[ƒ|y]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341

MSRP [Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing]

HD 4850 - $199
HD 4870 - $299

There are a myriad of reviews I could post, but it seems like AMD / ATi is finally fighting back against nVidia's domination. Such has been reflected in the massive price cut to the MSRP of the 9800GTX [to $199] and its amazing performance figures against all of nVidia's offerings. The HD 4850 barely edges out the 9800GTX, but runs slightly hotter, but silently in comparison. The 9800GTX however, offers huge overclocking headroom - but once you replace the HD 4850's stock cooler, the temps simply fall to rock-bottom.


At the $300 price point, nVidia can not compare. The HD 4870 wipes out the nVidia GTX 260, slated to be priced at $400. A pair of these in CF [Crossfire] will slaughter the GTX 280 at lesser cost, and it is well known that CF scales better than SLi. Also debateable however - many suggest that ATi's offerings offer better picture quality than that of nVidia.


nVidia has gotten complacent recently with their domination, and have been marking up prices as a result. The new wave of Radeons should awaken the slumbering giant, causing large future price cuts. In the end, what does this mean?


The consumer always wins

[apparition]

nice nice, i just read about this earlier today.

originally, i was gonna grab 2 x 9600gt for my next build, but its probably gonna hafta be 1 or 2 4850's now seems like an awesome card. also, i hope ati improved their drivers. the last few ati products i had, had pretty bloated drivers. hope they're doing something about that . also regarding the image quality... actually ive owned many ati and nvidia products, and i can definitely say that ati has the better quality as far as 2d stuff goes. the image is just much sharper. its hard to explain unless you upgrade from one to the other on the same machine, and you probably won't notice after a while, but its a minor detail worth noting.

and wheres the singleslot 4870x2? *drool*

[ƒ|y]

nice nice, i just read about this earlier today.

originally, i was gonna grab 2 x 9600gt for my next build, but its probably gonna hafta be 1 or 2 4850's now seems like an awesome card. also, i hope ati improved their drivers. the last few ati products i had, had pretty bloated drivers. hope they're doing something about that . also regarding the image quality... actually ive owned many ati and nvidia products, and i can definitely say that ati has the better quality as far as 2d stuff goes. the image is just much sharper. its hard to explain unless you upgrade from one to the other on the same machine, and you probably won't notice after a while, but its a minor detail worth noting.

and wheres the singleslot 4870x2? *drool*

Don't get your hopes too high on the 4870x2, it'll be a few weeks until that, and you're looking at ~$650 MSRP.

Btw, the 48x0 drivers are pretty new, and could use some maturing. Over the next few weeks, you'll be sure to see improvements in performance and power savings while idle.

[apparition]

I guess the drivers situation is like that with any new product. But the catalyst control centre, in general, is just fat.

And so what do you think? one 4870? or two 4850 in CF? think it scales well in crossfire?

[ƒ|y]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=20

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=21

CF performance - HD 4850s do scale very well, and frequently outperform the HD 4870 by a good margin at high resolutions and filters when the cores are not pushed to the limit. However, when that happens, in rare cases - a single 4870 will outperform 4850 CF.

[n4n45h1]

on xtremesystems ive seen a couple people get 900mhz core speeds on their 4850s, unfortunately there arent enough 4870s going around to see what theyre fully capable of =[

[ƒ|y]

on xtremesystems ive seen a couple people get 900mhz core speeds on their 4850s, unfortunately there arent enough 4870s going around to see what theyre fully capable of =[

Amazing, but what sort of cooling?

Stock with 100% Fan? Aftermarket HSF? Water? TEC? LN2?

[vegavak]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341

MSRP [Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing]

HD 4850 - $199
HD 4870 - $299

There are a myriad of reviews I could post, but it seems like AMD / ATi is finally fighting back against nVidia's domination. Such has been reflected in the massive price cut to the MSRP of the 9800GTX [to $199] and its amazing performance figures against all of nVidia's offerings. The HD 4850 barely edges out the 9800GTX, but runs slightly hotter, but silently in comparison. The 9800GTX however, offers huge overclocking headroom - but once you replace the HD 4850's stock cooler, the temps simply fall to rock-bottom.


At the $300 price point, nVidia can not compare. The HD 4870 wipes out the nVidia GTX 260, slated to be priced at $400. A pair of these in CF [Crossfire] will slaughter the GTX 280 at lesser cost, and it is well known that CF scales better than SLi. Also debateable however - many suggest that ATi's offerings offer better picture quality than that of nVidia.


nVidia has gotten complacent recently with their domination, and have been marking up prices as a result. The new wave of Radeons should awaken the slumbering giant, causing large future price cuts. In the end, what does this mean?


The consumer always wins

To me, it's always been:
nvidia = expensive, but best
ati = budget, but damn good

[Gofishus]

The consumer always wins anyways because in the long term, the price has to drop down for technology, plus Moore's Law guarantees us more advanced chips each year on an exponential basis. =)