Palit Radeon HD 4870 X2 1GB - AMD Reclaims GPU Supremacy

Rob Williams · 08-12-2008, 12:18 AM

AMD triumphantly returns with a GPU so powerful, it might just send NVIDIA's engineers scrambling back to the drawing board.

AMD has gone too long without a real high-end graphics card to compete with the competition, but they're done with the pity, and prove it with the HD 4870 X2, which becomes the fastest graphics card the planet has ever seen. It may cost more than the competition, but its end performance easily negates that premium.

You can read the full article here and then discuss it here!

THUMPer · 08-12-2008, 04:58 PM

badda boom

Merlin · 08-12-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

AMD triumphantly returns with a GPU so powerful, it might just send NVIDIA's engineers scrambling back to the drawing board.

AMD has gone too long without a real high-end graphics card to compete with the competition, but they're done with the pity, and prove it with the HD 4870 X2, which becomes the fastest graphics card the planet has ever seen. It may cost more than the competition, but its end performance easily negates that premium.

You can read the full article here and then discuss it here!

Would be nice this Winter for a heater.
I might of missed it, but was there a temp graph?

Merlin

Rob Williams · 08-12-2008, 07:02 PM

No sadly, for some reason that skipped my mind. I had so many issues over the weekend with the card and drivers, that I ended up having to leave out a few things I wanted.

The temps aren't a huge deal though, and should be in line with the last HD 3870 X2 card. They are designed to handle 105C without an issue, so I'd expect it to hover around 90C at least during full load.

b1lk1 · 08-12-2008, 09:24 PM

Kickass article Rob and it's about time for us AMD/ATi fans too. Very nice card.

MakubeX · 08-13-2008, 10:34 AM

Very nice, but where's the Crysis test?

Rob Williams · 08-13-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakubeX

Very nice, but where's the Crysis test?

Taken from the article:

I should mention also that I had wanted to include results from both Crysis and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, but due to what I believe were driver issues, I was unable. AMD is working to figure out the reason I had such issues, and I will follow-up with results from those two games once it's been sorted out. For now, I don't know what to blame, since other editors don't seem to have the same issues I do. Oddly enough, it's just those two titles, as performance everywhere else is just fine.

No I haven't heard back from AMD about it, so perhaps I should ping them again. I still think it's a driver issue with my particular setup. I'd love to get my hands on some newer drivers.

Rory Buszka · 08-13-2008, 02:47 PM

The Crysis test was scrapped because it wasn't delivering the kind of results that we believed the Radeon HD 4870 X2 was capable of, after seeing its runaway performance leads in other games. We're currently working with AMD to determine why the results in Crysis and HL2:EP2 were so hit-or-miss, and as I understand it, Rob plans to follow that article up with some data from Crysis and HL2:EP2 as soon as we figure out what's going on.

[Bah...jumped the gun there. Rob's answer is the definitive one.]

Kougar · 08-13-2008, 07:32 PM

Were the issues with AA enabled on Crysis? Madshrimps was fine without AA, but with AA they had similar problems from the sound of it.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...56&articID=864

Rob Williams · 08-13-2008, 07:42 PM

I never enabled AA in Crysis before, so that wasn't the problem. Half-Life 2 had AA, but it still should have been able to handle that game just fine.

Like I mentioned in the review, judging by the 'previews' that were posted weeks before, the problem was just my own, it seemed. Perhaps I have a less-than-perfect card, I don't know. I tested it on two different computers and had the same issue.

08-23-2008, 11:57 AM

Very nicely written review for great card. Thank you.

Rob Williams · 08-23-2008, 04:03 PM

Thanks for the comments Oleg!

08-12-2008, 12:18 AM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Palit Radeon HD 4870 X2 1GB - AMD Reclaims GPU Supremacy AMD triumphantly returns with a GPU so powerful, it might just send NVIDIA's engineers scrambling back to the drawing board. AMD has gone too long without a real high-end graphics card to compete with the competition, but they're done with the pity, and prove it with the HD 4870 X2, which becomes the fastest graphics card the planet has ever seen. It may cost more than the competition, but its end performance easily negates that premium. You can read the full article here and then discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-12-2008, 07:02 PM	#4
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	No sadly, for some reason that skipped my mind. I had so many issues over the weekend with the card and drivers, that I ended up having to leave out a few things I wanted. The temps aren't a huge deal though, and should be in line with the last HD 3870 X2 card. They are designed to handle 105C without an issue, so I'd expect it to hover around 90C at least during full load. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-12-2008, 09:24 PM	#5
b1lk1 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 821	Kickass article Rob and it's about time for us AMD/ATi fans too. Very nice card. __________________ Oldschool PC: Intel E6300/Nouctua NH-9U w/dual 92mm Panaflos XFX 680i LT Patriot PC2-6400 2X2GB LL 2 X BFG 8800GTX in SLI Enermax Revolution 620W PSU ASUS 24X DVD/Seagate 250GB SATA 2/THermaltake A90/Windows 7 Ultimate 64

08-13-2008, 10:34 AM	#6
MakubeX Partition Master Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 277	Very nice, but where's the Crysis test? __________________ HP LP2065 20.1" S-IPS LCD \| Lian Li PC-7077A case w/window \| Asus P5Q Deluxe \| Intel Q9650 4.2GHz - 1.33v 4GB G.Skill PI PC2-8800 \| Asus HD 4870X2 \| Ultra X3 1KW PSU \| X-Fi Fatal1ty w/ Front Panel\| Logitech Z-680 THX 5.1 Speakers EK Supreme \| EK FC-4870X2 block \| Enzotech SNBW-SLI \| Swiftech MCW30 \| DDC-2 w/ XSPC Top \| Laing D5 \| Thermochill PA120.3 \| Weapon Heatercore

08-13-2008, 02:47 PM	#8
Rory Buszka Super Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Posts: 388	The Crysis test was scrapped because it wasn't delivering the kind of results that we believed the Radeon HD 4870 X2 was capable of, after seeing its runaway performance leads in other games. We're currently working with AMD to determine why the results in Crysis and HL2:EP2 were so hit-or-miss, and as I understand it, Rob plans to follow that article up with some data from Crysis and HL2:EP2 as soon as we figure out what's going on. [Bah...jumped the gun there. Rob's answer is the definitive one.] __________________ Best Regards, Rory Buszka

08-12-2008, 04:58 PM	#2
THUMPer Coastermaker Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Indianpolis! Posts: 230	badda boom

08-13-2008, 07:42 PM	#10
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	I never enabled AA in Crysis before, so that wasn't the problem. Half-Life 2 had AA, but it still should have been able to handle that game just fine. Like I mentioned in the review, judging by the 'previews' that were posted weeks before, the problem was just my own, it seemed. Perhaps I have a less-than-perfect card, I don't know. I tested it on two different computers and had the same issue. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-23-2008, 11:57 AM	#11
Oleg Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Very nicely written review for great card. Thank you.

08-23-2008, 04:03 PM	#12
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Thanks for the comments Oleg! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

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