sapphire 4850 vs 4870

[mrhuggles]

how far off is the 4850 from the 4870 in real world performance?

also what kind of heat conserns are there in these cards? i noticed that the 4850 has a very small single slot solution is that enough? and what about the 4870, its cooling solution doesnt look any better than the 2900XT

 

[DarkEgo]

What resolution do you game at?

 

[mrhuggles]

1360x768

 

[mrhuggles]

i have a 2900xt with VIVO issues, gonna try to get them to give me a new card in exchange, wondering if i should push for a 4870, or ask for a 4850 with a superior cooler

http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=167&grp=3 <--- wow that looks cool im almost half tempted to ask them for one of those if only...

 

[DarkEgo]

I think that at that resolution a 3870 or 4850 would be fine.

 

[mrhuggles]

2900 > 3870

still, im just looking to get whatever is better, like i asked, like how the 3850 is basicly just as good as the 3870 more or less, hows the 4850 vs 4870?

 

[twicksisted]

i have a 2900xt with VIVO issues

Slightly off topic, but what VIVO issues are you having?
I also had VIVO issues with my 2900pro card... if i tried to record anything through VIVO then it would lockup my system every time. (I havent tried with my 4870 though)

On topic, my 4870 is a massive leap up from the 2900.... though standard it does run very hot... mine idled at 80c!!! you need to do a fan tweak so that it runs around 35% constantly...
now i idle in the 40c's

At your gaming resolution though you really wont see much difference between the 4850 & 4870...so you should save your money rather and get the smaller one... the 4870 is more for a 24" monitor with 1080p resolutions

 

[johnnyfiive]

2900 > 3870

still, im just looking to get whatever is better, like i asked, like how the 3850 is basicly just as good as the 3870 more or less, hows the 4850 vs 4870?

Value wise the 4850 is the better card. Your looking at a 13-15% difference in performance between the stock clocked 4850 and stock clocked 4870. The only major differences between the 4850 and 4870 is the memory type and clock speeds. GDDR3 on the 4850 and GDDR5 on the 4870. 750MHz clock on the 4870, 625MHz on the 4850. 900MHz (3600MHz data rate) GDDR5 memory on the 4870 and 993MHz (1986MHz data rate) GDDR3 on the 4850. Everything else on the cards is the same. (link)

Heatwise, both the 4850 and 4870 run fairly hot with stock settings. Increasing the fan speeds decreases temps quite a bit. The 4850 reference design is single slot and the 4870 is dual slot. I'm not a fan of single slot cards, they get too hot to be venting that air directly into the case. Dual slot is best IMO.

If you want to overclock a 4850 you really need to invest in an aftermarket cooling solution or a card that has a non-reference cooling solution like MSI's (link). If you want 4870 performance, your going to have to get a better cooling solution.
The 2900xt is NOT better than a 3870. Its close in some games, but overall the 3870 is the better card (link).

 

[mrhuggles]

either way im looking at getting it for free, you should know that the 2900 series cards, that VIVO was miss advertizing, the thing is, the only drivers that supported VIVO in it were 7.5 and they had the screen streched all funkey

so the cards physicaly have the capibility but the drivers never had a proper release for it.

ok so basicly, 4870 is definatly > 4850? its hard to tell when you are unclear like that... is it by a decisive ammount? anyone wanna put in some thoughts not considering price since were talking about for free anyhow?

sorry your information is incorrect, 2900 XT is higher performance per clock [probably due to having 700 million transistors instid of 666 million transistors?] and also it can overclock much further, check 3dmark06 results if anyone doubts it... the 3870 is "better" because it uses MUCH less electricity, altho it has barely over half the memory bandwidth lol, as a side note not that it matters yet or if ever, the 2900 xt 1gb gddr4 has more memory bandwidth than the 4870

4870 = 115.2gb/sec
2900 = 128gb/sec

 

[mrhuggles]

Value wise the 4850 is the better card. Your looking at a 13-15% difference in performance between the stock clocked 4850 and stock clocked 4870. The only major differences between the 4850 and 4870 is the memory type and clock speeds. GDDR3 on the 4850 and GDDR5 on the 4870. 750MHz clock on the 4870, 625MHz on the 4850. 900MHz (3600MHz data rate) GDDR5 memory on the 4870 and 993MHz (1986MHz data rate) GDDR3 on the 4850. Everything else on the cards is the same. (link)

Heatwise, both the 4850 and 4870 run fairly hot with stock settings. Increasing the fan speeds decreases temps quite a bit. The 4850 reference design is single slot and the 4870 is dual slot. I'm not a fan of single slot cards, they get too hot to be venting that air directly into the case. Dual slot is best IMO.

If you want to overclock a 4850 you really need to invest in an aftermarket cooling solution or a card that has a non-reference cooling solution like MSI's (link). If you want 4870 performance, your going to have to get a better cooling solution.
The 2900xt is NOT better than a 3870. Its close in some games, but overall the 3870 is the better card (link).

thanks that is a really big help

 

[mrhuggles]

question: what about this whole gddr5 thing, they say that it doubles the effective clock, ie: why the descrepency between 256bit interface, and 115.2 gb/sec bandwidth

 

[johnnyfiive]

either way im looking at getting it for free, you should know that the 2900 series cards, that VIVO was miss advertizing, the thing is, the only drivers that supported VIVO in it were 7.5 and they had the screen streched all funkey

so the cards physicaly have the capibility but the drivers never had a proper release for it.

ok so basicly, 4870 is definatly > 4850? its hard to tell when you are unclear like that... is it by a decisive ammount? anyone wanna put in some thoughts not considering price since were talking about for free anyhow?

sorry your information is incorrect, 2900 XT is higher performance per clock [probably due to having 700 million transistors instid of 666 million transistors?] and also it can overclock much further, check 3dmark06 results if anyone doubts it... the 3870 is "better" because it uses MUCH less electricity, altho it has barely over half the memory bandwidth lol, as a side note not that it matters yet or if ever, the 2900 xt 1gb gddr4 has more memory bandwidth than the 4870

4870 = 115.2gb/sec
2900 = 128gb/sec

OK, lemme rephrase that. The 3870 is better than the 2900xt in stock form.
If your getting a card for free, 4870 hands down!

 

[mrhuggles]

thats what i was thinking, but sometimes its hard to tell if you dont have experience with them yet, like with the 3850 vs 3870, a 3850 with the right stuff and a very good aftermarket cooler [or a very good stock cooler that is from aftermarket like some are] might be better than your average 3870 maybe?

well anyhow, yeah im gonna try to get a 4870 outa them if possible