HIS Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB review

Radeon HD 4870 X2

The Radeon HD 4870 X2 will by far be the fastest consumer graphics card anno summer 2008 and it is mighty impressive. Though that statement is not really fair, as this single graphics cards obviously does have 2 GPUs emdebbed. The combination of the two RV770 processors used and the excellent bandwidth the GDDR5 memory provides for these graphics processors to do it's workload in, is breathtaking.

You'll now get to play around with 2.4 TFLOPS of RAW computing power.

There are some distinct advantages to be found for GDDR5 memory used on the 4870 products. It's has much higher frequency based memory versus tight timings. GDDR5 memory will leverage overall peak bandwidth to 3.6 Gbps / 3600 MHz effectively. And that's just fanatical fast (GDDR3 on 4850 = 2.0 Gbps). And heck, it's just the beginning. I will not be surprised to see GDDR5 running at 4,5 maybe even 6 GHz in the upcoming 12 months.

The memory bandwidth is massively important to the RV770, but next to that there is a significant higher clock frequency (opposed to the 4850 X2) for the core/shader domain, 750 MHz will be the default clock frequency and memory wise again... the frequency is 3600 MHz. The TDP for this product is set at 286 Watt, which is a lot.

Pricing then, obviously the more expensive memory and higher yielded processors will take it's toll at the pricing and unfortunately it passed the upper 499 USD plafond. The product will have an introduction price set at 549 USD or roughly 349 EUR.

HIS Radeon HD 4870 X2

The HIS Radeon HD 4870 X2 will run at a stock 750 clock frequency and comes with 2048MB GDDR5 memory (framebuffer). I stated it already, reference based, so yes that memory is clocked at 3600 MHz as well. Again, you can expect roughly a 286 Watt peak watt power consumption. At a 499-549 USD price, it's not the cheapest card on the market today, but granted, a mighty fine one. I do expect the prices to drop further under 499,- soon. Typically this happens when there is enough volume availability of the product which still is a bit of a difficulty in some regions.

Last thing I need to mention, included in the box are:

• DVI to VGA Dongle x 1
• DVI to HDMI Dongle x 1
• S-Video to Composite adapter
• Crossfire™ bridge x 1
• Manual
• Driver CD
• Multi-purpose magnetic screwdriver with LED.

The bundle is okay. No additional software in the form of full games though. You do get a small gadget, the new included multi-purpose LED lit screwdriver is funny and handy.