Memory Clock Question!

On newegg.com Asus 4870 X2 have 1800MHz Memory clock and BFG 280 GTX have 2450MHZ.
Why is the difference so big? Does it has to do womething with the ram (Asus GDDR5 - BFG GDDR3) or what... dont get it.

Also BFG have 240 processing cores in Stream Processors and ASUS 1600 (800 x 2) Stream Processing Units. Also dont get it.

Please explain this two thing to me. Thanks

Best regards, S@

(unformaly whitch one is batter ASUS or Sapphire for ATI chipset [dont like Powercolor or VisionTec ;D ])

The 4870X2 memory clock is reported incorrectly. The actual effective speed clock is 3600MHz. The 4870X2 has 1600 available stream processors, but due to the way the architecture is designed, in certain cases they can only be as efficient as 320 stream processors. The GTX2xx series uses a different type of stream processor, so they always have the full number available.

Regarding brands, I don't see why you ruled out Visiontek since they have the best warranty and tech support out of all the ATI partners. If you really must pick either Sapphire or ASUS, I would go with ASUS.

Since I'm buying the card from USA and I live in Macedonia the waranty isnt very big + for me.
I was asking about the manufacturer because I have no idea how, but I learned from somewhere that Sapphire is the best ATI manufacturer... at least it was when I bought my 9600TX.

All the cards are "manufactured" in the same place, so from that perspective it doesn't really matter which one you go with.

skull@ said:

On newegg.com Asus 4870 X2 have 1800MHz Memory clock and BFG 280 GTX have 2450MHZ.
Why is the difference so big? Does it has to do womething with the ram (Asus GDDR5 - BFG GDDR3) or what... dont get it.

Also BFG have 240 processing cores in Stream Processors and ASUS 1600 (800 x 2) Stream Processing Units. Also dont get it.

Please explain this two thing to me. Thanks

Best regards, S@

(unformaly whitch one is batter ASUS or Sapphire for ATI chipset [dont like Powercolor or VisionTec ;D ])

Click to expand...

can't directly compare the cards like that as they use different architectures the 4870X2 is faster then a GTX280. You can however get a GTX280 for under 350 dollars. and the 4870X2 is not 200 dollars faster (at least to me) the H reviews of both are pretty good,
here is a good review including some details on the how for the 4870X2
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...-radeon-hd-4870-x2-2gb-video-card-review.html

for the GTX280 http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...18-bfg-gtx-280-ocx-1gb-video-card-review.html

really beyond a point the memory is not an issue. bother the 4870s and the GTX models have more memory bandwidth then what would be a bottle neck. Nvidia went wide and ATI went fast and narrow. ATI version is cheaper to produce in the long run but performance wise its kind of six on one hand and half dozen on the other.