AMD doubles up, announces ATI HD Radeon 4850 X2 and 4870 X2

Sure, times might be tough at AMD, but that's not stopping the crew at ATI from gunning for NVIDIA's newest gear -- the company just announced the new HD Radeon 4850 X2 and 4870 X2. Aimed at the "super high-end" of the market, the $399 4850 X2 and $599 4870 X2 feature two GPU chips on a 625 or 750MHz bus, respectively, with up to 2GB of 900MHz GDDR5 RAM. ATI says that there's a 20 percent overhead from pairing up the processors, so the X2s should offer 180 percent of the single GPU cards -- certainly enough to outgun a single NVIDIA GTX 280, and reportedly enough to match a dual-280 setup depending on the game. We'll see for sure when the inevitable flood of benchmarks hits when these bad boys arrive next month -- any gamers out there going to take the plunge?

Read - ExtremeTech
Read - CNET

[TheGeektoriousBIG @ Aug 11th 2008 11:17PM]

In 2 weeks: *BREAKING NEWS* Nvidia releases new GPU twice as fast. FTW!

[andres @ Aug 11th 2008 11:31PM]

In 2 more weeks: *BREAKING NEWS* Nvidia GPU's found to be faulty due to faulty materials.

[zomg0t @ Aug 11th 2008 11:46PM]

lol, so it was the faulty materials that made the GPU's faulty! I never would have guessed.

[1234321 @ Aug 11th 2008 11:52PM]

In 2 weeks: Crysis will be played smoothly

[BananaBoat @ Aug 12th 2008 1:00AM]

Nvidia is going to have to eat some losses on the GTX 260/280 if they don't want their market share to dip. The 4850 can be found online down around the 170 dollar mark, so you could either get two for 340, or get the convenient X2 for 30 bucks more (probably the same 170 after rebate soon enough). The 4870 is equally as big of a bargain considering it beats the similarly priced (after massive Nvidia price drop) GTX 260, and considering that a single 4870 can almost match up to a GTX 280 for nowhere near the price....

I'd expect the GTX 260 to be down around the 250 mark, if not the 200 mark, sooner rather than later. It's going to cost Nvidia money, but the alternative isn't that pretty either. The 280 will probably hit the 300 dollar mark, and if it doesn't, ATI is going to steal a ton of market share.


One last note...my 4870 runs hot as f*ck in my well ventilated case, with the fan set to about 40% (any higher and it's loud). I can't imagine the heat coming from two 4870's, or two 4850's for that matter. The cooler better be amazing.

[BananaBoat @ Aug 12th 2008 1:17AM]

The same 340*

[rektide @ Aug 11th 2008 11:22PM]

I thought the chips had a 20GB/s bus between them. 5GB/s is crap.

[Macca @ Aug 12th 2008 1:08AM]

Read it again, idiot...

[Rubicon @ Aug 11th 2008 11:28PM]

Man why dont we just get nVIDIA Quadro Plex 1000, and screw all the graphics cards for the next century.

http://www.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/10042/Nvidia_Reveal_18000_PC_Graphics_Card.html

[TheGeektoriousBIG @ Aug 11th 2008 11:47PM]

I see people constantly make this mistake of thinking Quadro FX GPUs can be used for gaming. I repeat these cards are for 3D rendering i.e. CAD, gaming development, etc. Not for playing games. Sure be hard headed and buy a $18,000 Quadro FX to play Crysis on. You won't be a happy camper.

[Macca @ Aug 12th 2008 1:16AM]

At least his e-penis will be about $17500 longer...

[bdenglish @ Aug 11th 2008 11:38PM]

... maybe they should work on better linux support and drivers that work. I would never spend money on a high end ATI card for that very reason.

[SireBabyMan @ Nov 28th 2008 5:27PM]

If you've been keeping up with the news, you'd see that ATI/AMD, has been making a strong and honest effort to provide support to the Linux community. They have hired people within the community for the transition, opened up their hardware specs, and is currently treating Linux with the same respect Windows receives.

Now is the time to support ATI/AMD, both because of their performance and Linux support, and reject other closed-source graphics companies - namely nvidia.

Just one of many similar stories on Phoronix:
AMD Makes An Evolutionary Leap In Linux Support, http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=12495

[Mehdi Cheddadi @ Aug 11th 2008 11:45PM]

I have a nice graphic card, it runs the best game there is. It's called life and the game is having one

[zomg0t @ Aug 11th 2008 11:48PM]

Well, what's the graphics card?!? I must know!

[Rubicon @ Aug 11th 2008 11:55PM]

nah life sucks thats why we have games, and respawns, to quote FPS Doug, what happens when you die in RL, there are no respawns

[1234321 @ Aug 11th 2008 11:54PM]

it's his brain running integrated

[TheGeektoriousBIG @ Aug 11th 2008 11:55PM]

You sir have the balls of an army ant.

[Kizorblade @ Aug 12th 2008 5:00AM]

My anti aliasing in this so called "Life" sucks. It's really sharp and stuff for close up things, but when looking at far away things I just think "Man, which idiot invented this engine?"
Then some guy gave me this item called "Glasses" and it fixed it. Why don't they just give it a software patch or something instead of me having to pay for these damn things? Bastards!

[B @ Aug 12th 2008 12:36PM]

Hmm... I wonder if typing "iddqd" and "idkfa" have the same effect in your game as it does in mine.

[SoloSalsa @ Aug 14th 2008 1:16PM]

I lost The Game.

[Mark Tomlin @ Aug 11th 2008 11:57PM]

I'll take the Plunge just to keep ATI & AMD in the game.

[Hung @ Aug 12th 2008 12:07AM]

"$599 4870 X2 feature two GPU chips on a 625 or 750MHz bus, respectively, with up to _2GB of 900MHz GDDR5_ RAM."






wat

[andres @ Aug 12th 2008 12:17AM]

wat

[JohnTitor @ Aug 12th 2008 12:38AM]

urbandictionary: "Wat is short for "What" but is only spelt "Wat" by total inbred morons who have no idea how to actually write a proper message, which can be understood. "

[Hung @ Aug 12th 2008 1:17AM]

Forget you JohnTitor. I'm using "wat" in the sense of "what the fuck (this chick took out her penis?)."

2 GB of DDR5? Is someone planning to run Crysis at 3840x2160? 1 GB is already overkill for most high-end gaming.

[Kizorblade @ Aug 12th 2008 5:02AM]

The 2GB on the X2 card is shared. So 1GB for one core, and another 1GB for the other. See, they can share nicely, why can't us humans?

[lawschoolbound @ Aug 12th 2008 12:12AM]

Just out of curiosity, could 2 of these cards be paired for 4 way crossfire? And if so, would the diminishing returns you get be anywhere near worth it?

[phanbouy @ Aug 12th 2008 1:24AM]

sounds like you should be an economist rather than lawyer

[cesium @ Aug 12th 2008 1:48AM]

Yes they can, just like the 3870 X2. No it's not worth it as the drivers suck for 4 GPUs

[Kizorblade @ Aug 12th 2008 5:06AM]

True, but you also have to think about the fact that you can update the software down the road. Which could have noticeable performance increases.

[Ryan @ Aug 12th 2008 12:22AM]

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=605&type=expert

Another good write up and review.

[MojoKid @ Aug 12th 2008 12:35AM]

How about a review with benchmarks? :)
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Radeon-HD-4870-X2--AMD-Back-On-Top/

[Macca @ Aug 12th 2008 1:16AM]

My personal experience has lead to me never buying an ATI card again, things may have changed, but I still prefer Nvidia.

Plus theres no point watching this crap like a hawk, its the same thing over and over again. One makes a GOD CARD, the next makes a bigger, faster, hotter GOD CARD and the process repeats...

[Macbeth @ Aug 12th 2008 11:57AM]

omg!! I just came in my pants! I've never had that happen before

[linusk01 @ Aug 12th 2008 5:40PM]

im not looking for a "GOD CARD," but i'd like to combine one of these via crossfire x with my hd 3870 if possible. always been an ati fan and now i just want to make sure my rig is strong for 2008-09. since ive been wasting time with pc games since i was six, and considering where notebook technology is going, this may be the final upgrade for my final desktop

[BirdofPrey @ Aug 15th 2008 10:19AM]

High end graphics cheaper than Nvidia?

Yes please.


Now what I want to see is for them to put a second crossfire connector on their X2 cards to allow a 4 card/8 GPU configuation.
Plays crysis and also doubles as a space heater

[Pete @ Aug 15th 2008 1:41PM]

I heard with the recent drop in AMD stock that Microsoft is working on some type of aquisition deal. Makes sense to me. Just imagine, a company like AMD with the near unlimited funds of Microsoft, and Microsoft would then be able to design the OS based on the projected architechture of furture hardware. An aquisition would also nullify the current agreeement that forces AMD to share design with Intel. Couplling all of this together would undoubtedly be great for gamers, meaning lower prices, higher speeds and hopefully less Windows crashes. It would also be great for Microsoft, by being able to capture a CPU and GPU manufacturer with one deal. Imagine what the next X-Box could be....