Thursday, November 20, 2008

ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Graphics Cards Tested

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HotHardware compared two graphics cards based on the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2. The cards were:

  • Asus Radeon HD 4870 X2 Top (EAH4870X2 TOP)
  • MSI Radeon HD 4870 X2 OC Edition (R4870X2-T2D2G-OC)

Tom's Hardware also compared four graphics cards. The cards reviewed were:

  • Asus Radeon HD 4870 X2 Top (EAH4870X2 TOP/HTDI/2G/A)
  • HIS Radeon HD 4870 X2 (H487X2F2GP)
  • MSI Radeon HD 4870 X2 OC Edition (R4870X2-T2D2G-OC)
  • Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 (HD4870 X2 G2 GDDR5)

ATI Radeon baseline Specs:

  • Codename: R700
  • 2x1024 MB GDDR5 Memory
  • 750MHz GPU Clock
  • 4.1 Shader Model
  • 3600MHz Memory Clock
  • 2x800 Stream Processors

"As expected, the Asus EAH4870X2 TOP and MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC both outperformed a reference Radeon HD 4870 X2, nearly across the board. The only instance where the factory overclocked Asus and MSI cards didn't clearly outpace the reference card was in the CPU bound 3DMark06 default test. In the SM 3.0 / HDR tests build into 3DMark06, however, the Asus and MSI cards came out on the top. Overall, the Asus EAH4870X2 TOP finished just ahead of the MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC due to its slightly higher GPU and memory frequencies, but the performance deltas were minimal." [HotHardware | Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 X2 Shoot-Out]

HotHardware gave both cards, the Asus and MSI, its Recommended stamp.

"The Radeon HD 4870 X2 has a good cooling solution with both of its graphics chips running at full clock speed when the performance is needed. It gets clocked down when running in 2D mode and it comes with 2 x 1 GB of fast graphics memory for high-resolution environments with lots of visual detail. AMD has certainly done a very good job." [Tom's Hardware | Radeon HD 4870 X2: Four Cards Compared]

Tom's Hardware gave the Sapphire its best-buy recommendation. Likewise, the Asus (for fan profiles and overclocking) and MSI (aggressive thermal profiling, resulting in lowered GPU temps) were also recommended.

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