HD 4870 X2 (R700) review thread

OK, quick update. Vantage gets X7000ish, stock X2 and Q6600 @ 2900mhz, very nice.

Not sure if powerplay is working in these drivers, they are ones from the CD that came with the card, and are definitely 8.8s (v8.52).

Either way, its idling at 66C, which isn't much more than my 8800GTX. After an hour of games like CNC3:KW @ 2560x1600, 8xFSAA, it gets to about 86C, again, not much more than a 8800GTX.

At idle the fan is just fine... bit like a 8800GTX. At 86C (ie, full load for an hour+) the fan sounds like (any guesses?) a 8800GTX! Playing the game with sound on (not that loud) can easily compensate for the fan, this is with my case open, and on my desk, not under it. The card is about 2-3feet from my head. All in all, I was worried about the fan noise, and its absolutely fine here.

 

If it's idling at 66C, then PowerPlay must be fixed/implemented.

My HD4870 is idling at 75C. I'm using both GPU-Z and CCC to monitor temps--with the 8.7 drivers (obviously).

 

There is definite micro-stuttering in WoW. Edit - Im not getting frame rates any higher than with my 8800GTX in WoW, so this may NOT be "true" MS, and just a crappy engine.

I'll update this post as I try more games fully.

UPDATE!!!! As per my email further down, I think my troubles were conflicting settings. Im now getting buttersmooth frames rates, in the same area as before, so I dont think MS is the issue.

 

Thanks for posting that graph, Brit. Looks to me like this argument is over nothing. Most QUALITY PSUs seem to lose no more than 10 efficiency points going from a light load to a full load. Not even worth mentioning, actually, especially considering that most of them end up with efficiency at or around 80%.

What was your point, exactly, Skrying?

 

You're probably CPU-limited in WoW, so that would explain your framerate being the same. And by "probably" I mean "no way is that old and ugly game anything but CPU-limited"

 

Nah, Im getting 35fps @ 2560x1600, 4xFSAA.

Ive noticed something though. I can see through things. My gryphon, my hair but not my face. I think the drivers are bugged to crap in WoW. Ive yet to do more testing, but its not looking good for WoW.

 

Software issue. No way does WoW run @ 35fps even at those settings. I have many (way too many) friends that are obsessed with that game and run a wide array of hardware. The only time any of them has ever experienced performance issues is when there is a software problem.

What card were you running before the X2? Did you uninstall the driver of the previous card before installing the X2?

Note: please don't take my comments to be an assault against you or your choice in games or abilities as a computer enthusiast. I just have a very hard time believing an X2 is incapable of pulling off 100+ fps at any setting in WoW.

 

Shaidar, yeah, like I say, its definitely driver problems, though Im not fully sure where from. Vantage gets me X7000, so its running as fast as it should, in theory.

I removed the old NV drivers, but only via the windows uninstaller. Ive never really noticed any real improvement using a gfx driver reg cleaner, though I may try it this time

UPDATE: I think my settings were getting crossed over, cos Im now running 2560x1600, 16xAF, 24xFSAA (narrow tent, god thats pretty) @ 60fps. Also, my gryphon is no longer see through.

UPDATE 2: Adaptive AA in 8.8 (at least here) is broken in WoW. It makes things see through. Didnt notice any issues in Vantage or CNC3.

What I was seeing:

 

I've heard issues with adaptive/transparency AA in WoW using hardware from both vendors. Too bad it hasn't been fixed yet. Glad to hear your performance and image quality issues are gone using CFAA though

 

Alpha to Coverage would show issues like faded out spots that are prominent with the effect in WOW. With supersampling you should never see an issue.

 

News Source: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8908&Itemid=1

 

Hmmm... Interesting. I'm sure that we already noticed this issue in WoW and it was supposed to have been fixed already. I'll check and make sure.

 

Why does it need to clock that high when not running a 3D application? Why not go all the way down to 100?

And do both GPUs run at 500 when idle?

 

Erm, I dont know. I *THINK* I remember something along the lines of most GPUs need a certain frequency not to crash but Im not expert. Powerplay seems to be working here though, and Im getting 60C idle, less than 90C under full load, so Im very happy.

Crysis runs on my custom very very high config @ 1920x1200 4X FSAA !!! at about 25fps. In contrast, my 8800GTX did this setting at about 3-4fps.
If you've played crysis, you know its not all about the benchmarks. Despite the posted FPS, it feels like 2x. So at 25-30fps, feels like another game (eg Halflife 2) at 50-60fps, and looks 10x better. So 25FPS at these settings makes me more than happy.

I am LOVING this 4870X2!

 

Got tired of waiting for the 1gb HD 4870, so I went and ordered a Sapphire HD 4870x2. It should be here tuesday 26th.

 

"I know HD4870X2 is out of my price range; but it doesn't mean I could not get one anyway."

The only thing holding me back to buy HD4870X2 is power consumption @ full load. So I will continue to wait for 1GB-HD4870.

 

Interessting set of HD4870X2 slides, especially the first, and a movie about X2 vs GTX 280:
http://forum.donanimhaber.com/m_25688835/tm.htm

 

ATI simply razzing Nvidia - because Nvidia always brag with performance crown. ATI was waiting long time for this moment since the days of R300.

 

The video is kind of LOL-ish!

 

Knowing the ending sorta ruined it for me.