Brolloks HD 4870 vs HD 4850 comparison

[Brolloks]

Just picked up a Visiontek HD 4870 which I will compare to the Visiontek HD 4850 I have.

I will incorporate his data with the other 4850 vs G92's thread's data.

[thideras]

Niiiiiiice :)

[wingless]

Wow, does that Visiontek come with a software bundle? If so, whats in the bundle other than Mass Effect? Also, where did you get that Visiontek? The ones on Neweeg.com don't seem to have any software other than the driver CD included.

I want to find one with Cyberlink's new suite in the bundle. I already bought and beat Mass Effect (great game, btw) but I still want a decent bundle with my GPU, just like the old days. Thats a worthy game to have included too.

[Super Nade]

Nice! :drool:

I'd be interested to see if ATT works with these cards or if you need to mod the BIOS before using CCC?

[Shiggity]

How hot does it run and how good is the cooler?

Thanks Brolloks :)

[Brolloks]

The Visiontek box is decieving, it does NOT come with Mass Effect, it only says it supports the game.

I picked it up at Tigerdirect, have not opened the box, sitting in my car:bang head I'm going to sneak out of the office within an hour and go try it out at home ;)

[jokers_greg]

The Visiontek box is decieving, it does NOT come with Mass Effect, it only says it supports the game.

I picked it up at Tigerdirect, have not opened the box, sitting in my car:bang head I'm going to sneak out of the office within an hour and go try it out at home ;)

go go go! but don't lose your job. That would make it difficult to buy more lol

[MadMan007]

Yummy. I've decided that my next card will be a 4850, given the resolution I use and the amount I play it makes more sense even though when I do game I like it to be as good as possible. Too bad there won't be any GDDR5 4850s it seems :( Now what are you going to do with your 4850s? :D

btw did anyone else see in various articles that GDDR5 is going to scale FAST...they expect 5-6GHz effective (4870 uses 3.6GHz effective) by the end of the year :o

[Hardin]

Nice I can't wait until you have the results. I got my 4850 in the mail yesterday but I'm waiting until I get the rest of my new computer.

[petteyg359]

Me wants to know whether I should get another 4850 or spend the extra $100 on a 4870 to go crossfire with my current 4850...

[wingless]

The Visiontek box is decieving, it does NOT come with Mass Effect, it only says it supports the game.

I picked it up at Tigerdirect, have not opened the box, sitting in my car:bang head I'm going to sneak out of the office within an hour and go try it out at home ;)

Thats dirty, shameless marketing on their part then. ANY DX9 or newer GPU "supports" Mass Effect! Thats an assumed certainty. These boys must still be stuck in the days of PowerVR and GLide. :bang head

I'm assuming nothing came in the box either, huh?

[WorshipMe]

btw did anyone else see in various articles that GDDR5 is going to scale FAST...they expect 5-6GHz effective (4870 uses 3.6GHz effective) by the end of the year
Awesome, and the HD 4870's memory is already hitting 4.4GHz OC'ed!

[Hardin]

Thats dirty, shameless marketing on their part then. ANY DX9 or newer GPU "supports" Mass Effect! Thats an assumed certainty. These boys must still be stuck in the days of PowerVR and GLide. :bang head

I'm assuming nothing came in the box either, huh?

They probably wanted to bundle Mass Effect with it, but knowing EA I'm sure they were turned down.

[Jayws]

Subscribed.

[Parad0x420]

Awesome, and the HD 4850's memory is already hitting 4.4GHz OC'ed!

i believe you mean the 4870, as the 4850s are using ddr3.

lookin forward to the results Brolloks!
just ordered a 4870 today, hopefully it arrives early next week!!

[g14novak]

2nd on the subscribed. I have a 4870 otw but its not going to be here till like wednesday. :(

Can't wait for results!

[WorshipMe]

i believe you mean the 4870, as the 4850s are using ddr3.
Oops! Thanks for the tip. Fixed.

[jason4207]

Yummy. I've decided that my next card will be a 4850, given the resolution I use and the amount I play it makes more sense even though when I do game I like it to be as good as possible. Too bad there won't be any GDDR5 4850s it seems :( Now what are you going to do with your 4850s? :D

btw did anyone else see in various articles that GDDR5 is going to scale FAST...they expect 5-6GHz effective (4870 uses 3.6GHz effective) by the end of the year :o

5-6GHz!!! :eek::drool:

We've been stuck around 2GHz for a while and now this! Simply AMAZING! :o

[deathman20]

Awesome, and the HD 4870's memory is already hitting 4.4GHz OC'ed!

Actually 1150Mhz so more like 4.6Ghz so far is where it tops out think thats thanks to CCC though.

[Shiggity]

64x AA here I come!

[WorshipMe]

Even better! It's a shame they're so ridiculously priced over here in Europe though. More like $400+ over here and hardly anyone has them in stock. Get your arses in gear Qimonda!

I will order one of these as soon as availability is decent.

[Brolloks]

Yummy. I've decided that my next card will be a 4850, given the resolution I use and the amount I play it makes more sense even though when I do game I like it to be as good as possible. Too bad there won't be any GDDR5 4850s it seems :( Now what are you going to do with your 4850s? :D

btw did anyone else see in various articles that GDDR5 is going to scale FAST...they expect 5-6GHz effective (4870 uses 3.6GHz effective) by the end of the year :o

I'm really interested to see if the 4870 is worth the extra $100, if it is I'll keep it and sell the 4850, if not I'll sell the 4870 and get another 4850 :)

BTW...added some fresh pics in my 1st post

[chrome-187]

I'm really interested to see if the 4870 is worth the extra $100, if it is I'll keep it and sell the 4850, if not I'll sell the 4870 and get another 4850 :)

BTW...added some fresh pics in my 1st post

only thing brollocks is your pics are deceiving...the visiontek 4870 does not have that picture design on the heatsink..im pretty sure the visiontek 4870 graphix looks like it does on the box with that animal looking thing with the eyes...

[Brolloks]

only thing brollocks is your pics are deceiving...the visiontek 4870 does not have that picture design on the heatsink..im pretty sure the visiontek 4870 graphix looks like it does on the box with that animal looking thing with the eyes...

Not sure what you trying to say here...what are you saying exactly??

[jaxstraww]

The pictures you posted show a Visiontek box but there was a question raised if the actual card your took a picture of is the Visiontek model?

[theELVISCERATOR]

Not sure what you trying to say here...what are you saying exactly??


He is insinuating you ganked the pics...instead of taking them yourself!


I think the cooler looks good myself..

[chrome-187]

Not sure what you trying to say here...what are you saying exactly??

i dunno if you've opened your box yet....this is what the heatsink really looks like on the vistiontek 4800 series (graphix wise) http://firingsquad.com/media/article_image.asp/2346/02 .......ur pic is either HIS or diamond brand... your box is the right picture...but the heatsink graphix for the visionteks are on the link i gave :) ...no huge deal...i just dont what ppl to think that the visiontek looks like the HIS or Diamond... :beer:

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z249/infamous2318/02.jpg

[Brolloks]

The pictures you posted show a Visiontek box but there was a question raised if the actual card your took a picture of is the Visiontek model?

Well, I can assure you the card that came out the box that says HD4870 on it is the same card that is posted in my picture. The 4850 I have also does not have a graphics label on the card, the ones you see on the web are the ,marketing cards given to formal reviewers.

I trust that if I post a GPUz snapshot that will remove the doubt, I'm baffled that I'm questioned on this really:confused:

[Psychotron]

Hurry up with the comparison!!! :santa: :beer:

[mattspalace]

Well, I can assure you the card that came out the box that says HD4870 on it is the same card that is posted in my picture. The 4850 I have also does not have a graphics label on the card, the ones you see on the web are the ,marketing cards given to formal reviewers.

I trust that if I post a GPUz snapshot that will remove the doubt, I'm baffled that I'm questioned on this really:confused:

Me too.. Brollocks goes through hardware like...well, like no one I've ever seen before. And one of his prior pieces is still residing in my computer. Rest assure, Brollocks has what he says. It's a video card people, not a Ferrari.

[chrome-187]

wow that is weird...i wonder if they are different revisions?

[mattspalace]

nope just different stickers.

[Brolloks]

He is insinuating you ganked the pics...instead of taking them yourself!


I think the cooler looks good myself..


Actually I made the card and cooler in my basement the morning ;)

LOL, good thing it is Friday

[keninishna]

lol Brollocks stop lying for attention we all know you didn't buy a visiontek but rather a diamond card. You just got the visiontek box from someone else. Actually it is kinda weird the cooler on that card I guess is just the reference ATI cooler not the visiontek cooler.

Be careful with that card though someone over at XS has already killed a diamond card from upping the mem clock to 2200 mhz through the bios, so I'd be careful using the bios editor to make sure its not over volting memory or something for the 4870.

[chrome-187]

i wasnt calling brollocks a liar, lol..it looked like his pics were taken off of a website, and i read that he hadn't opened up the box yet...i just figured he posted up pics of a 4870 from a website...but if you wanna take offense to it, w/e makes you feel like a big man on the nets is cool with me...

i do find it interesting that within a week they have 2 diff types of graphix

[Hardin]

lol Brollocks stop lying for attention we all know you didn't buy a visiontek but rather a diamond card. You just got the visiontek box from someone else. Actually it is kinda weird the cooler on that card I guess is just the reference ATI cooler not the visiontek cooler.

Be careful with that card though someone over at XS has already killed a diamond card from upping the mem clock to 2200 mhz through the bios, so I'd be careful using the bios editor to make sure its not over volting memory or something for the 4870.

Sometimes it's important to think before posting. What would he gain by lying about his video card brand?

[MadMan007]

Well, I can assure you the card that came out the box that says HD4870 on it is the same card that is posted in my picture. The 4850 I have also does not have a graphics label on the card, the ones you see on the web are the ,marketing cards given to formal reviewers.

I trust that if I post a GPUz snapshot that will remove the doubt, I'm baffled that I'm questioned on this really:confused:

It's not all that baffling, chrome-187 feels the look of the sticker on the card is an important part of the purchase decision ;)

[Ashura]

Exactly; after all, the ASUS card had me at "pretty asian girl." :p

[keninishna]

Sometimes it's important to think before posting. What would he gain by lying about his video card brand?
haha yeah that's the whole point I was joking I was accusing him lying for attention but that's a terrible accusation because no one cares what the card looks like. just give it volts and overclock the life outta it.

[Brolloks]

It's not all that baffling, chrome-187 feels the look of the sticker on the card is an important part of the purchase decision ;)

Sure, it makes all the difference in the world ;)

[HousERaT]

so brolloks are you going to do a same clocks comparison so we can see if their is any benefit to GDDR5?

[Hardin]

haha yeah that's the whole point I was joking I was accusing him lying for attention but that's a terrible accusation because no one cares what the card looks like. just give it volts and overclock the life outta it.

Oh sorry I guess I took you a little too seriously.

[Brolloks]

so brolloks are you going to do a same clocks comparison so we can see if their is any benefit to GDDR5?

For sure, just finishing some custom builds then I'm going to be all over it :)

[chrome-187]

LOL you guys are funny....like i said i thought he was still at work and had not opened the box yet...i didnt know he opened the box and looked...i didnt doubt he had the card, i've been following his comparison threads...i knew he had the card, he said he was at work with it and was goin to sneak out...u guys are blowing this waaaay out of proportion...im glad he was able to show me that visiontek has 2 different skins...i think thats cool to know...i am one of the guys that do like skins =)

[Brolloks]

LOL you guys are funny....like i said i thought he was still at work and had not opened the box yet...i didnt know he opened the box and looked...i didnt doubt he had the card, i've been following his comparison threads...i knew he had the card, he said he was at work with it and was goin to sneak out...u guys are blowing this waaaay out of proportion...im glad he was able to show me that visiontek has 2 different skins...i think thats cool to know...i am one of the guys that do like skins =)

No problem man, all in good spirit...sit back and enjoy :beer:

[corpsejockey]

It's not all that baffling, chrome-187 feels the look of the sticker on the card is an important part of the purchase decision ;)


I am going to make millions. . . selling gpu stickers.
Millions.

[chrome-187]

I am going to make millions. . . selling gpu stickers.
Millions.

lol...yea, it may sound weird, but if cards perform the same, the deciding factor for me is the sticker, lol..which ever sticker i think fits my style, thats the card i will buy...for example, the 4850 i want is the diamond for 2 reasons..1) they have coolest sticker of all the 4850's IMO..and 2) they most likely support Xdna, which enables them to be crossfired or SLI"d on either chipset =) ...

and i think visiontek has the coolest sticker so far of the 4870's....well the beast sticker they have anyway =) ... seems like alot of the 4870's have the same sticker design =/

[jaxstraww]

I have had a few visiontek product over the years and they love to smear their name and logo's on everything. For new equipment I think its a valid question to them on why they don't match up. Joke all you want about stickers but marketing a product is just as important as selling the actual item. So the "IT" new card doesn't have their logo anywhere on it? Don't get that at all.

As far as slamming the other guy who asked the question if that was the visiontek card. Look into it however you ant but if I posted about my new Lexus and posted a picture of a Buick would you still move along like sheep without questioning?

[Brolloks]

A few teasers

Vantage P : 4870 vs 4850 (all stock)

20% increase

[Brolloks]

Vantage X : 4870 vs 4850

27% increase

[thideras]

I'm wondering if that is just from the clock increase...

[petteyg359]

I assume he'll be overclocking the 4850 next to determine that...

On Performance in Vantage, my 4850 at 700/1170 (with Q9450, so that may skew it a bit) gets 11008 CPU / 7032 GPU. Catalyst "OC test" fails if I move the memory higher than 1170, but I have yet to redo the heatsink (just got my MX-2 yesterday).

[jason4207]

I'm wondering if that is just from the clock increase...

Exactly what I was thinking...

625 (4850 core speed) x 1.2 (20% increase) = 750 (4870 core speed)

And maybe the memory bandwidth helps at the higher 'X' rez giving an extra 7%.

[chrome-187]

I'm wondering if that is just from the clock increase...

+1..i'd like to see the core clocks at the same speed so that i can see how much the memory alone is improving performance if at all

[mattspalace]

I think I just got a semi.. :beer:

I have no idea why I bought a 4870... :bang head

but then again.. :attn:

[WorshipMe]

Brolloks, please can you redo Vantage with each card clocked at the same core speed. Preferably the core speed that both should run at should be the max OC of the HD 4850.

Thanks.

[anothermbdusted]

Good work brolloks.... would like to see also what the difference is in the memory. clocking the core the same in both to see how much a advantage a 4870 is over the 4850..i can get the 4850 everywhere around here but 98% people around here hasnt even heard of the 4870 lol

[Brolloks]

Brolloks, please can you redo Vantage with each card clocked at the same core speed. Preferably the core speed that both should run at should be the max OC of the HD 4850.

Thanks.


Coming up :)...I might say this too early but from all the benchies I did this morning it looks like the 4850 is a far better value, for around $300 you can get a pair in x-fire that outperform the 4870 by quite a bit. We'll wait until all the results are out before we make a final verdict.

[keninishna]

Coming up :)...I might say this too early but from all the benchies I did this morning it looks like the 4850 is a far better value, for around $300 you can get a pair in x-fire that outperform the 4870 by quite a bit. We'll wait until all the results are out before we make a final verdict.

Not to mention the 4850 OCed with voltmods in crossfire is sickly. I bet the 4870 does nice with overclocks too if they don't die from it.

[Brolloks]

Very frustrating that I have to rely on CCC to OC these cards, can someone hack it to open up the slider beyond what it is set now?

[thideras]

Hmm...I don't have an ATI card otherwise I'd do just that. Brolloks, can you export the registry and send it to me? I can trudge through it.

It might be in the actual files too :-/

[HousERaT]

4870s seem to be dieing in a few cases. They're looking into it over at XS. Not even voltmod related.

[deathman20]

4870s seem to be dieing in a few cases. They're looking into it over at XS. Not even voltmod related.

High memory clocks might of been due to the death. He did OC it to 1200Mhz

[keninishna]

Very frustrating that I have to rely on CCC to OC these cards, can someone hack it to open up the slider beyond what it is set now?

Thats what I was wondering. I don't see why not its not hard to hack values in memory. You can get a program to do a memory sieve to search for the clock value then change the clock and search for the new value and just keep repeating until you find its location(s) in memory. I don't have my card yet so I can't do it now.

[Brolloks]

As you can see the GDDR5 does make a difference

~ 7 % increase

[Brolloks]

Vantage P runs with 4870 at 4850 clocks

~ 5% difference

[Brolloks]

On Crysis runs the GDDR5 gives about a 2 FPS edge over the GDDR3, nothing much really.

[ghost_recon88]

On Crysis runs the GDDR5 gives about a 2 FPS edge over the GDDR3, nothing much really.

Wow, appears GDDR5 isn't all it was cracked up to be :( Especially if you can get a HD4850 clocked really high :santa:

[anothermbdusted]

great job dude. your 4850 wont post a 750 core will it? leaving the memory at 900 will it? as to see if a 4850 will oc to the same levels as a 4870? if it does then well im getting a 4850 instead in morning

[ghost_recon88]

great job dude. your 4850 wont post a 750 core will it? leaving the memory at 900 will it? as to see if a 4850 will oc to the same levels as a 4870? if it does then well im getting a 4850 instead in morning

Right now BIOS modding is the only way to get past 700/1200 on a Radeon HD4850.

[thideras]

Exactly what I though, thanks for benching it for us! :D

[Brolloks]

I'm a bit dissapointed in the 4870 thus far, maybe if I can clock it higher beyond what CCC allow me to I'll get more excited. As of now a pair of 4850's yields about 25% more performance that one 4870 and the price of the 4850's is pretty close to that of a 4870

[chrome-187]

nvm......how well does the 4870 @ 4850 speeds do in other games? i mean hell, all the video cards become really close in crysis

[ghost_recon88]

can you down clock the 4870?

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=5691170&postcount=65

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=5691173&postcount=66

[flopper]

I'm a bit dissapointed in the 4870 thus far, maybe if I can clock it higher beyond what CCC allow me to I'll get more excited. As of now a pair of 4850's yields about 25% more performance that one 4870 and the price of the 4850's is pretty close to that of a 4870

overclock is what is the enhancer, 900mhz+ then it will fly a litttle:beer:

[Psychotron]

I'm a bit dissapointed in the 4870 thus far, maybe if I can clock it higher beyond what CCC allow me to I'll get more excited. As of now a pair of 4850's yields about 25% more performance that one 4870 and the price of the 4850's is pretty close to that of a 4870

Thanks for your benching :thup:..Im happy I ordered a 4850.

[Farinorco]

Those results confirm the expectations a little (regarding the influence of DDR5 and clocks), or at least, my expectations :)

I'd love to know about the OC capability of both cards @ stock voltages with a 3rd party utility. But to be honest, I don't expect nothing much higher than the numbers in CCC (and I think that specially in the case of 4870 it would be really disappointing).

High memory clocks might of been due to the death. He did OC it to 1200Mhz

Not really. A great number of people who has a death card at XtremeSystems haven't even overclocked it. What everyone has done (I think, I haven't read last pages of the thread) is flashing the card with a new bios, so in my book, it has to have any relation (I don't believe in coincidences), dunno if a bad flashing software, a bad bios to flash, or what.

[vixro]

They are flashing their cards.... with software that probably doesn't correctly handle the new generation yet. So basically, these "dying" cards are just people being stupid. Why would you flash a brand new card the day you get it when people are having trouble with it?


Also, a 7% increase at the same clocks as the 4850 with only different ram is a big difference in my book. Especially since your clock speeds are much better than a 4850 @ stock with room to go even higher. And 2 4850's is NOT close to the price of a 4870 unless you got some crazy deal. The average person is going to have to spend closer to $400 for 2 4850's and $300 on 1 4870. So you could say the same either way. Like 2 4850's not being worth it because you snagged a 4870 for $250. (hypothetical story) At msrp I still say the 4870 is better, especially for those that don't have 2 PCI-e slots or a crossfire motherboard.

[n3xu5]

@Brolloks: Could you please tell us what the power requirements are on each box? I read a post by prime81 talking about the 3870 and that it needed at least 550w PSU and 38amps on the 12v rails.

I just read off my recently purchased Sapphire Toxic HD3870 box, it says boldly on the side... must have at least a 550w PS that has 38 amps total on the 12v rails.

I'm curious on if these new cards list it and what would be needed for running 4870 XFire. Thanks man and keep up the good work!

[HousERaT]

@Brolloks: Could you please tell us what the power requirements are on each box? I read a post by prime81 talking about the 3870 and that it needed at least 550w PSU and 38amps on the 12v rails.



I'm curious on if these new cards list it and what would be needed for running 4870 XFire. Thanks man and keep up the good work!
Hardwarecanucks states that with a corsair HX620 you can run 4870 xfire no problems.

[n3xu5]

Hardwarecanucks states that with a corsair HX620 you can run 4870 xfire no problems.

I wonder if thats stock everything though ... I'm building a new rig and will end up overclocking a E8400 @ 4.0, and using 4 HDD's, 8GB Gskill, possibly quite a few fans for watercooling with a Liang DDC 3.2 pump. Somehow, I dont think the HX620 will cut it especially when Corsair's own power supply finder recommends at least the TX750.

It would be nice if all of that ran on a HX620, I bought one for my friend and it was a pleasure to install.

[jason4207]

Exactly what I was thinking...

625 (4850 core speed) x 1.2 (20% increase) = 750 (4870 core speed)

And maybe the memory bandwidth helps at the higher 'X' rez giving an extra 7%.

As you can see the GDDR5 does make a difference

~ 7 % increase

BINGO!

I wonder how much of that can be made up by OCing the GDDR3 RAM more or increasing PCIe freq?

4850's in x-fire FTW!

:beer:

[deathman20]

BINGO!

I wonder how much of that can be made up by OCing the GDDR3 RAM more or increasing PCIe freq?

4850's in x-fire FTW!

:beer:

I'd have to agree 4850's x-fire FTW.
Just wish I had enough confidence in me to mod some 4850's with a Vmod so I could get a little more out of her :)

[micamica1217]

I'm a bit dissapointed in the 4870 thus far, maybe if I can clock it higher beyond what CCC allow me to I'll get more excited. As of now a pair of 4850's yields about 25% more performance that one 4870 and the price of the 4850's is pretty close to that of a 4870


thanks for the tests...

to be honest, I do feel that depending on what games you play, or you are looking foward to, should also help you deside what to do. yet in the end, I do feel that 2x 4850's in CF might be far better then just a single 4870 in most games. the CF suport is looking great, and it might turn out to be a better choice for you.

mica

[MadMan007]

Another useful comparison might be both cards at a higher but equal core speed. I understand matching core speeds means you're just testing the advantage of the Ram speed but lowering the core speed means less data is needed means less advantage of faster Ram. So if you can bother brollocks, try both at 700MHz core and see if the differences are the same or not.

[Brolloks]

So if you can bother brollocks, try both at 700MHz core and see if the differences are the same or not.

Will do :), doing some 8800GTS benching today for my other thread

Also I'm using a NorthQ 850W PSU but my HX620W used to power 2 x 3870X2's in CFX without any issues, it I'm confident it should be enough for 4870 in X-fire

[jason4207]

I'd have to agree 4850's x-fire FTW.
Just wish I had enough confidence in me to mod some 4850's with a Vmod so I could get a little more out of her :)

I can help! ;)

It also looks like you can mod the BIOS for a little extra juice like we could on the 8800GT.

And, if you don't feel as comfortable soldering you can do pencil mods on these cards unlike the 8800GT/GTS. Just make sure you have a DMM to measure resistance before you fire anything up.

:beer:

[MadMan007]

Ooo pencil mods, sweet! Haven't done one of those since Athlon XP days lol.

[Shiggity]

Only 7% of an increase with GDDR5 memory, hmmm, it's nice, but not that impressive to me.

I hope my 8800GT lasts me until the generation of cards after this one ;)

+1 Brolloks, benches are always appreciated

[WorshipMe]

I understand matching core speeds means you're just testing the advantage of the Ram speed but lowering the core speed means less data is needed means less advantage of faster Ram. So if you can bother brollocks, try both at 700MHz core and see if the differences are the same or not.

I would love to see this two, and then could you possibly test how much of a difference the huge overclock on the GDDR5 makes? Thanks again Brolloks.

[Jayws]

It looks like Nvidia is going to be crushed in this round with their current power usage, price, and performance in regards to the 260/280's.

The funny thing though is that I still don't see a need to upgrade to this series. A high 8 series card or 3xxx would still be adequate for every game that I can think of, including those that I don't play. Maybe the generation after this one will be something impressive but I just don't see any leaps and bounds in the technology. The biggest thing to come of the last two generations are price drops across the board, which I'm not complaining about.

The generation after this one should be interesting. ATI lit a fire under nvidia's ass, the resulting heat up in competition should only make things better.

[vixro]

It looks like Nvidia is going to be crushed in this round with their current power usage, price, and performance in regards to the 260/280's.

The funny thing though is that I still don't see a need to upgrade to this series. A high 8 series card or 3xxx would still be adequate for every game that I can think of, including those that I don't play. Maybe the generation after this one will be something impressive but I just don't see any leaps and bounds in the technology. The biggest thing to come of the last two generations are price drops across the board, which I'm not complaining about.

The generation after this one should be interesting. ATI lit a fire under nvidia's ass, the resulting heat up in competition should only make things better.



Depends on so many factors, I have a 3870 overclocked and it's just not cutting it anymore.

1) resolution
2) game quality settings
3) games you play
4) multiplayer player counts
5) dx9/10
6) what you're happy with


I happen to play at 1680x1050 and at this res when you turn up the other quality settings higher such as AA and indeed max out the other visual quality settings the frames drop quite a bit. Same with multiplayer count. While I get smooth frame rates in a 24 player TF2 server with the settings on high and no AA, it slows down a bit when I turn on AA, and when I join a 32 player server it slows down some more (50fps average).

DX10 is another issue altogether, the performance in these games is still struggling to go over 60fps with quality levels raised up.


Peronsonally I am only happy with the best quality at the highest possible frame rate when I am playing first person games, or even RPGs. You don't want any kind of FPS lag to kill you or have an effect on how the game is being played. Personally I am only comfortable with 70 frames at the minimum and I prefer to have 80 or more so that I can't see a difference when I am turning around quickly. This means that when new games come out I am constantly upgrading and overclocking for those few extra frames people seem to not care about or don't think matter. If I see a card getting 60fps oc'd and one getting 70fps oc'd in a game I play all the time, the one getting 70fps is the one I'm going to purchase (as long as the image quality isn't suffering for the extra 10fps).

:bang head

This makes gaming become an expensive hobby. I also got dragged into sound quality a while back too. Now I have upgraded cables, the best sound card, a headphone amplifier and amazing headphones, and all of the music I purchase digitally has to be in .wav format. :screwy:

[RangerXLT8]

There is a purpose behind both the 4870 and 4850. If you want the fastest ATI card with the most horsepower to play games with high resolution and eye candy you need the 4870. Yeah two 4850s might be faster, but crossfire also requires a motherboard with 2 pci-E slots, and those boards cost alot of money compared to a single slot board, everything else the same. If you run two 4850s in crossfire, they are definitely going to draw more power than a single 4870, not to mention the heat output of two cards vs 1 card. If you are going to go crossfire, might as well crossfire two of the best cards. Just my humble opinion.

My 4870 is going to be here Wednesday and I plan on posting lots of pics and benchmarks... I'm thinking about an after market air cooler, and now all we need is a stable program that we can adjust voltages and clock speeds...

[MadMan007]

I am definitely going to be putting penil mods on mine, it looks like it helps a lot for the memory with just a small .1 increase.

[keninishna]

4870 I think will overclock better than the 4850 because of better power handling and gddr5 scales very nice when clocking as well as the dual slot cooler. There is a new GPU-z and Winflash that support proper bios handling for the 4870 so you can modify the bios now and overclock without bricking your card.

[jason4207]

I am definitely going to be putting penil mods on mine, it looks like it helps a lot for the memory with just a small .1 increase.

:thup: That's basically the only thing holding this card back from the 4870. That and a little pencil mod action on the core, and you're at 800+ core.

:beer:

Hmmm...I wonder if we'll be able to change the shader clock independently later...

[MadMan007]

I have an Accelero S1 rev 2 that I'll use as well but I have to see how I'll sink the power section, I don't really want to hack up the stock heatsink. Then we just need a non-BIOS-flashing way to oc above the CCC limits but still keep Powerplay working, that will make everything just right :D

I remember that the 8800GT with Qimonda Ram worked better with decreased vRam though, but these seem to work better when increased a little?

[jason4207]

I have an Accelero S1 rev 2 that I'll use as well but I have to see how I'll sink the power section, I don't really want to hack up the stock heatsink. Then we just need a non-BIOS-flashing way to oc above the CCC limits but still keep Powerplay working, that will make everything just right :D

I remember that the 8800GT with Qimonda Ram worked better with decreased vRam though, but these seem to work better when increased a little?

It wasn't the RAM specifically that didn't like the extra voltage. It was the memory controller (which shared the same rail) that didn't like the added voltage. When they went from 1.2ns RAM to 1.0ns RAM they just upped the voltage from 1.8v to 2.0v. Fine for the RAM (and the RAM should actually perform better w/ more voltage...max recommended voltage: 2.1v, max absolute voltage: 2.5v - according to spec sheets), but the controller likes 1.8v better.

All RAM should perform at least a little better w/ extra voltage provided you can keep it cool. The 'Qimonda RAM system' (not just the RAM) was what impaired the GT/GTS's that had it installed. The 'Qimonda RAM system' is different on the 4850 even though it has the same RAM chips.

[MadMan007]

I see. So it was the controller part of the 'RAM system' that didn't like the additional voltage. Do regular, inexpensive Ramsinks still work fine for this stuff when they're given additonal voltage?

[jason4207]

I see. So it was the controller part of the 'RAM system' that didn't like the additional voltage. Do regular, inexpensive Ramsinks still work fine for this stuff when they're given additonal voltage?

Yep. They work even better if you can get some air moving across them. ;)

[MadMan007]

Yep. They work even better if you can get some air moving across them. ;)

By cheap I mean really cheap, like the ones that come with the Accelero S1:
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n256/Jem_1/My%20PC%20Stuff/S1_RamsinkSm.jpg

Not as sexy as say Enzotechs but I figure they'd get the job done on Ram? considering that some manufacturers don't even put on Ramsinks. Then I just need to hack up an old heatsink for vreg area sinks and I'll have a 120mm Scythe fan mounted on the S1.

We need to start a separate thread for voltmods :)

[deathman20]

I can help! ;)

It also looks like you can mod the BIOS for a little extra juice like we could on the 8800GT.

And, if you don't feel as comfortable soldering you can do pencil mods on these cards unlike the 8800GT/GTS. Just make sure you have a DMM to measure resistance before you fire anything up.

:beer:

Really there is a bios flash trick... Hmmmm :)

Gotta wait a little bit longer but leaning that way myself at the current time.

[chrome-187]

I see. So it was the controller part of the 'RAM system' that didn't like the additional voltage. Do regular, inexpensive Ramsinks still work fine for this stuff when they're given additonal voltage?

dumb question..but for putting on ramsinks like that wat kind of paste do you have to use? if you use Arcticsilver 5 or Arctic mx2 like i have they will fall off right? what is recommended for that type of bond?

[Brolloks]

dumb question..but for putting on ramsinks like that wat kind of paste do you have to use? if you use Arcticsilver 5 or Arctic mx2 like i have they will fall off right? what is recommended for that type of bond?


You use thermal tape that is similar to double sided tape but it has thermal conductive properties to help with heat transfer.

[Rickpatbrown]

I use a bit of superglue in the corner of the sink with AS5 in the middle. Use a toothpick to apply. Haven't had one fall off . . . yet.

Thermal tape probably sounds like a better idea, but the superglue and AS5 seems to work well.

You can use thermal paste, but you won't be able to remove the heatsinks for another card. Thermal paste is kind of like epoxy and the bond will be permanent.

[vixro]

I use a bit of superglue in the corner of the sink with AS5 in the middle. Use a toothpick to apply. Haven't had one fall off . . . yet.

Thermal tape probably sounds like a better idea, but the superglue and AS5 seems to work well.

You can use thermal paste, but you won't be able to remove the heatsinks for another card. Thermal paste is kind of like epoxy and the bond will be permanent.

Thermal tape is reversable, your method isn't. ;)

[MadMan007]

I have a roll of Sekisui thermal tape. The superglue method is used by lots of people too, I gather that the trick is to only use a very tiny bit in the corers and then removing it isn't hard, just rotate it to break the superglue bond.

[Brolloks]

Could I ask you guys to focus on the 4870 vs 4850 discussion, looks like this thread has become a modding and cooling one, thanks

[Badbonji]

Brollocks are you going to do any CF benchmarks with two 4870? I want to see how they compare with the gtx280... 3 in CF is worse than 2 I hear however...

[Brolloks]

Brollocks are you going to do any CF benchmarks with two 4870? I want to see how they compare with the gtx280... 3 in CF is worse than 2 I hear however...

Yes, I plan to get another 4870 today or tomorrow

[jason4207]

By cheap I mean really cheap, like the ones that come with the Accelero S1:

Not as sexy as say Enzotechs but I figure they'd get the job done on Ram? considering that some manufacturers don't even put on Ramsinks. Then I just need to hack up an old heatsink for vreg area sinks and I'll have a 120mm Scythe fan mounted on the S1.

We need to start a separate thread for voltmods :)

Sorry for OT, but yes, those should work fine.

BINGO!

I wonder how much of that can be made up by OCing the GDDR3 RAM more or increasing PCIe freq?

4850's in x-fire FTW!

:beer:

Back on topic...Brollocks can you run some tests w/ the memory OC'd as high as it will go on the 4850? I would like to see if the differences b/n the 2 cards can be diminished w/ a little extra bandwidth.

:beer:

[Brolloks]

Back on topic...Brollocks can you run some tests w/ the memory OC'd as high as it will go on the 4850? I would like to see if the differences b/n the 2 cards can be diminished w/ a little extra bandwidth.

:beer:

The 4850 can go up to 700/1140, I will clock both to 700/1100 as CCC limits the 4870 memory only to go to 1100

[MadMan007]

Could I ask you guys to focus on the 4870 vs 4850 discussion, looks like this thread has become a modding and cooling one, thanks

Heh sorry, just waiting for the first post to be edited with results :) Tbh there isn't much else for anyone else to discuss, even once there are results it will be like 'Uh, these are the numbers' sorry for going all OT though.

[anothermbdusted]

i think what jason4207 meant is to OC the 4850 as high as it will go and leave the 4870 stock if i am understanding it correctly.

[jason4207]

i think what jason4207 meant is to OC the 4850 as high as it will go and leave the 4870 stock if i am understanding it correctly.

No, I meant to OC the RAM on the 4850 as high as it will go, and have the cards cores' clocked the same. I'd like to see if the bandwidth advantage that the 4870 has can be diminished. I know the 4870 has plenty of bandwidth to spare, but if the bandwidth bottleneck on the 4850 can be eased w/ a simple OC then the 4870 becomes even less attractive from a price;performance stand point.

[anothermbdusted]

ah ok sorry about that i get what you mean now

[Brolloks]

Vantage P and X runs clocked to the max as allowed by CCC, as requested by Jason :)

[anothermbdusted]

wow that 4870 shines pretty well with the gddr5 mem dont it

[prime81]

I just picked up an HIS HD4870...

I anticipate Crossfiring it with either another 4870 or 4850.

From a performance perspective Brolloks, do you think the 4870x2 will fall into the same category as the 3870x2. And by this I mean that you can currently buy 2 3870s and CF them and have better performance than one 3870x2.

[vixro]

prime, the idea is no, but it's impossible to tell yet. Supposedly they changed the bridge and changed the techniques so the performance should actually be BETTER than (2) 4870's. That's the idea anyway...


That's also if they keep the ddr5 on it. Remember the 3870x2 uses DDR3 and a pci-e 1.0 bridge, yet the 3870 single card uses DDR4 and a pci-e 2.0 bridge if the motherboard supported it.

[Brolloks]

I just picked up an HIS HD4870...

I anticipate Crossfiring it with either another 4870 or 4850.

From a performance perspective Brolloks, do you think the 4870x2 will fall into the same category as the 3870x2. And by this I mean that you can currently buy 2 3870s and CF them and have better performance than one 3870x2.

From what I read the 4870X2 will be in a class of it's own and will actually outperform the 4870 x-fire setup, the 3870X2 had it's issues, mainly driver related.

I'll give HD 4870 + 4850 a go tonight in x-fire and see how it behaves. Later this week I'll compare the 4870 x-fire and 4850 x-fire to see how it does on a P45 board.

[prime81]

Kewl beans

[vixro]

From what I read the 4870X2 will be in a class of it's own and will actually outperform the 4870 x-fire setup, the 3870X2 had it's issues, mainly driver related.

I'll give HD 4870 + 4850 a go tonight in x-fire and see how it behaves. Later this week I'll compare the 4870 x-fire and 4850 x-fire to see how it does on a P45 board.

Thanks for doing the tests I wish I had money to do myself. Makes it a lot easier to make the best decision.


You wouldn't happen to have Team Fortress 2 would you? I'm curious to know how well the cards can play (4850, 4850 crossfire, 4870, 4870 crossfire) with 8xAA, 16xAF, HDR enabled, 1680x1050, everything on high or very high when allowed, with water relfections, on a 32 or higher player server. While I realize this is a very... subjective test since it's multiplayer and might be harder to find a full server... if I record you a demo, will you use the settings and maybe fraps the average out of the demo? (if you have the game)



Haha, you can say no as this is a bit technical and whatnot, but I am extremely curious as to how it can run. The 8800 Ultra I had could run this smooth (40-80fps), but the 3870 struggled a bit with the AA and I had to get rid of it and kill the water reflections. I am excited to find out if the 4870 can run the same settings and perhaps even higher fps with the AA. I am a visual quality freak and jaggies, shimmering, textures that disappear or reappear too early, fences that don't have perfect lines, all bother me. So I tend to have everything absolutely maxed with AAA/supersampling and all that jazz enabled whenever I can.

[jason4207]

Vantage P and X runs clocked to the max as allowed by CCC, as requested by Jason :)

Thanks!

Are you still planning on doing the 4850-700/1140 vs. 4870-700/900 vs. 4870-700/1100 in Vantage X and P?

i think that will tell us the most about the bandwidth on these cards.


:beer:

[Brolloks]

Thanks!

Are you still planning on doing the 4850-700/1140 vs. 4870-700/900 vs. 4870-700/1100 in Vantage X and P?

i think that will tell us the most about the bandwidth on these cards.


:beer:

Yes, I've experienced a very interesting thing earlier, I ran the 8800GTS last night and uninstalled the nVidia drivers when I got home. So I slapped the 4870 and the primary PCIe slot and the 4850 in the secondary one, booted up and there Vista recognized both cards without any Radeon drivers installed and automatically enabled x-fire across the 2 cards, GPUz showed Crossfire enabled and all. I ran 3DMAR06 without and issue, my CPU was at 3 Ghz though as I had some RAM problems earlier and I reset the Bios

Has anybody come across Vista being so clever that it has built in GPU drivers??

Anyway, I installed the proper drivers as I wanted to play with x-fire OC and I'm running now the 4870/4850 hybrid x-fire benching Vantage.

@Vixro, I have TF2 and can do a sample run if you tell me which course to run, will not be in the next couple of days though as I have a ton of benchies to run...heck, I still need to explore my new P45, I'm only running a simple 4GHz OC on it, lol

[MadMan007]

Thanks for doing the tests I wish I had money to do myself. Makes it a lot easier to make the best decision.


You wouldn't happen to have Team Fortress 2 would you? I'm curious to know how well the cards can play (4850, 4850 crossfire, 4870, 4870 crossfire) with 8xAA, 16xAF, HDR enabled, 1680x1050, everything on high or very high when allowed, with water relfections, on a 32 or higher player server. While I realize this is a very... subjective test since it's multiplayer and might be harder to find a full server... if I record you a demo, will you use the settings and maybe fraps the average out of the demo? (if you have the game)



Haha, you can say no as this is a bit technical and whatnot, but I am extremely curious as to how it can run. The 8800 Ultra I had could run this smooth (40-80fps), but the 3870 struggled a bit with the AA and I had to get rid of it and kill the water reflections. I am excited to find out if the 4870 can run the same settings and perhaps even higher fps with the AA. I am a visual quality freak and jaggies, shimmering, textures that disappear or reappear too early, fences that don't have perfect lines, all bother me. So I tend to have everything absolutely maxed with AAA/supersampling and all that jazz enabled whenever I can.

I'm going to have to call this one at 99% certainty, if an 8800 Ultra ran it fine then a 4870 should, the only catch being if the lesser amount of Vram amount is a bottleneck. However seeing how the 4870 scales with resolution very well up to 2560x1600 in tests it likely wouldn't be a problem.

[flopper]

Has anybody come across Vista being so clever that it has built in GPU drivers??



its called Bill Gates.
He foresee the future needs before you know it:beer:

[Brolloks]

Interesting results, looks like the DDR5 does make a bit of difference

4870 : 700/900

4850: 700/1110

[thideras]

Can you try that on high/extreme please?

[Brolloks]

Can you try that on high/extreme please?

For some reason I cannot run H on Vantage, drivers has a problem with screen resolution

Anyways, here is the summary of X and P runs, clearly the DDR5 does give the 4870 the edge. About 6 % on P and 7 % at X runs.

[thideras]

Hmm, still not that much better than the *50 :-/

Thanks ;)

[Brolloks]

Hmm, still not that much better than the *50 :-/

Thanks ;)

Yep, certainly not $100 better ;)

[deathman20]

Man sooo tempted to order the 4850's right now. At least 1 online and probably can get the other instore for a decent price. Then its just getting a new mobo next :)

Is mixing brands recommened or no?

Bah NM found a deal on the Powercolors.... 2x for $185 - $25 MIR for 160 per card :)

[prime81]

The other thing to realize is thats just vantage, the 4870 from the reviews is posting major differences in games.

[chrome-187]

Yep, certainly not $100 better ;)

i dunno..when i look at benchmarks for games the 4870 wins by 15-35 fps in games...IMO thats where it really counts..and thats at high res...im sure its even higher @ 1280x1024

[vixro]

Hmm, still not that much better than the *50 :-/

Thanks ;)

Not much better? The 4870 is running at 200mhz less on the ram and still outperforming the 4850.

[jason4207]

The other thing to realize is thats just vantage, the 4870 from the reviews is posting major differences in games.

Yeah, but are they running the 2 cards at equal core clocks in those reviews?

i dunno..when i look at benchmarks for games the 4870 wins by 15-35 fps in games...IMO thats where it really counts..and thats at high res...im sure its even higher @ 1280x1024

Same...

Not much better? The 4870 is running at 200mhz less on the ram and still outperforming the 4850.

200Mhz less? The effective speed is 4x on the 4870 whereas it's only 2x on the 4850. 900MHz on the 4870 is effectively GDDR5-3600, and 1100MHz on the 4850 is effectively GDDR3-2200. I'd say the 4870 memory can move data a bit faster at the given speeds.



The 4870 is just not worth $100-150 dollars more. You can get 2 4850's for ~$300 AR's...much better deal for a lot of people.

[vixro]

The 4870 is just not worth $100-150 dollars more. You can get 2 4850's for ~$300 AR's...much better deal for a lot of people.


I agree with you here ONLY if 2 things are present.


1) You can crossfire.

2) You get good deals on both 4850's.

If you match both of those categories, then yea, 2x4850's is a better choice when its essentially the same price. But you can also get 4870's for $270 after rebates. So for people like me, who have SLI boards or single slot, then a 4870 or 4870X2 makes more sense.


The thing is, we still haven't seen the potential of either card in terms of overclocking. While they run great at stock and with the minor CCC overclock, I am still excited to see what these cards can REALLY do. Especially when I'm hearing the 4870 can do 950 or over 1ghz on the core with the right cooling. The performance increase has to be HUGE.

[prime81]

After running my 4870 in CoD4 online for a while, it's VERY clear this card is stout. I'm running better framerates and smoother gameplay than my 3870x2 ever thought about.

[rainless]

Is one card louder than the other? How loud are they compared to an 8800?

[prime81]

Mine is very quiet, but then again I haven't ramped the fan speed up yet to cool it down.

[vixro]

If the fan on the 4870 is similar to the 3870 or the 2900XT (which it looks like it is), then you can assume that anything over 50% is going to be very noticable. While it does a great job of cooling, if you have a quiet computer the GPU fan will stand out for sure. If you have a loud computer, it will still stand out a bit you just won't care as much.

This was one of the reasons I got a duorb for my 3870. Fan is about as loud as the stock fan at 30%, yet mine is at 100% with under 50c load temp. You might need something beefier for a 4870, but if noise really is that important to you... you may want to factor in aftermarket cooling as your total cost.

[rainless]

If the fan on the 4870 is similar to the 3870 or the 2900XT (which it looks like it is), then you can assume that anything over 50% is going to be very noticable. While it does a great job of cooling, if you have a quiet computer the GPU fan will stand out for sure. If you have a loud computer, it will still stand out a bit you just won't care as much.

This was one of the reasons I got a duorb for my 3870. Fan is about as loud as the stock fan at 30%, yet mine is at 100% with under 50c load temp. You might need something beefier for a 4870, but if noise really is that important to you... you may want to factor in aftermarket cooling as your total cost.

Thanks. :beer:

[Jayws]

The other thing to realize is thats just vantage, the 4870 from the reviews is posting major differences in games.

True.... could we run some same clock comparisons on games or other marks like 3dmark06? DirectX 10 still isn't that widely used.

[jason4207]

I agree with you here ONLY if 2 things are present.


1) You can crossfire.

2) You get good deals on both 4850's.

If you match both of those categories, then yea, 2x4850's is a better choice when its essentially the same price. But you can also get 4870's for $270 after rebates. So for people like me, who have SLI boards or single slot, then a 4870 or 4870X2 makes more sense.


The thing is, we still haven't seen the potential of either card in terms of overclocking. While they run great at stock and with the minor CCC overclock, I am still excited to see what these cards can REALLY do. Especially when I'm hearing the 4870 can do 950 or over 1ghz on the core with the right cooling. The performance increase has to be HUGE.

I plan to try to get my 4850's up to ~900 as well. :sn:

But even just 1 4850 is enough for most people. Can't beat it for $150-60!

True.... could we run some same clock comparisons on games or other marks like 3dmark06? DirectX 10 still isn't that widely used.

fixed

Unless you run '06 w/ high rez/AA then I really don't think it's applicable. You also have to really look at the 3 individual scores to compare systems fairly.

Bring on the games though! I wouldn't mind seeing Crysis in DX9 and DX10 at the same clocks.

:beer:

[Ninth]

I'm getting one 4850. Why? I need encouragement to upgrade my mobo in a year or so, and grabbing one that I could cf on would be very nice. This being said, I'm going to try and tweak my 4850 to give the 70's a run for their money. Full wc, vmod, ect. This is going to be fun ^.~ And only 164$!

[vixro]

I think my next upgrade is going to be a faster processor. This one can do 3.6ghz but only when it's cold (and my room is never cold), so I'm stuck running it at 3.2. I think that's starting to be a limiting factor. :/

[MadMan007]

Only in benchmarks or lower resolution and no AA/AF. If that's your concern feel free to upgrade but I doubt it would hold you back in actual games unless you run at low resolution in which case, even if it is technically a bottleneck, the performance ought to be plenty good anyway.

[vixro]

Only in benchmarks or lower resolution and no AA/AF. If that's your concern feel free to upgrade but I doubt it would hold you back in actual games unless you run at low resolution in which case, even if it is technically a bottleneck, the performance ought to be plenty good anyway.

I notice even in older games that my CPU usage is at 100% while I'm playing @ 3.2ghz. Running a dual core system I get upwards of 75-85% on both cores in CS:S, so I know I'm not limited there. But TF2 doesn't really fully support multicore, so I have about 15-25% usage on core 2, but 100% the entire game on the first core.


Also, guild wars is somewhat the same way. Anywhere from 75-85% usage on 2 cores (as it is definitely multicore usable) and 100fps, or if I set it to one core when I'm doing more than a few things at once, like playing 2 games, then it's hitting 100% on the core I set it to and never dropping (though the frames are still 65-85).



I want to never have any kind of bottleneck and right now 3.2ghz dual core is bottlenecking my 3870 @ 1680x1050 and quality settings turned up. I would hate to see what kind of bottleneck happens with a 4850 or 4870 when I'm still not getting the max performance out of my 3870 as it is. I'm going to need a quad, and a fast one at that for my games that don't support multicores. That way I can get high frames in multicored games, high frames in single core games, and high frames when I'm playing multiple games at once. I really hate bottlenecks.

[Dak9767]

This has me actually thinking about going to crossfire for my benching rig that I'm going to build.

[deathman20]

This has me actually thinking about going to crossfire for my benching rig that I'm going to build.

Pulled the gun on mine with dual 4850's and the DFI LP LT X-38 T2R board myself.

[gibletzor]

:bang head Why did I choose this time to move out of the house and start paying rent on an apartment?! Gah! This makes me want to get rid of my 3870 and replace it with a 4870 or CF4850 so bad, but I won't have any money for PC upgrades for quite a while... :(

[aldamon]

The 4870 is just not worth $100-150 dollars more.

That's the conclusion I've come to as well. My HD 4850 is at 840/1100 (with ~1.38V and a Sytrin VF1 Plus) and was $150AR. That should be plenty of power for 1600x1200 for the rest of the year at least.

[Neuromancer]

My HIS arrived today (4850) :) :) :)

Must force myself to not install it before I do the heatpipe mod on my ip35 pro to see if that why my OCs are droppin....

[SynGamer]

I still can't believe they didn't bundle Mass Effect with the cards considering the game is plastered all over the box and marketing images :(

[clinker42]

Ok help me guys

In Australia a 4850 costs $230 and a 4870 costs $340. I have a Ramapge formula board with X16 pcie slots.

Do i buy 2 ATI 4850 cards and xfire them or do I buy one 4870 now and buy another one next pay and them XFIRE THE 4870. $460 for two 4850 and $680 for two 4870.

Trev

[Parad0x420]

Ok help me guys

In Australia a 4850 costs $230 and a 4870 costs $340. I have a Ramapge formula board with X16 pcie slots.

Do i buy 2 ATI 4850 cards and xfire them or do I buy one 4870 now and buy another one next pay and them XFIRE THE 4870. $460 for two 4850 and $680 for two 4870.

Trev

the most cost effective method would be 2 4850s in CF or 1 4870.. the 4870x2 release is around less than a few months away, and there might even be 1gb versions of the 4870 on their way out shortly.. but if you do want 2 cards.. save the extra $$ and get a pair of 4850s

[Sndm3mny]

4870x2 better be impressive.....since the 4870 is almost on the same boat as the 3870x2....i guess ill just have to sit here and wait....anyway im getting some serious frames in Starcraft Broodwar with the 3870x2 =D i ment to say COD-4 .....lol


you guys think the 3870x2 should hold me off till the end of this year? @ least? lolllll

[petteyg359]

ROFLMAO @ CF Starcraft... My second 4850 is on the way. I'm seriously considering going back to a Phenom setup so I can add a 4870x2 when they're released...

[clinker42]

So how much better do you guys think this 4870 x 2 WILL BE COMPARED TOO 4870. What do you think the price will be when they come out.

Trev

[Codeman05]

4870x2 better be impressive.....since the 4870 is almost on the same boat as the 3870x2....i guess ill just have to sit here and wait....anyway im getting some serious frames in Starcraft Broodwar with the 3870x2 =D i ment to say COD-4 .....lol


you guys think the 3870x2 should hold me off till the end of this year? @ least? lolllll

lmao, funny, I just dusted off BW last week and have been playing that quite a bit lately...SLI allows me to predict the movements of the enemy before they do it :D

pretty tempted by the 4850 CF for my rig, but I think I'm going to wait for the 4870x2 info...as much as I hate to wait for anything :bang head

[deathman20]

Well 2x 4850's are great. Mind you, you will need your CPU clocked to at least 3.6-4Ghz to get the full benifit of the cards. These definatly like CPU power, and even at 3.0Ghz on CPU boosting it to 3.6Ghz.. I saw a huge improvement in performance from the cards.