ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 is out today

Post by **Downtown1** » 12 Aug 2008, 07:59

For those of you who been living under a rock, AMD released the Radeon HD 4870 a few weeks ago which for ~$300 had as good performance as a $649 GTX 280. Today they released the X2 version of that card which we those of us without CF boards can buy (and its cheaper too).

Those of us with CF boards can buy two of these for quad crossfire (a few reviews did this and the performance gain wasn't very good.. but it might be different for 3x1680x1050).

(Some reviews)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_4870_X2/1.html
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/9225-palit-radeon-hd-4870-x2-2gb-video-card-review.html
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1541/sapphire_radeon_hd_4870_x2_in_crossfirex/index.html
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=605&type=expert
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=607

I am buying one of these asap (can't find any stores that are selling it yet). As you can see my current specs are 2x8800GTS 640MB, and from my research this X2 should be about 50-100% better than my current two cards (I have a Th2Go so I game at 3840x1024).

Anyone who has bought GTX 280 SLI recently, you guys should really bust out the RMAs and return them :).

Whoever buys the first 4870 X2 CrossfireX (quad cf), please post some benchmarks are 3x1680x1050.

BlackHat · Post by **BlackHat** » 12 Aug 2008, 09:23

Hi... here in Holland these cards (280 and 4870x2) are at the same price. And after reading some reviews i dont get really exited :S the performance of 4870x2 is the best (yet). Its because i has crossfire build in, not every game will support that.

I think for now (until the better drivers) it is wise to go for 2x 4870 for the same price as a 4870x2.

Just my 0.02$

skeeder · Post by **skeeder** » 12 Aug 2008, 15:50

not really. They aren't the same price here...it would be an extra $100 to get CF of 4870's.

BlackHat · Post by **BlackHat** » 12 Aug 2008, 15:55

Oh ok... thats to bad.

Here in the Netherlands the 4870x2 cost about 420/430 euro. And the 4870 cost about 195 euro.

I am wandering about 4850x2... the say it is conna be $100 cheaper then the 4870x2. Chips are the same but the memory is gonna be GDDR3 instead of GDDR5.

packerfan · Post by **packerfan** » 12 Aug 2008, 16:28

Yea it seems like overseas price ratios always change, so one persons best deal is different in another country. If it is in board crossfire, you are probably better off buying it if you dont have crossfire mobo as that is an additional charge.

Looking at some of the performance results, some of those are probably caused by new technology and drivers which havent perfected support as of yet.

Post by **Downtown1** » 12 Aug 2008, 18:27

Hi... here in Holland these cards (280 and 4870x2) are at the same price. And after reading some reviews i dont get really exited :S the performance of 4870x2 is the best (yet). Its because i has crossfire build in, not every game will support that.

I think for now (until the better drivers) it is wise to go for 2x 4870 for the same price as a 4870x2.

Just my 0.02$

Hmm, really? In US the 280 costs much cheaper than the 4870 X2. So it sounds like you would have a good deal by buying the 4870 X2, though looking at your specs you would only really need one 4870.

BlackHat · Post by **BlackHat** » 12 Aug 2008, 22:25

I allready bought an HD4870... just today...

skeeder · Post by **skeeder** » 13 Aug 2008, 01:19

to replace a 2900... Hmm...

Should be a good bump.

Post by **Downtown1** » 13 Aug 2008, 04:49

By the way, newegg has been restocking the Sapphire HD 4870 X2 a few times today, so if you checked it earlier and it was out-of-stock, chances are it may not be.

I got my copy myself from mwave.com since it was the only place that had it in stock in the early morning (and I'm surprised newegg restocked within the day? maybe they're just preordering at this point).

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 13 Aug 2008, 05:39

Wait, I thought ATI cards couldn't go past 3x1440x900?

Am I wrong? It would be nice if am, since this card looks pretty sweet.

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 13 Aug 2008, 17:31

For the first time in ten years of assembling my own PCs (my first vidcard was a Rage Pro 128, quickly paired with a Voodoo 2), and though I just bought a pair of GTX 280s (the first one at the insane release price...), I consider buying an Ati card...

The main reason : unreal performance w/ free filtering at the highest res's, especially in all those Xbox360 ports we're forced to deal with.
(Games like Overlord, Assassin's Creed, DiRT that tend to crawl at 3840x1024, even though a GTX280 SLI gives a nice, noticeable boost over a single card.)

The main drawback : these cards seem to run HOT (really, dangerously hot) and be noisy as hell.
(Performance is one thing, but I use my PC to play several hours every single day or so, and I take noise/heat/stability very seriously.)

As a long-time SLIer, I'm not fond of multi-GPU cards either.

That 4850 X2 with DDR3 might be just what I need, if it produces less heat while maintaining the same kind of performance as the 4870 version.
Too bad there ain't many "2 GPUs vs. 2 GPUs" reviews, so that I can get a clear comparison between my GTX 280 SLI and a single 4870 GX2 !

Post by **Tamlin** » 13 Aug 2008, 20:52

Good news for you then. Get a Sapphire version of this card: :)

#

Cools better than the GTX-280
#

Noise is on par with the GTX-280

link

AnandTech had a review which included a 280 sli:

link

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 14 Aug 2008, 11:52

Uh, I don't know what to think, this german review says a single 4870 X2 is on par with a 260 SLI... So a 280 SLI should be noticeably up ahead :?

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2008/test_ati_radeon_hd_4870_x2/23/#abschnitt_performancerating

Post by **Tamlin** » 14 Aug 2008, 15:59

Probably somewhere inbetween single 280 and sli. :)
It did beat SLI in some reviews and in some games though. For most people, I believe that the 4780X2 is a single card solution and people don't care about chip count so much. How the cards perform matters to most, not how they get there. There are differences in the architecture between the 280 and the X2 besides how many GPU's there are. Streaming processors, memory bus etc. All the different things contributes to the cards performance and its kinda pointless to argue the amount of chips due to this. The X2 performs better at higher resolution not only due to several GPU's, but also because it has more texture memory and uses streaming processors for some AA filters where needed etc. The GPU's are only a part of the cards architecture.

Upgrading from SLI 280 to a single 4780X2 wouldn't be a major upgrade IMO. If I were you and were looking for an upgrade in this class, I would consider swapping a dual card solution with a dual card solution, not by GPU count. :)

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 14 Aug 2008, 18:00

But what about supporting triplehead? This card seems to pull ahead in the high resolutions and triplehead is certainly that. My interest is definitely piqued, especially since I have a CF board.

Post by **Tamlin** » 14 Aug 2008, 18:52

It supports triplehead, but only 3840x1024 with crossfire(without is pointless on this card):

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/compatibility/resolutions/

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 15 Aug 2008, 16:14

Again, this card won't work with my DFI board.

I am really tempted to replace that board outright, as it's flaming ridiculous that a high-end mobo doesn't work with a high-end GPU. :x

I know there is a beta BIOS that supposedly fixes the issue - reports of it's success are mixed, however.

BlackHat · Post by **BlackHat** » 15 Aug 2008, 16:24

There are so many board that dont work with the Highend GPU's. In my live of gaming hardware i have broken about 8 motherboards just because of an highend gpu. But youre motherboard is a really highend... and that just s*cks. Buy a GigaByte board... best supporting boards there are! ;)

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 15 Aug 2008, 16:38

I'd rather not have a mobo that makes my eyes want to bleed when I'm working on it. :lol:

I might end up swapping my X48 into my HTPC and sticking the Asus Maximus Formula in my gaming rig. That, amazingly, has no issues with the X2 cards.

But frankly, right now I don't have the time or the inclination to take two of my systems down at the same time.

[email protected] · Post by **[email protected]** » 15 Aug 2008, 19:33

What DFI mobo is that? Is there a way to tell what mobos do and don't work? I may be building a rig with a 4870 X2 for a friend.

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