That was my thought, the HD4000 cards were a much bigger deal when they came out. The reasoning they have is weird too, they said the 4870 fell short because it didn’t beat the 280 but then talked about how the 5870 was great despite not beating the 480. They were both great cards but the 4870 marked a return to competitiveness for Radeon.
I’ve had a Rage, X1300 PCI (not PCI-E. Weird little card.), HD3450M, HD4850, HD5870M, R9 390 x2 in crossfire, Vega 56, 6700XT, and now 7900 XTX. I feel old.