Best offers
|
GeForce GTX 295 Video Card (1.75GB,... | $549.99 Dell Home More info |
|
GeForce GTX 260 Video Card (896MB,... | $214.99 Newegg.com More info |
|
GeForce 9800 GTX Video Card (512MB,... | $109.99 Best Buy More info |
|
Radeon HD 5770 Video Card (1GB,... | $179.99 Newegg.com More info |
|
Radeon HD 4890 Cyclone OC Video Card... | $209.99 Directron More info |
Partners
The Games selection
crazy :
PC Breakdown
What is worst than a Fatal Error occuring during a game you did not save? Unleash your rage at your PC in this game. Blow it to pieces, it feels so...
|
kids :
Bob
Throw bubbles so as to make the ones that appear in the game disappear. For this, use the Right / Left arrow keys to duck or move about, and the...
|
Sponsored links
- Email |
- Print |
- Comments (138) |
- Share
Like the Radeon HD 3870, but unlike the Radeon HD 4850, the Radeon HD 4870 is a double-slot card. That should enable it to contain the heat produced by the RV770 more easily, or at least vent all of it out of the computer case. But the resemblance stops there. The HD 4870 requires not one but two six-pin PCI Express connectors, and its length has been increased slightly – to 9.5" (24.1 cm) compared to 9" (22.8 cm) for the Radeon HD 3870 and 10.5" (26.7 cm) for the GeForce GTX 260. Also, its fan is not the Arctic Cooling model made up of straight blades, but a return to the more traditional multi-fin type.
We used the Sapphire model of the card to run these tests. The box includes a 2-GB standard USB key in the brand’s colors, PowerDVD 7 OEM with six channels, Cyberlink DVD Suite 5 and the full version of 3DMark06. The USB key is a plus, but it would have been nice to throw in a game, given the segment this card is aimed at.
The Test The setup for this round of tests was the same as for our article on the Radeon HD 4850.
Test Configuration:
- Asus P5E3 Deluxe (Intel X38)
- Intel Core 2 Quad QX6850 (3 GHz)
- Crucial 2 x 1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz 7-7-7-20
- Western Digital WD5000AAKS
- Asus 12x DVD drive
- Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W
- Windows XP, Vista, Vista SP1
- ForceWare 177.39 beta (9800 GTX +)
- ForceWare 177.34 beta (GTX 260 and 280)
- ForceWare 175.16 WHQL (9800 GTX, 9800 GX2, 8800 Ultra)
- Catalyst 8.7 beta (HD 4850, HD 4870)
- Catalyst 8.6 WHQL (HD 3870)
- Catalyst 8.5 WHQL (HD 3870 X2)
- Looking for replacement for Radeon HD 4870 x2 card [Graphic & Displays]
- Radeon HD 4870 1GB Fan Speed Control Problem [Overclocking]
- Visiontek Radeon HD 4870 Crash [Graphic & Displays]
- Radeon HD 4870 In-Game Problems (OC'd) [Overclocking]
- Connecting an ati radeon hd 4870 [Graphic & Displays]
Questions? Ask Tom's community!
- 1 / 7
- Next
-
Sponsored links
Related forums topics
- PC Crash when gaming
- AMD Phenom II 940 "Xtremely" Benchmarked
- AMD phenom 9550 and ATI 4870
- AMD or Intel
- Would it be bad (amd)
- How do you decide on case for hdt s1283?
- OCing a 125w 9950 w/ ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe HELP!
- Best Motherboard for E8500
- What is the best way to overclock the Q9650?
- Can anyone help an OCing newbie?
- GA-EP45-UD3R Chipset Installation Question
- GA-EP45-U3DR onboard sound drop outs etc...
- Maximus II Formula INIT ROM and DET DRAM Issues
- Good cheap psu for ga ep45 ud3p new build unit
finally ATI is getting some love
I have the 4950 and it is great
nice review..I wonder why the 4850 can not render race driver : GRID
for the pure gamer at heart, the 4870 seems to be a steal.
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
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 could
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.
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.
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).
The real key is what all the prices on these cards are when Nehalem is released.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
.
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 opinion
I want either a 48701GB or a 4870X2. I have a 2900Pro 1GB and going to 512MB would not work for me. Plus I wounder if at much higher resolutions if another 512MB would help.
Gawd, I can't wait to get my mits on one of these. I should prolly get my order in now...
I wonder where they tested these cards? My 4850 runs between 52C idle and usually never above 65C while under load. I just use ASUS SmartDoctor which allows you to control the fan speed. Before using smartdoctor the fan speed never changed and it did run at 80C under load.
WTF is going on with those locked minimum clock speeds? I'm already pissed off by HD 3870 running at 300/1126 in XP, what a waste of power! Why don't they offer the possibility to manually (in control panel) underclock the card all the way down to 150-200/300-400 MHz is beyond me.
Finally AM/ATI's on the field. Glad to see the card is performing well esp. given the price. Now all ATI has to do optimize the drivers. Congrats to Toms on a good article written in a while.
Would be interesting if they actually tested these cards on an AMD Platform. Why do that always test AMD parts seperately?
WTF is going on with those locked minimum clock speeds? I'm already pissed off by HD 3870 running at 300/1126 in XP, what a waste of power! Why don't they offer the possibility to manually (in control panel) underclock the card all the way down to 150-200/300-400 MHz is beyond me.
This is because just like underclocking a CPU there is a minimum frequency and a minimum voltage that is needed. Also these are gaming class GPUs aimed at raw power(= more power use + heat)and not really to be energy efficient. Although energy efficiency (usually goes hand in hand with heat output) counts to a certain extent when OCing and higher clock speeds these negatives of lower energy efficiency can be overcome through better HSFs/smaller manufacturing process etc.
Would be interesting if they actually tested these cards on an AMD Platform. Why do that always test AMD parts seperately?
Because the Phenom's aren't very good!
From what Ive heard, the 150 clock is one of the gen clocks on a few of the bios, just not implemented yet. Give it time
Yes, the idle clocks aren't going nearly low enough with the current BIOSs. I've actually seen a BIOS floating around that had the right idle clocks (160/500MHz I think). Hopefully this will be corrected soon.
On a separate note, what's up with RV770 and UE3? I hadn't realized until now that the GeForce cards really pull ahead in those tests. With any other engine it wouldn't be that big a deal, but UE3 is kind of important.