Concieved out of two Radeon HD4870 GPU cores on a single PCB the HD 4870 x2 is a monster to be sure. It features 1600 SPs (800 from each 4870), and features an unheard of 2 GB of GDDR5 memory that operates at a whopping 3600 MHz. The phrase gross overkill comes to mind. AMD has gone all out with this one, and the 4870 x2 is supposed to do what the single GPU version couldn't dethrone the mighty GTX 280, and restore ATI's place at the helm of the 3D performance realm a position it hasn't properly regained after its now ancient 9800 Pro cards. This card looks very similar to the earlier RadeonHD3870 x2, but it's slightly lighter, and a hell-of-a-Iot lot faster. The 4870 x2 is a very hot card, a little hotter than NVIDIAs 9800 GX2s and the power requirements of this card are astronomical the card will consume close to'300 watts while on full load.

Features
The only 4870 x2 we got was from ATI itself. This card is also available from ATI vendors like GeCube, ASUS, Sapphire and VisionTek. Each of the two cores is clocked at a super fast 750 MHz, and the memory runs at a superlative 3,600 MHz. TIle card itself has no HDMI port, and AT! chose not to provide an adapter but this was a review sample only.

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Performance
The 4870 x2 is very fast, but the usual issues with CrossFire support throughout applications resurfaces. It demolishes all the GTX 280s in Crysis, and manages an excellent 31 fps with all DXIO effects set to maximum. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is another bench mark that is a runaway ATI victory with this card. Company Of Heroes doesn't scale with multi GPU solutions (as usual) and the 4870 x2 gets a blemish on its (until now) spotless scorecard. If it's any consolation it outpaces NVIDIAs dual GPU offerings by a wide margin, but cannot match the GTX 260 I 280 duo. F.E.AR. also doesn't do much for CrossFire solutions and this card languishes behind even its single GPU stable mates.

We feel the 4870 x2 has a lot of potential, but there are a couple of issues. The first is application support more game developers need to add proper CrossFire support in their games. This card is a mixed bag. It's very fast at times, and abysmally slow at other times ATI needs more consistency here. We'd also like to point out the heating issues this is a hot card that will likely fry in our summers. If only ATI could get 1600 SPs on a single GPU core ...