In my last review on the HD4850, I discussed price/performance. The 4850 was an excellent buy for $199 as the card outperformed any variant of the 9800GTX card available. Today’s 4870 card is an excellent value for the MSRP of $299 as the card outperforms the HD3870X2 from last year for a fraction of the price. Visiontek’s HD4870 comes with Mass Effect, a modern DX10 game adding even more value to the card.
ATI has a definite winner here as the card comes close to the GTX280 in one situation and beats the previous generation HD3870 throughout the tests. Apparently the HD4870 comes close to the performance of a GTX260 in almost every case, but for $100 less making it a real winner. Competition has been lacking in the graphics market since the launch of the 8800GTX two years ago, but ATI is back with a vengeance offering lower power draw, great performance and features for a lower price point than the competition at the same performance segment. The big gun of the ATI lineup, the HD4870X2 is due in August and should outperform any GTX280 across the board for lower prices.
