Reviews - Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 XT and XFX Radeon HD 4890 OC vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX

[Jimbo75]

Paper-launched? It's available to buy for £199 at Scan.co.uk. It's a very real card.
Dodgy drivers? We had one issue with Race Driver: GRID, but everything else ran fine.
Worst overclockers? We want to publish numbers that are solid, not pants-of-your-seat stuff, to give readers an honest indication of the overclocks they're likely to achieve. What happens if we quote 1,000/4,750MHz -a figure that lasts a second - and readers base their buying judgements on that?

The test drivers, 185.63, were used under the proviso that NVIDIA would release them to the public asap. NVIDIA claims that it will do just that, today, so we'll see where it stacks up.

The only available 275's are Palit ones (Gainward coming soon but they are owned by Palit), and considering the cards were only made available yesterday it's more than a little bit strange. It will be interesting to see how this Palit compares to your review sample.

Your 275 failed on Grid, THG's failed on Crysis - using the same drivers Nvidia rushed out hours before the launch. That smells a bit fishy to me at least. I certainly don't see how the review could not have been done with stable drivers instead.

[kalniel]

Your 275 failed on Grid, THG's failed on Crysis - using the same drivers Nvidia rushed out hours before the launch. That smells a bit fishy to me at least. I certainly don't see how the review could not have been done with stable drivers instead.

For every person complaining that they used drivers that will come with the card, there's someone else that would complain if they used older drivers that weren't designed with the card in mind (see previous card reviews for eg). I think Hexus got this one right - very much on the proviso that the public will be getting these drivers.

[scaryjim]

Why no Crysis benchmarks on this review today?

Hexus hasn't benched Crysis for a long time - I think because it runs like a tortoise with its legs tied together. What's the point of benching a game that's only playable at 1280x1024 Mid quality with most cards?

I think Hexus got this one right - very much on the proviso that the public will be getting these drivers.

+1. Both scan and novatech have stock of the card, Hexus have used NVidia's recommended drivers; presumably NVidia wouldn't have recommended them if the card would perform better with older drivers, and the fact that they appear to have stability issues is to NVidia's detriment, not ATIs. I see no problem with Hexus's review.

[MadduckUK]

Hexus hasn't benched Crysis for a long time - I think because it runs like a tortoise with its legs tied together. What's the point of benching a game that's only playable at 1280x1024 Mid quality with most cards?

it has less chance of being bottlenecked, what stats that crysis gives do you particulate dislike?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

At the moment the HD4890 does work out slightly cheaper.

Novatech have the Sapphire HD4890 for £205 delivered:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?HIS-4890

Scan have the GTX275 for £208 once delivery is taken into consideration:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=992829

Remember that most people will NOT qualify for special free postage offers so I think it would be fair to quote the cheapest DELIVERED prices!

[Turbotab]

Anybody taken the plunge and brought a 4890 or GTX 275?

[Aelred89]

Nice review guys, I'm looking at the 4890 myself due to the insane overclocking potential being reported! I saw one review that got it to 985/4800!!!

[Jimbo75]

Somewhat different point of view with the current Nvidia drivers if you read xbitlabs review. According to the Nvidia website, the 185 drivers are still in beta.

[McPhee]

Two very interesting cards! Nvidia are clearly determined to win this one, pushing the 275 out the door as quickly as possible, making it slightly better than the 4890 and ensuring that it hits retail slightly cheaper.

Can't wait to see how this one pans out (though i doubt i'll buy either, would be a bit of a waste for 1440x900 lol)

[cobhc]

Just figured out that the GTX295 is essentialy 2xGTX275's.

[Turbotab]

Just figured out that the GTX295 is essentialy 2xGTX275's.

There is talk of Nvidia producing a single PCB GTX 295, imagine they might make a quad GPU GTX 295X2, if only, you wouldn't need central heating!!

[cobhc]

There is talk of Nvidia producing a single PCB GTX 295, imagine they might make a quad GPU GTX 295X2, if only, you wouldn't need central heating!!

You'd save money in the long run, invest your money in nVidia instead of British Gas!

[Turbotab]

You'd save money in the long run, invest your money in nVidia instead of British Gas!

I could also dedicate 1 GPU to folding@home, so I'd have a warm feeling inside as well!

[cobhc]

Nice......nVidia better take note of this!

[Turbotab]

It's like Top Trumps, my folding@home is higher than your C02 footprint!

[dfour]

Nice review guys, I'm looking at the 4890 myself due to the insane overclocking potential being reported! I saw one review that got it to 985/4800!!!

was this with a stock or factory OC model???

It's like Top Trumps, my folding@home is higher than your C02 footprint!

LMAO