AMD ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB review [Guru3D]

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Today a test and review on the new AMD ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB. Obviously ATI is releasing a 1GB model to compete with the new Core 216 version of that GeForce GTX 260. The 4870 series really diggs...

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Ven0m · 09-28-2008, 23:47 | posts: 82 | Location: Warsaw, Poland | User is Offline

Thank you for this test. It looks like more RAM will be useful in near future. But I've got 2 questions:
1. It looks like low-power mode isn't working well. Was there any explanation from the manufacturer?
2. Is there any possibility to re-test 4870 512 and 4870X2? It looks like there are driver changes both for overall performance and utilization of greater amount of RAM.

kapu · 09-29-2008, 00:12 | posts: 1,751 | Location: Poland | User is Online

wow they come rly close to each other, however that HD4870 is slightly faster.

Passion Fruit

Why does it say in the benchmarks.. "GRAW | GRID when theres no GRID benchmarks?

Cybermancer · 09-29-2008, 08:00 | posts: 12,530 | Location: Cyberspace | User is Offline

An impressive card. More video memory is the way to go it seems...

Skiddywinks · 09-29-2008, 08:48 | posts: 3,991 | Location: North Wales | User is Offline

Quote:

The battle for your money among the graphics chipset manufacturers is fierce and harsh. None the less, it's competitive which brings prices down and makes technology evolve faster.

Should be "competition". I keep forgetting; does Guru3D have editers?

:p only messing. Keep up the (normally) great work.

Cybermancer · 09-29-2008, 08:52 | posts: 12,530 | Location: Cyberspace | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skiddywinks

I keep forgetting; does Guru3D have editers?

No. No editers. Just editors.

Passion Fruit

haha.

Its true like, the editor that goes through these articles fails to correct any mistakes what so ever it seems. I've kept my mouth shut until now

morbias · 09-29-2008, 15:56 | posts: 9,908 | Location: Southampton, UK | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Passion Fruit

Why does it say in the benchmarks.. "GRAW | GRID when theres no GRID benchmarks?

Because GRID was removed from the benchmarks due to being too time intensive iirc., just forgot to remove the title.

tbh the extra memory on the card didn't make as much difference as I was expecting, thought it would do more at high resolutions.

twtaylor · 09-29-2008, 16:07 | posts: 2,290 | Location: Barrie, ON Canada | User is Online

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skiddywinks

Should be "competition". I keep forgetting; does Guru3D have editers?

:p only messing. Keep up the (normally) great work.

Looks like you need one too, it's editors not editers. lol

ottoyu34 · 09-29-2008, 19:34 | posts: 437 | User is Offline

Wow. thats close competition. 1GB is the way to go for new titles

Ryu5uzaku

ive been wondering can one xfire 512mb card and 1gb card O_o

meatfestival92 · 09-30-2008, 06:09 | posts: 1,765 | Location: UK | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryu5uzaku

ive been wondering can one xfire 512mb card and 1gb card O_o

Yes, but only 512MB will be used.

D-Cyph3r · 09-30-2008, 13:57 | posts: 518 | Location: Lala Land | User is Offline

This is the single GPU of choice. If I didn't get my GX2 for under £150 I would have 2 of these running.

Ryu5uzaku

Quote:

Originally Posted by meatfestival92

Yes, but only 512MB will be used.

so if i had the gig one as "main" if xfire wouldnt work then it would be using whole 1024?

meatfestival92 · 10-01-2008, 04:56 | posts: 1,765 | Location: UK | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryu5uzaku

so if i had the gig one as "main" if xfire wouldnt work then it would be using whole 1024?

I think if you had crossfire disabled and only one card being used, it would be using the whole 1 gig. But I'm not 100% on that.

MadGizmo · 10-01-2008, 05:02 | posts: 844 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryu5uzaku

so if i had the gig one as "main" if xfire wouldnt work then it would be using whole 1024?

If you use the 1GB as the master and 512MB as slave it will use 512MB max. When you disable CF you will have the single GPU with 1GB back.

Ryu5uzaku

then i might even buy the 1024 one as next card since well some games just wont do xfire

Chris0101 · 10-09-2008, 02:48 | posts: 13 | Location: Canada | User is Offline

The truth is, the 512 mb only costs about $30 extra here in Canada, so it may be worth getting the extra RAM.

Guru3d's review is pretty good, but I think what one thing that might have been interesting is looking at the minimum frame rate. You'll likely find that the 1024 Mb makes a difference well worth the 512 Mb.

Advantages:
- Faster frame rates
- More "future proof"

Disadvantages:
- Costs about $30 more (so maybe 15-20 euros more)
- Extra RAM may not be as overclockable (need to find verify this one)

Skiddywinks · 10-09-2008, 12:40 | posts: 3,991 | Location: North Wales | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cybermancer

No. No editers. Just editors.

Good point and well made, but my post was hardly an article :p

Cybermancer · 10-09-2008, 13:01 | posts: 12,530 | Location: Cyberspace | User is Offline