ATI Radeon 4800 launch details

[TQ]

I'm thinking an HD4870 might just be the ticket to replace "Old Faithful" - the 8800GTX.
Still...have to wait to see what's what.

[Sandog]

Last year ATI actually stated before the RV670 came out to wait for R700 for performance. I believe ATI has finally achieved good results with their ring-bus architecture introduced with the 2900XT. Having DX10.1, GDDR5, power saving, great IQ, good price, and around 150W at load all makes for a winner IMO. Also, this will be a very popular card which will generate heavy driver support. I'm anticipating using this card with Vista and I have a good feeling about it.

Reviews coming next week...

By the way, already have the ole 8800GTS 640 advertised.

[Sandog]

4850 siting:

Amazon adds Diamond Radeon HD 4850 to its website :: TweakTown

4850 pricing around $199.00
4870 pricing around $299.00
Availabitliy in 1-2mos.

Also more info:
Radeon 4850 Briefly On Sale; Specs - Tom's Hardware

"ASIC: RV7000, 512MB Memory, GDDR3 Memory Configuration, 256-bit Memory Interface, Display Formats:x2 Dual Link DVI + HDTV-out with built-in HDMI, PCI Express 2.0 support, 480 Stream Processing units, Direct X 10.1 / Shader Model 4.1,OpenGL 2.0, ATI Crossfire X Multi-GPU Support for highly scalable performance (Up to four GPU support with an AMD 790FX based motherboard), High-speed 128-bit-HDR (High Dynamic Range) rendering, 55nm process technology, ATI Avivo HD Video and Display Technology, Game Physics processing capability, Up to 24X Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing, Unified Video Decoder (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD DVD, ATI PowerPlay energy conserving technology."

[johnrr6]

Originally Posted by Sandog

I will be first in line for the 4870. I can't believe how good my new monitor looks already and this card will make it better. I might have to look into using the HDMI ports.

Me Likeee Priceee!!!......

and all the features.....

And I frankly was just not looking forward to dropping $600 on an oversized, and power hungry new Nvidia GTX 280.....

This looks like it is just the ticket.....

If the benches on the high end model are even reasonably close to a GTX 280----I'm gonna go this route.....I love Nvidia----but I'm a CONSUMER first.....

Besides----I just built a workstation box with Vista 64 and the AMD 780G board with EXCELLENT onboard ATI graphics-----and it has a very nice little feature of adding a $25 3450 PCIe card and running them in "Hybrid Crossfire"

With a an AMD Phenom 9850 Black Edition.......it's one nice performing little workstation box....

And the cost was VERY VERY reasonable.....

My point is-----I was totally impressed with both AMD and ATI driver support and the Catalyst Control Center and AMD's new Overdrive Utility.....

VERY VERY nice compared to a bit clunky nVidia interface and drivers......

[Sandog]

I would be satisfied if the 4000 series has framerates > 8800GT but doesn't require above a 500W PS.

[XJ.]

The 4870 uses GDDR5 which will up the it's memory bandwidth. If Pande group can improve the efficiency for the GPU client, the the Spider platform could be the best folding box on the planet.

[Drufuss]

Did anyone say something about an AGP-version somewhere?

Greetings

Dru

[johnrr6]

Originally Posted by Sandog

I might have to look into using the HDMI ports.

Zowser!

I plugged a brand new HP 2207 HDMI monitor into the little workstartion box I built with ATI "Hybrid Crossfire" Graphics (onboard AMD 780G combined with a cheap $25 ATI 3450)----using HDMI out....

to the HDMI port on the HP Monitor.....

and frankly----I was just darned impressed.

22 inches of gorgeous monitor sitting on my garage workbench----never had that kind of quality before---even with a decent Sony monitor.....

I did have to adjust the "overscan" in Catalyst Control Center as for some reason----it defaulted to a small "underscan" which left an inch of black around the edges.....

A couple of quick clicks in CCC fixed it-------GORGEOUS!!!.....

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by Drufuss

Did anyone say something about an AGP-version somewhere?

Greetings

Dru

I'd keep my eyes here for an AGP card.

Sapphire Technology - graphics

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

Zowser!

I plugged a brand new HP 2207 HDMI monitor into the little workstartion box I built with ATI "Hybrid Crossfire" Graphics (onboard AMD 780G combined with a cheap $25 ATI 3450)----using HDMI out....

to the HDMI port on the HP Monitor.....

and frankly----I was just darned impressed.

22 inches of gorgeous monitor sitting on my garage workbench----never had that kind of quality before---even with a decent Sony monitor.....

I did have to adjust the "overscan" in Catalyst Control Center as for some reason----it defaulted to a small "underscan" which left an inch of black around the edges.....

A couple of quick clicks in CCC fixed it-------GORGEOUS!!!.....

The HDMI spec tells me HDMI is equal to DVI just that you have a smaller connector that contains audio. Evals between DVI, analog, HDMI are mixed with some giving better picture quality to analog signals still. BUT, ATI has stated that they have an improved IQ on the HDMI output over the DVI output on their 4000 series.

"The Radeon 4800 series also includes 7.1 channel-via-HDMI support and color output also got a “significant” boost, our sources said. We were unable to confirm HDMI 1.3 support, but we would not be surprised if that in fact is the case. The Unified Video Decoder is now in generation 2 and is called "UVD2"."


http://www.tgdaily.com/index2.php?op...pdf=1&id=37453

HDMI 1.3 Overview

"Deep Color™: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.

• Lets HDTVs and other displays go from million of colors to billions of colors.
• Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors.
• Enables increased contrast ratio
• Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white
• At 30-bit pixel depth, a four times improvement would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more.

Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 removes all limits on color selection

• Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals
• Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately
• Enables displays with natural, vivid colors"

HDMI :: Resources

[Sandog]

Arrogant and ruthless competition takeover-er/obliterator Jen-Hsun Huang is going to get hit hard this year from ATI's bound to be popular new cards. Also Nehalem will be extremely popular next year and if NVidia doesn't get a chipset license for it they gonna sucky a big one. Look for Jen's to be permanently joining the Ruiz cry-club soon.

[Sandog]

AMD's GPU will have support for Havok's physics engine. This is a company bought and supported by Intel. Not sure if physics generatioin is already onboard the new Radeons or if it requires a physics add-in card but this is the physics generation I would want to go with vs. NVidia's PhysX.

CrossFire, laptop IGP, and now physics corroboration between ATI and Intel make ATI and Intel a good combination.

AMD's Physics Secret Revealed: Havok - Tom's Hardware

[Sandog]

Here's Havok's homepage. Unfortunately UT3 uses Ageia's PhysX accelerator.

AMD/Havok cahoots.

Havok - AMD and Havok to Optimize Physics for Gaming

[WhiteEclipse]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

Nvidia buys Aegia and ATI is the first to market with onboard physics capabilities?

this might be the card that puts ATI in the drivers seat again...lets see what Nvidia has up is sleeve...I recently bought an 8800GT but I might upgrade in June to whoever puts out the best single card

Ageia was incorporated into the CUDA. So in theory it could be incorporated into the 8 or 9 series as well as the new cards. Don't know if the end it will only be the 2x0 series.

EDIT: fixed error.

[XJ.]

Originally Posted by WhiteEclipse

Ageia was incorporated into the CUDA. So in theory it could be incorporated into the 7 or 8 series as well as the new cards. Don't know if the end it will only be the 2x0 series.

Well any G80 series or better I think (so the 7xxxs would be out).