Radeon HD 4870 Tri-fire review: Sapphire 4850 X2 2GB + Sapphire 4870 1GB
Well decided to do more testing with yet another crossfire configurations. Pulled the 4850 X2 out of
the case, install my 4870 single and run tri-fire 4870. Now having all the gpus and memory the same, I can
utilize the full memory bandwidth of the 4870's DDR5. Lets see what happens.
SAPPHIRE Radeon 4870 X2 2GB & SAPPHIRE Radeon 4870 1GB
Installed
Close up
Catalyst Control Center (CCC): Graphics Software info
Driver Packaging Version 8.62-090520m1-081756C-ATI
Catalyst Version 09.6
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.909
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0004
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0671
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.8673
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2009.0520.1631.27815
Catalyst Control Center (CCC): Graphics hardware info
Primary Adapter
Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Device ID 9440
Vendor 1002
Subsystem ID 0851
Subsystem Vendor ID 174B
Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0
Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x8
BIOS Version 011.012.000.002
BIOS Part Number 113-AX89100-100
BIOS Date 2008/12/09
Memory Size 1024 MB
Memory Type GDDR5
Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz
Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s
Linked Adapter
Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Device ID 9441
Vendor 1002
Subsystem ID E89A
Subsystem Vendor ID 174B
Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0
Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x8
BIOS Version 011.016.000.025
BIOS Part Number 113-AAE89Q-X101
BIOS Date 2008/12/11
Memory Size 1024 MB
Memory Type GDDR5
Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz
Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s
Linked Adapter
Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Device ID 9441
Vendor 1002
Subsystem ID E89A
Subsystem Vendor ID 174B
Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0
Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x8
BIOS Version 011.016.000.025
BIOS Part Number 113-AAE89A-X201
BIOS Date 2008/12/11
Memory Size 1024 MB
Memory Type GDDR5
Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz
Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s
Catalyst Control Center (CCC): CrossfireX configuration
Catalyst Control Center (CCC): ATI Overdrive Configuration
GPU-Z technical info
GPU-Z clock, thermo, and fan speed info
Testbed:
E8300 @ 3.6G & 4.0G
6Gb DDR2
ATI Catalyst 9.6
SAPPHIRE Radeon 4870 X2 2GB
SAPPHIRE Radeon 4870 X2 2GB + SAPPHIRE Radeon 4870 1GB (Tri-fire CrossfireX)
Testing
3DMark 2006
3DMark Vantage
Call of Duty: World at War
Call of Juarez
Crysis
Devil May Cry 4
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
FarCry 2
Furmark
Left 4 Dead
Sanctuary
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky
X3 Terran Conflict
3DMark 2006:
4870 X2 = 19818
4870 X3 = 20245 (2% gain over X2)
3Dmark Vantage: Performance
4870 X2 = P12369
4870 X3 = P14330 (16% gain over X2)
3Dmark Vantage: High
4870 X2 = H9648
4870 X3 = H12734 (32% gain over X2)
Call of Duty: World at War
1,680 x 1,050 4xAA 16xAF, DirectX 9, Maximum Detail
4870 X2 = 147 average fps
4870 X3 = 181 average fps (23% gain over X2)
1,920 x 1,080 4xAA 16xAF, DirectX 9, Maximum Detail
4870 X2 = 140 average fps
4870 X3 = 168 average fps (20% gain over X2)
Call of Juarez:
1680 x 1050, 4xAA, highest quality settings
4870 X2 = 79 average fps
4870 X3 = 110 average fps (39% gain over X2)
1920 x 1200, 4xAA, highest quality settings
4870 X2 = 70 average fps
4870 X3 = 99 average fps (41% gain over X2)
Crysis:
1600 x 1200
4870 X2 = 36 average fps
4870 X3 = 45 average fps (25% gain over X2)
1900 x 1200
4870 X2 = 31 average fps
4870 X3 = 38 average fps (22% gain over X2)
2560 x 1600
4870 X2 = 17 average fps
4870 X3 = 25 average fps (47% gain over X2)
Devil May Cry 4:
1680 x 1050, DX9, 8xAA
4870 X2 = 215 average fps
4870 X3 = 291 average fps (35% gain over X2)
1920 x 1080, DX9, 8xAA
4870 X3 = 278 average fps (35% gain overX2)
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
1600 x 1200, DX10, highest settings, 16xAF, 4xAA
4870 X2 = 130 average fps
4870 X3 = 146 average fps (20% gain over X2)
1920 x 1080, DX10, highest settings, 16xAF, 4xAA
4870 X2 = 122 average fps
4870 X3 = 142 average fps (16% gain over X2)
FARCRY 2:
1680 x 1050, DX10, Ultra high settings, 16xAF, 4xAA
4870 X2 = 64 average fps
4870 X3 = 70 average fps (9% gain over X2)
1920 x 1080, DX10, Ultra high settings, 16xAF, 4xAA
4870 X2 = 62 average fps
4870 X3 = 68 average fps (9% gain over X2)
Furmark:
1440x900
4870 X2 = 228 average fps
4870 X3 = 325 average fps (42% gain over X2)
1680x1050
4870 X2 = 177 average fps
4870 X3 = 255 average fps (44% gain over X2)
Left 4 Dead:
1680 x 1050, DX9, 16xATF, 8xAA, V-sync off, Shader: very high, all other settings: high
Difficulty: Expert
Campaign: No Mercy
Mission: 1: apartments
FRAPS settings: 300 seconds
4870 X2 = 135 average fps
4870 X3 = 150 average fps (11% gain over X2)
1920 x 1080, DX9, 16xATF, 8xAA, V-sync off, Shader: very high, all other settings: high
4870 X2 = 125 average fps
4870 X3 = 135 average fps (8% gain over X2)
Sanctuary:
1680 x 1050
4870 X2 = 135 average fps
4870 X3 = 196 average fps (45% gain over X2)
1920 x 1080
4870 X3 = 168 average fps
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky:
1680 x 1050, DX10, 16xAF 0xAA
4870 X2 = 61 average fps
4870 X3 = 68 average fps (11% gain over X2)
1920 x 1080, DX10, 16xAF 0xAA
4870 X3 = 63 average fps
X3 Terran Conflict:
1680 x 1050
4870 X2 = 101 average fps
4870 X3 = 101 average fps (No gain)
1920 x 1080
4870 X3 = 97 average fps
Overclocking:
I seem to always forget to add a section for overclocking. I don't overclock much and my thinking is if you want more power, add more gpus.
As many of you already know, the 4870 X2 runs warm. So as in many CF configurations, when adding 2,3,4 gpus in the same case,
heat can start to be an issue. This is an area where the 4870 X2's little brother, the 4850 X2 shines. With its dual heatsink and fan,
the 4850 X2 does great keeping itself cool in high heat environments, which gives you more headroom when overclocking. My overclock
of tri-fire 4870 wasn't great but I was able to overclock some.
gpu: 750mhz to
780mhz
memory: 900mhz to
930mhz
Ran a few benches at the overclocked settings.
3DMark Vantage:
P14785 (3% gain over stock X3)
Furmark:
1680x1050 - 263 fps average (3% gain over stock X3)
Sanctuary:
1680x1050 - 205 fps average (4% gain over stock X3)
Crysis:
1600x1200 - 46 fps avg. , 1900x1200 - 39 fps avg., 2560x1600 - 26 fps avg. (~2% gain over stock X3)
Conclusion:
Just like the 4850's, the 4870's also scale very well from (2) to (3) gpus working together. Crossfiring the 4870 X2 and the 4870 was
effortless. As you probably noticed on one or two game titles, I've tested don't have multi-gpu support so There is no gain from running one
gpu or three. All-in-all, a great experience and I'm still amaze how good CrossfireX works; allowing ATI owners so many CF possibilities.
Hope you all enjoyed my review.
Reference benchmarks:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...e_6.html#sect1
If you wish to see how my scores match up with other cards and configurations.