Tuesday, June 24th 2008

Force3D Ushers Forth HD 4870 SKU Specifications

Force3D has, today, announced the specifications of its first SKU powered by AMD's HD 4870 GPU. A core speed of 750 MHz, paired together with 512 MB of GDDR5 memory running at a frequency of 3.6 GB/s are the order of the day, whilst technicalities such as the presence of 800 stream processors and a 256-bit memory interface prove commonality with AMD's HD 4850 offering. Using Extreme settings, Force3D's own 3DMark Vantage results claim that their HD 4870 iteration has a speed advantage of 58% over the HD 3870X2.
Source: Force3D
Add your own comment

63 Comments on Force3D Ushers Forth HD 4870 SKU Specifications

#1
pentastar111
Looks sweet... :) 58% faster than X2? If that is indeed correct, this card will become a must have item.
Posted on Reply
#4
W1zzard
If you didn't know (I didn't): Force3D is the ATI brand of Inno3D
Posted on Reply
#5
Navin
InnocentCriminalWelcome to the forums Navin!
Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Posted on Reply
#7
ShinyG
Something doesn't sound right about that bandwidth: 3.6GB/s
I think the 3870 pumps out something like 72GB/s, so if we're to believe this article, the 4870 has a memory bandwidth of a Radeon 9250 with a 64bit memory controller...
Posted on Reply
#8
newconroer
Does that say 512mb? ...WHAT?

Lame.
Posted on Reply
#9
Navin
ShinyGSomething doesn't sound right about that bandwidth: 3.6GB/s
I think the 3870 pumps out something like 72GB/s, so if we're to believe this article, the 4870 has a memory bandwidth of a Radeon 9250 with a 64bit memory controller...
The figure of 3.6 GB/s they mention, is referring to the frequency of the memory, not the bandwidth.

Force3D, as per the PR linked to the story, are quoting that the bandwidth is 107 GB/s on the 4870 SKU, versus 72.96 GB/s on the 4850 SKU.

I hope this helps.
Posted on Reply
#11
rodneyhchef
That review was well worth the read! Beats the 260 in most things, especially when the eye candy is cranked up! :D
Posted on Reply
#12
Error 404
newconroerDoes that say 512mb? ...WHAT?

Lame.
Not really: hardly any games use more than that: PC User magazine did some tests and got a negligble increase of 512 MB to 1 GB on an nVidia card (can't remember which).
Other than that: I'm exited!
Posted on Reply
#13
substance90
Not interested! 512Mb/256-bit.. that`s old! How come the 8800GTX, that`s 2 years old, beat almost all of the new cards... Come on, it`s time for something NEW.
Posted on Reply
#14
Unregistered
substance90Not interested! 512Mb/256-bit.. that`s old! How come the 8800GTX, that`s 2 years old, beat almost all of the new cards... Come on, it`s time for something NEW.
What's the point in going more RAM and a wider bus when it isn't advantageous to speed but costs more money?

EDIT: wow, average of 10% behind GTX 280, that's fantastic!
#15
Megasty
substance90Not interested! 512Mb/256-bit.. that`s old! How come the 8800GTX, that`s 2 years old, beat almost all of the new cards... Come on, it`s time for something NEW.
You do realize even the lowly 4850 destroys the 8800GTX, heh, this thing is as fast as 3 3870s :eek:
Posted on Reply
#16
JRMBelgium
What is ATI thinking? Only 512MB and only 256bit? Come on, they would have a killerproduct if it was 1024MB and 512bit. It's 2008, 512MB can last another 6-12 months tops.
Posted on Reply
#17
W1zzard
you people crying about 256-bit only obviously have no idea what you are talking about. please calculate bandwidth gddr3 1000 mhz @ 512 bit and then gddr5 1000 mhz @ 256 bit.

if the 4870 was $649 with 512-bit and 1 GB you'd all cry that its so expensive
Posted on Reply
#18
Basard
^yeah.... im sure there's a reason for the 256bit bus.... there has to be, people that make computer chips are pretty darn smart :D

107gb/second it says--wasnt the 2900 with 512 bit slightly less than that?
Posted on Reply
#19
JRMBelgium
W1zzardyou people crying about 256-bit only obviously have no idea what you are talking about. please calculate bandwidth gddr3 1000 mhz @ 512 bit and then gddr5 1000 mhz @ 256 bit.

if the 4870 was $649 with 512-bit and 1 GB you'd all cry that its so expensive
Ok, I know that the GDDR5 compensates GDDR3 at 512bit, but 512MB extra would really put it over the top. I am pretty sure that it wont take long untill we see the 4870 1024MB for the GTX260 price.

The 4870 upgrade will be my last upgrade up to 2010. I can already play my favourite games on 2048x1536, but I want to play them with high AA and AF settings and that will require more then 512MB ( correct me if I am rong ).
Posted on Reply
#20
Unregistered
Basard^yeah.... im sure there's a reason for the 256bit bus.... there has to be, people that make computer chips are pretty darn smart :D

107gb/second it says--wasnt the 2900 with 512 bit slightly less than that?
Yep, the reason is price. It is very costly to implement a 512-bit bus as ATi found, you have to have many more layers on the PCB and it's all a bit messy to design. On the other hand, prices for fast RAM that will keep the bandwidth high are always dropping and a 256-bit bus requires much less work and fewer layers to implement.
#21
Megasty
Jelle MeesOk, I know that the GDDR5 compensates GDDR3 at 512bit, but 512MB extra would really put it over the top. I am pretty sure that it wont take long untill we see the 4870 1024MB for the GTX260 price.

The 4870 upgrade will be my last upgrade up to 2010. I can already play my favourite games on 2048x1536, but I want to play them with high AA and AF settings and that will require more then 512MB ( correct me if I am rong ).
It over compensates it by a fair margin. The 512mb 4870 doesn't need 512-bit mem. A 1gb version might due to the insane bandwidth of GDDR5 but then how much would the thing cost. ATi might be holding back a little but they have that same right as NV. There's no doubt in my mind that they will push these cards to the limit. ATi has never launched its flagship first. The only thing about a 1gb 4870 is that it should be priced around $350-400. If a 4850x2 comes about it will be a bit faster than that 4870 so it will occupy the $400-450. This is the kind of stuff that happens when you cap your cards at $500 :o
Posted on Reply
#22
mdm-adph
substance90Not interested! 512Mb/256-bit.. that`s old! How come the 8800GTX, that`s 2 years old, beat almost all of the new cards... Come on, it`s time for something NEW.
Checked any reviews lately? The 8800 GTX is bested in almost every benchmark by just the 4850 -- who knows how much higher the 4870 will be.
Posted on Reply
#23
X-TeNDeR
I don't think we need a 1GB GDDR5 card. this will make it too expensive to compete well with nvidia. and yeah, beside future proofing, the gain with 1GB is small.
I think AMD-ATi will actually use 1GB GDDR4 setup for the 4870.. maybe even GDDR3. more ram with less bandwidth, and a small or no price bump.

All in all, a great round for AMD-ATi, at last! :D :toast:

AMD-ATi FTW!
Posted on Reply
#24
tkpenalty
RV770, theoretically will make good use of that memory (wtf 3.6Ghz mem clock? Quad pumped? O_o), and I think this wont be like the HD3870 and HD3850 where the HD3850 could be OC'ed up to HD3870 performance.
Posted on Reply
#25
trt740
Hey guys i think this card is gonna be released within a day. The Eggs customer support was on OT last night even chat was up and running tell 4 in the morning. It is closed at 9pm. Thats seems very strange to me.Plus The geforce cards just took a nose dive in price.
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
May 4th, 2024 17:04 EDT change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts