Now, it's the 4870's turn...

[TQ]

The reviews are out:

Extremetech.com

Techreport.com

Anandtech.com

[TQ]

And the 8.6 Cat's are out, too...

[TQ]

This is certainly an exciting card and has me more interested than the GTX200's. About the only fly in the ointment for me is that there is no 1GB GDDR5 version (I'd kind of expected that the card would have 1GB) but I see the pricing logic of introducing the card with a "mere" 512MB.
As far as buying goes, my initial reaction is to wait and see if and when one of ATI's partners decides to go that route and to let more cards come into the stream to get availability up and we begin to see some competition among the various vendors.

I can afford wait a while. My 8800GTX is still running BioShock beautifully at 1680x1050 and the games I'm most looking forward to (Stalker:Clear Sky, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and Fallout 3) are still some weeks off.

[Sandog]

Previous cards have shown little performance increase from 512MB to 1GB of added GDDR memory. Also the 4780 is in low supply because of the unavailability of GDDR5 chips. Doubling the amount of chips per board would further limit availability. I am sure the HD 4870x2 will have 1GB memory shared though. For the HD 4870, my fly in the ointment is the power fly, boy does that card pull some electrons. At least is shows performance for the power used unlike the original XT 2900. Great job AMD! You finally have a winning product on your hands. Won't it be interesting if the GPU takes over the CPU someday, ATI will have saved AMD.

By the way, ATI is set to obliterate NVidia with the HD 4870x2 card and already a R800 chip is being developed that will be used in dual configuration next time from the introduction. ATI is going the route of Intel with splicing 2 smaller chips to whoop the competition. NVidia's humongous single chip design will never match this.

Fudzilla - R8x0 next gen ATI is again a dual chip

[TQ]

Originally Posted by Sandog

I am sure the HD 4870x2 will have 1GB memory shared though.

You think? It's my understanding that was a fundamental limitation of SLI/Crossfire on a stick or otherwise - memory is not shared.

[XJ.]

Originally Posted by TQ

You think? It's my understanding that was a fundamental limitation of SLI/Crossfire on a stick or otherwise - memory is not shared.

Not by the two ASICs, but the memory is, effectively, available to the application so long as XF works with the title in question (otherwise XF defaults to AFR, which doesn't take advantage of the of the dual card solution very well).

[TQ]

I guess it's all in whether or not the game has a profile online. I'm not too keen on Crossfire/SLI setups and will likely always be a single card kind of guy.
As far as having "only" 512MB on the card, that has bothered me somewhat because on the surface looks like I'm stepping back from the 768MB on my 8800GTX.
That may be a superficial reaction on my part, though.

[XJ.]

AFAIK, Crysis is the only game, ATM, that will take advantage of more than 512MB - and I think that is only at 1920x1200 or a lower res with AA enabled.

[Sir Skully]

For me it was cheaper to buy a PS3 for games + Blu-ray for movies. The last card of mine was and is the 8800GTX with a $120. water block on it. The cost was close to $800. Now I just rent my PS3 games. I'll be using the 8800GTX for a long time to come. The game boxes may in time make PC gaming passe.

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by TQ

You think? It's my understanding that was a fundamental limitation of SLI/Crossfire on a stick or otherwise - memory is not shared.

I meant 1GB for the board. I believe half goes to one core and half to the other, not sure. The HD 3870x2 uses 1GB so I am assuming this card will also.

[Sandog]

ATI HD 4870's in.

Newegg.com - GDDR5, Radeon HD 4000 series, Desktop Graphics / Video Cards, Video Cards & Video Devices, Computer Hardware

Notice the AMD logo near the PCI-e connector on all the cards

[WhiteEclipse]

Man, the problem with this card, and the new gtx 200 cards are the noise levels. All reviews seem to indicate that they are significantly louder under load than my 8800gts.

I want quiet (and dual slot coolers that dump hot air out of the case)!! Will wait and see what solutions come out down the road.

[TQ]

The 4870's have dual slot coolers...

[WhiteEclipse]

Originally Posted by TQ

The 4870's have dual slot coolers...

yeah, but:

"The noise level of the 4850 fan is alright, but when the 4870 spins up I tend to glance out the window to make sure a jet isn't just about to fly into the building. It's hugely loud at load, but it doesn't get there fast and it doesn't stay there long."

AnandTech: The Radeon HD 4870 & 4850: AMD Wins at $199 and $299

I guess I just want it all. I have no doubt that the refresh of these series of cards will probably be improved. Maybe a die shrink and price drop from nvidia will be the answer for me.

[TQ]

Well, it's likely that at some point one of the partners will do a silent version of the card.
Might be several months down the road, but I'd think it was in the *ahem* cards.