The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2

[Noctorus Legio]

Reviews and Benchmarks
PCGH - Test/Benchmark: Radeon HD 4870 X2 reviewed

A list of other sites that have given reviews to the HD 4870 X2
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Benchmarks! | circuitREMIX

These sites predict the cost of the HD 4870 X2 to be greater than $500 and maybe up to $630

Current price of a HD 4870 is: $285
Current price of a HD 4850 is: $175
Current price of a GTX 280 is: $450
Current price of a GTX 260 is: $285
Price Difference between HD 4870 and GTX 280 is: $165

Now review the stuff and make your conclusions. The first site I have given gives benchmarks for all these cards and compares them.

[Acyd]

Now i dont have a crossfire board. Evga 780i. Would i be able to use a 4870x2?

[zxzlenin]

Originally Posted by Acyd

Now i dont have a crossfire board. Evga 780i. Would i be able to use a 4870x2?

Yes you are able to use it on an nvidia 780i motherboard,but you will not be able to use another one if you plan to crossfire.(You could but thats with hacked drivers)

[Acyd]

Ah i wasnt sure, because its technically 2 cores, if it would of been considered crossfire or not. Im going to wait until its released and see if the 280's come down in price some more.

[zxzlenin]

True,since is a Dual GPU boad i dont if its cosidered Crossfire as a single 4870X2.But anyways GTX260 ia alright for every game and gtx280 is awsome but still too expensive.

[Noctorus Legio]

Originally Posted by zxzlenin

True,since is a Dual GPU boad i dont if its cosidered Crossfire as a single 4870X2.But anyways GTX260 ia alright for every game and gtx280 is awsome but still too expensive.

Unless you already have a GTX 260 it would not recommend as by benchmarks and pricing. The HD 4870 is same price but performance that is on par with the GTX 280

[Shade]

If it exceeds $500, then it fails :|

[Calindor]

I heard $410, Also afaik the chips arent hooked up via crossfire/sli like all other X2 cards, its supposed to be the first ever dual GPU card with integrated processors (IE they work as one, rather than 2 hooked up in crossfire). Its also supposed to be the first x2 card to not have microstuttering because of this, and also far greater performance. It already has some benchmarks in some games beating two GT280's hooked up in SLI...imagine that.

[Noctorus Legio]

Originally Posted by Shade

If it exceeds $500, then it fails :|

Is that true? The HD 4870 X2, based on the posted benchmarks, 40% more lead way on the GTX 280 on the 3D Mark Vantage. 40% more of $450 is $630. And I personal believe that ATI will not break $600 or near it, but thats just my opion that has no merit.

Also look at the benchmarks and those conducted by other sites. The HD 4870 X2 Shines when you boost up the AA. It does not shine on the basics that you get gains but more on the fact that you do not get panelized. If you look at the benchmark of games you will notice that the GTX 280 drops much more when you go to higher resolutions and enable AA where as the HD 4870 X2 does not drop as much on the Frames Per Second.

A Failure... are you sure?

[Bayoyonski]

I have been waiting for this card since the 4870 released, so i hope it cost less than 500bucks

[Calindor]

I find this benchmark interesting

2x4870 in CF > 2x 4850 in CF > 4870x2 > 2xGT280 in SLI up to 1920x1200 (actually the 4870x2 and 2x4850 swap places), then the 4870x2 really shines in even higher res that most people will never need.

[Noctorus Legio]

Do you have other gaming benchmarks showing a single HD4870 X2 beating a pair of GTX 280 SLi? Also remember the HD4870 X2 is only using beta drivers so on actual release we might see even higher performance.

[Calindor]

Theres a whole thread on anandtech about the benchmarks, afaik the only game where the GT280 SLI is beating the 4870x2 by a margin is Crysis.

[skimike]

Originally Posted by Calindor

I heard $410, Also afaik the chips arent hooked up via crossfire/sli like all other X2 cards, its supposed to be the first ever dual GPU card with integrated processors (IE they work as one, rather than 2 hooked up in crossfire). Its also supposed to be the first x2 card to not have microstuttering because of this, and also far greater performance. It already has some benchmarks in some games beating two GT280's hooked up in SLI...imagine that.

The GPUs still operate separately in the 4870 x2 although there is now some (as of yet unknown) amount of communication between the GPUs via a "Crossfire Sideport". Here's the architectural diagram (borrowed from anandtech's preview on the 4870 x2):



The GPU<->GPU communication will eliminate some of the decision making done by the drivers running on the CPU but they're not quite one cohesive unit just yet. The Crossfire Sideport is much like the SLI bridge that's used on the NVIDIA cards - two 4870s in Crossfire marginally beat one 4870 x2, according to the benchmarks I've seen.

[Calindor]

Yeah, but I've noticed at higher resolutions the 4870x2 does better because of that better communication.