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ATI Radeon HD 4870

Roydon Cerejo, Jul 18, 2008 1329 hrs IST

The much awaited beauty is finally here and raises serious questions on the existence of the GTX 2xx series.

Expert Rating:

Superb Performance, Good overclocker, Supports DX 10.1.

Could be priced better.

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EXPERT REVIEW

The HD 4850 was a joy to review as it blasted through the benchmarks and completely owned the gaming tests that we threw at it. No amount of resolution or eye candy seemed to slow it down. This coming from a budget performance card, we couldn't wait to get our hands on the HD 4870, which has the same brilliant features except for higher clocks and GDDR5 memory.

After a wait that seemed like forever, we finally have the card with us. The reason for the excitement is the GDDR5 memory onboard that is capable of speeds of upto 5Gbps. That is some serious bandwidth right there that should satisfy all your HD gamming needs. It's the same RV770 core that powers the HD 4850 except for the higher clock speeds and top of the line memory technology.

The card we will be reviewing is not from any of ATI's AIB partners, but from an evaluation board of ATI themselves.

Specifications

The HD 4870 bears the same 965 million-transistor count using the 55nm fabrication process. Of course the highlight of the HD 4870 has to be the GDDR5 memory running at a speed of 3.6Gbps. This is the scaled down version since the GDDR5 memory architecture can operate at 5.2Gbps. I guess ATI is leaving some headroom for some future 'Black Edition' variants of the HD 4870. The features are as follows:

PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface
256-bit GDDR5 memory interface
Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support
Unified Superscalar Shader Architecture
Dynamic Geometry Acceleration
OpenGL 2.0 support
ATI Avivo HD Video and Display Platform
ATI PowerPlay
ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
Unified Video Decoder 2
On-chip HDCP

All these features assure you that you'll be ready for the upcoming games. ATI has always been on the forefront when it comes to implementing new technologies in their products. This definitely adds a lot more value to your purchase and ensures future compatibility with games.
The card came in just a brown box so there wasn't really any Driver CD's or manuals with it. But just like the HD 4850, you can expect a similar bundle for the HD 4870 as well.

USER COMMENTS

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by bhavin, ahemedabad, on Nov 03, 2008 12:16 PM, Report abuse Reply

Plz, Can anybody tell me why in USA HD 4850 & HD 4870 are selling at 200$,300$ i.e approx Rs-8000 & Rs-12000 respectively. And here in India, these cards are selling at Rs-11000 & Rs-19000 respectively. why such a huge difference in price?? And who the hell behind that??? though if we talk about other products such as RAM,PROCESSOR, HARD DISK there is significant differece in pricess, here in India & USA!! So why with graphics Card??? why???why?? why???why?? (Nahi!! ye sunne se pehale mai mar kyo nahi gayaa?)

by Anonymous, BHOPAL, on Jul 21, 2008 09:05 AM, Report abuse Reply

It is sad that GPUs are overpriced in India but $200 isnt 8000 its about Rs 9382 and depreciating. Plus I believe prices also depend on Demand Supply ratio other than import duty and taxes. If more and more people start buying decent GPUs prices will come down.I Remember the days of voodoo very few ppl could look beyond low end graphic card in India then. Now slowly people are accepting early mid range GPUs. We here in India dont even buy original games. High end game copies sold is good indirect indicator of GPU demand. Single enquiries mean nothing. Plus we have real idiot people as hardware vendors in here. Give it some time.

by Angst Against r, Mum, on Sep 30, 2008 11:20 PM, Report abuse

Atleast get the title right....

by lawl, lawl, on Jul 18, 2008 02:04 PM, Report abuse Reply

can i use the hd 4870 with my asus m2n mx?

by justin, cochin, on Aug 05, 2008 11:20 AM, Report abuse

199$ is in online retail pricing (Direct by). But in India, when you import there is 20% duty on graphics card. THat is 240$. Then there is local taxes, VAT etc etc and not to forget partner margins....

by Krishna, Bangalore, on Jul 23, 2008 11:46 AM, Report abuse Reply

though if we talk about other products such as RAM,PROCESSOR, HARD DISK there is <NO> significant differece in pricess, here in India & USA!! So why with graphics Card??? why???why?? why???why??_______( Sorry i forgot putting NO in between sentance in my last Comment)

by Anonymous, BHOPAL, on Jul 21, 2008 09:25 AM, Report abuse Reply

18-19k for 4870 will really be loot of Indian consumer. Asus & other 4870(Retail ) cards from reputed mfrs are $ 254 shipped at Newegg. i.e. 10,8k INR. Then pray who is looking forward to raping us-manufacturers or distris ???

by vijayshimla, Shimla 171001, on Jul 20, 2008 05:21 PM, Report abuse Reply

well reviewed... although i would love to know what temps were you running at when you occed.... also how is the stock cooling.... also how does it perform with F@H applications.... anyone else who has a decent graphics card should start folding.... its for a good cause.... what are the rated voltages... ? and also how good are the linux drivers...?

by Kurei, Gurgaon, on Jul 19, 2008 07:50 PM, Report abuse Reply

uncle what is read & black combo...lol...gud article none the less :)

by roguegene, mumbai, on Jul 19, 2008 12:09 PM, Report abuse Reply

I'll wait for it to get a little cheaper.

by kel, bangalore, on Jul 19, 2008 09:00 AM, Report abuse Reply