ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 - R700 Preview: AMD's Fastest Single Card
by Derek Wilson on July 14, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Race Driver GRID Performance
This is by far the most interesting test we have numbers for today.
Here we see at 2560x1600, where all of our multi-GPU solutions struggled to get through the menus and into the game, our 4870 X2 shows a performance increase that illustrates good scaling. It is likely that the extra 512MB of RAM available to each GPU has significantly impacted perforamnce since we are testing with all the options cranked up and 4xAA. It may be possible that the R700 hardware offers tangible advantages over AMD's previous method of performing CrossFire, but we can't know if this could be the case with the memory difference being such a likely culprit here.
It does make sense, on a high end part, to target an audience that will be pushing memory limits as far as possible. While gamers who want a single 4870 might not want to run at 2560x1600, it really doens't make much sense right now to go with a hugely expensive card unless you want that kind of resolution. This does add an advantage for R700 over two card crossfire at the moment (which may or may not go away after the introduction of 1GB 4870 cards).
Beyond that, we do note that in addition to our other added game, GRID shows a clear advantage over GT200 for AMD's latest generation.
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Grantman - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
Very interesting to see the 8800gt sli outperforming the gtx 280 in two of the game tests. They can be had so cheap so I'm alwayes interested in info on them. Also pleased to see Oblivion as a test. The 4870x2 will has potential but as you said it really depends on the driver department. If ATI could come out with some solid reliable and fast drivers the 4870x2 should take off.JonnyDough - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
THANK YOU FOR INCLUDING OBLIVION! I think that this graphic heavy title does NOT get enough attention sometimes! Sure it's not as new, but it still doesn't run at high FPS with everything on high at a high resolution! Keep including it!B3an - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
Will there be a 2GB version of this card???Because i've no idea how Derek gets these frame rates at 2560x1600 with only 512MB usable VRAM. I guess once again they are using a special magical version that magically fits all those textures PLUS AA into 512MB @ 2560x1600 res.
From looking at dodgy charts like this before i got a 9800GX2 and that was a joke for this res, always running into the memory limit, where your'd then go into the realm of the slide show. It wasn't just me btw, every other owner of the GX2 with a 30" monitor i spoke to had this problem. As for GRID that wasn't even anywhere near playable with 2xAA, let alone 4 times @ 2560x1600 - again the memory limit. Yet anand and some other sites have these magical versions....
Alexstarfire - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
It's a 2x1GB card, what are you babbling on about?ViRGE - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
"Today's article is merely a preview as R700s won't be officially launched for at least another month, but AMD wanted to unveil a bit of what it's cooking."This is starting to drift back in to paper launch territory, which makes me uneasy. It strikes me that allowing early previews is just as much about sinking the GTX 280 as it is showcasing a new product, which leads to the same kind of problems that we've seen in the past with paper launchers. While I love AT's CPU previews, those are both several months in advance and are for a product with a longer shelf life; I'm not sure GPU previews are necessarily as fair.
I really don't want to see this becoming a habit, with companies previewing products early enough that it's always untenable to buy something because there's something better just around the corner (except that we don't know how far).
hooflung - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
Meh, Nvidia's been doing it to AMD for the past 18 months. Time for some payback.toonces - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
Like the 9800GTX+ preview done 3 weeks ago coinciding with AMD's 4850 launch?I don't really have a problem with previews like this as long as AnandTech and the manufacturer can guarantee the GPU/CPU/PSU/WhateverU will be released in reasonable quantity in a reasonable amount of time.
As long as AMD/NV can avoid another 7900GTX 512MB or X800XT PE paper launch debacle they should be given the benefit of the doubt, for now, IMHO.
ira176 - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
Wonder when AMD will design dual core gpu with on chip memory controller. That should help significantly shorten the card.n7 - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
The huge gain in GRID would be due to the extra vRAM, as it chokes with only 512 MB.I am having a hard time believing AT is the only review site to get a 2x512 MB version instead of 2x1 GB.
toyota - Monday, July 14, 2008 - link
I have seen 4 so far plus all the individuals that have personal cards now and they have ALL been 2gb models. like I said earlier ATI doesnt even have a 4870 X2 1gb model in their slides.