XFX Radeons to be Available January 5th

[AuDioFreaK39]

It wasn't less than 3 weeks ago that XFX announced that it would become an AIB Partner for ATi, and now they are already preparing to release their first Radeon HD 4000 series cards.

Product lineup:

XFX HD 4350 PCI-E 512MB DDR2
P/N: HD-435X-YAH2

XFX HD 4650 PCI-E 512MB DDR2
P/N: HD-465X-YAF2

XFX HD 4650 PCI-E 1GB DDR2
P/N: HD-465X-ZDF2

XFX HD 4830 PCI-E 512MB DDR5
P/N: HD-483X-YDFC

XFX HD 4850 PCI-E 512MB DDR5
P/N: HD-485X-YDFC

XFX HD 4870 PCI-E 512MB DDR5
P/N: HD-487A-YDFC

XFX HD 4870 PCI-E 1GB DDR5
P/N: HD-487A-ZDFC



This thread has run its course; time for a lock.

Video Mod BFG10K.






No Self Promotion



esquared
Anandtech Senior Moderator

 

[lavaheadache]

look at all those GDDR5 cards. Is that real? Umm, if that is true then only clock speeds will differentiate the 4850 from the 4870

*** edit looks to be an error if you check out the memory clock speeds

 

[AuDioFreaK39]

Unfortunately GDDR5 is a no go. Just in from an XFX rep on OCN:


http://www.overclock.net/hardw...5th-4.html#post5227839

 

[Modular]

This is awesome.

 

[quadomatic]

WOW

I never thought they'd ACTUALLY do this after this. I figured Nvidia sales had picked up at least a little bit.

 

[Elias824]

Was XFX one of the prefferd nvidia resellers, or whatever you call them? Perhaps they are trying to diversify

 

[Wreckage]

I would rank XFX third behind EVGA and BFG. So I'm sure XFX saw an opportunity to go from a third place NVIDIA seller to possibly a first place ATI seller.

Which seems like a very logical move to me.

 

[darkrisen2003]

Im sorry but I didnt care for XFX anyways. As long as we have EVGA and PNY I'll be sticking with Nvidia. If they change so will I.

 

[PingSpike]

Nice to see ATI finally getting some better partners. Thats always been one of my main complaints.

 

[nemesismk2]

This is great news for ATI, having XFX onboard is like Sapphire making Nvidia video cards!

 

[solofly]

ooooooooooooooooooooo baby...

 

[chizow]

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking. Still, if AMD managed by some miracle to beat NV in single-GPU performance with their DX11 part I'd get an XFX part for sure. Would certainly be worth it to avoid that clown Gr33ng3cko from Sapphire.

 

[zod96]

I really hope they have a black pcb 4870 1 gb

 

[taltamir]

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

Considering the limited water cooled edition only manages a modest 50MHz OC I'd say cooling isn't the only problem.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: taltamir

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

Considering the limited water cooled edition only manages a modest 50MHz OC I'd say cooling isn't the only problem.

Pretty much.

 

[SSChevy2001]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: taltamir

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

Considering the limited water cooled edition only manages a modest 50MHz OC I'd say cooling isn't the only problem.

The problem is the GPU needs more voltage if you really want more out of it. Why release a water cooled card and let it run on a stock GPU vcore?

With voltmods people are hitting well into the 900mhz range on the core.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: SSChevy2001

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: taltamir

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

Considering the limited water cooled edition only manages a modest 50MHz OC I'd say cooling isn't the only problem.

The problem is the GPU needs more voltage if you really want more out of it. Why release a water cooled card and let it run on a stock GPU vcore?

With voltmods people are hitting well into the 900mhz range on the core.

If those speeds were attainable safely with a little bit higher voltage, why wouldnt ATi bin higher speed parts? Its not like Intel keeping the speeds lower than they could be due to no competition on C2D. In the heated GPU race, they would have made it alot easier to attain a 75mhz OC without using a volt-mod, which most people would never even think about doing.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: SSChevy2001

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: taltamir

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

Considering the limited water cooled edition only manages a modest 50MHz OC I'd say cooling isn't the only problem.

The problem is the GPU needs more voltage if you really want more out of it. Why release a water cooled card and let it run on a stock GPU vcore?

With voltmods people are hitting well into the 900mhz range on the core.

The real question is why PowerColor was unwilling to validate the part at a higher voltage and clockspeed on a water cooled part. Voiding your warranty isn't something you should have to do after paying a premium to begin with. Feeding a part more voltage and improving cooling will only get you so far and is certainly a stark contrast to the competition that requires neither to achieve a greater overclock on a chip that is "bigger, hotter, and more power hungry" by default.

 

[nyker96]

does these carry lifetime warranty? this is the gripe i have with ati never a vendor to carry lifetime warraty as though saying all their products are somehow low quality stuff.

 

[SlowSpyder]

My 4870 maxed out CCC at 820MHz. I've seen more then a few cards at 900+ with a volt mod. The highest temp I've seen yet is 53C @ 820MHz during folding @ home.

My memory overclocked 1.1GHz from the reference 4870, and 700+ MHz from my cards factory overclock. It's all in the cooler/fan speed you're willing to run.

I've never bought from XFX, but I always thought they were considered a top 3 Nvidia partner. I've had one EVGA card and loved it, and understand them to be pretty much the best. I've had one BFG and will never buy from them again if possible.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: SSChevy2001

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: taltamir

Ouch, no overclocked offering. Guess XFX found out what we already knew, AMD parts just aren't very good at overclocking

I'd say it has more to do with inadequate stock cooling on the 4xxx series.

Considering the limited water cooled edition only manages a modest 50MHz OC I'd say cooling isn't the only problem.

The problem is the GPU needs more voltage if you really want more out of it. Why release a water cooled card and let it run on a stock GPU vcore?

With voltmods people are hitting well into the 900mhz range on the core.

If those speeds were attainable safely with a little bit higher voltage, why wouldnt ATi bin higher speed parts? Its not like Intel keeping the speeds lower than they could be due to no competition on C2D. In the heated GPU race, they would have made it alot easier to attain a 75mhz OC without using a volt-mod, which most people would never even think about doing.

because it requires WATER COOLING in addition to volt modding.

Originally posted by: nyker96
does these carry lifetime warranty? this is the gripe i have with ati never a vendor to carry lifetime warraty as though saying all their products are somehow low quality stuff.

They ARE lower quality, that is why nvidia cards overclock better, nvidia gives wider tolerances, wide enough that 3 partners can offer lifetime warranty. If AMD wanted that they would reduce the speed of their cards so that they last long enough to justify such a warranty. Or it could be the XFX intends to manufacture their own PCBs, with higher quality components, and thus longer operational life.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: nyker96
does these carry lifetime warranty? this is the gripe i have with ati never a vendor to carry lifetime warraty as though saying all their products are somehow low quality stuff.

They ARE lower quality, that is why nvidia cards overclock better, nvidia gives wider tolerances, wide enough that 3 partners can offer lifetime warranty. If AMD wanted that they would reduce the speed of their cards so that they last long enough to justify such a warranty. Or it could be the XFX intends to manufacture their own PCBs, with higher quality components, and thus longer operational life.

You know for a fact that AMD cards are 'lower quality'? Sounds like you're making a big assumption with nothing to back it up. Which company had a big fiasco with notebook GPU's failing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs?

Nvidia chips do overclock well generally, but then again they start out clocked a lot lower in general... that is really a function of a lot of things, I don't think you can determine quality by clock speed. My 2900Pro built on 80nm tech I pushed in to the mid 800Mhz range on the core.

Three Nvidia partners offer lifetime warranties... holy shit! One - maybe two on Monday - AMD partners offer a lifetime warranty. I don't see what that proves. But by your logic, I guess we can say that Chrysler offers the absolute highest quality cars out of any manufacturer at any price point since they offer a life time warranty... watch out Lexus, BMW, Bentley.

Maybe Nvidia boards are higher quality, that could be the case, but to me it sounds like you are just talking out of your ass above.

 

[taltamir]

You know for a fact that AMD cards are 'lower quality'? Sounds like you're making a big assumption with nothing to back it up. Which company had a big fiasco with notebook GPU's failing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs?

According to a recent anand article, that's for the same reason the xboxes are failing. Has to do with the CPU solder and changes made to it during the transition to comply with RHOS. All companies had to change soldier, two new types were made, one of them does not last long in electronics. Now we know. (which indicates btw, that is not the actual GPU that is failing)

And by lower quality I mean cheaper transistors, power circuitry that can handle less voltage, cooling solutions, etc. Which is conjecture based on their lower overclockability.
All stuff that is changeable by the OEM and is completely separate than the GPU itself. The GPUs (nvidia's and AMDs) are both manufactured by TSMC if I am not mistaken. So that is why I am hoping XFX will start making higher quality ATI boards, with quality cooling, quality PCBs, quality power circuitry, etc. We could really start overclocking those 4xxx boards than

 

[taltamir]

who provides a lifetime warranty to ATI cards?