Radeon HD 4890 2GB Coming

[onethreehill]

Sapphire readies Radeon HD 4890 2GB Vapor-X

Sapphire Technology is currently gearing up to introduce a new RV790 card, namely, a Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X with 2GB of onboard memory, which is double the amount found on the previously-released Vapor-X model. Other than the added memory, the new card isn't different from its slightly older relative and features a blue PCB, the dual-slot Vapor-X cooling solution, 800 Stream Processors, and factory overclocked frequencies - 870 MHz for the GPU and 4200 MHz for the GDDR5 memory.

The 2GB Radeon comes with D-Sub, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs and is available for pre-order around Europe for as low as 226 Euro.
http://www.tcmagazine.com/images/news/Hardware/Sapphire/Sapphire_Radeon_HD_4890_Vapor-X_01.jpg
http://www.tcmagazine.com/comments.php?shownews=27709&catid=2

[motox]

would be nice to crossfire with. otherwise pointless lol

[initialised]

About time, any performance figures out there yet?

[zalbard]

Sweet! :D

[clayton]

Not expecting much here unless you're playing RTS / SIMS 3 for a long period of time.

[Chickenfeed]

Purely marketing. You'll need to use crossfire and run at 2560x1600 with 4-8x AA to exceed 1gb vram usage in pratically anything out save for GTA4 and possibly a highly modded Crysis / Oblivion. I will say thats a pretty cool looking heatsink though.

I wouldn't mind seeing 2GB on the next gen cards but even those are likely to be 1GB GDDR5 reference.

[TheCarLessDriven]

Not expecting much here unless you're playing RTS / SIMS 3 for a long period of time.

Sims 3,huh? My Macbook Pro plays the Sims 3 maxed out with 4x AA.

[soundood]

now that could be the next 'my little friend'

[labs23]

Very attractive, 4890 + 2GB, at least on the specs. level for me.

[Chumbucket843]

id rather see that samsung 7gbit/s gddr5. that would be the real 4890

[ripken204]

4 video outputs?? can it actually use them all??

[damtachoa]

how come it's not 4890 x2?:down:

[RejZoR]

226 eur. Ha, i wish. It'll be like 300 eur here at my place :(

[LagunaX]

2gb for marketing.
Heatsink looks cool though...

[CraptacularOne]

zzz....waste of a perfectly good PCB. None of the 2GB cards on the market now, ATI or Nvidia are worth the money over the standard 1GB versions. We just haven't got to the point where we need that much VRAM for games.

[Smartidiot89]

Great card, now I am waiting for all fail reviews.

They'll get the card and test it "Oh shat it's not better then HD4890 1GB so lets type bad stuffs about it" - go figure, try out Crossfire and rewrite your review :shakes:

Hoping to see a real review with someone using this card in CF at ultra high resolutions.

[EagleRock]

Looks like a beast card :D

[570091D]

id rather see that samsung 7gbit/s gddr5. that would be the real 4890

+1 :up:

[Final8ty]

zzz....waste of a perfectly good PCB. None of the 2GB cards on the market now, ATI or Nvidia are worth the money over the standard 1GB versions. We just haven't got to the point where we need that much VRAM for games.

At 2560x1600, 1GB can be exceeded already.
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=737

[spicypixel]

Looks like a beast of a card to use with Autodesk Mudbox... It chews VRAM like a fatman at a buffet.

[Hornet331]

At 2560x1600, 1GB can be exceeded already.
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=737

yeah gta4 is one of them, but only if you set viewdistance to 100.

I have nothing against more memory, but on the same time it clocks worse, which isn't that cool.

Anyway, im waiting for the new gen, and theres a high chance that i jump onto a 2gb version. :p:

[Final8ty]

yeah gta4 is one of them, but only if you set viewdistance to 100.

I have nothing against more memory, but on the same time it clocks worse, which isn't that cool.

Anyway, im waiting for the new gen, and theres a high chance that i jump onto a 2gb version. :p:

That review showed the benefit of 2GB Vram in more than just GTA4 at 2560x1600.

Unlike motherboards we cant upgrade the Vram when we need too so we better have more than enough in the first place.

I want the useful life of my gfx card to be governed by its grunt & feature set, not its Vram.

[Shintai]

Well you gotta make the card before it gets supported.

[madcho]

i prefer wait for 5870 1Go.

[Hornet331]

That review showed the benefit of 2GB Vram in more than just GTA4 at 2560x1600.

Unlike motherboards we cant upgrade the Vram when we need too so we better have more than enough in the first place.

I want the useful life of my gfx card to be governed by its grunt & feature set, not its Vram.

Didn't know everyone owns a 30" 2560x1600 display. :p:

[Final8ty]

Didn't know everyone owns a 30" 2560x1600 display. :p:

You don't always have to know anyone personally for there to be a need. :)

[soundood]

for what its worth, i have a 54 inch screen @ 1080p, projector that is :up:

my neck hurts when i play crysis wars, from all the looking around :rofl:

[marten_larsson]

Didn't know everyone owns a 30" 2560x1600 display. :p:

I'm pretty sure this card isn't aimed at everybody. Two of those in CF would be really nice although I'd probably wait for DX11 cards.

[stevecs]

I'm just waiting for either ATI or Nvidia to come out with support for spanning 3 monitors so I can hook up my 3 30" in portrait mode for 4800x2560 sweetness. Whomever does that first gets my $$.

[soundood]

I'm just waiting for either ATI or Nvidia to come out with support for spanning 3 monitors so I can hook up my 3 30" in portrait mode for 4800x2560 sweetness. Whomever does that first gets my $$.

you know i have often wondered why they havent given us this option yet, having three DVI's say on the back of the card, a 295 maybe, and using one gpu for centre and the other for the other two.

it would get my money too

[ILikeCosmosS]

Sapphire always making the good cards but dont have the best warranty, XFX you can take the cooler off and still have your warranty

[Mechromancer]

Well you gotta make the card before it gets supported.

Shintai makes a good point. Software devs need to know the hardware is out there for them to use. Also, this much memory may play into GPGPU applications down the line.

[zalbard]

Is VRAM on one or both sides of the card?

[Smartidiot89]

Is VRAM on one or both sides of the card?
My guess is both sides... afaik there are no 256MB GDDR5 chips yet so it has to be 16 x 128MB that are used

[zalbard]

My guess is both sides... afaik there are no 256MB GDDR5 chips yet so it has to be 16 x 128MB that are used
VRAM is going to run pretty hot then... :shakes:

[Shintai]

VRAM is going to run pretty hot then... :shakes:

The memory controller can only be bugged once. So I dont think its that bad ;)

[zalbard]

The memory controller can only be bugged once. So I dont think its that bad ;)
I was more referring to the lack of active cooling for the VRAM chips on the back side of the card. But yeah, not terrible I guess, just not really great for OCing.

[clayton]

i prefer wait for 5870 1Go.

5890x2 4gb. :D And I was talking about Sims 3 all maxed on 30". It starts to lag and stutter like mad when the game is opened for a long time.

[initialised]

zzz....waste of a perfectly good PCB. None of the 2GB cards on the market now, ATI or Nvidia are worth the money over the standard 1GB versions. We just haven't got to the point where we need that much VRAM for games.No, very few review sites have monitors that allow the cards to eat this much VRAM.

[EnJoY]

I don't see the point right now. Maybe on a card twice as fast in a system heavily overclocked.

[Final8ty]

I don't see the point right now. Maybe on a card twice as fast in a system heavily overclocked.

Not much use on single GPU config, but put 3 of them on my DFI & the 30" would make it worth while.
If it was not for the 58xx on the way then that's exactly what i would have done and what i was waiting for up until now.

[Chickenfeed]

Not much use on single GPU config

Exactly. Given a single card won't be fast enough when VRAM becomes the bottleneck ( no current single gpu can handle 2560x1600 with AA in current games with acceptable performnce ) this makes the card only useful in crossfire configs.

[Final8ty]

Exactly. Given a single card won't be fast enough when VRAM becomes the bottleneck ( no current single gpu can handle 2560x1600 with AA in current games with acceptable performnce ) this makes the card only useful in crossfire configs.

That about it & im guessing that multi is what its truly aimed at, 4890X2 4GB at this point in time would not be worth the development cost.

Slapping 2GB on a 4890 is much cheaper.

[Talonman]

Also, this much memory may play into GPGPU applications down the line.
True...

http://www.hpcwire.com/specialfeatures/sc08/features/The_GPGPU_Chronicles_NVIDIA_Goes_Personal_AMD_Keep s_Streaming_34627084.html

"Memory capacity is a big deal in GPU acceleration since if the dataset doesn't fit in local memory, the runtime system has to spend time shuffling data bytes back and forth between the CPU host and the accelerator board. If the GPU ends up waiting for data from the host, this negates some of speedup realized by offloading computing onto the graphics chip."

2GB should help with gpgpu. :)

[Xion X2]

While it's true that few, if any, games in their default state use 1GB of VRAM, you guys are overlooking the modding community. There are several texture mods out there for Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Stalker Clear Sky that will push the VRAM up to or over 1GB. That's where these cards come into play when combined with high amounts of AA and resolution.

[STEvil]

5890x2 4gb. :D And I was talking about Sims 3 all maxed on 30". It starts to lag and stutter like mad when the game is opened for a long time.

Then there is a memory leak, nothing to do with the GPU or VRAM.. :shrug:

[CraptacularOne]

That review showed the benefit of 2GB Vram in more than just GTA4 at 2560x1600.

Unlike motherboards we cant upgrade the Vram when we need too so we better have more than enough in the first place.

I want the useful life of my gfx card to be governed by its grunt & feature set, not its Vram.

The irony is that by the time you will need the 2GB on cards like this it will no longer have the grunt to play the games at high resolutions and will probably lack some features of the then current technology by that time.

And for Christ's sake, please don't give me drivel like a maxed out GTA4 as justification of having that much VRAM these days or FC2 at 2560x1600 with 8xAA as a reason. At 2560x1600 resolution the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA is not even remotely discernible, so again 2GB is useless for todays games.

Releasing a 2GB card for todays games is just pointless.

[Final8ty]

The irony is that by the time you will need the 2GB on cards like this it will no longer have the grunt to play the games at high resolutions and will probably lack some features of the then current technology by that time.

And for Christ's sake, please don't give me drivel like a maxed out GTA4 as justification of having that much VRAM these days or FC2 at 2560x1600 with 8xAA as a reason. At 2560x1600 resolution the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA is not even remotely discernible, so again 2GB is useless for todays games.

Releasing a 2GB card for todays games is just pointless.

You must of missed where some games would not run at all with some settings on the 1GB version in that review or with lower fps.

Your tone is uncalled for regardless of how much you disagree with me.
Reviews don't show you the whole picture, they sometimes leave out the ingame detail settings.

Regards to AA levels is a matter of opnion & i can clearly see the difference depending on the game at 2560x1600.

[CraptacularOne]

You must of missed where some games would not run at all with some settings on the 1GB version in that review or with lower fps.

Your tone is uncalled for regardless of how much you disagree with me.
Reviews don't show you the whole picture, they sometimes leave out the ingame detail settings.

Regards to AA levels is a matter of opnion & i can clearly see the difference depending on the game at 2560x1600.

Tone? What tone? You can discern tone from a message written in text? Please show me how this is possible :with:

And "some games" you say? You mean the one game Empire TW? Where it wouldn't run with 8xAA? Remember when I said 4xAA and 8xAA is nearly impossible to tell the difference between at 2560x1600? The game only benched a frame or 2 below the 1GB card at that resolution with 4xAA.

Which brings me back to my original point, 2GB cards for todays games are pretty much useless :owned:

And why are you defending something that you don't own, didn't make and have no relation to what so ever? Do you have that much of a hard on for this card? :hump:

[STEvil]

Tone? What tone? You can discern tone from a message written in text? Please show me how this is possible :with:

And "some games" you say? You mean the one game Empire TW? Where it wouldn't run with 8xAA? Remember when I said 4xAA and 8xAA is nearly impossible to tell the difference between at 2560x1600? The game only benched a frame or 2 below the 1GB card at that resolution with 4xAA.

Which brings me back to my original point, 2GB cards for todays games are pretty much useless :owned:

And why are you defending something that you don't own, didn't make and have no relation to what so ever? Do you have that much of a hard on for this card? :hump:

And why are you attacking something that you don't own, didn't make, and have no relation to what so ever? Do you have that much of a hard on for the competition? :hump:

Fanboy much?

[5ILVgearX]

well this card is just like how evga has a gtx 260 1700mb and a gtx 280 with 2gb. it might be a good selling point for folks that want to keep using there gpu for the next 3-5 years or so.

and when most novice folks that buy gpus always think the bigger ram is always better, thats why all the low end GPUs (x500 series and under) have 1gb rams. like others said its just a type of marketing ;)


and also judging from the picture the PCB of the card seems awfully long, anyone happen to know the measurements?

[Milos-stancene]

I have Gainward GTX285 with 2gb.
http://www.alternate.at/html/solrSearch/toArticle.html?articleId=336302&query=gtx285&referer=detail&link=solrSearch%2Flisting.productDetails

[CraptacularOne]

And why are you attacking something that you don't own, didn't make, and have no relation to what so ever? Do you have that much of a hard on for the competition? :hump:

Fanboy much?

No, I don't really have any hate for it, I'm just shooting holes in his reasons for "justifying" the need for a 2GB card. And please don't give me the fanboy BS. I have no preference either way. I like ATI cards just as much as Nvidia cards, my last set up was with Tri Fire HD4870's 512MB's. In fact I'm planning on getting a set of the next gen ATI cards when they launch this summer. So please don't be so simple minded and call fanboy just based on what's currently in a persons rig. :with:

And just for the record I said the exact same thing when Nvidia released their 2GB GTX285's.

[Xion X2]

This is not something that people should be arguing over. It's very simple.

1) If you mod your games with hi-res texture and lighting mods, or if you own a 2560x monitor and like to game with AA, then a higher VRAM card will suit you well. Crysis, Warhead, Clear Sky and Oblivion all have hi-res mods that will push you up to and over 1GB of VRAM. After that, your system will crawl if you don't have enough.

2) Guys who do NOT mod their games or do not own a hi-res 2560x monitor or do not game with AA will not need a card like this.

But trying to objectively argue that it's "useless" is pointless. In some cases it is VERY useful for someone. It depends on the person's preferences.

Learn to be open-minded for *&&#@ sake instead of being insecure.

[Final8ty]

Tone? What tone? You can discern tone from a message written in text? Please show me how this is possible :with:


And for Christ's sake, please don't give me drivel.

Words are used to set the tone, you never read a good book.

I owned the Samsung SM-305T 30" 2560x1600 from the first month that it hit the UK.

[Final8ty]

No, I don't really have any hate for it, I'm just shooting holes in his reasons for "justifying" the need for a 2GB card. And please don't give me the fanboy BS. I have no preference either way. I like ATI cards just as much as Nvidia cards, my last set up was with Tri Fire HD4870's 512MB's. In fact I'm planning on getting a set of the next gen ATI cards when they launch this summer. So please don't be so simple minded and call fanboy just based on what's currently in a persons rig. :with:

And just for the record I said the exact same thing when Nvidia released their 2GB GTX285's.

My reasoning is based on my own experience & needs.

[TheDeliverator]

This is not something that people should be arguing over. It's very simple.

1) If you mod your games with hi-res texture and lighting mods, or if you own a 2560x monitor and like to game with AA, then a higher VRAM card will suit you well. Crysis, Warhead, Clear Sky and Oblivion all have hi-res mods that will push you up to and over 1GB of VRAM. After that, your system will crawl if you don't have enough.

2) Guys who do NOT mod their games or do not own a hi-res 2560x monitor or do not game with AA will not need a card like this.

But trying to objectively argue that it's "useless" is pointless. In some cases it is VERY useful for someone. It depends on the person's preferences.

Learn to be open-minded for *&&#@ sake instead of being insecure.

QFT

[STEvil]

This is not something that people should be arguing over. It's very simple.

1) If you mod your games with hi-res texture and lighting mods, or if you own a 2560x monitor and like to game with AA, then a higher VRAM card will suit you well. Crysis, Warhead, Clear Sky and Oblivion all have hi-res mods that will push you up to and over 1GB of VRAM. After that, your system will crawl if you don't have enough.

2) Guys who do NOT mod their games or do not own a hi-res 2560x monitor or do not game with AA will not need a card like this.

But trying to objectively argue that it's "useless" is pointless. In some cases it is VERY useful for someone. It depends on the person's preferences.

Learn to be open-minded for *&&#@ sake instead of being insecure.

And we have a winner, thread closed. :clap: