid=10
4870X2 CFX: 165
GTX 280 Tri SLI: 171

Testbed:
2x ATI Reference Radeon HD 4870 X2 - 2gb
3x XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX - 1gb
Dell 3007WFP 30 inch monitor
Skulltrail D5400XS motherboard - 1140 bios
8GB of Crucial FB DDR2 @ 800mhz (4x2GB)
2x Intel QX9775 Engineering Samples (@ 4.4 Ghz ? 11x400, 1.475 volts)
2x Corsair Nautilus Watercoolers with modded underside 220mm fans
Corsair 1000w PSU
LG 16x DVD Burner
4x WD Raptor Hard Drives (OS/Games on RAID 0 Drives)
1x Samsung Spinpoint
AS5 Thermal Compound
Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit + SP1
Forceware Release 179.83
Catalyst 8.8.4 beta for X2
DirectX 9.0c/DirectX 10





Tech Report (4xAA):
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15293/6
4870X2 CFX: 128.2
GTX 280 Tri SLI: 108.2

Testbed:
Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.0GHz
System bus 1333MHz (333MHz quad-pumped) 1333MHz (333MHz quad-pumped)
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 EVGA nForce 780i SLI
BIOS revision F9a P05p
North bridge X38 MCH 780i SLI SPP
South bridge ICH9R 780i SLI MCP
Chipset drivers INF update 8.3.1.1009
Matrix Storage Manager 7.8 ForceWare 15.17
Memory size 4GB (4 DIMMs) 4GB (4 DIMMs)
Memory type 2 x Corsair TWIN2X20488500C5D
DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz 2 x Corsair TWIN2X20488500C5D
DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
GeForce GTX 280 1GB PCIe
with ForceWare 177.34 drivers
Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB PCIe
with Catalyst 8.52-2-080722a-066081E-ATI drivers

 

[RobertR1]

Someone really needs to get to the bottom of the PCI-E 1.1 vs 2.0. I can justify spending $450ish for a new card but not another $200 plus the hours spent of rebuilding a PC jsut to get PCI-E 2.0

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: RobertR1
Someone really needs to get to the bottom of the PCI-E 1.1 vs 2.0. I can justify spending $450ish for a new card but not another $200 plus the hours spent of rebuilding a PC jsut to get PCI-E 2.0

+1

I'd rather not buy a new motherboard if I don't have to. Although, the P45 boards are not much more than $100 right now.

 

[apoppin]

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=761&p=0
http://www.tweaktown.com/artic...performance/index.html
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...intel_x38_versus_p35/1
http://www.kkk.com.ua/?p=245

You're welcome

i will be exploring this also when i get back from Nvision next week; i am upgrading my MB from p35 > x48 {CPU from e4300 > Q9550} and my HD4870x2 will be waiting for me to CrossfireX-3 with my current 4870
- i am curious to explore what the 512MB card will do performance-wise, O/c'd and paired with the X2/2GB

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: apoppin
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=761&p=0
http://www.tweaktown.com/artic...performance/index.html
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...intel_x38_versus_p35/1
http://www.kkk.com.ua/?p=245

You're welcome

i will be exploring this also when i get back from Nvision next week; i am upgrading my MB from p35 > x48 {CPU from e4300 > Q9550} and my HD4870x2 will be waiting for me to CrossfireX-3 with my current 4870
- i am curious to explore what the 512MB card will do performance-wise, O/c'd and paired with the X2/2GB

Thanks for finding those reviews apoppin.

Looks like PCI-E 2.0 16x to 8x (i.e. PCI-E 1.1 16x) at Legionhardware took a 6% hit on average with one game showing an 18% hit. At Tweaktown the performance hit was fairly substantial at higher resolutions. Bit-tech had driver issues from the performance weirdness. The kkk.com site shows some pretty big gains from 1.1 to 2.0 but I can't tell if they are Crossfiring the 3850 cards or not.

It looks like when using 2+ cards it is worth it to use an X38/48 board. What no one seems to have tested though is the difference on a single card like the 4870 x2. There is no inter-gpu communication overhead with the single card so I imagine the performance hit isn't as bad. But, at high resolutions is the PCI-E 1.1 slot still limiting a single card?

 

[apoppin]

But, at high resolutions is the PCI-E 1.1 slot still limiting a single card?

That is the basis for my own review .. not this weekend, but Labor Day Weekend when i am back from Nvision i intend to explore it fully

i will link you to it

LMK what else you want to see explored about HD4870/512M + HD4870x2 ... e4300 and Q9550 on P35 [1.0 PCIe/16x+4x] and also on X48's 2.0 PCIe and 16x+16x

 

[Slaanesh]

I have a question about the HD4870X2.

All reviews I've read say this card is (pretty much) the fastest graphics card currently available, at least when using very high resolutions (1920x1200 or even better 2560x1600). Though, on lower resolutions (like 1600x1200 and below) the difference with cheaper cards (like the HD4870,..) is much smaller or sometimes even negligible, concluding the HD4870X2 is only recommended if you have a large monitor (22" and above).

Now I was wondering: is this card at least more "future-proof" than its (cheaper) competitors? In other words, will the 4870X2 be noticeably faster in next year's games (indeed at lower resolutions like 16x12) compared to its current-gen competitors? Or is its architecture in such a way that this card will only provide a significant speed advantage at current very high resolutions, but won't ever provide a speed advantage at lower resolutions (including future games)?

Thanks!

 

[Janooo]

Originally posted by: Slaanesh
I have a question about the HD4870X2.

All reviews I've read say this card is (pretty much) the fastest graphics card currently available, at least when using very high resolutions (1920x1200 or even better 2560x1600). Though, on lower resolutions (like 1600x1200 and below) the difference with cheaper cards (like the HD4870,..) is much smaller or sometimes even negligible, concluding the HD4870X2 is only recommended if you have a large monitor (22" and above).

Now I was wondering: is this card at least more "future-proof" than its (cheaper) competitors? In other words, will the 4870X2 be noticeably faster in next year's games (indeed at lower resolutions like 16x12) compared to its current-gen competitors? Or is its architecture in such a way that this card will only provide a significant speed advantage at current very high resolutions, but won't ever provide a speed advantage at lower resolutions (including future games)?

Thanks!

The bold text is correct.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: apoppin

But, at high resolutions is the PCI-E 1.1 slot still limiting a single card?

That is the basis for my own review .. not this weekend, but Labor Day Weekend when i am back from Nvision i intend to explore it fully

i will link you to it

LMK what else you want to see explored about HD4870/512M + HD4870x2 ... e4300 and Q9550 on P35 [1.0 PCIe/16x+4x] and also on X48's 2.0 PCIe and 16x+16x

I would be very interested in your results apoppin. Let us know when you've got it done. If you have the ability to test at 2560x1600 it would be great as that is where the biggest potential bottleneck would occur.

Originally posted by: Janooo

Originally posted by: Slaanesh
I have a question about the HD4870X2.

All reviews I've read say this card is (pretty much) the fastest graphics card currently available, at least when using very high resolutions (1920x1200 or even better 2560x1600). Though, on lower resolutions (like 1600x1200 and below) the difference with cheaper cards (like the HD4870,..) is much smaller or sometimes even negligible, concluding the HD4870X2 is only recommended if you have a large monitor (22" and above).

Now I was wondering: is this card at least more "future-proof" than its (cheaper) competitors? In other words, will the 4870X2 be noticeably faster in next year's games (indeed at lower resolutions like 16x12) compared to its current-gen competitors? Or is its architecture in such a way that this card will only provide a significant speed advantage at current very high resolutions, but won't ever provide a speed advantage at lower resolutions (including future games)?

Thanks!

The bold text is correct.

I agree. The reason the 4870 x2 only shows its potential at higher resolutions is because of the enormous amount of data it is required to render. At lower resolutions the card isn't being taxed that much and subsequently doesn't show much improvement over mid-range cards. Future games should in theory have better graphics which will increase the amount of data that needs to be rendered so even at lower resolutions a more powerful card will hold an edge over today's mid-range.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Slaanesh
Now I was wondering: is this card at least more "future-proof" than its (cheaper) competitors?

I'd suggest that the money saved would be "more future-proof", getting you a new card when the cheaper competitor begins to flag.