ATI HD4670 512MB vs. x850xt 256mb

X700XT X800 X800Pro X800XL X800XT X850Pro X850XT X800XTPE X850XT PE
Architecture 8x1 12x1 12x1 16x1 16x1 12x1 16x1 16x1 16x1
Clockspeed 475 400 475 400 500 520 520 520 540
Memory Speed Ghz 1.05 0.7 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.08 1.08 1.12 1.18
Fillrate (Megapixels) 3800 4800 5700 6400 8000 6240 8320 8320 8640
Bandwidth (Gb/s) 16.8 22.4 28.8 32 32 34.6 34.6 35.8 37.8
Price $199 $249 $399 $350 $499 $399 $499 $499+ $549



The above chart is the specs. The prices were when those cards were new. Ive read the specs of cards such as the hd2400, hd2600, hd3450/70, hd3650/70, hd4350/70, hd4550/70, hd4650/70 in determining what would be a good midrange card to get soon. I would be interested in finding out how each of the above midrange card compares with each former high end card such as 9800pro/xt, x800/50 family, x1800 family and x1900/50 family. Can anyone find review sites benchmarking modern midrange cards vs. former high end cards? Is calculating clock speeds and memory bandwith enough to estimate performance? Can any midrange 128 bit card ever outperform a former high end 256 bit card? Why are 64 bit cards still made, would any today even touch a 256 bit 9800pro?

I agree the 4670 is a great card and in more recent, shader heavy games it will destroy any of the x800 line up.

Logic proof...

The hd3600xt is quicker than the 8600gt which was somewhat quicker than the 7600gt. The 7600gt was pretty much identical to the 6800ultra. The ultra was comparable to the x850xt which was the quickest of the x800 line up.

The hd4670 is a very big step up from the 3600xt. It really is the best value mid range card about.

Well, a 7300 GT is more comparable to a 9800 series card than an X800 series card, but anyway.

The Radeon 4670 uses it's bandwidth much more efficiently. It is so efficient that it often manages to beat out the Radeon 3850, which has the same number of execution units and almost twice the bandwidth with it's 256 bit bus. As far as calculation power the 4670 is close to 500GFlops, while the X800XT is more like 40Gflops. That's over 10 times the computational power. Even then it's not really a good comparison since the X800 series preforms 24bit precision operations and you're comparing that to the 32bit percision of latter Radeon Cards.

Aside from the over 10x increase in processing power, at a higher precision no less, you must also consider that the 4670 supports latter shader models and thus can provide higher levels of detail. The X800 series is limited to 2.0b, which only a few games support so we'll say SM 2.0 for practical purposes.

I went from a 7600gs on an MSI Nvidia 405 board with an Athlon X2 4600+ to the same CPU on an MSI 690V board and a 3870x2. While CPU limited, I saw great improvement between the generations. I also upgraded the memory from Kingston DDR2 667 to DDR2 800.

Now, it's even better with an 8750 and a 780G! Often, a midrange card will outperform a high end card two generations earlier. You can also find last generation cards for the same price as the 4670, but the later card is still better.

Though the 3850 is around the same price, I recommend the 4670 as the best mainstream upgrade today. The optimal choice, if your PSU can handle the amps on the 12 volt rails, is a 4850. That card is the best bang for your buck today.

Similarly, you can still find 3870x2's for around $188, but the 4850 is a better investment, unless you have a Crossfire board, an 850 watt PSU and really want to take a chance on CrossfireX maturing. Right now, Crossfire's great, but going to 4 GPU's not as much improvement as the investment warrants.

Here's Tom's GPU charts:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts [...] ks,30.html

You can compare generations by clicking on specific cards under any benchmark and then getting a comprehensive page covering all the benchmarks.

Cards are made at all price points and you can find last gen cards sold alongside current gen cards. Both Nvidia and ATI partners have inventories and last gen cards, while not as good overall, can still be worthwhile. I bought an 8400gs in a relative's Gateway because that's about what the power supply would take and it was a decent upgrade to the onboard Intel graphics. Older types of RAM cut costs at certain price points. It's always good to have a clear idea of what you'll be doing after the upgrade (i.e. gaming, video editing etc.) and then you can decide on what to buy based on benchmarks related to your needs.

The only Radeon 9800 Pro's with value nowadays would be an All in Wonder card bought used, but it would need to go in an AGP system. It would still work as an HTPC, though a PCI TV Wonder with a 780G motherboard and a 3450 in hybrid Crossfire would be much better. Still, there are uses for legacy parts and systems if you already have other components lying around.

I was wondering if this was a serious question. The X850xt is a few years old built on an old architecture on larger more inefficient process. The 4670 will completely dominate the x850xt.