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ATI Radeon HD 4870 Edition @ Hot Hardware
DailyTech's roundup of hardware reviews from around the web for Wednesday

ATI Radeon HD 4870 Edition
@ Hardware Canucks
@ AnandTech
@ Hot Hardware
@ Elite Bastards
@ Expreview
@ MadBoxPC
@ Ars Technica
@ TweakTown
@ PC Perspective
@ Bjorn3D
@ The Tech Report

Motherboards
Sapphire PURE Hybrid Crossfire 780G @ Hi-Techreviews.com

Power Supplies
Enermax MODU82+ 525W PSU @ Technic3D

Consumer Electronics
HTC Touch Diamond @ Trusted Reviews
Ricoh GX200 Digital Camera @ Trusted Reviews
Belkin TuneCast Auto with Clearscan for iPhone/iPod @ circuitREMIX

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Let the Battle Commence
By Paratus on 6/25/2008 1:07:04 AM , Rating: 2
The Benches are in and the Fan Boys are at their battle stations for both sides.

Everyone enjoy!




RE: Let the Battle Commence
By someguy123 on 6/25/2008 4:42:31 AM , Rating: 3
not much to say about this one. unless nvidia does something to drop prices down to ati levels, ati has won this round. nvidia still has the fastest performing card out though, even if it is for a hefty premium.


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Aloonatic on 6/25/2008 5:13:34 AM , Rating: 2
Well it seems that, as it stands, the HD4850 is the way to go.

In the UK the cheapest:

HD4850 is £130

GT260 is £250

GT280 is £410

9800GTX is £180

9800GX2 is £315

So a crossfire HD4850 setup will only be:

£10 more than a GT260

£55 less than a 9800GX2!

£100 less than a 9800GTX Sli!

£150 less than a GT280!

All whilst (for the most part) outperforming (sometimes by a large margin when in CF) the Nvidia offerings!

Good work ATI!


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Amiga500 on 6/25/2008 7:18:18 AM , Rating: 2
Wait for R700.

Until GX280 goes to 55nm, Nvidia simply cannot make a dual die GX280 variant to match.

If AMD/ATI get it out the door shortly, the R700 should be top dog for a quarter at least (maybe even until Q1 '09).


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By nosfe on 6/25/2008 7:48:30 AM , Rating: 2
so much for tackling the high end with a monolithic core instead of a dual chip solution?


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Amiga500 on 6/25/2008 8:05:08 AM , Rating: 3
Well the 9800 GX2 is Nvidia's high end at the moment.


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By bysmitty on 6/25/08, Rating: -1
RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Martimus on 6/25/2008 8:27:58 AM , Rating: 2
Have you actually read the reviews? The GX2 still wins most benchmarks, albeit by a small amount. For the most part the 9800GX2 is approximately equal to the GTX280, but is usually slightly faster.


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By nosfe on 6/25/2008 3:28:08 PM , Rating: 2
the point is that gtx280 wasn't made for with a gx2 model in mind, i mean, just think about it: reduce the die to 55nm, thats -25% cost to produce the chip(half node reduction), only the chip, but lets just say it goes for the whole board so we'll have what? a dual gtx 280 that would cost 900$, BUY THAT! i really don't think the market is and ever will be ready for a single video card costing that much no matter how much the performance


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Amiga500 on 6/25/2008 7:15:58 AM , Rating: 6
Don't be too proud of this technological terror you have constructed... the ability to make a dual GPU card is insignificant compared to the power of the geForce.


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By aBott on 6/25/2008 9:15:49 AM , Rating: 4
6!


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By nugundam93 on 6/25/2008 9:44:19 AM , Rating: 4
hahahahaha nice one! someone give him a 6! :)


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Polynikes on 6/25/2008 12:08:56 PM , Rating: 4
ROFL on that one! 6!


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By fake01 on 6/25/2008 6:12:49 PM , Rating: 2
I'm afraid I don't get it :(


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By formulav8 on 6/26/2008 2:53:08 AM , Rating: 2
That post is inspired from Star Wars #4 (A New Hope) when Vader was talking to one of the men on the death star.

The man was praising how great and wonderful the new weapon is (The DeathStar) and there is basically nothing that could compare to it.

Vader told him part of the quote that is posted above (The poster put his custom words in it obviously).

Afterwards Vader choked the guy to to show him that the Force is the ultimate power. :)

Jason


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By thartist on 6/25/2008 6:29:18 PM , Rating: 2
Sad that you have to be a nasty nerd to enjoy these jokes... and many enjoy them.


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Visual on 6/26/2008 1:31:11 AM , Rating: 2
you can always google it, too :p
though "geForce" easily gives it out.


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By nextGen on 6/28/2008 8:02:17 AM , Rating: 3
2-3 month ago:
nvidia is preparing for new giant monolithic GPU launch. at the moment data leaked from ATi showed hd4000 series will have 480 stream processors. as you can see in most of ATi documents represented that
4850 at 199$ will compete with 8800GT and 9600GT and
4870 at 299$ willl Compete with 9800GTX.
so nvidia thought about 9800GTX+(a new higher clock 55nm G92) maybe at 300$ and cut their 9800GTX,8800GT prices down to 270,170 respectively to demolish entire hd4800 line.

two weeks ago:
while nvidia is proud to present most powerfull single GPU graphic solution, GTX280,GTX260 - 1.4Bil transistor monsters with almost 600mm2 die size and high price tags 650 and 400$, things go dangerous on nvidia's camp because
new data leaked from new hd4000 line presented they both have 800 stream processors and only 267mm2 die size!

one week ago:
first benches of new hd4850 is comming.just amazing score for a 199$ card. man it's faster than 9800GTX almost by 5 precent. nvidia quickly cut 100$ on GTX prices to 199$ and stated that they have a superior product than 4850(it's GTX+) at 230$,
they even send it to review websites 1 month before launch!
Ati didnt want to yield the market to nvidia,they optimized their drivers(8.6-hotfix) so 4850 became on par or a tad faster than still not lanched 230$ 9800GTX+!

3 days back:
Ati today presented their hd4870. a 4850 with higher core clock and massive GDDR5 memory running at 3.6Ghz!
what a card! it's faster than recently 400$ nvidia GTX260 and only 10% slower than 650$ most powerfull GPU on earth at only impressive 299$ price tag.

today:
well, first i have to say "it's true, most powerfull GPU still is GTX280" but at 650$ and it simply dosent make sense.
it's mean you pay 120 percent more to raise performance bar by 10 percent
feature wise again ATi has his hand upon nvidia due to directx 10.1 support, 7.1 HD losless sound through HDMI,...
honestly these are features that pleased alot of people.

nvidia in near future:
well they loose this round.
1.cut down their 9800GTX+ to 199$ in order to compete to 4850
2.they cant bring GTX260 price lower than it's now because 600mm2 Die producing costs is very high but they can move to 55nm to raise clocks and cut prices(remember fx5800 and fx5900)
as you may thought again comepition to 4870 will be too tough for green tim
3.GTX280 with 55nm maybe at 450$ to encourage people buying it

ATi in near future:
crown is at red tim now.
4850 and 4870's are near perfect products so Ati dosnt have alot to do than sit back and see how hd4000 sells like hot cakes. besides they can:
1.optimize their drivers better and better and better.
2.optimze crossfire performance(again better drivers).
3.utilize GPU Phisics with Havoc as soon as possible(man, alot of best games out there are using havoc)(again drivers)
4.make their R700 to dethrone GTX280 from being fastest at 450$.

next gerneration
well if nvidia GT200 products were 3 months old , it can be said that next kings will be nvidia cards but both company
release thire new generation almost at same time,so we cant determine who is next dominator.

AMD
*if AMD Continues like this at CPU's we can have high hopes for uppcomming shanghai.
*at mobile we still don't konw much about puma performance and battery life but it's lanch is BIG and partners are vast.
*we are starting to see alot of big one's using ATi mobility dedicated GPU's like : next generation HP,Sony,Toshiba,... in their notebooks.
*man it's a good time to buy AMD stock

thanks and sorry for language


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By Clauzii on 6/28/2008 11:40:07 PM , Rating: 2
That was a good post!


RE: Let the Battle Commence
By BruceLeet on 6/29/2008 6:10:55 PM , Rating: 2
I'd hate to see what kind of timeline you'd write up when your girlfriend breaks up with you.


Impressive
By DingieM on 6/25/2008 5:46:12 AM , Rating: 1
These ATI cards are even more impressive than I thought they would be!

It is only the beginning: expect overclocked versions, overclocking software tools, (much) better drivers, Havok physics engine, 7.1 audio over HDMI (!!!).

These new ATI's are truly winners and a good investment!




RE: Impressive
By mikkiwildcat on 6/25/2008 7:28:48 AM , Rating: 2
Well nvidia won the battle for like 2 yrs and now amd are taking over.
Its not just the price of the card to consider but also the power and the price u will have to pay for the power.
Nvidia will have to 1st make the gpu smaller to lower the power supply.
Then nvidia will have to update the amount of cores running on it.
But this quater i think has been won by AMD.
But i am not saying yet cause i am sure nvidia will have something going next year and AMD are not to stand by.
The most interesting question is AMD vs INTEL.
Are we going to see any die changes and speeds.
Its not just a question of cpu's or gpu's but also the bus interface and the AMD 790 is looking good.
Last not least is the new gpu physics chips


RE: Impressive
By DingieM on 6/25/2008 10:27:20 AM , Rating: 2
It will be very interesting, especially when DAAMIT is changing to a 6-month refresh-technology cycle.
This puts even more pressure on nVidia to bring out cards with more feature support.
I am talking about DX10.1/SM4.1 and 7.1 audio through HDMI.

So far, nVidia is only being able to "bribe" reviewers, press and some developers (Assassin's Creed scandal, not really proven but come on this is large writing on the wall) to make their cards look better, while DAAMIT has been really good with innovation, rich feature set, low price and high performance.

Also, DAAMIT is highly successful with the fresh professional market and that is thanks to the technological implementation of their shaders. They literally crushed nVidia with performance and much much cheeper cards.

Mainstream is the way to go.


RE: Impressive
By just4U on 6/25/2008 9:57:30 PM , Rating: 2
I agree that it is very impressive. Now, I'd like to see ATI work on a better fan implementation and cooling these puppies down.

It's the only drawback I've seen in the reviews but it is a concern. Fans on video cards are notorious little buggers for failing so having a card that's quite toasty needs a top notch implementation.

Ati partners take note!


RE: Impressive
By Goty on 6/26/2008 12:50:27 AM , Rating: 2
They don't need to rework the cooling, the GPUs are allowed to get that hot in order to keep noise down. ATI obviously feels that 80-90C isn't anything to worry about. (For those of you thinking 90C is hot enough to seriously shorten the lifespan of the card, remember, the 8800GT gets that hot, too.)


RE: Impressive
By just4U on 6/26/2008 3:36:06 AM , Rating: 3
Oh I know the GT does, as well as several other cards in the past.. the problem is those cards effect system temperatures to. There are other factors to.. Fan doesn't ramp up or literally dies (as they are notorious for doing) then what?

I'd like to see a fast performing card that doesn't heat your home as well. You know?


RE: Impressive
By NovoRei on 6/26/2008 2:03:57 PM , Rating: 2
Just because its hot doesnt mean it will make your PC hotter.

Cards that consume higher wattage can be cooler but they will produce more heat. They just spread the heat faster.

Its an exchange, low noise for high temperatures.

And if the fan stop working the GPU will shutdown.


RE: Impressive
By just4U on 6/27/2008 4:28:33 PM , Rating: 2
In theory yes, In practice mmmm not so much. This is NOT a stab at ATI, but at video cards in general. Both ATI and NVIDIA need to start looking at ways of making their chips cooler. Their partners NEED to make sure they implement halfways decent cooling solutions.


RE: Impressive
By Clauzii on 6/28/2008 11:28:24 PM , Rating: 2
Can't find it anymore, but not so long ago, me and a friend saw a clip on Youtube with a ATI Radeon (X800 I think). The guy in the clip put the card in WITHOUT(!) cooling at all, except for an open cabinet. He ran some 3D application/s, and got 128 deg. Celsius!! (That's where it flattened out). NO problems at all! If I remember correct, there was a cut, stepping some time forward in time. Still running :))))

My jaw dropped back then ;)


ha ha
By Lightning III on 6/25/2008 9:24:44 AM , Rating: 2
Now ATI layeth the smackdown unto Nvidia it will only get worse when the 450 dollar 4870X-2 ripps the undisputed performance crown from thair heads in a couple of months,

and without a chipset license for the upcoming intergrated memory controller from intel we see the tide start to recede for Nvidia time to sell them short.

Looks like the can of whoop ass was a fart in the wind.




RE: ha ha
By Regs on 6/25/2008 9:47:01 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, it actually sheds a little faith on the Shanghai. At least for me. A little execution goes a long way in terms of bringing back some investor confidence.


RE: ha ha
By Aloonatic on 6/25/2008 9:51:46 AM , Rating: 2
How long until a die-shrunk GT2xx comes out and they can put 2 of those on a card and perhaps bring out a (not even sure if this is possible, may need more than a little work to achieve) GDDR5 version?

Nvidia still have the single card performance leader after all, lets not get too excited? :-s

I never quite understand why people get so wound up over one company "laying the snacks down" and "canning someone's whooped bottom" so much.

The best thing that could happen is that we have 2 companies producing cards that are pretty close in performance, driving down prices and increasing performance by leaps and bounds every generation, not a K.O. surely?


RE: ha ha
By Regs on 6/25/2008 10:01:40 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Nvidia still have the single card performance leader after all, lets not get too excited? :-s


I can likely make you the festest GPU in the world if you have me 5 or so million dollars.

But in the mean time I will enjoy playing on a 4850 for 200 dollars while Nvidia struggles to figure out how to sell something for 100-200 dollars more than it's worth.


RE: ha ha
By Aloonatic on 6/25/2008 10:54:16 AM , Rating: 2
You'd probably need a bit more than a few million dollars to make an industry leading card, but if you can, there's some people at Intel who would love to hear from you I'm sure :D

I didn't say that you (or anyone else for that matter, see my earlier post re: CF performance & pricing) shouldn't buy a 4850? :-s

I was merely pointing out that it's not over for Nvidia as many of the more easily excitable posters seem to think it is.


RE: ha ha
By Regs on 6/25/2008 1:30:43 PM , Rating: 2
Of course it's not over. Though I plan to buy this card this quarter, not the next.


RE: ha ha
By Regs on 6/25/2008 1:32:09 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
You'd probably need a bit more than a few million dollars to make an industry leading card, but if you can, there's some people at Intel who would love to hear from you I'm sure :D


I didn't say make a million, but only one. That is what you're trying to get at right? Who can make the fastest card? I really don't care at my age. I grew out of that awhile ago.


RE: ha ha
By Jedi2155 on 7/2/2008 3:22:04 AM , Rating: 2
The G80 R&D costs were quoted to be somewhere around $450 million dollars.

Taping out a GPU die design costs close to a million dollars (not to mention sometimes multiple tape-outs due to design bugs).

So I doubt you can get a single ultimate speed GPU even with $5 million (not that I think its impossible). But maybe if you just paid some people to make make a ton of them in SLI :).


RE: ha ha
By Lightning III on 6/25/2008 2:02:10 PM , Rating: 2
I don't if anybodys working at 22nm yet because it would take that much shrink to put 2 of those behomeths on a single card

but for me it the way it's mean't to be played program because if you can't build a better GPU you can always buy performance and bribe developers too only optimize for your architechture

and there are several games where the 4870 does beat the 350 dollar more expensive 280GTX


Anandtech Review
By Goty on 6/25/2008 2:09:21 AM , Rating: 4
At the risk of having my comment unread on the actual review, I just wanted to congratulate Anand and Derek on an extremely well put together review! While I'm not a hardware or software engineer and can only pretend I know all of what you're explaining in the article, what I was able to gather gave some great insights into both the RV770 and GTX200 architectures.

Now, if AMD/ATI can just introduce a 4870X2 at or under the $500 price point, things could get extremely interesting.




RE: Anandtech Review
By Clauzii on 6/25/2008 2:28:44 AM , Rating: 2
Haven't they been talking $449,-??


RE: Anandtech Review
By Slaimus on 6/25/2008 4:23:42 PM , Rating: 2
I don't see how the X2 can cost less than 2x cards unless they cut something *ahem GDDR4*


RE: Anandtech Review
By thartist on 6/25/2008 6:04:28 PM , Rating: 2
It's GDDR3 or GDDR5. 4 is a generation that doesn't count... just like DirectX... and Winamp


RE: Anandtech Review
By Goty on 6/26/2008 12:48:28 AM , Rating: 2
Why is that? The HD3870 used GDDR4.


RE: Anandtech Review
By Warren21 on 6/27/2008 4:51:33 AM , Rating: 2
While ATI has used GDDR4, the marginal speed increase over high-clocking binned GDDR3 is offset by the higher latencies. GDDR4 usually clocks in the 1000-1200 MHz range on reference designs... That is not uncommon for high-clocked GDDR3, which still retains better latencies (albeit at higher power consumption).

GDDR5 is in effect almost QDDR (900 MHz GDDR5 = 3600 MHz GDDR3 effective speed) while providing a nice reduction in power requirements. Case in point:

HD 3870 @ 1125 MHz GDDR4 = 72 GB/s
HD 4850 @ 1000 MHz GDDR3 = 64 GB/s
HD 4870 @ 900 MHz GDDR5 = 115 GB/s


RE: Anandtech Review
By murphyslabrat on 6/30/2008 2:00:31 PM , Rating: 2
actually, qdr would be 900mhz=1800mhz, as DDR is doubled already


We love competition
By silversound on 6/25/2008 5:39:43 AM , Rating: 2
Great! Im buying AMD's stock!
Nice work ATI, 4870 faster than GTX260 and a close match with GTX 280 with almost half the price?




RE: We love competition
By ksherman on 6/25/2008 8:42:53 AM , Rating: 2
Now sure is the time! They are around $6 a share.

But I wonder how much something like this effects the market, other than to have AMD eventually have a black quarter. Either way, they are a good price right now :)


RE: We love competition
By imaheadcase on 6/25/08, Rating: 0
RE: We love competition
By seraphim1982 on 6/25/2008 8:55:01 AM , Rating: 3
Actually video cards have some of the highest margins.... and with the current good yields ATI is getting off the RV770 series, they will make a lot of money this quarter and potentially up to Q1'09. Buying AMD stock, wouldn't be a bad idea at all.


RE: We love competition
By masher2 (blog) on 6/25/2008 11:14:07 AM , Rating: 3
> "Actually video cards have some of the highest margins"

ATI's revenues are about $6B/year. Sales of high-end cards usually top out at a few hundred thousand units per year. If you work out the fraction of total revenues, you'll see its fairly small, even though the margins are higher.


RE: We love competition
By Amiga500 on 6/25/2008 11:24:58 AM , Rating: 2
Professional cards are where the really high margins are at.

The RV600/RV670 based firestreams were very competitive with the Nvidia Quadros in performance, and offered much better price:performance.

I expect that trend to continue with RV700 based firestreams.


RE: We love competition
By Aloonatic on 6/25/2008 8:58:46 AM , Rating: 2
Just out of interest...

Is it the high-end/gamer cards that really make the majority of money for the card manufacturers?

Or is it the case that the low price cards that come in Dell, Hp/Compaq, PC World etc.... where the majority of money is made?


RE: We love competition
By imaheadcase on 6/25/2008 11:28:27 AM , Rating: 2
They always make more money from going to OEM market, that is were they make the big bucks from. I was also hinting that AMD makes most of its money from other sources besides video cards in general. Low powered CPU, etc.


Ace
By BruceLeet on 6/25/2008 1:17:52 AM , Rating: 1
Well! Very interesting.

That kind of performance for $300 is just very pissing me off for what I've paid, its pretty safe to say AMD won this round, follow up reviews is a must, the numbers will change as drivers come out. In 2 months (for drivers, we get them every month or so) the card may very well be able to match the 280. Now Crossfire reviews...




RE: Ace
By freaqie on 6/25/2008 4:25:02 AM , Rating: 2
anandtech has one.
(multi gpu tests)
and they go relatively well. although scalings seems to be slightly less then SLI


RE: Ace
By Final8ty on 6/25/2008 8:12:43 AM , Rating: 2
Not on the games where crossfire actual works.
Over 100% on COD4


RE: Ace
By Amiga500 on 6/25/2008 8:41:16 AM , Rating: 2
Well, that 100+% was a result of changing motherboards (as noted in the article).

You should never get scaling above 100% if everything else is equal :-)

But, in answer to your general point, Crossfire scaling with COD4 is excellent.


RE: Ace
By Clauzii on 6/28/2008 11:37:36 PM , Rating: 2
There has been previous benchmarks of the 38xx series. CoD (3 or 4, can't recall exact right now) @100+ there also.


22" monitor benchmarks.
By Mitch101 on 6/25/2008 12:44:48 PM , Rating: 2
For those who own 22" monitors and want to play at 1680x1050 the standard resolution of the 22" monitor.

Using Anantech's benchmarks.

Crysis - No AA
GTX280 40.7 $619.99
4870 35.6 $299.95
GTX260 33.3 $324.99 (Froogle)
4850 29.8 $199.99 ($169.99 with Rebate)

COD 4 - No AA
4870 98.9 $299.95
GTX280 94 $619.99
GTX260 84.7 E$324.99 (Froogle)
4850 78.2 $199.99 ($169.99 with Rebate)

Enemy Territory: QUake Wars - 4X AA
4870 111.2 $299.95
GTX280 109.1 $619.99
GTX260 94.1 $324.99 (Froogle)
4850 86.4 $199.99 ($169.99 with Rebate)

Assassin's Creed - NO AA
4870 57.1 $299.95
GTX280 56.5 $619.99
4850 54.6 $199.99 ($169.99 with Rebate)
GTX260 54.3 $324.99 (Froogle)

The Witcher
GTX280 60.6 $619.99
4870 58.7 $299.95
GTX260 53.1 $324.99 (Froogle)
4850 43.6

Bioshock - No AA
4870 118.9 $299.95
4850 100.7 $199.99 ($169.99 with Rebate)
GTX280 109.2 $619.99
GTX260 93.1 $324.99 (Froogle)

Oblivion 4xAA & 16X AF
GTX280 57.1 $619.99
GTX260 49 $324.99 (Froogle)
4870 48.5 $299.95
4850 40.8 $199.99 ($169.99 with Rebate)

The Radeon 4870 wins 4 out of 7 at 1680x1050 and is half the cost of the GTX280.

I personally still would go with the Radeon 4850 just because I dont see any game up here that requires anything higher other than crysis to which I will probably wait until my next video card after this to play crysis. Its just one game.

I would also like to see Assassin's Creed with the DX10.1 patch applied because once NVIDIA has DX10.1 this will tell us what these games will do when the patch is finally allowed by NVIDIA.




RE: 22" monitor benchmarks.
By ChronoReverse on 6/25/2008 12:52:48 PM , Rating: 2
Check out Techreport's review. It has all the information you wanted.


RE: 22" monitor benchmarks.
By Mitch101 on 6/25/2008 1:14:24 PM , Rating: 2
Yes Much better thanks.

I do wish they would even seperate out the SLI/XF benchmarks. I no longer have any interest in doing a dual card config unless both chips are on the same card so I still have to weed through the benchmarks. Not a big deal but I suspect more people are running a single card not duals.


Radeon 4850 at $180 aleady
By Belard on 6/25/2008 2:57:34 PM , Rating: 2
At a local FRY's store, they have the HD 4850 cards going for $180 off the shelf!

I almost bought it. The price is good, its right there in a small box. I was originally looking at paying $130 for the 9600GT 2 months ago for my upgrade over my OLD 7600GT, so the $50 extra would be worth it.

But I didn't buy it because of its single-slot cooling system that is NOISY (as they have said in the reviews).

So I may opt for a 4870 or wait for more 4850 cards to come ot market.




By Captain Orgazmo on 6/25/2008 7:04:51 PM , Rating: 3
The thermal paste shipped with stock graphics cards and CPUs is notoriously low quality. I saw a review (can't remember from who) where they lowered the temps (and as a result, noise) on the 4850 by 10 to 15 degrees C, simply by removing the original paste and replacing with Arctic Silver Ceramique (small syringe retails for less than $10).

I did the same thing on my 2900XT (but using Arctic Silver 5), and now the fan never revs up over 33% (way quieter).


A card is only as good
By Reclaimer77 on 6/26/2008 11:46:22 AM , Rating: 1
As its drivers. And saving a few bucks isn't enough of an incentive to me to get burned again by ATI's slack barely competent driver software department.

Maybe things have changed and they are better now, but I can't take the risk.




RE: A card is only as good
By ChronoReverse on 6/26/2008 2:09:11 PM , Rating: 3
ATI drivers have been arguably better than Nvidia's in many ways since Vista.


By Captain Orgazmo on 6/25/2008 7:15:22 PM , Rating: 2
It seems the performance of the 4870 dives at high resolutions OR med-hi res + AA. Meanwhile the 1GB of memory equipped GTX 280 doesn't seem similarly affected. The obvious bottleneck of the 4870 is the 512MB of memory then. So will there be a 1GB version? (I have read in the previous months that the 4870 is supposed to come in 512MB and 1024MB versions).




hitech sapphire 780g review
By 4wardtristan on 6/25/2008 10:22:22 PM , Rating: 2
hi

the reviewer talks up how good hybrid crossfire is etc..goes and test some games, as they do.

but his test system involved him/her using a 9600GT

???

where is the goodness of hybrid crossfire there???




Subject unrelated to post
By oab on 6/25/2008 2:50:18 AM , Rating: 1
Me wants .... but probably will never buy, always something new/a price drop on the horizon.

I haven't bought a new videocard since the 9600 PRO EZ came out that I got, and am now running an x1900xtx.... which is very nice even still but starting to show its age in some things I play....




More of the same
By fri2219 on 6/25/08, Rating: -1
RE: More of the same
By Parhel on 6/25/2008 11:48:34 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
wake me when ATI or NVIDIA puts out a Crysis friendly card


Have you considered that maybe Crysis is the problem here, not the cards?


RE: More of the same
By Belard on 6/25/2008 2:53:21 PM , Rating: 2
Well, kind of.

With the effects the game is trying to do, it's pushed way pass the abilities of yesterdays and todays video cards.

It's amazing, when Crysis first came out - a $600 GeForce 8800GTX was the best in town. Now a $200 video card is even faster. Sometimes its less than $200.

Play a UT3 game which also looks great, but not the same tech shows some possible problems with Crysis - but how many games have the vegatiation level? Hell, UT3 ran at about 35fps (1024x768 MAX details) on a GF7600GT and AMD x2 3800, not bad.

I've played Crysis on a 3850 card in med/High details on 1280x900 res, it looks great and played well. How much better is MAX details?

How did the Crysis team develop this game back in the day when the best was the ATI 1900 and GF 7800 cards?


RE: More of the same
By ChronoReverse on 6/26/2008 1:17:03 AM , Rating: 2
Crysis Warhead is supposed to run a lot better according to the developers. They also said they haven't rolled it back into Crysis as a patch because of time or something.


RE: More of the same
By Mitch101 on 6/25/2008 12:55:25 PM , Rating: 3
Look on the bright side by the time a mainstream video card plays the game at decent rates it will be on the $4.99 bargain shelf.

Plenty of other games to play in the mean time.

Actually what I dont like is why cant they take resolutions down on each video card until the game plays at 30fps and 60fps. For instance lets say the radeon 3850 plays the game at 1024x768 at 30FPS instead of showing it will play at 2FPS at 763427861726 x 76482394 resolution. The way the review sites portray the game you would think no video card exists that you can play the game on.

You know If I knew what resolution I could play the game at decent frame rates I might have bought the game. This is poor execution on the part of the review sites. Ok so I can only play it at 1024x768 thats fine by me. Arent games supposed to be about gameplay? I can name plenty of pretty games that are horrible to play.


RE: More of the same
By Visual on 6/26/2008 2:09:09 AM , Rating: 2
If you have a TFT, as you should by now anyway, then you only want to play it at native resolution.

The game does have lower quality settings and is playable on many cards now - there is no excuse to not buy it. Or try the demo at least... don't just judge it by video card benchmarks.

These articles are focusing on the hardware, trying to stress it out the most, to show what it is capable of and where it tops out - it is not at all a review of the games, their prettiness or gameplay. So I don't see why your comment winded up in this direction.


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