RV730XT to beat Radeon 3850

JPB

Diamond Member
Jul 4, 2005
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RV730XT to beat Radeon 3850

320 Shaders and fixed FSAA

We've heard that RV730XT, an entry level card scheduled to be launched in September, will be fast enough to beat Radeon 3850 performance.

This will be quite visible in FSAA and Anisotropic environment simply as Radeon 4000 chips have the FSAA unit fixed and the HD 3000 including Radeon 3850 were not that great with FSAA done via Shaders.

AMD will put some additional pressure on Nvidia and it looks that ATI will have some healthy GPU sales thorughout the complete product range. Nvidia is late with 55nm, doesn?t have DirectX 10.1 or Shader 4.1 and at the same time, they are slowly losing in performance in almost every market segment.

Nvidia already got its wake up call and its time to do something about it. RV710 and RV730 will once again hit Nvidia really hard, just as RV770 and R700 did in mainstream and high end.


4670 pics

Radeon HD 4670 sighted

Has native HDMI and DisplayPort support

The first sighting of an AMD reference card based on the RV730, which in its consumer guise is expected to be known as the Radeon HD 4600-series has been spotted and it's claimed that the card in question is more specifically a Radeon HD 4670.

Don't expect this 55nm GPU to be a performance monster, despite the fact that it has 320 Shaders, as it's still limited by a 128-bit memory interface, which will limit the performance of this card.

However, it's expected that it'll beat the Geforce 9500 quite easily, as the Radeon HD 4670 should have its GPU clocked at 700MHz with the GDDR3 memory clocked at 900MHz (1,800MHz effectively) and with all those Shaders, this card should still be an interesting product in the sub US$150 market.

Expect to see 512Mb and 1GB versions of this card and we wouldn't rule out the possibility of a cheaper 256MB version as well. The cards will offer DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, D-sub and TV-out connectivity, although we have to wait for final production cards to see what AMDs partners will add in terms of ports on these cards.

Our only concern is that the reference cooler looks quite small and noisy, but hopefully AMDs partners will step up and provide some better cooling solutions. With an expected TDP of 70W we might even see some decent passively cooled cards.

To sum up the spec sheet of 4670:

* Shader Processors: 320
* Texture Units: 16
* Manufacturing Process: 55nm
* Core clock: 701MHz
* Memory clock: 900MHz
* Memory Bandwidth: 28.8Gbps
* Processing Power: 450GFlops
* Memory Configurations: 512MB, 1GB
* Die Size: 150mm2
* TDP: 70W
* Outputs: DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI
* UVD2
* Vantage Score: P32xx

 

Sylvanas

Diamond Member
Jan 20, 2004
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Cool, pretty awesome budget card- native Display port is a nice addition too.
 

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
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In other words, it'll still be slower than the 9600GT.

Got to love Fud's endless ATI cheerleading. Comparing to the 9500GT? Heh.

And if it's really in the <$150 category, it has to handle the 8800GT... Not likely on a 128 bit bus.
 

JPB

Diamond Member
Jul 4, 2005
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But, *supposed* to be faster than the HD 3850, so that is a plus :thumbsup:
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
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I don't see the 46x0 cards being 150, well possibly the 1GB versions of the 4670. The 4650 will likely be at a lower price, likely sub 100. Heck, some 3650s are under 65 dollars.
 

AzN

Banned
Nov 26, 2001
4,112
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This is 128bit memory bus with same configuration. I don't see how it's going to be better than 3850 even if the AA has been fixed.
 

unr3al

Senior member
Jun 10, 2008
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What does the 9600GT cost... This is bound to be a shedload cheaper. And sounds to be a very nice card. For last year.

I have one, only one main concern. TELL ME THEY AREN'T REALLY GOING TO HAVE A 128-BIT MEM BUS!!!

Sorry for the all-caps bold type, I'm just frustrated. There's no way a 128-bit card can beat a 256-bit HD3850. Unless it has insane memory frequencies. Which it doesn't. No matter the core's excellence. I must see it before I'll believe it.

128-bit should have been dropped with the X1600. But nooo it's being repeated like a line on a broken record. 9600XT . . . 128-bit. X600XT . . . 128-bit. X1600XT . . . 128-bit. X1650XT . . . 128-bit. HD2600XT . . . 128-bit. HD3670 . . . 128-bit!!! Really ATi, if that's what you have in store for the guys at the bottom of the price chain, I just want to ask you to . . . get a life already!
 

Janooo

Golden Member
Aug 22, 2005
1,067
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If the die is 150mm2 it could be too small to have 256-bit memory interface. There are some limitations in regards to the die size.
128 with GDDR5 should be fine later on when its price goes down.
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,002
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Originally posted by: s44
In other words, it'll still be slower than the 9600GT.

Got to love Fud's endless ATI cheerleading. Comparing to the 9500GT? Heh.

And if it's really in the <$150 category, it has to handle the 8800GT... Not likely on a 128 bit bus.

My guess is that these will be pretty cheap cards. Maybe closer to the 9500 then the 9600? It's Fudzilla, I wouldn't count on these being $125 cards with the 3870's costing that or less... could certainly be wrong though, all speculation at this point.
 

ShadowOfMyself

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2006
4,227
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Completely pointless card

Why do they even bother wasting resources on this? The 4850 is so cheap already, and with the 3870 below 100$ what purpose does this card serve? Unless its 40$ or something I dont get it
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
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Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Completely pointless card

Why do they even bother wasting resources on this? The 4850 is so cheap already, and with the 3870 below 100$ what purpose does this card serve? Unless its 40$ or something I dont get it

My guess is they feel they can get performance pretty close to the current 38x0 cards, but do so on 128bit memory, making the cards cheaper to produce. Besides, AMD and Nvidia like to have all their numbers the same, look at the 8800GT -> 9800GT. I guess they feel it confuses people to have a 3870 next to a 4850 on the shelf at Best Buy.
 

Borealis7

Platinum Member
Oct 19, 2006
2,901
205
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Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Completely pointless card

Why do they even bother wasting resources on this? The 4850 is so cheap already, and with the 3870 below 100$ what purpose does this card serve? Unless its 40$ or something I dont get it

its not completely pointless.
the 4850 is hot, this card should be quite cool.
i bet this card will be featured in many pre-built systems where performance takes back seat to price, but the list of supported features stays the same. that way the uneducated consumer sees all the features and thinks he's getting a good deal.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
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Originally posted by: Azn
This is 128bit memory bus with same configuration. I don't see how it's going to be better than 3850 even if the AA has been fixed.

The 128-bit bus with GDDR3 is a deal breaker.
 

Piuc2020

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2005
1,716
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Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Completely pointless card

Why do they even bother wasting resources on this? The 4850 is so cheap already, and with the 3870 below 100$ what purpose does this card serve? Unless its 40$ or something I dont get it

Not everyone buys $200 cards, for some people that's insanely expensive.

Some just want a quick solution that's under $100 bucks, NV/ATI make the most money out of sales like products like these, GTX 280s and HD 4870s are only to give the company a better image and cater to the hardcore gaming market.
 

ShadowOfMyself

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2006
4,227
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Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Completely pointless card

Why do they even bother wasting resources on this? The 4850 is so cheap already, and with the 3870 below 100$ what purpose does this card serve? Unless its 40$ or something I dont get it

Not everyone buys $200 cards, for some people that's insanely expensive.

Some just want a quick solution that's under $100 bucks, NV/ATI make the most money out of sales like products like these, GTX 280s and HD 4870s are only to give the company a better image and cater to the hardcore gaming market.

Yes but my point is, for that price segment, there are great cards already in the 3870/9600GT etc

The thing is, the price/performance right now is so awesome, that its basically not worth launching midrange cards anymore, the last gens ones will do

Tell me, if the HD4600 has the same performance as a 3850, why would you buy it over a 3850? Theres no reason to, its just marketing obviously since people will go "it has a higher number so its better"
 

Janooo

Golden Member
Aug 22, 2005
1,067
13
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Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Completely pointless card

Why do they even bother wasting resources on this? The 4850 is so cheap already, and with the 3870 below 100$ what purpose does this card serve? Unless its 40$ or something I dont get it

Not everyone buys $200 cards, for some people that's insanely expensive.

Some just want a quick solution that's under $100 bucks, NV/ATI make the most money out of sales like products like these, GTX 280s and HD 4870s are only to give the company a better image and cater to the hardcore gaming market.

Yes but my point is, for that price segment, there are great cards already in the 3870/9600GT etc

The thing is, the price/performance right now is so awesome, that its basically not worth launching midrange cards anymore, the last gens ones will do

Tell me, if the HD4600 has the same performance as a 3850, why would you buy it over a 3850? Theres no reason to, its just marketing obviously since people will go "it has a higher number so its better"

If the performance is the same then 4600 is better. It has smaller die size. That should translate to less power and less heat. If that's the case then it's not only marketing but it's true. Higher is better.

If 730 can replace 670 it's better for AMD as well. It will lower direct/manufacturing cost. It's in their best interest to switch as soon as possible.

It means no more 3800 chip production after that only clearing of the finished goods inventory.
 

will889

Golden Member
Sep 15, 2003
1,463
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Originally posted by: unr3al
What does the 9600GT cost... This is bound to be a shedload cheaper. And sounds to be a very nice card. For last year.
/B]!

I got mine for $75.00 walk out with the CC deal and a gift cert - but if NV were smart ( and they aren't usually) they would have already lowered the 9600GT normal to about $70.00-$80.00 average in the face of the HD4850-4870 ownage and their pricing.

 

unr3al

Senior member
Jun 10, 2008
214
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www.link-up.co.za
I don't think 128-bit with GDDR5 is likely to happen. Look at the rarity of GDDR5 for the top-end cards. How can they waste it on the masses? They will need colossal amounts of GDDR5 chips to meet midrange demands.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
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Dont the 9600GTs already outpeform this card? and plus aren't they dirt cheap these days?

Im guessing that from AMD's perspective this card much better in terms of cost (production mainly) compared to HD3850 while delivering "similar" performance.
 

Foxery

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2008
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Er, reality check, guys... these are rebadged 3850s running at 700MHz instead of 668MHz. The specs are otherwise identical. 5% speedup, shiny new label, and you're done.
 
Apr 20, 2008
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Exactly except for one more change: Half of the memory bandwidth.

This card cant outperform the 3850 if it has the same (but smaller die) gpu with half of the memory bus width. Its impossible.