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CrashHelmut
14-07-2008, 12:29 PM
Some selected quotes:

Please keep in mind that this is a PREVIEW of the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, a.k.a. “R700.” The video cards we have for evaluation today come straight from AMD as engineering samples, the final retail version of this video card will have a newer BIOS than what we are using here today. Also, there will be a newer driver set ready when these video cards officially launch later this summer. That said, we think you will still be very pleasantly surprised by the performance evaluated today in this early hardware and software stage of the Radeon HD 4870 X2.

Our gameplay experiences with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 were phenomenal, especially once we raised the antialiasing setting to high levels. In Crysis, we found 1920x1200 with all in-game settings at “High” was playable on the Radeon HD 4870 X2, which is an impressive feat for Crysis. This matched the same gameplay experience as the BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OC. Once we setup our 4870 X2 CrossFireX configuration we were able to take a few in-game settings to “Very High,” but most importantly we were able to turn on 4X AA at 1920x1200. At 2560x1600 CrossFireX did not scale well, however looking at Crysis as a whole, and keeping in mind that AMD has stated that scaling is not up to what they want, the end result is still very impressive for beta drivers and engineering sample hardware.

Age of Conan truly shows the potential within the Radeon HD 4870 X2. In this game we were able to utilize Custom Filtering AA modes, enabling edge detect using the shaders at high AA levels. At 1920x1200 we found the game very playable with 12X CFAA enabled plus Adaptive AA to smooth out alpha textures as well on the Radeon HD 4870 X2. This surpassed the image quality provided by the BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OC in Age of Conan at 1920x1200. With ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX we found a tremendous amount of performance was available to us, allowing us to flat out max out the image quality in Age of Conan. At 1920x1200 we were playing Age of Conan at the highest settings possible on the ATI hardware, 24X CFAA plus Adaptive AA with the highest in-game settings. At 2560x1600 we were able to turn on 8X AA plus Adaptive AA as well, providing better image quality than GTX 280 SLI.

This preview has shown a very positive light on AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2. Usually previews can go two ways, either it is going to perform really badly, or it is going to outperform our expectations. This was the latter; the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 outperformed our initial expectations. Even in this preview state the hardware and drivers have a very solid feel to them. The CrossFireX experience was easy to setup and worked without any fuss.
From this (http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUzMSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==) HardOCP article.

Anandtech's preview (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354).

hawk
14-07-2008, 01:08 PM
Great news!

Frozenfireside
14-07-2008, 02:41 PM
In Crysis, we found 1920x1200 with all in-game settings at “High” was playable
niiiice. looks good for ATi.

CrashHelmut
14-07-2008, 02:51 PM
I just read that NVIDIA has dropped the prices for the GTX 280 and GTX 260 to $500 (from $650) and $300 respectively.

Prophecy prices for a GTX 280 = R7500 and GTX 260 = R4400. It is crazy to buy a NVIDIA at those prices. Especially as you can get a HD4850 for R2500 and a HD4870 for R3400.

And from what I've read, the 9800GTX+ does not deliver on its promise to be an effective HD4850 competitor, more pricey and with worse thermal/noise performance.

Darkmag
14-07-2008, 05:49 PM
Another preview

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=588&pageid=1

Wesley
15-07-2008, 10:45 AM
I've always read that many, if not most people root for the Nvidia gpu's because they offer more graphical grunt than the AMD boards. Perhaps AMD is going to finally turn this around and become the weapon of choice for gamers again? And judging by the fact that the card can get Crysis to run at some really high levels, does this mean that AMD has finally sorted out their Crossfire drivers to match and surpass anything Nvidia's SLI can do? I'm an AMD fan at heart, although I choose to run an Nvidia card because of its power, and i hope that AMD will now have the upper hand. And those prices look awfully good. A 4850 at a lower price than an 8800gt? How does the 4850 match up I wonder...

Binnacle
15-07-2008, 10:54 AM
Yay! Viva La ATI! Viva!

Can't wait to get rid of my current 7900GT, nice enough card, but she's broken...

CrashHelmut
15-07-2008, 10:54 AM
There is a thread for the 4850 as well:
http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=6039&highlight=4850

It mostly matches the current NVIDIA 9800GTX. But is a lot cheaper.

As far as single GPU is concerned, NVIDIA is still the performance champ there. AMD has decided on a different strategy, where they employ multiple cheaper GPUs, rather than the 1 big monolithic GPU.

Edit:
I see the new Intel x58 chipset will support both SLI and Crossfire as NVIDIA has agreed for SLI support on that chipset. I wonder if this is due to NVIDIA coming under pressure with their tanking stock and the release of the new AMD cards. Article here (http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/604443/intel-x58-chipset-to-support-sli-and-crossfire.html).

Chevron
15-07-2008, 12:19 PM
I've always read that many, if not most people root for the Nvidia gpu's because they offer more graphical grunt than the AMD boards. Perhaps AMD is going to finally turn this around and become the weapon of choice for gamers again? And judging by the fact that the card can get Crysis to run at some really high levels, does this mean that AMD has finally sorted out their Crossfire drivers to match and surpass anything Nvidia's SLI can do? I'm an AMD fan at heart, although I choose to run an Nvidia card because of its power, and i hope that AMD will now have the upper hand. And those prices look awfully good. A 4850 at a lower price than an 8800gt? How does the 4850 match up I wonder...

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff275/chevron/Enter.jpg


A 4850 at a lower price than an 8800gt? How does the 4850 match up I wonder...

Around the level of the 9800gtx+.