Twin-gun AMD R700 aims to blow NVIDIA out of the water

[Tarinder]

AMD seeded out cards as a performance preview, to show that it was serious about regaining respectability in the very high-end space.

Now, being a preview the board is very, very much an engineering sample, such that final performance, we reckon, will be a little better than what we've seen here.

PowerPlay is not enabled on the card, leading to high low- and mid-load power-draw. AMD is aware of the issue and promises to fix it in the final release.

That Anandtech result is spurious, because we bet the HD 4870s in CrossFire aren't being benchmarked properly, that is, with the CrossFire enabled via a user-inputted profile.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that the eventual Radeon HD 4870 X2 will ship with a street price of £299 and performance that's tuned to be just a little higher than two regular 4870s in two-card CrossFire.

It wouldn't be beyond the realms of possiblity for AMD to raise the clockspeeds of the shipping version to, say, 800/3,800, thereby leading to higher numbers.

Running dual GPUs on one board will always lead to instances of sub-par performance when scaling is difficult - Crysis being an obvious example - but it really is the only method for AMD to claw back some respectabilty from the hardcore enthusiasts who have £300 to drop on one card.

Kalniel,

Point taken about the benchmarks. We're working a revised set that will be rolled in as soon as verification of repeatable accuracy is complete.

[kalniel]

Kalniel,

Point taken about the benchmarks. We're working a revised set that will be rolled in as soon as verification of repeatable accuracy is complete.

Thank you, I'll officially shut up now

[koocha]

I don't have space in my case for 2 graphics cards (nor do I have an SLI mobo, but that's by the by) so this card is very appealing to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 8800GTS to bits but I want MORE. MORE I TELL YOU!

After they're available to buy I'll give it a couple of weeks and see how things stack up then

[rapidman17]

At least we know that ATI have finally clawed back the performance title over nvidia...it should lead to a more competitive market meaning better prices for all

On the 9800gtx vs 4850 issue... which card is better overall if they were both available at the price point of £120?

[SiM]

At least we know that ATI have finally clawed back the performance title over nvidia...it should lead to a more competitive market meaning better prices for all

On the 9800gtx vs 4850 issue... which card is better overall if they were both available at the price point of £120?

I would take the 9800gtx as the 4850 needs a £30 cooler to get decent temps... and because I am slightly biased

[staffsMike]

I would take the 9800gtx as the 4850 needs a £30 cooler to get decent temps... and because I am slightly biased

oooo unfair.. £15 for an accelero, £5 for a fan to strap to it But once applied you get really great temps and no noise given you choose the right fan

[this_is_gav]

Why are people bothered about the temps? It's well within the thermal specifications and it's not exactly limiting your other components. :\

I used to pride myself on getting my old P4 2.4C down to as low a temperature as possible, but really, it was just a waste of money. It made no difference to anything other than the immediate overclock, and there's very little to be gained from overclocking most graphics cards these days unless you're bothered about the size of your epee...3Dmark scores.

[SiM]

Why are people bothered about the temps? It's well within the thermal specifications and it's not exactly limiting your other components. :\

Its not just about the epeen. Hot components are more likely to fail afaik...

[SiM]

oooo unfair.. £15 for an accelero, £5 for a fan to strap to it But once applied you get really great temps and no noise given you choose the right fan

I always have the thermalright coolers in my head when I think about aftermarket cooling... but I suppose your are right, but £20 and a invalidated warranty is still a lot to give up to get a comfortably functioning 4850!

[leexgx]

needs an little edit the cards come with 2x1gb (1gb per core) not 512

[kalniel]

needs an little edit the cards come with 2x1gb (1gb per core) not 512

These ones don't.

[leexgx]

tough it was standard 2gb (2x1gb) all of the other reviews seem to have the 2gb ver of the video card