Dual-RV790 Accelerator Improbable in the Foreseeable Future

[btarunr]

AMD clinched the performance crown from NVIDIA, and retained for a significantly long amount of time with the dual-RV770 based Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics accelerator. The company recently introduced the RV790 GPU, which went into making the Radeon HD 4890 graphics accelerator. Our reviews of this card, especially the AMD Radeon HD 4890 CrossFire review, brought forth some interesting findings with regards to how the accelerator works in tandem with another of its kind.

Holding significantly higher clock-speeds than the Radeon HD 4870, the accelerator managed to consume lesser amount of power in a pair than a single Radeon HD 4870 X2 accelerator. As a solution, it emerged faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295. The findings of several such reviews sparked of fresh speculations surrounding AMD planning a dual-RV790 accelerator with which it could potentially regain the performance crown. All such speculations were laid to rest by David Cummings, AMD's director of product marketing of discrete desktop graphics, under the graphics product group, in a recent interview with X-bit Labs (read here). Cummings claims that the company has no plans to create a "Radeon HD 4890 X2", at least not yet. The Radeon HD 4890 fills the gap between the HD 4870 and HD 4850 X2, while the HD 4870 X2 holds post at $399. A dual-RV790 card would not be feasible keeping the global economic climate in mind. The HD 4890 accelerators though, are capable of running in tandem with up to four cards of its kind, provided the system supports such a configuration.

Source: X-bit Labs

[A Cheese Danish]

Aww no 4890 X2 well, not yet! Dreams could still come true.
But the reviews of the 4890 in Crossfire are impressive...But I see where they are coming from for
not making an X2 version.

[JATownes]

I think the next X2 will be a 5xxx series.

But Quad 4890's in Crossfire would rock!! I would like to see benchies of that.

[mdm-adph]

I'll be much more excited about a possible HD 4750 X2.

[EastCoasthandle]

The R800 must be coming sooner then I thought

[mastrdrver]

Yea, I have the fastest single card solution.......too bad I havn't been able to do anything with it in Vista since all I get with anything after 8.10 is code 43. No wonder they don't want to come out with a 4890x2, they can't get the 4870x2 to run right under Vista without a code 43.

I hate Vista and my card.

[1Kurgan1]

Not a big deal if they don't make an X2, usually buying an x2 means coughing up a bit of extra cash. So just be cheaper to buy 2 single ones.

Originally Posted by mdm-adph

I'll be much more excited about a possible HD 4750 X2.

I don't see that happening, it would probably perform close to a 4890 making it pointless.

[ShadowFold]

No problems, work on RV800 first! I think the 4890 and 275 are going to be the last from this generation.

[mdm-adph]

Originally Posted by 1Kurgan1

I don't see that happening, it would probably perform close to a 4890 making it pointless.

A 4750 is performance-wise between a 4830 and a 4850, while using less power. It's also supposed to retail at $89-99. And as you can see from the chart below, you can estimate that a 4750 would be about 68 or 69% as fast as a 4890.

So, with a 4750x2 you'd technically have a card that's about 40% faster than a 4890, while costing $70 or $80 less, all while using only a moderate amount more of power.

Not exactly pointless.

[Valdez]

What if a manufacturer comes out with a non-reference hd4890x2?

[my_name_is_earl]

The HD4890x2 could be true after all. I'm seeing the out of stock on the hd4870x2 in most e-tail/re-tail so does this mean AMD is starting to working on the HD4890x2 or perhaps HD5xxx series? They could shrink the die of RV790 and walla, you have a winner!

[karlotta]

Originally Posted by mastrdrver

Yea, I have the fastest single card solution.......too bad I havn't been able to do anything with it in Vista since all I get with anything after 8.10 is code 43. No wonder they don't want to come out with a 4890x2, they can't get the 4870x2 to run right under Vista without a code 43.

I hate Vista and my card.

Vista 64 running two 4870x2's in CFX no issues ever on installs... And the single fastest slot card is the gtx295 now. Not a ATI/AMD issue its more of a user/manufacture issue.

As for no 4890x2... too bad, it would be great, hoping Saphire makes some exotic cooling one

[TreadR]

Originally Posted by karlotta

Not a ATI/AMD issue its more of a user/manufacture issue.

Thing is most people fail to see that so they talk wrong about it.

[Haytch]

Time to move on. I think the 4870x2 should have been the last of the 4000 series and they should have moved on at that point to the 5000.

The 4890 is a fantastic card, i would be happy to own one if it had enough power for me. It doesnt and i dont have the room for a second 4890 and they arnt making the x2 (Yet, means no).

Personally i dont care what keeps up with this current Gen, or the previous, its the next im interested in. Would be nice to know AMD/ATi are working on a card to keep up with the forecasted GT212 apparently released in the next few months and later on this year, the GT300/350/390* whatever the f*k.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by mastrdrver

Yea, I have the fastest single card solution.......too bad I havn't been able to do anything with it in Vista since all I get with anything after 8.10 is code 43. No wonder they don't want to come out with a 4890x2, they can't get the 4870x2 to run right under Vista without a code 43.

I hate Vista and my card.

I was able to do 8.11's, but nothing after, not even the 8.11 hotfix.

Originally Posted by karlotta

Vista 64 running two 4870x2's in CFX no issues ever on installs... And the single fastest slot card is the gtx295 now. Not a ATI/AMD issue its more of a user/manufacture issue.

As for no 4890x2... too bad, it would be great, hoping Saphire makes some exotic cooling one

Nope, has nothing to do with the manufacturer or user. Google it. We aren't the only ones with this problem. Any drivers past 8.11 gives a Code 43 on the secondary adapter(s) for some people in Vista. The only fix thus far, is a clean install. No amount of cleaning of the ATI entries in the registry and all other ATI related files can fix it. I manually cleaned my computer of every single file or reg key related to ATI graphics cards,a nd still no go.

[Hayder_Master]

so when 4890 release AMD go back for this statement "fasts graphic card on the planet"

[DrPepper]

Then they surprise us with 4890X2 comes out like tomorrow!!!1!!1!!1!

[mdm-adph]

Originally Posted by Haytch

Time to move on. I think the 4870x2 should have been the last of the 4000 series and they should have moved on at that point to the 5000.

The 4890 is a fantastic card, i would be happy to own one if it had enough power for me. It doesnt and i dont have the room for a second 4890 and they arnt making the x2 (Yet, means no).

Personally i dont care what keeps up with this current Gen, or the previous, its the next im interested in. Would be nice to know AMD/ATi are working on a card to keep up with the forecasted GT212 apparently released in the next few months and later on this year, the GT300/350/390* whatever the f*k.

Could be signs that the poor world economy cut into their research budgets, because it doesn't look like the R800 or the G300 are anywhere near completion (at least I haven't heard anything anywhere about their progress).