ATI Radeon HD 4890 vs. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on April 2, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
NVIDIA is competitive at this new price point of $250 depending on what resolution you look at. We also see some improvement from NVIDIA's new 185 series driver and get a new feature to play with in the form of Ambient Occlusion. We did look at PhysX and CUDA again, and, while we may be interested in what is made possible by them, there is still a stark lack of compelling content that takes advantage of these technologies. We can't recommend prioritizing PhysX and CUDA over performance, and performance is where a GPU needs to compete. Luckily for NVIDIA, the GTX 275 does.
The fact that its worst-case performance is still better than the GTX 260 core 216 and in the best case, it can hit that of the GTX 280 was a plus for the GTX 275. It often posted performance more in line with its bigger brothers than a $50+ cheaper part. This is pretty sweet for a $250 card, especially as many games these days rely very heavily on shader performance. The GeForce GTX 275 is a good fit for this price point, and is a good option. But then there's the Radeon HD 4890.
The 4890, basically a tweaked and overclocked 4870, does improve performance over the 4870 1GB and puts up good competition for the GTX 275. On a pure performance level the 4890 and GTX 275 trade blows at different resolutions. The 4890 tends to look better at lower resolutions while the GTX 275 is more competitive at high resolutions. At 1680 x 1050 and 1920 x 1200 the 4890 is nearly undefeated. At 2560 x 1600, it seems to be pretty much a wash between the two cards.
At the same time, there are other questions, like that of availability. With these parts performing so similarly, and price being pretty well equal, the fact that AMD parts can be bought starting today and we have to wait for the NVIDIA parts is an advantage for AMD. However, we have to factor in the fact that AMD driver support doesn't have the best track record as of late for new game titles. Add in the fact that NVIDIA's developer relations seem more effective than AMD's could mean more titles that run better on NVIDIA hardware in the future. So what to go with? Really it depends on what resolutions you're targeting and what the prices end up being. If you've got a 30" display then either card will work, it's just up to your preference and the items we talked about earlier. If you've got a 24" or smaller display (1920x1200 or below), then the Radeon HD 4890 is the card for you.
AMD tells us that most retailers will feature mail in rebates of $20, a program which was apparently underwritten by AMD. Could AMD have worried they weren't coming in at high enough performance late in the game and decided to try and throw an extra incentive in there? Either way, not everyone likes a mail in rebate. I much prefer the instant variety and mail-in-rebate offers do not make decisions for me. We still compare products based on their MSRP (which is likely the price they'll be back at once the rebate goes away). This is true for both AMD and NVIDIA parts.
There will also be overclocked variants of the GTX 275 to compete with the overclocked variants from AMD. The overclock on the AMD hardware is fairly modest, but does make a difference and the same holds true for the GTX 275 products in early testing. We'll have to take a look at how such parts compare in the future along with SLI and CrossFire. In the meantime, we have another interesting battle at the $250 price point.
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tamalero - Thursday, April 9, 2009 - link
the 270 is a 285 nerf, so what?your point is?
SiliconDoc - Thursday, April 23, 2009 - link
The other point is, when you've been whining about nvidia having a giant brute force core that costs too much to make, and how that gives ati a huge price and profit advantage ( even though ati has been losing a billion a year) , that when ati make a larger core and moer expensive breadboard and cooler setup standard for their rebrand, you point out the greater expense, in order to at least appear fair, and not be a red raging rooster rooter.Got it there bub ?
Sure hope so.
Next time I'll have to start charging you for tutoring and reading comprehension lessens.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, April 23, 2009 - link
Uh, for you, the mentally handicapped, the point is since ati made a rebrand, call it a rebrand, especially when you've been screeching like a 2 year old about nvidia rebrands, otherwise you're a lying sack of red rooster crap, which you apparently are.Welcome to the club, dumb dumb.
I hope that helps with your mental problem, your absolute inability to comprehend the simplest of points. I would like to give you credit and just claim you're being a smart aleck, but it appears you are serious and haven't got clue one. I do feel sorry for you. Must be tough being that stupid.
Griswold - Thursday, April 2, 2009 - link
Just that one "rebadge" comes with 3 million extra transistors; deal with it.SiliconDoc - Monday, April 6, 2009 - link
" Because they’re so similar, the Radeon 4870 and 4890 can be combined together for mix-and-match CrossFire, just like the 4850 and 4870."Yep, that non rebadge. LOL
jtleon - Thursday, April 2, 2009 - link
Visit:http://chhosting.org/index.php?topic=24.0">http://chhosting.org/index.php?topic=24.0
To see AO applied to FEAR. Boris Vorontsov developed the directx mod long ago!
SiliconDoc - Monday, April 6, 2009 - link
Oh sorry, forgot forced SLI profiles, and I don't want to fail to mention something like EVGA's early release NVidia game drivers for games on DAY ONE. lolAww, red rover red rover send the crying red rooster right over.
Did I mention ati lost a billion bucks two years in a row for amd ?
No ?
I guess Dewreck and anand forgot to mention the larger die, and more expensive components on the 790 ati boards will knock down "the profits" for ati. LOL Yeah, awww... we just won't mention cost when ati's goes up - another red rooster sin by omission.
I ought to face it, there are so many, I can't even keep up anymore.
They should get ready for NVidia stiffing them again, they certainly deserve it - although it is funny watching anand wince in text as he got addicted to Mirror's Edge - then declared "meh" for nvidia.
lol - it's so PATHETIC.
tamalero - Thursday, April 9, 2009 - link
what the hell are you talking about?SiliconDoc - Thursday, April 23, 2009 - link
You proved you can't read and comprehend properly on the former page, where I had to correct you in your attempt to whine at me - so forget it - since you can't read properly ok nummy ?SiliconDoc - Monday, April 6, 2009 - link
Ahh, thank you very much. lolNVIDIA wins again !
rofl
I'm sure the ati card buyers will just hate it...but of course they are so happy with their pathetic "only does framerates, formerly in 2560 for wins, now in lesser resolutions for the win"
It just never ends - Cuda, PhySx, Ambient Occlusion, bababoom, the vReveal, the game presets INCLUDED in the driver, the ability to use your old 8 or 9 Nvidia card for PhysX or Cuda in a xfire board with another NVidia card for main gaming ...
I know, NONE OF IT MATTERS !
The red rooster fanbois hate all of that ! They prefer a few extra frames at way above playable framerates in certain resolutions depending on their fanboy perspective of the card release (formerly 2560 now just lower resolutions)- LOL that they cannot even notice unless they are gawking at the yellow fraps number while they get buzzed down in cold blood in the game.
Ahhh, the sweet taste of victory at every turn.