So do i have this right???

[unknownsock]

Well, the new generation just needs to offer more than 70% more performance, to beat out its multi-GPU ancestor, I think.

And I don't think it's especially unrealistic to have such expectations, given the fact that they've been met in the past (the 4870 was more than double as fast as the 3870, for example) and the fact that moving to a new process gives you double the transistors to play with, for the same die area.

And the reality is, ATI did more than double up the 4870: the 5870 has 2.26x the theoretical power of its predecessor. That's why the 60% to 70% performance improvement we see is disappointing. If Fermi delivers double the performance of the GTX 285 (which is quite possible given 512 vs 240 ALUS), it will wipe the floor with the multi-GPU cards.

Yes it has double the number of transisters, but the card bottlenecks itself.

And i wouldnt call it dissapointing at all, the 4870 was double the power than a 3870, yes. But that was a new a architecture.
The 5870 is still using more a less the same GPU.

From what i've seen the 295% is approx 5% faster, averaging out benchmarks. Plus its still Beta drivers, you cant complain.

 

[nightkhaos]

Why would you think it would beat it?

GTX = 2 CPUS
5870 = 1 CPU

The fact the 5870 comes very close to TWO cards is good. Not sure why people bitch about it so much!

The 5870 is a Central Processing Unit now ha? Have AMD just decided to stop producing their range of processors and bundle them on their graphics cards now?

 

[rexehuk]

The 5870 is a Central Processing Unit now ha? Have AMD just decided to stop producing their range of processors and bundle them on their graphics cards now?

Omg awesome joke!!! PM me the dates you're doing any gigs.

 

[Subtlesnake]

That was more the function of the R6xx under performing! The gt280 wasn't faster than a 9800GX2 or even 8800gt sli for example.

The GTX 280 was about as fast as the 9800GX2, overall. Eg:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Point_Of_View/GeForce_GTX_280/25.html

And that was because the clocks on the 280 were so dissappointing: the shader core in the 9800 GX2 being clocked 16% higher. The GTX 285 put things right, somewhat.

Yes it has double the number of transisters, but the card bottlenecks itself.

And i wouldnt call it dissapointing at all, the 4870 was double the power than a 3870, yes. But that was a new a architecture.
The 5870 is still using more a less the same GPU.

It doesn't matter: every unit in the 5870 is doubled, so it should be able to do double the work per-clock cycle. The fact that it can't do that, is IMO a failure, whether inevitable or not.

This means that ATI have lost some of their perf/mm advantage this generation: the 5870 is less efficient, per area of die than the 4870 is, and this should help Nvidia catch up.

 

[Randell]

The GTX 280 was about as fast as the 9800GX2, overall. Eg:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Point_Of_View/GeForce_GTX_280/25.html

And that was because the clocks on the 280 were so dissappointing: the shader core in the 9800 GX2 being clocked 16% higher. The GTX 285 put things right, somewhat.

This review http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934 and this review http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=1 put the 9800GX2 beating the 280 in most tests by 10%-20% and even at best on others, so not about the same overall, and that was certainly the tone of most reviews, as Anandtech concluded

'but for $150 less than a GTX 280 you get a faster graphics card with NVIDIA's own GeForce 9800 GX2. The obvious downside to the GX2 over the GTX 280 is that it is a multi-GPU card and there are going to be some situations where it doesn't scale well, but overall it is a far better buy than the GTX 280.'

 

[Turambar]

nm