AMD/ATI is back in the race: 4850

Killavodka · Post by **Killavodka** » June 24th, 2008, 19:10

It does what is asked of it without much resistance and its never overheated once, so I'm not complaining.

Post by **deject** » June 24th, 2008, 20:45

hmmm, I was waiting for Anandtech's numbers on the 4850 vs. the 9800GTX+ and now they're here.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3340

This preview paints a much different picture than the previous article. One thing that I've noticed is that AMD has fixed their issues with antialiasing. My 3870 takes a pretty hefty performance hit when you enable even 2xAA, but the 4850 looks like it takes even less of a hit than the competing nvidia stuff.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 24th, 2008, 21:08

deject wrote:Words

So, ATI's current generation cards are slightly better than nvidia's last gen cards, that's not a great position to be in.

Post by **deject** » June 24th, 2008, 21:44

Worrying about which generation the GPU is from is not as important to people as what price category it's in. Not to mention the (fairly irrelevant so far) fact that AMD has been supporting DX10.1 for a while and nvidia is ignoring it.

I get the whole nvidia still has the fasted card shtick but there are lots of people who don't want to spend $500 on a videocard.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 24th, 2008, 21:57

Indeed, but while there's no real support for something, it won't get used, do DX10.1 or not doesn't matter, especially given that very few people are using Fista.

While I agree on the performance at a given price thing, the big picture doesn't bode that well for ATI.

Though, in the same way, nvidia's silly fast cards are very pricey, and not performing that well yet.

The way I see the market right now is that neither side is really significantly ahead at any given price point.

However, as someone who's happy to spend a lot on a graphics card if a big performance jump happens, nvidia have my attention, ATI don't, especially given that we'll probably see both sides launch an upgrade in about 3 months, assuming ATI roll an X2, and nvidia do something like a GTX290, nvidia will still just have the edge.

Of course, if ATI come out with something really good, I'll buy one.

Post by **deject** » June 24th, 2008, 22:32

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:The way I see the market right now is that neither side is really significantly ahead at any given price point.

I can agree with this.

Really all I'm saying is you're obviously not part of the target market for AMD/ATi right now, as they've recognized they just really can't compete at the high end anymore. However, they're hitting their target pretty well with the 4850 as far as I can tell.

Post by **HereComesPete** » June 25th, 2008, 4:50

deject wrote:
Don't be ridiculous Pete. My 3870 doesn't draw any more power than an 8800GT, usually less. They do run quite hot, yes, but since they're built on a 55nm process they don't suck as much power. You might need a kilowatt for two X2 cards, but a single one can run on a decent 650-800W PSU with no problem.

Did you even look at what Lee posted? Did you even notice I was talking about the new cards that are just landing not the ones already released? The 4 series stuff from ATi is power hungry, as power hungry as anything Nvidia have, and less efficient at cutting back when they're not being pushed. Similar thing is mentioned in the bittech review.

Also KV's card is shit.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 25th, 2008, 4:52

HereComesPete wrote:Also KV's card is shit.

To be honest, talking about KV's card in relation to any of the 3/4 series is just rude.

Instead it shall be filed with the geforce FX series.

Post by **deject** » June 25th, 2008, 6:08

HereComesPete wrote:
Did you even look at what Lee posted? Did you even notice I was talking about the new cards that are just landing not the ones already released? The 4 series stuff from ATi is power hungry, as power hungry as anything Nvidia have, and less efficient at cutting back when they're not being pushed. Similar thing is mentioned in the bittech review.

Also KV's card is shit.

They're all drawing roughly the same amount of power, and they're performing all within the same ballpark, so I don't see what you're getting at. I could understand if they ate the same wattage and were slower, but they aren't slower, in fact, they're a bit cheaper and faster in many cases.

And yeah, the X2000's are GeForce FX bad.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » June 26th, 2008, 18:54

NGOHQ has aparently haxed PhysX onto ATI GPUs: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38137/135/