4870 and 4850 vs. GTX 280 and 260

[sigmapsicharlie]

http://en.expreview.com/2008/06/24/first-review-hd-4870-and-hd-4850/



Here is the link to a thorough review of all four cards.

As can be expected of a $650 card the GTX 280 leads the way (slightly), but the 4870 is a close second at 46% of the GTX 280's price, the 4870 is a clear winner in my book when it comes to price/performance.

Now just if you compare the 600+ price point, with 1 GTX 280 ($650) and 2 HD 4870 in Crossfire ($620), the outcome will be obvious that the Crossfire setup of HD 4870's will be the clear undisputed winner at the $600+ price point (plus you still save 30 bucks, so you'll be able to get an aftermarket HSF for one of them)

I wonder how all the Nvidia fans feel when they just forked out 650 for a overrated piece of crap like the GTX 280, when they could have saved some dough by going over to the darkside.

[Radiator]

Old news , but yeah... they are going to feel quite bitter about that , I suppose . However , CF = lots and lots of problems , so if you want a real highend that kills the GTX280 , then wait for the HD 4870 X2 .

[Die Auslese]

Keep in mind however that is a SINGLE, I repeat SINGLE GTX280. Currently I hav'nt seen a Crossfire bored that supports more than 2 cards. Basically yes 2 4870's are more powerful than a GTX280, but you just maxed out the bored slots, while the GTX280 can still add 1 or 2 MORE cards, effectivly making it 4-6x more powerful than 2 4870's. However thats if your wallet has to trucked in by FedEx, ita to damn expensive, and almost not worth getting 2 (3 is utterely usless) GTX280's. Why? Well i don't think there's a stock CPu alive that can fully utilize the full power of 2 GTX280's. Still if it were my money i want a X-38 bored with 2 4870's.

[aliquidparadigm]

Currently I hav'nt seen a Crossfire bored that supports more than 2 cards. Basically yes 2 4870's are more powerful than a GTX280, but you just maxed out the bored slots, while the GTX280 can still add 1 or 2 MORE cards, effectivly making it 4-6x more powerful than 2 4870's. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022+1494434970+107191003&Configurator=&Subcategory=22&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&Order=BESTMATCH&srchInDesc=

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022+107191003+1494436126&Configurator=&Subcategory=22&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&Order=BESTMATCH&srchInDesc=

Granted, AMD doesn't have a processor out that can even begin to know what to do with 4 high-end cards, but the boards are there.

[Die Auslese]

Granted, AMD doesn't have a processor out that can even begin to know what to do with 4 high-end cards, but the boards are there.[/QUOTE]

Exactly my point. An Intel bored would be useless as well, becuase card stacking for Crossfire seems to not work to a postive degree, rather a negative degree due to data degradation, and total process time. Which happens with SLi as well, but Nvidia works there ass off to make good drivers.

[Sunny]

Yeah I have to agree with Die Auslese its all fine and dandy that 2 4870's can beat 1 GTX280 and save you some money. But to people who are looking for the best performance and could care less about a budget then the GTX280 is the way to go(for now). I do think that when the 4870X2 comes out it will probably beat the performance of a single GTX280 but I guess we will see how 2 4870x2 scale compared to just 2 GTX280. Not to mention that your processor is going to have to be overclocked pretty good just to benefit from cards of this caliber.

Dang now all we need are some Monster CPU's to go along with monster cards.

[Radiator]

Granted, AMD doesn't have a processor out that can even begin to know what to do with 4 high-end cards, but the boards are there.

Exactly my point. An Intel bored would be useless as well, becuase card stacking for Crossfire seems to not work to a postive degree, rather a negative degree due to data degradation, and total process time. Which happens with SLi as well, but Nvidia works there ass off to make good drivers.[/QUOTE]

The lack of scaling is caused by drivers and lack of CF/SLi support in the games (which can be fixed by improving drivers) .

[wyz135]

wow, the Radeon HD4870 eats 378W of power at peak?!? That's insane

[Radiator]

wow, the Radeon HD4870 eats 378W of power at peak?!? That's insane

That's how much the entire system eats at peak , not the card itself .

[hdantman]

Hmm. Not so sure about needing additional CPU power to work with 2 GTX 280s. With affinity set properly at 3.6 Ghz, my SLI'd 8800 GTs OC'd to 706/1020 in Crysis pull less than %40. In fact, I've never gotten the CPU to max (when I'm monitoring, of course) except during CPU benchmarks, and that's exactly what benchmarks are meant to do. I'd like to see the new Crysis Cruncher machine with 3 GTX 280s and see if there's an apparent bottleneck. Unfortunately, I don't exactly have the stomach to spend the price of my entire rig on just 3 new video cards at the moment, especially when my existing setup works beyond great.