Palit HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition 512 MB Review

Item: Palit HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition 512 MB
Author: TPU Staff

W1zzard

on Sep 1st, 2008,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: Palit

Packaging & Contents »

Introduction

In the first months after the product release AMD has limited all HD 4870 cards to use the AMD reference design. Add in board partners could not change any component of the card and clocks had to be the same ones as the reference design.

Palit is one of the first AIBs to release a custom HD 4870 version: the Palit HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition. It uses a completely revamped cooling system that uses two fans to keep the card cool. Also included is a DisplayPort connector and a "Turbo" switch. The Turbo switch lets you select between two different operating frequencies. In normal mode the card will run at 750 MHz core and 900 MHz memory clock. In Turbo mode an additional overclock is enabled with 775 MHz / 1000 MHz.
Even though the changes are numerous Palit has managed to keep the retail price below $299.

	Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 3870	GeForce 9600 GT	GeForce 8800 GT	GeForce 9800 GT	Radeon HD 4850	GeForce 9800 GTX	GeForce 9800 GTX+	GeForce 8800 GTX	GeForce GTX 260	Radeon HD 4870	Palit HD 4870 Sonic	GeForce GTX 280	Radeon HD 4870 X2
Shader units	320	320	64	112	112	800	128	128	128	192	800	800	240	2x 800
ROPs	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	24	28	16	16	32	2x 16
GPU	RV670	RV670	G94	G92	G92	RV770	G92	G92	G80	GT200	RV770	RV770	GT200	2x RV770
Transistors	666M	666M	505M	754M	754M	956M	754M	754M	681M	1400M	956M	956M	1400M	2x 956M
Memory Size	256 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	768 MB	896 MB	512 MB	512 MB	1024 MB	2x 1024 MB
Memory Bus Width	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	384 bit	448 bit	256 bit	256 bit	512 bit	2x 256 bit
Core Clock	670 MHz	777 MHz	650 MHz	600 MHz	600 MHz	625 MHz	675 MHz	738 MHz	575 MHz	576 MHz	750 MHz	775 MHz	602 MHz	750 MHz
Memory Clock	828 MHz	1126 MHz	900 MHz	900 MHz	900 MHz	993 MHz	1100 MHz	1100 MHz	900 MHz	999 MHz	900 MHz	1000 MHz	1107 MHz	900 MHz
Price	$99	$125	$90	$140	$160	$170	$185	$200	$295	$270	$280	$299	$430	$550