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2 Different HD4870X2's....

jrodga2k5

jrodga2k5

jrodga2k5

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So Ati are allowing their partners to bring out 2 different versions of the HD4870X2! one sporting some 1GB DDR3 and another codenamed "Spartan" to sport 2GB of DDR5.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8284&Itemid=1

he top notch R700 comes with 2GB GDDR5 memory, but AMD will allow its partners to build a GDDR3 based version of the card. Such a board will be cheaper and faster to market.

This configuration will include 1GB GDDR3 memory and two RV770PRO chips and since the partners will be allowed to build these boards there might be a chance to some of the AIBs might come with its own cooling solution.

Such a board might have a chance to come in August but it looks like that this particular version might come a bit later. R700 with GDDR5 has a big chance to start shipping as early as mid-August, but a fixed date has not been picked yet.
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2GB on a 256-bit bus though.....

Anyways is this good or bad news? And how badly do people think this will effect the overall price? We could see ourselves paying A LOT more for the HD4870x2 with 2GB DDR5
 
But not that much given how much the cost of gtx280's have come down so far.

"If" I got one, I would prob only run it at under 1920 res anyway, so 512mb would likely suffice.

2x 4870x2 (2gb)... you'll be needing 8Gb system ram then :D

Matthew
 
See I wouldnt have thought so mate but Its not like its 1GB of DDR3 and simply swapping the type of mem, its another GB of DDR5 on top also!

Though I can see a very cheap DDR3 x2 and a decently priced DDR5 x2
 
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Gurusan? You seen any conclusive tests of gddr5 vs gddr3 yet? (at stock mem clocks, but the 4850 clocked to same level as the 70 (or even the 4870 underclocked).

Matthew
 
we did a few random benches and it looks like gDDR5 helps out between 5-10% depending on the game.

Since the 4870 costs 60-70% more I don't think it's worth it...not to mention no one has figured out any vmods yet so that's a major turn off for me. Limited at 800mhz or so = poop :p
 
i did say in another thread that the 4870x2 1gb would be ddr3, but people said nah its ddr5. looks like im right.:D

so the 1gb card will be 2 4850 chips

This configuration will include 1GB GDDR3 memory and two RV770PRO chips and since the partners will be allowed to build these boards there might be a chance to some of the AIBs might come with its own cooling solution.
Click to expand...
 
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gurusan said:
we did a few random benches and it looks like gDDR5 helps out between 5-10% depending on the game.

Since the 4870 costs 60-70% more I don't think it's worth it...not to mention no one has figured out any vmods yet so that's a major turn off for me. Limited at 800mhz or so = poop :p
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lol. I did a quick search but only turned up other forums tests. The general consensus is that gddr5 performance is about 6%-7% higher. Even when raised by 200Mhz (800Mhz effective) it hardly made any noticeable difference to the Vantage scores (about 50 points in xtreme mode or whatever it's called). Seriously making me think about getting the 4850 instead...although i'd still like the better cooler of the 70.

EDIT: With raising the mem freq not giving that much of a boost, it makes me think that reducing the gddr5 mem chips latency/timings may be a better approach and yeild better results. Can we do this yet?

Matthew
 
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gddr5 with 256bit bus is fine as it offers the same/better bandwidth that gddr3 with a 512bit bus. See bandwidth for the 4870 vs the GTX280.

Hence why ATI chose the gddr5 route and Nvidia stuck with the 512bit bus route. Two different ways of acheiving the same end result.

Gddr5 memory more expensive than gddr3 but 512bit pcb more expensive than 256bit pcbs.

Interesting that Nvidia reported as going gddr5 by the end of the year but not said whether they will stick with a 512bit bus.

And with the 4870 if has better voltage control and an additional power connector so in theory should overclock higher than a 4850 once the tools are out.

Interesting is the "super" 4870 running at 900/1200 with just a bios unlock. I would imagine that all 4870's will be capable of running at 900/1100 with no pencil mod as they all seem fine at 790/1100 with using CCC.

So is the 4870 worth the extra?

Depends. Clock per clock you will gain 6-7% using gddr5 over gdd3 and you can overclock without the need of a pencil mod.

Plus the extra bandwidth of the gddr5 memory will only come into it's own with high res, lots of AA and the core substantially overclocked.

Get the 4870 is you want to be safe and potentially overclock higher and easier and maybe end up with a card which is 10-20% quicker than an extreme overclcoked 4850.

Get ther 4870 if running very high res.

Get the 4850 if you want a bargain and prepared to volt mod, update bios and do "messy" overclocking.

Remeber that without the bios update and volt mod, 4850 card owners don't seem to overclock even up to 4870 speeds. Plus even with the bios and volt mod, not every person is reporting the remarkable results which Gurusan is acheiving (qudos to him btw, well done) so it is a gamble with a 4850 that you can overclock it to the same performance as a stock 4870.

Personally I'm spending the extra £60 to get the guaranteed 4870 performance as a 4850 at stock would be slower than my current GTS (as per sig) and I don't want to take the risk I get a bad overclocker which won't even match my GTS.

The 4870 running at 790/1100 will beat my GTS and hopefully under water with software overclocking only I might see 900-1000/1200 speeds which would own an overclocked 4850.
 
Meronem said:
I'll probably take 2 4870 X2 GDDR3 myself
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Hmmm, if you need the power of a x2, you need the bandwidth of gddr5 IMO.

You should only really be considering a 4870x2 if you run 1920 x 1200 and above with aa. If your not, just buy the 4850 or 4870.

In that scenario, the memory bandwidth will start and limit the 4870x2 performance IMO.

So depending on the cost difference, the gddr5 4870x2 will be the better buy.
 
gurusan said:
we did a few random benches and it looks like gDDR5 helps out between 5-10% depending on the game.

Since the 4870 costs 60-70% more I don't think it's worth it...not to mention no one has figured out any vmods yet so that's a major turn off for me. Limited at 800mhz or so = poop :p
Click to expand...

+1
 
Meronem said:
I'll probably take 2 4870 X2 GDDR3 myself
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hmmmmm guys it says two RV770PRO chips = x2 4850, for the 1gb card

read it ..
This configuration will include 1GB GDDR3 memory and two RV770PRO chips and since the partners will be allowed to build these boards there might be a chance to some of the AIBs might come with its own cooling solution.
Click to expand...
 
Scougar said:
lol. I did a quick search but only turned up other forums tests. The general consensus is that gddr5 performance is about 6%-7% higher. Even when raised by 200Mhz (800Mhz effective) it hardly made any noticeable difference to the Vantage scores (about 50 points in xtreme mode or whatever it's called). Seriously making me think about getting the 4850 instead...although i'd still like the better cooler of the 70.

Matthew
Click to expand...

If all you do is play Vantage then yeah not worth it i guess. :rolleyes:
 
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