Asus Extreme Radeon HD 4850 review

[Julio Franco]

In an effort to remain competitive in the $200-$300 price bracket, ATI is launching yet another product from a brand new series which has been given the codename R700. The R700 will be better known as the Radeon HD 4000, and the first product from this new series that we will be looking at is called the Radeon HD 4850.

Already the Radeon HD 4850 is shaping up to be a rather interesting product as its suggested retail price has been set at just $200, right between the GeForce 8800 GT and 8800 GTS 512. With that in mind we would normally expect this new card's performance to at least exceed that of the 8800 GT, however, looking at its specifications the Radeon HD 4850 appears as it will be capable of much more than just defeating the competition's budget king.

The Radeon HD 4850 is comprised of a staggering 800 (160x5) SPUs, 40 TAUs and 16 ROPs. Compare this to the 320 (64x5) SPUs, 16 TAUs and 16 ROPs of the Radeon HD 3870 and you can quickly begin to understand why we feel this card could be much more potent than current mid-range offerings. Also to be noted, the Radeon HD 4850 boasts a memory bandwidth of 64GB/s, while the Radeon HD 3870 was limited to 57.6GB/s of bandwidth.

https://www.techspot.com/review/103-asus-radeon-4850/

Please leave your feedback here. Thanks!

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The graphics market is finally competitive again. Fantastic stuff as usual guys. Looks like AMD's back in the game.

 

[fullmetalvegan]

Perhaps. Not if the 9800GTX+ is released to match their price.. then that makes that GTX+ a better choice. Much higher FPS at a competitive price to the 4850. If they're supposed to be cheaper than the 9800GTX then it sounds like a good card to get over the 4850.

 

[Julio Franco]

Note that our benchmark results include scores from the old GeForce 9800 GTX and the newly released (or soon to be released) 9800 GTX+.

 

[Steve]

Perhaps. Not if the 9800GTX+ is released to match their price.. then that makes that GTX+ a better choice. Much higher FPS at a competitive price to the 4850. If they're supposed to be cheaper than the 9800GTX then it sounds like a good card to get over the 4850.

Not from what I have seen. Even so we only have the 9800 GTX+ because Nvidia was forced to compete with the Radeon HD 4850 so we are thankful for that alone!

 

[LinkedKube]

This is going to be a good year. I remember when I bought my ultra almost a year ago I paid 800 usd for it. I'm looking forward to the 9800gtx+ for some Tri sli for basically the same price that i paid for this thing.

Great review btw, it gives us hope!

 

[Didou]

The 3870 is/was a very good deal & I think the 4850 continues the trend. But whether on the nVidia or ATI side, the naming schemes are starting to really be ridiculous these days.

 

[mopar man]

I was going to get the 9600gt, but now I am definately going with the 4850.

 

[Mirob]

Very nice review. I wish it had some 8x AA tests because G92 and the + would sorely loose. Most off all I wish the 4870 was there with 8x AA and at 2560x1600. Bring on the 4870 review! :bounce:

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the feedback. 8xAA was used in Supreme Commander but that's all. We will start to add more AA settings and resolutions soon, though that extra data would have made for some very large graphs

 

[Mirob]

I understand it is a lot of work, thanks.

 

[Nirkon]

Wow this card is great and good value for it's price!!!
and this is just the 4850... yeah ATI is defiantly back in the game.

this is good news I think in a month or two the prices will go down even more, maybe I might upgrade?

edit: yeah only one piece of advice, you might want to mark, or underline the card the article is about (so people can find it quickly when looking at the benchmarks)

 

[Classic Rock]

Does anyone know when this new 9800GTX+ card will be out? I was going to buy the 8800GT for $206, but that doesn't seem like such a good buy any more.

 

[fullmetalvegan]

Mid July they said I believe. I just bought a normal 9800GTX damnit. =P

Was gonna get a second one for SLI but I think I'll wait for the GTX+ and SLI them instead.

 

[Acclamator]

Yes, back to the old 9800 Pro days! I'm an EVGA fan boi but if ATI is coming back I have to support them, the have a major facility in my neighborhood.

 

[Guest]

Probably late but just in case someone does read this review. I have two Asus 4850s. I got them cheap as people were sending them back due to high temps. I got them for $144 each when they were still going for $200+. The heat issue is actually quiet easy and cheap to fix. I removed the heatsink (not needed but I did it). I added Arctic Silver and re-installed the factory cooler. The issue is not the cooler or the fan but the GPU Bios controlling the fan. Under ideal the fan runs at 7%. I have an open all acrylic case so I hear everything. I just used the overclocking options with in the Ati drivers to force the fan up to 40% for ideal and load. I took controll away from the bios basically. At 40% I run 48 to 52 ideal and after 2+ hours of gaming I may brake 61 degrees. At 50% drop another 7 to 10 degrees. At 40% i can't here the fans and at 50% they are a very small hum.

I hope this helps.