Great article, particularly the average price bit on the first page, you never see that on reviews and it was very helpful. Must have taken a while too.
a rather personal question: does upgrading to 4870 from 8800GTX seem worth it?
from the Ultra benchmark, i see less than expected FPS increase from 4870. and minimal FPS doesn't seem to improve a lot, even though it's on GDDR5 with more memory bandwidth.
With the GTX 280 always selling for $500+ (USD) whilst the 4870 goes for $300 and the numbers offered, I don't see how the GTX 280 deserves anything better than a 5 in the value department. Even as top dog, It get's its balls stomped off in terms of performance offered for money spent vs the 4870. It really doesn't make sense unless you're a die-hard Nvidia fan with more money than sense, does it?
With a bit more pocket change you could effectively buy two Radeon HD 4870's for the price of one GTX 280; we'll come back to see what difference this makes compared to a single GeForce GTX 280 in a short while when we investigate SLI and Crossfire performance.
Cannot. Wait.
Btw, absolute corker of a roundup, Harry and Bindi.
Originally Posted by RotoSequence With the GTX 280 always selling for $500+ (USD) whilst the 4870 goes for $300 and the numbers offered, I don't see how the GTX 280 deserves anything better than a 5 in the value department. Even as top dog, It get's its balls stomped off in terms of performance offered for money spent vs the 4870. It really doesn't make sense unless you're a die-hard Nvidia fan with more money than sense, does it?
Because ATI has nothing that can match it in many of the tests, it's simply what you'd expect to pay for a high end card.
wuyanxu - no, no time. We finished at 1:30am last night :p
It's good to see that ATi seem to have ironed out most of their Anti-Aliasing issues. :D
When I last checked the prices of the cards (which was, admittedly, before most of the e-tailers had a chance to drop their prices after nVidia announced they were cutting the prices of the GTX260/280) it was actually cheaper to buy two 4870's than it was to buy a single GTX280 - ~£190 each for 4870's and easily exceeding £400 for a GTX280.
Seeing the price drop on the GTX's has me wondering again, but I'd like to see R700 before making any firm choices. If that stomps the GTX280 the way it looks like it could, and at the same-or-possibly-lower price point, it'll be an almost certain purchase. (And if it has issues with my DFI X48... well the DFI is getting replaced, simple as that...)
Really looking forward to the CrossFire/SLI review. :)
Oh Rich mate i am sorry, i feel really guilty for pm'ing you the other day saying where is the article on the ati 4k series, you should have just me that the review looks at 3 other new cards too and to piss off, i wouldnt have minded.
great article though fellas, nice to see ati kicking some ass again and apparently other sites have reported 10% increases on mem speeds on the ati cards (namely the 4870) which is always nice to see imo. Job well done boys, go have a beer and an ice cream in the sun
Great article folks, worth the wait but as it answers a good few questions, it rasies a lot more (sheesh, its like watching an episode of Lost!).
I now have clarity as to which card to buy, its the 4870, the only question is do I hang on for the X2 or try for a crosfire config - despite swearing that I'd never run a dual GPU setup and would rather buy a more expensive card instead.
I now realise that I have to waity for the next article on crossfire results.
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thanks thanks thanks thanks
And just in time for my summer holiday too, i was afraid you weren't going to make it. Cheers Tim, i bet you need some sleep now :)
Must have been a killer to write :D
Read:
Thanks a lot for Benchmark :)
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
<3 ATI!!!!
getting me an X2 when it comes out :D!!!!
Keep up the good work!
\m/
a rather personal question: does upgrading to 4870 from 8800GTX seem worth it?
from the Ultra benchmark, i see less than expected FPS increase from 4870. and minimal FPS doesn't seem to improve a lot, even though it's on GDDR5 with more memory bandwidth.
there's no power consumption test?
Bring on the 4870 crossfire review!
Cannot. Wait.
Btw, absolute corker of a roundup, Harry and Bindi.
Because ATI has nothing that can match it in many of the tests, it's simply what you'd expect to pay for a high end card.
wuyanxu - no, no time. We finished at 1:30am last night :p
are you sure it's not 8.6 drivers?
I didn't notice that.
When I last checked the prices of the cards (which was, admittedly, before most of the e-tailers had a chance to drop their prices after nVidia announced they were cutting the prices of the GTX260/280) it was actually cheaper to buy two 4870's than it was to buy a single GTX280 - ~£190 each for 4870's and easily exceeding £400 for a GTX280.
Seeing the price drop on the GTX's has me wondering again, but I'd like to see R700 before making any firm choices. If that stomps the GTX280 the way it looks like it could, and at the same-or-possibly-lower price point, it'll be an almost certain purchase. (And if it has issues with my DFI X48... well the DFI is getting replaced, simple as that...)
Really looking forward to the CrossFire/SLI review. :)
great article though fellas, nice to see ati kicking some ass again and apparently other sites have reported 10% increases on mem speeds on the ati cards (namely the 4870) which is always nice to see imo. Job well done boys, go have a beer and an ice cream in the sun
peace
thanks for the spot!
in most games, what is the highest in-game menu setting for ATI cards?
as i understand, those games offering 16xQCSAA (Grid) will not continue to offer that with an ATI card
Well, we've been hearing about Tim non-stop benching for the past few weeks, so that's why i assumed it would be him that needed the most sleep :p
Killer article though guys, this basically covers all the ground for almost all users. Energy usage would be a nice bonus though.
Bring on the SLI/CF and OC articles
I now have clarity as to which card to buy, its the 4870, the only question is do I hang on for the X2 or try for a crosfire config - despite swearing that I'd never run a dual GPU setup and would rather buy a more expensive card instead.
I now realise that I have to waity for the next article on crossfire results.