Official HD4870X2 (R700) Review Thread

[GAR]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...52&articID=864

I like madshrimps review because they have MIN fps, which is what matters to me, and the GTX 280 and the 4870X2 are VERY close, and i can see nVidia coming back and taking the crown with the new G200B, i think an overclocked GTX should keep up with the MIN fps with the 4870x2 no? If so i would rather get the GTX because i wont have to worry about scaling issues which are encountered with no popular titles and older games.

[safan80]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...52&articID=864

I like madshrimps review because they have MIN fps, which is what matters to me, and the GTX 280 and the 4870X2 are VERY close,

it's sad to see yet another review that doesn't bench 2560x1600. IF ypu want to run your games at 1920x12000 get a damn 4870.

[ahmad]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...52&articID=864

I like madshrimps review because they have MIN fps, which is what matters to me, and the GTX 280 and the 4870X2 are VERY close, and i can see nVidia coming back and taking the crown with the new G200B, i think an overclocked GTX should keep up with the MIN fps with the 4870x2 no? If so i would rather get the GTX because i wont have to worry about scaling issues which are encountered with no popular titles and older games.

I like this better:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-12.html

because it has a larger variety of games, and they give you reasons for choosing these particular benchmarks. Madshrimps seems to be very selective in the games tested, three of which are known to favour nvidia.

With the 4870x2, the 2 teraflop powerhouse is much more capable than any piece of hardware out there, but unfortunately its limitations rest in the driver.

Now with ATI focusing on multi-gpu platform, it will only get better and better with every driver release. Not like we have seen with single card where its 2-5% faster, I am talking 15%-20% faster in certain cases.

[Tonucci]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...52&articID=864

I like madshrimps review because they have MIN fps, which is what matters to me, and the GTX 280 and the 4870X2 are VERY close...

Yep, there are some reviews (Ive read like 5 or 6) with min fps results. The Madshrimps one is decent but their system is very weak, wolfdale @ 2.66Ghz 2Gb DDR2-800. When the cards are bottlenecked results are alot closer than what they could be.

Min FPS results certainly do not resemble what we see on AVG FPS charts (slaughter). Very close in some games but in others...not so much.

HD4870x2 is still generally faster in this aspect tho... But with CF scaling/issues/drivers and price differences in mind, both cards have their place on the market

[insurgent]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...52&articID=864

I like madshrimps review because they have MIN fps, which is what matters to me, and the GTX 280 and the 4870X2 are VERY close, and i can see nVidia coming back and taking the crown with the new G200B, i think an overclocked GTX should keep up with the MIN fps with the 4870x2 no? If so i would rather get the GTX because i wont have to worry about scaling issues which are encountered with no popular titles and older games.

That's true for crysis where crossfire scales horribly, but I don't think any amount of overclocking or optimization will make the 280 catch up to these minimum frames:

http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...D4870X2-85.jpg

http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...D4870X2-81.jpg

http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...D4870X2-58.jpg

If you're not going to use the X2 with a really fast cpu and a 30" monitor there are better choices than the 280, like the GTX260 or 4870.

[Cooperdale]

http://bbs.chiphell.com/viewthread.p...extra=page%3D1

Min fps here too.

[Tonucci]

http://bbs.chiphell.com/viewthread.p...extra=page%3D1

Min fps here too.

This one is good Very fast platform, tons of games and min/avg/max FPS.

Reflects very well what we were saying. The GTX got better min FPS in 12 out of 26 games.

[Macadamia]

This one is good Very fast platform, tons of games and min/avg/max FPS.

Reflects very well what we were saying. The GTX got better min FPS in 12 out of 26 games.

That's rather bull IMHO. We don't know how much the X2 dips into that low framerate, if it only did it once as a result of random testing or different buffering schemes at the start it still gets the low result and not high-flying constant minimums otherwise.

But I see people are trying to actually justify the GTX280 with all sorts of ridiculous excuses so I've already made up my point. (There is none of it trying to argue)

[Tonucci]

That's rather bull IMHO. We don't know how much the X2 dips into that low framerate, if it only did it once as a result of random testing or different buffering schemes at the start it still gets the low result and not high-flying constant minimums otherwise.

But I see people are trying to actually justify the GTX280 with all sorts of ridiculous excuses so I've already made up my point. (There is none of it trying to argue)

I know min FPS is not everything dude. Ir was just an observation, no need to teen-rage and resort to personal attacks. Im not trying to justify anything, its not of my interests. Im not biased towards any company.

Silly me, I should never have spoken about the GTX in this thread in the first place. Sorry about it, de-railing the thread was not my intention

[Devil's Prophet]

If so i would rather get the GTX because i wont have to worry about scaling issues which are encountered with no popular titles and older games.

Unpopular titles, ok.

But older games? You want dual GPU support for older games because ... they would stutter with only a single HD4870 with 1GB? OHNOES, CALL IN THE FIRE BRIGADE818! No, seriously, that sounds like a non argument.

Good point with the first argument, though. But can't that be "forced" by renaming the executable? Or is there more to it than just that?

[Xello]

Unpopular titles, ok.

But older games? You want dual GPU support for older games because ... they would stutter with only a single HD4870 with 1GB? OHNOES, CALL IN THE FIRE BRIGADE818! No, seriously, that sounds like a non argument.

Agreed. Just buy a second, single gpu card to swap in when you want to play older games...

[Red Evil]

and wait a week for drivers for a new game?

[jmke]

it's sad to see yet another review that doesn't bench 2560x1600. IF ypu want to run your games at 1920x12000 get a damn 4870.

I acknowledge the lack of 30", did not have the budget available to get 2 of those just yet
more limited gameline-up is totally due to lack of time; I was able to test the card ~12h before NDA expired; re-ran several benches to verify all data was correct; and prefer FRAPS over time-demo benches, which also increases time.

more in-depth tests are planned for later on, including AA scaling, although with HD4870X2 at 1920x1200 it takes 16xAA to get it "slow down" in all games but Crysis, so far.

[Origin_Unknown]

any tests with oblivion?

[ether.real]

I acknowledge the lack of 30", did not have the budget available to get 2 of those just yet
more limited gameline-up is totally due to lack of time; I was able to test the card ~12h before NDA expired; re-ran several benches to verify all data was correct; and prefer FRAPS over time-demo benches, which also increases time.

more in-depth tests are planned for later on, including AA scaling, although with HD4870X2 at 1920x1200 it takes 16xAA to get it "slow down" in all games but Crysis, so far.

Hehe, I know your pain. I had a total of two days for mine. Hard to cram an in-depth review in that time.

Also, I tried running DX9 on Crysis like you asked....but the bench just wont run in that mode. Not sure why. I was able to confirm the performance drop at the end of Crysis however. In the beginning of the game, could run 16xAA 1920x1200 Very High quite easily. However, as soon as you drive down the mountain and first see the huge alien performance takes a dive. At the aircraft carrier, performance really drops. I had never had a chance to get that far on my 280, though, so I am not sure if its specific to the X2.

[Devil's Prophet]

Agreed. Just buy a second, single gpu card to swap in when you want to play older games...

Actually I was pointing out the possibility to use only one of the two GPU's present on an HD4870X2 (which is in fact two HD4870 1GB cards on one PCB). I thought that was possible, no?

[STaRGaZeR]

Agreed. Just buy a second, single gpu card to swap in when you want to play older games...

Yeah sure, swapping cards to play 20 mins to an older game is nice...

[Macadamia]

I know min FPS is not everything dude. Ir was just an observation, no need to teen-rage and resort to personal attacks. Im not trying to justify anything, its not of my interests. Im not biased towards any company.

Silly me, I should never have spoken about the GTX in this thread in the first place. Sorry about it, de-railing the thread was not my intention

Oops, sorry for lashing out too. I'm just not really in the mood after going to [H] and seeing people with GTX 280s, of all things they paid $650 rag endlessly about something they think they know so well.


XS FTW.

[Cooperdale]

any tests with oblivion?

Lots of them, and mark my words, this card wipes its behind with the GTX280 in Oblivion. It should just make the game perfect with all graphical mods, and that's one of the main reasons I've bought it.

[mascaras]

hi

another Crysis Video

1680x1050
Very High
AA 4x

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQYR8ejl6s


video quality is bad (Fraps @ converted) , only to show how the game run !


regards

[safan80]

Are the 8.8 drivers out yet? Is there somewhere I can get the 8.8 betas? I'm suppose to be getting the cards today.

[Cooperdale]

I received the card today but I still need a dvd-writer to build the new system...

[safan80]

read this
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2807960

does not make me happy. .. time for a smoke.

[perkam]

read this
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2807960

does not make me happy. .. time for a smoke.

Read the first post m8. It's a DFI motherboard issue, not a video card issue.

Perkam

[safan80]

Read the first post m8. It's a DFI motherboard issue, not a video card issue.

Perkam

read my sig I have the same board.