ATI's new HD48xx range

Things are looking good for ATI

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ati-radeon-hd-4850-review-force-3d--powercolor/
from Stardock Forums

ATI has been hard at work on their next series of graphic cards. After the excellent HD38xx release, things are looking better for ATI since the release of the HD2xxx series which didn't go down too well at the time.

The HD48xx series of cards are armed with ATI's new RV770 chipset, built using 55nm production. The card also sports 512MB of GDDR3 memory. It is extremely powerful for its size (with the stock HD4850 being a single-slot product), price (launch price for HD4850 is only $200 USD) and power usage (with the card only using 269 watts when under a load).

Just check out some of the benchmarks over at the Guru3d article I linked to see this little beauty in action. Its got a little more grunt than Nvidia's 9800 GTX in most titles, with ATI's card retailing cheaper to boot (and sporting a better feature set).

In a few more weeks the HD4870 will be unleashed (with more agressive clock speeds and sporting GDDR5 memory) that'll pack even more bang. A little while after that we will see the HD4870X2 which is 2 GPUs stacked onto one board.

Needless to say its exciting times for both ATI fans and even Nvidia fans alike, because this newfound competition will drive down prices in every direction and lead to even more innovation in graphic solutions.

131,007 views 43 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Bebi, reply 1
I have an HD 2600xt.

Which is a better design than what the HD2900XT was at the time. :)

TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Everything launched past the 9600GT has been crap as far as price/performance. A 512 8800GTS is still $150 in the States.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Awesome, too bad Nvidia already has their new series ready soon :P
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The new Nvidia cards are slightly, and I mean only slightly better, but cost almost 2x. And 2 ATI's > 1 Nvidia
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Everything launched past the 9600GT has been crap as far as price/performance. A 512 8800GTS is still $150 in the States.


I agree 100%. I'm still using my 8800gtx 768mb card and I have no plans on upgrading anytime soon. I just don't see it worth buying any of the 9 series cards or the new 280 series. To little performance boost for way to much money.

Of course I've used Nvidia cards all my life and I can't see myself using anything but Nvidia. We'll see /shrug.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

I personally am not a fan of how Nvidia treats their driver releases (and the quality of their driver releases in general).

I much prefer ATI's substantial driver updates which while not as frequent as Nvidia's, are of higher quality and contain more important fixes and performance improvements.

This coupled with the fact ATI seems to be first on the bandwagon when it comes to new features lately (DX10.1 / Pixel Shader 4.1 support, using the latest memory standards such as GDDR5) and their superior price to performance ratio with the HD38xx releases onwards means ATI are exactly what I'm after in a producer of graphics cards for a gamer.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i'm pretty fond of my 3870. it's been a good card thus far.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This coupled with the fact ATI seems to be first on the bandwagon when it comes to new features lately (DX10.1 / Pixel Shader 4.1 support, using the latest memory standards such as GDDR5) and their superior price to performance ratio with the HD38xx releases onwards means ATI are exactly what I'm after in a producer of graphics cards for a gamer.


Not to mention the driver development is much better than nVidia's at the moment.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snidely, reply 8


i'm pretty fond of my 3870. it's been a good card thus far.

I've got a HD3850 myself and its a great little card for what I paid for it. I'm looking to upgrade to a HD4870 when they come out in the next few weeks (GDDR5 memory ftw).

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
I only have a X1800, but it has never let me down. Only my 2.8GHz single core CPU is holding me back at the moment. Besides the HD2 series are not as good as the last of the line X1 sereis they just render HD stuff and its not that impresive to me.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I will never buy another ATI product again.

Period.

Its too much money to play dice with.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I will never buy another ATI product again.

Period.

Its too much money to play dice with.


One bad experience shouldn't label it as crap. ATi doesn't even make their own cards anymore, so if you have an issue with an HIS card for instance then just stay away from HIS. >_>
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top

This coupled with the fact ATI seems to be first on the bandwagon when it comes to new features lately (DX10.1 / Pixel Shader 4.1 support, using the latest memory standards such as GDDR5) and their superior price to performance ratio with the HD38xx releases onwards means ATI are exactly what I'm after in a producer of graphics cards for a gamer.


Yeah, but those "new features" are largely insignificant, and ATI makes really terrible decisions like pairing those high-bandwidth memory modules with crappy memory buses, or putting crappy bridge chips in the 3870X2 giving it very little performance over a regular 3870. I still think ATI's going to at least win this round, but I wish they would focus on the thing that matters: price/performance.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah, but those "new features" are largely insignificant


GDDR5 isnt largely insignificant, higher clock speeds while requiring less power is generally something thats fairly significant don't you think?
but I wish they would focus on the thing that matters: price/performance.

Have you seen the price of the HD 4850? It's $200 at Best Buy with a $50 dollar rebate. How is that not a good deal considering it's on par with a 9800GTX and the drivers at the moment are far from being anywhere near the cards full potential.
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
Have you seen the price of the HD 4850? It's $200 at Best Buy with a $50 dollar rebate. How is that not a good deal considering it's on par with a 9800GTX and the drivers at the moment are far from being anywhere near the cards full potential.


Right, and my point was that the ATI marketing team should emphasize that. Still, I think it's relatively stupid to compare to the 9800GTX, as the 9800GTX is a pretty shitty launch all around.

It's more like "at higher resolutions and with AA enabled, this card does marginally better". And for $150, that's great. For $200, it's a little less great, but it's still a better buy for higher-resolution setups.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
as the 9800GTX is a pretty shitty launch all around.


Not true, check out the benchmarks on the XFX Black Edition, it's a pretty nice card.
For $200, it's a little less great, but it's still a better buy for higher-resolution setups.

Good enough to make nVidia practically drop the price on the 9800GTX $100 USD.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Everything launched past the 9600GT has been crap as far as price/performance. A 512 8800GTS is still $150 in the States. I agree 100%. I'm still using my 8800gtx 768mb card and I have no plans on upgrading anytime soon. I just don't see it worth buying any of the 9 series cards or the new 280 series. To little performance boost for way to much money. Of course I've used Nvidia cards all my life and I can't see myself using anything but Nvidia. We'll see /shrug.


I know hardware enthusiasts upgrade atleast every other generation (and I'm the exception that confirms the rule) but is it really necessary..? (Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that many people do so the graphics technology gets raised).

I bought my 8800GTS(G92) 3 months ago and am not gonna switch until atleast ATI 5870.


Looks like ATI's gonna win this round. Great work :CONGRAT:
Now things will finally even out after Nvidias successes with the 8800 series.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I got the HD4850 about 2 weeks ago.....try looking for drivers for it on the ATI site.

They rushed the card to market without providing certified drivers. Then they found the drivers that were packaged made the cards run way too hot. So right now you have to use an unsupported "hotfix" driver. I'm being patient because the hotfix driver seem to be fairly stable so far and it is a screamin card.
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top

It is cheaper than 9800GTX on the release but pack the same punch:CONGRAT:

Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

Yes I'll agree in that they did push the release out before the drivers were completely ready but you can you blame ATI for wanting to put the heat on Nvidia? Nvidia does exactly the same thing so you can't blame ATI for not wanting to delay the card's release.

That said the new 8.7 release will be a substantial release for almost all Radeon cards (its providing support way back to the 9500).

Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I got the HD4850 about 2 weeks ago.....try looking for drivers for it on the ATI site.

They rushed the card to market without providing certified drivers. Then they found the drivers that were packaged made the cards run way too hot. So right now you have to use an unsupported "hotfix" driver. I'm being patient because the hotfix driver seem to be fairly stable so far and it is a screamin card.


Ditto here too. Day I got mine I went off on a wander to find some up to date drivers, and it wasn't even listed. Thankfully someone pointed out the hotfix ones to me.
It's a great card, I had it OC'd with the memory over 1GHz at one point.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well, i lost my rig a couple weeks due to a lightning strike. to replace my 3870, i bought a 4850 (asus flavor). so far, everything is great. using the included asus software, i can increase the fan speed so the gpu runs cooler. the fan noise is a bit louder, of course, but not loud enough to complain.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've got the 3870 ... It's working good and I don't
plan on upgrading till the next release from ATI/AMD
or DAMMIT ... for short :)

I figure around xmas time ... their will a new GPU ..
I can wait ... HEY ... I'm still waiting for 3Drealms
Duke Nukem Forever too .... :)
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Reckon that software would work on the Sapphire one too John?