In what, Vantage?
In any application (and there's not many) where Crossfire can be applied (and the scaling is never over 80% or even close to that), a single 4870 is not that far behind a 4870 X2.
So for the majority of games, a single 4870 or GTX 280 is plenty fine for most people vs a 4870 X2.
And once again, in the only title that even 'needs' a dual GPU solution, Crysis, the 4850 X2 falls down just the same way the 4870 X2 does.
One might assume it's there to phase out the single 4870, but why bother when it doesn't fit the performance gap in a proper ratio? Referring to the Crossfire comments above, there is no even separation between a single 4870 and a X2 version. It's pretty much whether Crossfire works or doesn't. Otherwise the 4850 X2 version is just some retarded(dumbed-down) version of the X2. i.e. GTX 260 vs 280. But in the 260/280 case, one is more budget based, the other is 'top end.'
If the single 4870 is a budget performer, and the X2 'top end,' wth is a 4850 X2? 'Top end budget?'
I seriously have no idea what the purpose of this card is.
It's either defeating the purpose of the 4870, or defeating the purpose of the 4870 X2.