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ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2

Two Mobility Radeon HD 4870 in Crossfire mode (similar to SLI). Doubles the power consumption but shows only 0-50% better performance (depends on the game support, drivers and settings).

Because of the high amount of shaders (2x800) the gaming performance is very good and allows the gaming of all DirectX 9 games in high resolutions and details. Even demanding DirectX 10 games of 2008 (Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2) can be played with high details.

The Mobility HD 4870 x2 is based on two RV770 chips and features 2x800 stream processors (2x160 5-dimensional shader cores). These cores do the graphic work of the shader- and pixel pipelines of older GPUs. The stream processors are also called ALUs and are grouped in five-way VLIW units. Each of the five instructions of a VLIW bundle has to be independent from the others and therefore the performance depends on the optimization of the driver.

The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2 includes the Avivo HD called video technology including an onboard soundchip for 7.1 sound output over HDMI or DisplayPort and the 2nd generation UVD (Unified Video Decoder). This UVD 2 supports full bitstream decoding of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 streams. In addition to this, it also supports dual video stream decoding and Picture-in Picture mode which makes the UVD full BD-Live compliant. Simplified, the Avivo HD technology handles all video tasks and enables the GPU to decode HD videos.

AMD published a current consumtion of about 2x65 Watt for the HD 4870 X2. Still it is unclear if this value represents the chip alone or the whole mxm board including the memory (which would include about 2x5 Watt).

The card supports as the first mobile card GDDR 5 graphic memory. The question is, if this fast memory can be used by the card optimally (because of the slow core clock compared to the desktop counterpart). Furthermore, the pricing is rather high, therefore most cards will feature common GDDR 3 RAM.

Compared to the desktop ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, the mobile 4870 X2 features a slower core clock and therfore should perform a bit slower than a desktop HD 4850 X2.

ManufacturerATI
SeriesMobility Radeon HD 4000
CodenameM98-XT
Pipelines1600 - unified
Core Speed *550 MHz
Shader Speed *550 MHz
Memory Speed *888 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory2048 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
Transistors1912 Million
technology55 nm
FeaturesOpenGL 2.0, PCI-E 2.0 x16, Powerplay, DisplayPort support up to 2560x1600, HDMI support up to 1920x1080 (both with 7.1 AC3 Audio), 1x Dual-Link/Single-Link DVI, 1x Single-Link DVI Support (all display ports have to be supported by the laptop manufacturer)
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement09.01.2009
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityrade...
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

benchmarks

3DMark 05: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 14329, avg: 16940, max: 19550 Points
... More Details

3DMark 06:
0% 100%
      min: 12328, avg: 13316, max: 14120 Points
... More Details

Cinebench R10: - Shading
0% 100%
      min: 1919, avg: 1919, max: 1919 Points
... More Details

3DMark Vantage: - P Result 1280x1024
0% 100%
      min: 8140, avg: 8268, max: 8396 Points
... More Details

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
Based on 8 benchmarks

Game Benchmarks

Sims 3
Sims 3 (2009)
low:
251.7  fps
med.:
118.6  fps
high:
77.4  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
F.E.A.R. 2
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
low:
116.2  fps
med.:
67.8  fps
high:
59.3  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto (2008)
low:
48.6  fps
med.:
32.3  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 (2008)
low:
88.7  fps
high:
40.5  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Racedriver: GRID
Racedriver: GRID (2008)
low:
84.6  fps
med.:
56.3  fps
high:
51.3  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)
low:
156.5  fps
med.:
106.2  fps
high:
99.8  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Supreme Commander - FA Bench
Supreme Commander - FA Bench (2007)
med.:
52.5  fps
high:
51.4  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
57.5  fps
med.:
53  fps
high:
27.5  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
67.2  fps
med.:
33.9  fps
high:
27  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.

For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List

Gaming Benchmarks

The Czech website pctuning.cz have already published an extensive review of the  Asus W90 with a Intel C2D T9600 and 6 GB RAM. The following gaming benchmarks stem from their review.

Test Drive Unlimited: 1920x1080, high: 47-72 fps -> fluently playable
Bioshock: 1920x1080, high: 67-207 (avg. 131) fps -> fluently playable
Call of Duty 5: 1920x1080, extra: 29-92 (avg. 53) fps -> fluently playable
Crysis Warhead: 1920x1080, Mainstream: 13-45 (avg. 32) fps -> fluently playable (single stutters)
Far Cry 2: 1920x1080, ultra: 21-55 (avg. 33) fps -> fluently playable
Flatout Ultimate Carnage: 1920x1080, high: 36-48 (avg. 43) fps -> fluently playable
Race Driver Grid: 1920x1080, high: 34-56 (avg. 43) fps -> fluently playable
Stalker Clear Sky: 1920x1080, Maximum: 16-39 (avg. 28) fps -> playable
Unreal Tournament 3: 1920x1080, max: 32-63 (avg. 51) fps -> fluently playable
World in Conflict: 1920x1080, high: 19-103 (avg 30) -> playable

Notebook reviews with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics card

Asus W90Vp (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000, 18.4")
» Review Asus W90VP Gaming Notebook - Review
» Asus W90Vp - External Review

 

> Notebook & Laptop Reviews and News > FAQ / Tips / Technics > Comparison of Graphic Cards > AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2 (Crossfire)
Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2009-09-24)