Radeon HD 4870: Better Than GTX 260!
Performance Recap
Here are the average scores for each card and each game. Cards that can’t render a game at a given resolution or with antialiasing are given a zero, which heavily handicaps all cards with 512 MB of memory or less at 2560*1600 + antialiasing (except for the Radeon HD 4870) and the Radeon HD 3870 X2, which can’t apply antialiasing in Mass Effect. Also note that the 4850 was at a disadvantage since our sample Asus card wasn’t able to render Race Driver: GRID, which raises the average scores for the other cards (especially over the Radeon HD 4800s).
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mpasternak for the pure gamer at heart, the 4870 seems to be a steal.Reply
however, what are the possibilities for a CUDA like processing environment or handling Physics engines? I think AMD has done a great job making a pure video card, but I believe the future will be with unified technologies of having the GPU assist in other tasks as well.
Time will Tell
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eltouristo Would REALLY help alot if there were charts with these new cards and some of the last gen (what's in the desktop charts now) that way I couldReply
see how much I could gain by upgrading. Maybe thats an update to the desktop charts that just hasnt been dont yet? Seems like it would have already been. -
lightfoot__ Under load, the heat sink did its job and the temperature didn’t rise all that much – at least not as much as the little Radeon HD 4850.Reply
The 4850 went up 6* and the 4870 went up 10*... I think the 4870 went up more, but you (Tom's) said it went up less. -
LOL you don't even have your drivers working properly if a 3870 and 3870x2 are matching each other in performance. Crossfire on the card isn't even working properly, check any bench of a 3870x2 vs 3870 in Call of Duty 4 (ATI preferred drivers).Reply
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oafed The real key is what all the prices on these cards are when Nehalem is released.Reply
LOTS of enthusiasts are planning a Nehalem build toward the end of the year. I image they will be getting 4850/4870s or GTX260/GTX280s. All depending on where the prices are I imagine. -
septagent eltouristoWould REALLY help alot if there were charts with these new cards and some of the last gen (what's in the desktop charts now) that way I couldsee how much I could gain by upgrading. Maybe thats an update to the desktop charts that just hasnt been dont yet? Seems like it would have already been.Reply
I agree about the charts. I don't consider buying a 4870 vs an older card like an x1950, but it sure would be nice to see how much it has improved over time.
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timaahhh Thank you ATI. Though I won't be buying your card cause I just bought an 8800 GT maybe this will force nVidia to drop there prices and give me a cheap step up :D.Reply -
eurodj I loved ati since the rage era, im so glad they are back in the game again, i might even consider trading in my 9800gtx sli for a 4850 crossfire down the line, maybe when i setup to ddr3. But for now best bang for the buck cards are the 9800gtx and the 4850 in my opinionReply
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