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Overclocking: So now that we have already established the prowess of the 4870X2 as a gaming card, how far can we overclock it? Initially, I used the Catalyst's "Auto-Tune" feature to find my maximum clock. What it came up with was 790 on the core, and 990 on the memory, which is pretty impressive. However, these speeds were definitely not stable. It was necessary for me to manually find the maximum stable overclock, which turned out to be 792MHz on the core, and 930MHz on the memory. I am sure a big reason for the limited overclock on the memory has to do with the fact that there is 2GB of it; considering the fact that you can only overclock as high as your slowest memory chip. At these speeds, the 4870X2 gave us the following results:
That gave us roughly 200 points on the total score, and nearly 300 points in the GPU score. Not bad. Now that we have the major details out of the way, its time to focus on the minor details like Power and Heat:
One aspect where the GTX-280 wins out is in power consumption. At Idle, the GTX wins out by 22W, and at Load, the GTX wins out by an astonishing 108W.
At Idle, the temps between the 280 and the X2 are pretty near identical. Under load, however, the 280 rockets to 93C and the X2 is 11W less, even though it is dissipating over 100W more of power. That is pretty impressive for that cooler, though I imagine having the heat generated over a larger area likely helps in removing it. Conclusion: What a tumultuous weekend it has been at the Club, and a tumultuous summer it has been for the graphics market. Now that the dust has settled, the only questions that remain are; "Did that punch land on nVidia's chin?" and "Am I convinced that multi-GPUs have arrived?" The answer to both questions is a definite yes. It will be interesting to see if other review sites will cover the AA performance of the 4870X2 in-depth. It is something that is conspicuously lacking in many reviews, and we all suffer because of it. If one were to take the no-AA performance of the X2 and compare it to the 280, the numbers are really not that exciting. However, benching 8xAA and 16xAA really shows the strength of this card, and is something to be considered. To play Crysis at 16xAA at a reasonable frame rate on a single card really is no small feat. In the one game that exists to punish graphics cards, the X2 really obliterates the 280 where it counts. Now, a word on something else that is rarely mentioned in reviews: microstuttering. It has long been the bane of many multi-GPU users, and has been one of the many barriers for myself. Does microstuttering exist on the X2? Unfortunately, yes. Again, the lack of a unified frame buffer is no doubt the cause for this. However, there is good news. On the X2, it really isn't that bad. It happens typically within the first minute of loading a map or save game, and then it is gone for good. So, while not perfect, it is an improvement. There are two things that are going to make or break the X2 in the market: pricing and driver support. On the pricing front, the X2 is supposed to compete with the GTX-280, however the 280 can now be found for around $430. AMD has shown they are willing to take the fight to nVidia on pricing, so I am willing to bet that once the buzz settles down, the $549 price tag will not be long for this world. When it comes to the drivers, as of right now, they are the best launch drivers I have seen. The Crysis test scores are a testament to that. Where it will matter is down the road, as new games come out. If AMD can keep the performance up in the drivers, then this card will definitely be a winner. Pros:
Cons:
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