 |
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||
This week a brand new battle will erupt between two new mainstream performance competitors, as ATI preps their Radeon HD 4890 and Nvidia counters with the GeForce GTX 275. These new graphics cards are set to cost around $250 US, and at that price they should offer an impressive level of performance. The only question now is which delivers the best performance? On one hand we have the new Radeon HD 4890, which as we mentioned is said to cost around $250 US once available. This is interesting as current Radeon HD 4870 (1GB) graphics cards can be had for as little as $190 US, with most priced between $200 - $210 US. Therefore, what makes this newer version worth around $50 US more? Simply put, on paper not a lot really, as the Radeon HD 4890 is merely an overclocked Radeon HD 4870. In no way has the core configuration been altered or improved, and the card still features a 256-bit wide memory bus. The only notable changes is the 100MHz boost in core frequency from 750MHz to 850MHz, while the GDDR5 memory has also been overclocked from 3.60GHz to 3.90GHz, other than this it looks to be the same animal. That said, to run the core at such high frequencies some tweaking had to have been necessary, as existing Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards will only reach 850MHz with drastically improved cooling. So then you are paying $50 US more for a refined version of the Radeon HD 4870 that is capable of running at higher frequencies without sending you deaf. The GeForce GTX 275 is a little more interesting, as it is almost an entirely new product. I say almost because there is no single GPU graphics card that features the same core configuration as the GeForce GTX 275, but there is a multi-GPU card that does. You guessed it, the GeForce GTX 275 core has been borrowed from the GeForce GTX 295. This multi-GPU graphics card was a bit of a hybrid, featuring specifications from both the GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 graphics cards. This makes the core a perfect contender for the new Radeon HD 4890, as when used in a single configuration it will deliver performance that is faster than the GeForce GTX 260, yet slower than the GTX 280. Although the core and memory configurations are the same for the new GeForce GTX 275 as they are on the GTX 295, the operating frequencies have been boosted. The core now operates at 633MHz up from 576MHz, while the GDDR3 memory has been increased from 1998MHz to 2328MHz. The GeForce GTX 275 pricing is expected to be between $230 - $280 US, though we expect it to match the pricing of the Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards. Today’s performance preview is not using the Radeon HD 4890 or the GeForce GTX 275, but rather we have acquired the right hardware to simulate each product. The Radeon HD 4890 performance will be simulated by a Radeon HD 4870 which will be overclocked to 850MHz using a high-end cooler, while the memory will also be pushed to 975MHz. This will give us the exact performance of the upcoming Radeon HD 4890. Achieving the performance of a GeForce GTX 275 is even easier, as we simply disabled one of the GPU’s on the GeForce GTX 295 and then overclocked it to match the core and memory specifications of the upcoming GeForce GTX 275. So while we are not testing a Radeon HD 4890 or GeForce GTX 275, we are simulating what we strongly believe is their exact performance. This means that there will be no thermal or power consumption results and these will be included in our proper review on production models later in the week. Furthermore, this means we will not be providing any overclocking results either. For now we are simply giving you a sneak peak at how these cards should perform and compare to one another, as we are 99% certain that what we have here is accurate. |
|||||
|