4850 1GB beats 4870 Crysis, Guru3D Review

[Nomadsoul]

Oh yeah, you probably want to hear about how it performs, right?



It's funny to see that Crysis is framebuffer limited, with 1 GB memory it performing better than the 4870 with 512MB until you hit GPU limitation in the highest resolutions.

Radeon HD 4850 1GB review

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 1GB 169.99$ after 20$ MIR

[BlazingArrow]

hmmm...but the 4850 1GB still doesn't compare to the 4870 512MB in all other applications/games, right?

[Mad1723]

Damn, my HD4870 is crying right now

[Sparky]

hmmm...but the 4850 1GB still doesn't compare to the 4870 512MB in all other applications/games, right?

I would assume so.

[RaZz!]

every other review reports that 1gb has absolutely no benefits over 512mb on the 4850...

[jimmyz]

every other review reports that 1gb has absolutely no benefits over 512mb on the 4850...

This one is clocked at 700MHZ compared to the reference of 625 or the 4870 @ 750.

[jmke]

the clock speeds are the cause of the increased performance, not the 1gb, very confusing chart, misinformation galore

[TimPrice]

still 50mhz lower

but what we really want is a 1gb gddr5 4870

[Milos-stancene]

every other review reports that 1gb has absolutely no benefits over 512mb on the 4850...

1gb-Vram is the look at the future !!!

[Manicdan]

on page 2 of that review, they show in the comparison table, the 1gb 4850 has only 512mb of ram.

[v_rr]

still 50mhz lower

but what we really want is a 1gb gddr5 4870

Plenty of them. Just choose:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...70+1gb&x=0&y=0

[SKYMTL]

Some games at high resolutions benefit from the higher amount of memory but I have hardly ever seen a benefit at 1600 x 1200...especially in Crysis.

[ex2cib]

wonder if this has anything to do with it?

"Our test level - Crysis at medium image quality settings."

under the test level picture on the crysis page.

they shouldve tried high and very high also.

[SKYMTL]

wonder if this has anything to do with it?

"Our test level - Crysis at medium image quality settings."

under the test level picture on the crysis page.

In that case, the results make even less sense.

Higher settings = more textures = more video memory needed in Crysis.

Lower settings + higher GPU clockspeeds + higher memory speeds = better performance for the HD4870

None of this I see in that chart.

[@@@@]

A good comparison would be a 4850 1GB GDDR3 vs 4870 1GB GDDR5 at the same settings just to add another level of reference because the chart doesn't really add up

[nn_step]

wow, what a surprise a game that wastes graphics ram gets better performance on a card with more graphics ram

[gOJDO]

Oh yeah, you probably want to hear about how it performs, right?

4850 1GB vs 4870 512MB
------------------------
1280x1024: 2% faster
1600x1200: 4% faster
1920x1200: 4.5% faster
2560x1600: 12% slower
------------------------
average: 0.5%
average w/o 2560x1600: 3.5%

Although the 4850 is OC-ed it still has lower clocks, so we may assume that the larger frame buffer is playing a role here.

Anyway, the advantage is marginal. If we skip the highest resolution tested, 2560x1600, the 4850 1GB is only 3.5% faster. No human can notice such small performance difference.

It's funny to see that Crysis is frame buffer limited, with 1 GB memory it performing better than the 4870 with 512MB until you hit GPU limitation in the highest resolutions.

I agree. The 4870 with higher core clock and x2 faster memory can't beat it at resolutions equal or lower than 1920x1200.

At 2560x1600 the GPU becomes a bottle neck and the larger frame buffer on the 4850 has lower impact on the performance.

[Miwo]

Glad I didnt wait for 1GB and just went ahead with the 4850 512MB. Vmodded and kicking ass since Day1

[XS2K]

Err...has any of the people who say that Crysis is frame buffer limited really played Crysis?
I mean really the game has a sys_enable_budgetmonitoring or smth like this command which shows how much vmem it eats at any given time and it's nowhere near over 512mb at medium settings with no AA same goes for High settings.

[gOJDO]

Crysis DX10 (Vista): 4870 1GB vs 4870 512MB
With AA and AF turned off there is no advantage from the larger frame buffer, but take into account the higher clocks of the 4870 1GB(800/925MHz = +7% GPU and +3% video RAM) compared to the 4870 512MB(750/900MHz).

With 4xAA the performance difference in %, at 1600x1200 and higher resolutions, is greater than the difference in clocks (7%). At 1920x1440 the advantage in performance is +83.5%. Obviously this is due to the larger frame buffer. At higher resolutions the difference should be even bigger, but then the GPU becomes a major VGA bottleneck. At 2560x1600 the larger frame buffer has significantly lower impact on performance.

Since the highest supported resolution on my display is 1680x1050 I'm unable to see if Crysis DX10(with AA and AF enabled) @1920x1440 will utilize more than 512MB of video RAM.

[Frananta]

the more reason to buy 4870 1gb

[Bo_Fox]

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...684&cid=3&pg=6

Here, with AA enabled, the 1GB version almost DOUBLES the performance of a 4870 in Crysis!!! Yes, almost exactly TWICE the performance.

There are also huge performance improvements from 1GB of VRAM in Call of Juarez, especially in DX10 mode with AA.

512MB has been the norm for more than 2 years. To me personally, 512MB is a poor man's card nowadays. Like eating a Po-Boy Fish Sandwich instead of a Seafood Dinner.

[Stukov]

If you plan on buying a new card in a year or less or you game at higher resolution, buying a 512mb version is just fine. If you want to own your card for 1 to 2 years going 1GB is almost a must need, future games will take advantage of it.

But honestly, most people will replace their card yearly, and you aren't going to see a huge difference that makes the 512mb card obsolete. You would be better off getting one with a non-reference cooler so you can clock it higher. And if you really game at higher resolutions, spend the extra money and get a 4870 X2.

[Bo_Fox]

If you plan on buying a new card in a year or less or you game at higher resolution, buying a 512mb version is just fine. If you want to own your card for 1 to 2 years going 1GB is almost a must need, future games will take advantage of it.

But honestly, most people will replace their card yearly, and you aren't going to see a huge difference that makes the 512mb card obsolete. You would be better off getting one with a non-reference cooler so you can clock it higher. And if you really game at higher resolutions, spend the extra money and get a 4870 X2.

That's great for a poor man's perspective! I remember having a 128MB 9800Pro and then a 256MB version was released but the only reason for a 256MB card was playing UT2004 at 1920x1200 or Doom3 in Ultra Quality. Keep it up!

[dasa]

some games were made to use ~768m back around the time 8800gtx was released
if everyone bought 512m cards game makers would never make games that use more than 512m
thankfully ati\nvidia are finally starting to force 1g on us after that unfortunate hiccup where high end cards went from being 768m-1g back to being 512m
more texture memory means better textures and larger levels which are two things i really want to improve