Earlier this week with the release of the Catalyst 8.8 driver we were first to deliver Linux CrossFire benchmarks for the Radeon HD 4800 series along with the first Overdrive for Linux article. With our initial CrossFire for Linux article we had delivered benchmarks from the Radeon HD 4850 and Radeon HD 4870, now though we are delivering the first Radeon HD 4870 X2 benchmarks under Ubuntu Linux. In this article we have our hands on the VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB graphics card, and we will once again run our usual programs to see how it performs. This means to get the Catalyst drivers running on Linux and get some games to deliver their gaming performance. - Phonorix

VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB Cool Card Review

The Radeon HD 4870 X2 arrived in a package that wasn't much larger than the graphics card itself. Protecting this dual-GPU graphics card though were two thick layers of foam on the top and bottom. Also included with the graphics card was an HDMI adapter, DVI adapter, one CrossFire interconnect bridge and HDTV component adapter. The model shipping to consumers will also have a driver CD and manual, but our evaluation sample that arrived prior to the card's launch had not contained either item. On the VisionTek website only Windows XP and Vista are listed as supported operating systems with included drivers.

So with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 using two RV770 graphics cores, this graphics card is quite long and the cooler itself is quite large. There is a single fan that pulls air through this very large copper heatsink and is then pushed out the back of the second slot on this graphics card. Due to this large heatsink, the graphics card is quite heavy as well. For the Radeon HD 4870 X2, VisionTek follows AMD's reference design with this cooler. On the front of the cooler is VisionTek's logo along with listing it is a Radeon HD 4870 X2 and has 2GB of GDDR5 memory, with core at 750MHz and the memory running at 3600MHz speed.

Up to four GPU's are supported with ATI CrossFireX meaning that two of these Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards can be linked up together. However, the Catalyst Linux driver at this time only supports CrossFire between two GPU's. You can still use two Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards in a Linux system for supporting multiple monitors but CrossFire will not function. Using the Catalyst 8.8 Linux driver, we had experienced no fundamental problems with this dual GPU graphics card on Ubuntu Linux. The dual monitor support and Overdrive also work with this graphics card on Linux.

The VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB graphics card is currently retailing for about $560, which is about $120 more than NVIDIA's current flagship single GPU, namely the GeForce GTX 280 and about $20 less than buying two Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards individually. If you are after CrossFire on Linux, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is a good candidate considering its lower price point than buying two Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards individually, but two Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards cannot be combined on Linux for running in a four GPU CrossFireX configuration.