The first ATI 4850 Review
| ATI Radeon HD 4850 Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Stream Processors | 800 |
| Core Clock | 625 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz |
| Memory Interface | 256 bit |
| Memory Type | 512MB GDDR3 |
| Texture Fillrate (billion/sec) | 24.0 |
| Fabrication Process | 55nm |
| Bus Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
ATI 4850 Review
Reviewer: Jimmyz
Review Link: ATI 4850 Review
Jimmyz did the first ATI 4850 Review over at Xtremesystems.org and after he spent the better part of the last two days putting ATI’s latest offering through it’s paces I have to say it has been a surprise how much performance this card brings to the midrange market.
It is capable of running crysis at 1680 x 1050 in dx10 with settings on high, frames rarely dip below 30 and the game actually feels smooth, quite an accomplishment in a single slot mid range card especially at this price point. The driver installations were simply and straightforward as were the packaging and accessories. This is a serious company and with a Lifetime Warranty to boot. That is something lacking with most board partners today.
The ATI Radeon HD 4850 video card performs flawlessly, however out of the box the GPU was registering 79c at idle in catalyst overdrive window, after changing thermal paste and re-installing temps are more like 55 - 60c idle and load temperatures are also much improved. With the heat taken care of I tried Catalyst’s built in overclocking utility which allows up to 700 core and 1200 memory clocks, I tried 700/ 1100 and found it to be stable for bench testing and the hour of crisis I played.
Overall I am highly impressed. this video card is a great step in the right direction for ATI, and it follows on the heels of the HD3800 series which were fantastic sellers in their segment. ATI is going to increase the pressure Nvidia now feels in the midrange market and if the HD4870 and its rumored GDDR5 ram makes the improvements they claim the under 400 dollar segment will all but belong to ATI. this promises to be a great summer as the 260 and 280 from rival Nvidia are just around the corner albeit at a much higher price than the current ATI offerings, in some cases twice as much.
I will continue testing as the official 8.6 catalyst drivers should bring performance increases across most games. I will also continue to test the card as newer games are released and better support is allowed such as overclocking utilities, Bios tools etc. competition is fierce in the midrange and ATI has brought a fighter to the ring this round, Things are looking up for this generation.
Stay tuned to FXvideocards for the latest and greatest cards on the market (and some that aren’t yet).
jimmyz.
ATI Radeon HD 4850 Review
ATI 4850 Review
Video Cards
