4870 vs 4850 Battle!

[gurusan]

both cards 512mb!

So I got a 4870 today....threw it under water and clocked it to 860/1000 before doing some benches.

I will keep this very short and to the point...as you can see, the 4870 is about 8% faster overall at the same clocks...possibly 9% if you clock the memory even higher to 1100 (4400). The biggest difference looks to be the maximum fps of Crysis with 4xAA. The 4870 also seems strong at 3dmark06 in comparison to the 4850 if you look at the individual sm2/sm3 scores...this shows that there's some power on tap here from the extra memory bandwidth...

Also keep in mind that the 4850 was pencil modded and needed 1.37V for 860mhz...the 4870 did it on stock voltage which was measured with a DMM to be 1.277V under load. Both cards are under water and I will be vmodding the 4870 to see if I can get some more out of it

I will leave you all to draw your own conclusions as to the extra price of the 4870 over the 4850...hopefully this will spark some interesting discussion


Notes:

1. Settings in games are all maxed out (ultra, enthusiast..etc).
2. Resolution is 1680x1050 except 3dmark06 is the default 1280x1024

System test setup is:

• Server 2008 64bit
• E8500 @ 4607mhz
• 4x1gb OCZ SLI @ 1164mhz 5,5,5,15
• P5Q Deluxe
• Catalyst 8.12 BETA drivers, installed without CCC so default driver settings (balanced AFAIK)

3dmark06 breakdown:

4850

• 16181 3DMarks
• SM 2.0 Score 6378
• SM 3.0 Score 7917
• CPU Score 4216

4870

• 17798 3DMarks
• SM 2.0 Score 7040
• SM 3.0 Score 9192
• CPU Score 4198

[grasskicker509]

4850 is an incredible value

[xsbb]

Thanks for the comparison!

[zaraza]

This kind of makes me sad that i spent the money on a 4870. I mean really. The difference isnt much. And at higher resolutions.... does 20 fps vs 22 really make a difference when the minimum is the same. Now i want my card to have 1gb of memory instead of 512

[gurusan]

Well getting a 4850 to 860mhz is not possible without decent cooling and a pencil mod....so obviously the higher stock clocks is a huge selling point for the 4870.

You could always sell the 4870 and buy a 4850 1gb or just wait until the refreshes are out.

[JoeBar]

Nice comparison.

4850 1GB is a total wast of money, if u ask me. 4870 512MB is still a better option if u consider the higher clocks it can achieve without mod.

[gurusan]

Nice comparison.

4850 1GB is a total wast of money, if u ask me. 4870 512MB is still a better option if u consider the higher clocks it can achieve without mod.

actually there are a few cases where the 4850 1gb even at stock outperforms the 4870 512mb....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...5oc1gi-review/

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...n-hd-4850-1gb/

[JoeBar]

actually there are a few cases where the 4850 1gb even at stock outperforms the 4870 512mb....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...5oc1gi-review/

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...n-hd-4850-1gb/

Are we seeing the same reviews...? Cause i see that 4870 512MB in the vast majority of the tests pwns 4850 1GB.

[gurusan]

I said just a few cases.
Look at the bit-tech review, the 4850 1gb outperforms the 4870 512mb in a few games at only 1680x1050 with some AA

[gamervivek]

what was the memory clock on 4850?stock or 1150?

[gurusan]

4850 memory was at 1150...I just spotted an error in my table though, the 4870 memory was clocked to 1000mhz (4ghz effective), not 1150

[noinimod]

Nice table. With the 4870 now at such low prices.. really no reason not to get it

[ziggo0]

The 1gb versions of these cards will be much faster at 1920x1200 due to the framebuffer. I had to sell my crossfire setup and now I'm stuck with a single 4850 512mb @ 1920x1200 and it suffers in some games, but I could see a single 4870 1gb driving this resolution comfortably. Granted the easiest solution would be to get another 4850 512mb again, 2x4850 512mbs > 1 4870 1gb at that res.

[rockfella]

The 4850 512mb with a non-refrence cooler is the smartest buy at the minute imo.

[B.E.E.F.]

Well getting a 4850 to 860mhz is not possible without decent cooling and a pencil mod....so obviously the higher stock clocks is a huge selling point for the 4870.

You could always sell the 4870 and buy a 4850 1gb or just wait until the refreshes are out.

What if you overvolt the HD4870 to the same values as the over-volted 4850.

[ExodusC]

From the benchmarks I saw, the 4850 1GB performed exactly the same as a 4850 512MB, which is strange. From what I heard it was due to the memory and the bus width.

[gurusan]

What if you overvolt the HD4870 to the same values as the over-volted 4850.

Probably would get me north of 900mhz I'm torn between volt modding this 4870 and just waiting for the refreshes.

[Quad-Damage]

makes me want to go dual 4850. My 4850 was unstable for so long, now with updated drivers and more volttage. It runs great

Might also want to list, that they overclock well
4850 clock speeds of 690 1120 can be had on a S1 cooler with a 80mm fan
^^ thats what i have

[little_scrapper]

3dmark06 breakdown:

4870

• 17798 3DMarks
• SM 2.0 Score 7040
• SM 3.0 Score 9192
• CPU Score 4198

Good job on the comparison. this type of information is invaluable to people in the market for a new card.

Im not trying to got off topic or poopoo on anything. I am wondering what are the pros/cons of this vs. a GTX 260. I just use air cooling and stock volts on my vid card and I am getting better scores with 600MHz less cpu:

My settup is in my sig. My runs in Farcry2 were at 734 core, 1512 Shader, and 1188 mem.
EVGA GTX 260 216sp
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=9185427

• 17981 3DMarks
• SM 2.0 Score 8423
• SM 3.0 Score 8682
• CPU Score 3783

Which demo did you use for your FC2 runs?

Farcry2 (Long Ranch Demo 5 min) 1680x1050 and everything on ultra I'm getting:

8xAA Avg fps=34 min fps=17

4xAA avg fps=45 min fps=27

0xAA avg fps=56 max=126 min=35

Short ranch demo:

4xAA avg=40fps max=59fps min=32fps

0xAA avg=50fps max=78fps min=40fps

Some other stats in case anyone is wondering:

GPU temp = Max 58 C w/ 100% fan (LEAF BLOWER) ~ 74 C w/ 40% fan (near silent)

System power consuption = Max 370watts (w/ Orthos sml fft, adaware, NOD32, MediaPlayer music, Nero direct dvd to dvd burn, 3DMark'06 demo mode) which is about a 50% increase, just from switching out a 8800GT with a GTX 260!

Gaming power consumption was about 316 watts max and avg about 290-300watts.

Again this in not any type of pissing match Im just curious if you were to drop your cpu and memory speeds down to match mine and then max out that 4870 how they would compare. Considering I got my on sale for $170. And the MSI 260 192sp is now $185 shipped NO REBATE. I'm just looking at real world $/performance.

[MaddHawk]

Well getting a 4850 to 860mhz is not possible without decent cooling and a pencil mod....so obviously the higher stock clocks is a huge selling point for the 4870.

You could always sell the 4870 and buy a 4850 1gb or just wait until the refreshes are out.

What is a pencil mod?

[gurusan]

Good job on the comparison. this type of information is invaluable to people in the market for a new card.

Im not trying to got off topic or poopoo on anything. I am wondering what are the pros/cons of this vs. a GTX 260. I just use air cooling and stock volts on my vid card and I am getting better scores with 600MHz less cpu:

My settup is in my sig. My runs in Farcry2 were at 734 core, 1512 Shader, and 1188 mem.
EVGA GTX 260 216sp
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=9185427

• 17981 3DMarks
• SM 2.0 Score 8423
• SM 3.0 Score 8682
• CPU Score 3783

Which demo did you use for your FC2 runs?

Farcry2 (Long Ranch Demo 5 min) 1680x1050 and everything on ultra I'm getting:

8xAA Avg fps=34 min fps=17

4xAA avg fps=45 min fps=27

0xAA avg fps=56 max=126 min=35

Short ranch demo:

4xAA avg=40fps max=59fps min=32fps

0xAA avg=50fps max=78fps min=40fps

Some other stats in case anyone is wondering:

GPU temp = Max 58 C w/ 100% fan (LEAF BLOWER) ~ 74 C w/ 40% fan (near silent)

System power consuption = Max 370watts (w/ Orthos sml fft, adaware, NOD32, MediaPlayer music, Nero direct dvd to dvd burn, 3DMark'06 demo mode) which is about a 50% increase, just from switching out a 8800GT with a GTX 260!

Gaming power consumption was about 316 watts max and avg about 290-300watts.

Again this in not any type of pissing match Im just curious if you were to drop your cpu and memory speeds down to match mine and then max out that 4870 how they would compare. Considering I got my on sale for $170. And the MSI 260 192sp is now $185 shipped NO REBATE. I'm just looking at real world $/performance.

The 260 used to be priced quite high, but since prices have dropped, I agree that it's better value. Stock vs stock, the GTX 260 216 pulls ahead of the 4870 in the majority of games out there.

They both overclock quite well when cooled sufficiently and I'm not entirely sure which is better value at that point. The scores I posted are with the CCC on default settings...I reran 3dmark06 at 900/4400 on stock voltage and was able to get 18,757...this was with the CCC on performance and my CPU at 4.75ghz. If I ran it in XP i think I would break 19k easily.

As for Farcry 2, this game loves nvidia cards, as do many games out there. Personally, I think that the 4870 is the more powerful card, but the majority of games are designed with Nvidia in mind so I do think the GTX 260 is the better buy.

What is a pencil mod?

You shade a resistor with a pencil to reduce the resistance across it...thus increasing the core voltage. You need a multimeter to properly do this mod or you risk damaging it. Look in the Graphx mod section of this forum for more info.

[GAR]

4850 is about the same perfomance as a 8800GTX. Still good enough for most people.

[gurusan]

^ i dunno about that. I've had an 8800 Ultra, and stock vs stock at 1680x1050 the 4850 seemed faster when you start putting the AA on.

And when you overclock the 4850 its all over.