AMD Radeon HD 4870 1 GB

The Radeon HD 4870 is the card that took ATI back centre stage. With a good price / performance ratio, it was a choice option from its release in June 2008 up to the arrival of the 5000 series in September 2009. Now at cut down price, does it still have the fire in its belly?

Size, noise and heat generation

Of average size at 24.2 cm (9.5"), this model has a satisfactory double-decker cooler. Indeed, the main problem with the Radeon 4000 series is overheating. At idle, the graphics chip gets to about 80°C and is already raising the temperature of the other components. Though audible the fan remains fairly discrete.

In intense 3D load however, the card goes up to 90 to 95°C and noise levels also go up a notch, though you’re still a long way off what you might get on a 4870 X2 or a GTX 295.

Energy consumption

These high temperatures in idle are due to less efficient energy management than on NVIDIA models or the Radeon 5000 series. We took a reading of 142 W in 2D, or 50 W more than the 5870! This card is not for the green-minded! In load, it does a bit better with a score that’s more on a par with the competition: 340 W. These readings are for the whole of the machine, not just the graphics card. Note also that the card requires two 6-pin PCI-Es.

Gaming performance

In terms of performance, you can still do your gaming in excellent conditions with this card on screens with mid resolutions (1680 x 1050) and in good conditions on screens in high res (1920 x 1200). Overall performance puts it above the Radeon HD 5770 and below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275.


Our first bench is with Fallout 3 at 1920 x 1200 with texturing filters on. The card allows you to play this title comfortably with an average 58 fps, compared to 57 fps for the GeForce GTX 275. Spoils shared here then.

Next we move on to World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, a real time strategy game. At average resolution (1680 x 1050) and with filters on, the 4870 scores an average 36 fps as against 47 for the 275. Lastly in BattleForge, still at 1680 x 1050 but without texturing filters, the Radeon gives 30 fps and the GeForce 37 fps. In both cases, but even more so with the Radeon, it’s advisable to reduce graphics options to maintain fluidity.