4890 Review Thread

[zod96]

If Xfx comes out with a 4890 with a black pcb I think I'll probably sell my 4870 and pick it up

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: jaredpace

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Originally posted by: evolucion8

The difference between the HD 4850 and the GTX 260 in power consumption at idle is insignificant

Yeah, except the GTX260 is a good 30%-50% faster than the 4850. nVidia has power management won this generation, hands down.

yes! and they're competitive as well, with $300 off original msrp

:laugh:

 

[dadach]

hehe ati saved nvidia fanbois a bundle...and yet, they keep on trashing it

 

[Creig]

XFX is set to release a 4890 the first week of April and will bundle it with a DX10.1 enhanced version of Tom Clancy's HAWX game.

It's possible that their cooling solution will be non-standard:

Cooling solution: We have launched a new XFX Dual Slot fansink to offer optimum cooling solution; this will be found in most of our XFX ATI SKUs.

and they mention something about the packaging:

Packaging: We have launched some new packaging which should stand out, there is one in particular, do watch out for the 4890 Packaging, all I can say is that its something not attempted by anyone in the industry.

although why that would really matter is beyond me.



Oh, and zod96? You better get your 4870 cleaned up and ready to go. I think XFX heard you...

Cosmectics: the feel and look is going to be XFX i.e. Black PCB, Black Bracket, 'RED' DVI convertors

http://www.channeltimes.com/In...ng/551-100551-820.html

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: evolucion8
The difference between the HD 4850 and the GTX 260 in power consumption at idle is insignificant

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

The power consumption of the GTX 260 216 is slighly higher than the GTX 260 standard

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3408&p=9

maybe it was just because I was an early adopter, but you can definitely tell a tremendous difference between the 4850 and the gtx 260 core 216. I managed to convince myself to go for the 4850 even though I spent many many months extolling the virtues of the 3870's dual slot fan. Well, I suffered when I really started using the 4850 because the fan could get extremely loud when it ramped up (damn single slot!!), plus it just dumped the heat into my case. I run seti 24/7 as well, so having a strong cooling fan on the video card plus dumping that extra heat out the back is very important for me obviously. It's also nice that I don't have to either a.) listen to the fan agressively ramp up periodically, or b.) turn the fan up to a noticeable level when gaming.

We get it already, you've got a GTX 260 216 and it's just the most exciting thing evar

You know you could have got one of the many OEM solutions for the 4850 that would solve all the things you whinge about there, let alone aftermarket options.

Just remember that the 4X00 cards are the sole reason nvidia cards are so dramatically far below the remarkable launch MSRP these days

Back to the 4890, it will be interesting to see how, and if, this puts any further downward pressure on the existing cards.

@BFG: Nice site :thumbsup:

Have Nvidia fixed the utter bending over their cards get with 8XAA yet?

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: evolucion8
The difference between the HD 4850 and the GTX 260 in power consumption at idle is insignificant

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

The power consumption of the GTX 260 216 is slighly higher than the GTX 260 standard

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3408&p=9

maybe it was just because I was an early adopter, but you can definitely tell a tremendous difference between the 4850 and the gtx 260 core 216. I managed to convince myself to go for the 4850 even though I spent many many months extolling the virtues of the 3870's dual slot fan. Well, I suffered when I really started using the 4850 because the fan could get extremely loud when it ramped up (damn single slot!!), plus it just dumped the heat into my case. I run seti 24/7 as well, so having a strong cooling fan on the video card plus dumping that extra heat out the back is very important for me obviously. It's also nice that I don't have to either a.) listen to the fan agressively ramp up periodically, or b.) turn the fan up to a noticeable level when gaming.

We get it already, you've got a GTX 260 216 and it's just the most exciting thing evar

You know you could have got one of the many OEM solutions for the 4850 that would solve all the things you whinge about there, let alone aftermarket options.

Just remember that the 4X00 cards are the sole reason nvidia cards are so dramatically far below the remarkable launch MSRP these days

Back to the 4890, it will be interesting to see how, and if, this puts any further downward pressure on the existing cards.

@BFG: Nice site :thumbsup:

Have Nvidia fixed the utter bending over their cards get with 8XAA yet?

He brings up some valid points, there's no need to mock him about it. The initial 4850's really did not have the best cooling design. Like the early 8800 GT's, it was simply too small and the stock RPMs were too low. It wasn't until the 4850 had been out for awhile that more effective aftermarket cooling solutions were available for those wishing either lower temps or higher OC potential.

The GTX 260 216 HSF design is very nice. It is both quiet and effective, plus has the benefit of taking the waste heat and dumping it outside the case. I hope both AMD and Nvidia have learned their lesson regarding the cooling system design of enthusiast level cards.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: evolucion8
The difference between the HD 4850 and the GTX 260 in power consumption at idle is insignificant

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

The power consumption of the GTX 260 216 is slighly higher than the GTX 260 standard

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3408&p=9

maybe it was just because I was an early adopter, but you can definitely tell a tremendous difference between the 4850 and the gtx 260 core 216. I managed to convince myself to go for the 4850 even though I spent many many months extolling the virtues of the 3870's dual slot fan. Well, I suffered when I really started using the 4850 because the fan could get extremely loud when it ramped up (damn single slot!!), plus it just dumped the heat into my case. I run seti 24/7 as well, so having a strong cooling fan on the video card plus dumping that extra heat out the back is very important for me obviously. It's also nice that I don't have to either a.) listen to the fan agressively ramp up periodically, or b.) turn the fan up to a noticeable level when gaming.

We get it already, you've got a GTX 260 216 and it's just the most exciting thing evar

You know you could have got one of the many OEM solutions for the 4850 that would solve all the things you whinge about there, let alone aftermarket options.

Just remember that the 4X00 cards are the sole reason nvidia cards are so dramatically far below the remarkable launch MSRP these days

Back to the 4890, it will be interesting to see how, and if, this puts any further downward pressure on the existing cards.

@BFG: Nice site :thumbsup:

Have Nvidia fixed the utter bending over their cards get with 8XAA yet?

What's wrong, are you thinking that wreckage hacked my account or something?

My last 3 cards in my main gaming rig were x1900xt, 3870, and 4850. I would still probably go with ati if all things were equal, I just couldn't find a 1gb 4870 for a similar price. I'm sure there's a reason for that. It's one thing to have a slight preference for one card company over the other, it's quite another to blindly buy gtx 260's for $400 or 4850's for $140 when you can get more performance for the same price from the other guy.

Fanboys from either camp are very annoying.

I also bought the gtx 260 when I did because I gambled that 4890 and gtx 275 would just be slight improvements for a lot more cost, thus exerting little if any downward pressure on current cards. Since ati cards have actually gone up a little bit in price recently, I think that I made the right decision. Only time will tell.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Didn't see this posted yet.

Fudzilla link - Sapphire Toxic Edition 4890 to be out 2 weeks after launch.

I have a 'Toxic' edition 4870 and am quite happy with it. My GPU's temps are quite decent, I hope they do as good a job with the 4890.

 

[angry hampster]

I wonder what the Toxic Edition clocks will be set at. My 512mb HIS 4870 is currently overclocked to 816MHz core/945 memory with the reference cooler. I can't imagine the 4890 would be a huge step up from it (if the RAM is not taken into account).

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
I wonder what the Toxic Edition clocks will be set at. My 512mb HIS 4870 is currently overclocked to 816MHz core/945 memory with the reference cooler. I can't imagine the 4890 would be a huge step up from it (if the RAM is not taken into account).

No idea how aggressive factory oc's will be. But one thing I can say is that the cooler on my Toxic card does seem to keep temps lower than the reference cooler in general. So assuming the same for the 4890 at the very least it should help squeeze out a few extra MHz on a given chip. But I've seen plenty of reference cards near my clock speed (yours for instance) so not sure how much heat is limiting overclocks on these anyway.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: evolucion8
The difference between the HD 4850 and the GTX 260 in power consumption at idle is insignificant

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

The power consumption of the GTX 260 216 is slighly higher than the GTX 260 standard

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3408&p=9

maybe it was just because I was an early adopter, but you can definitely tell a tremendous difference between the 4850 and the gtx 260 core 216. I managed to convince myself to go for the 4850 even though I spent many many months extolling the virtues of the 3870's dual slot fan. Well, I suffered when I really started using the 4850 because the fan could get extremely loud when it ramped up (damn single slot!!), plus it just dumped the heat into my case. I run seti 24/7 as well, so having a strong cooling fan on the video card plus dumping that extra heat out the back is very important for me obviously. It's also nice that I don't have to either a.) listen to the fan agressively ramp up periodically, or b.) turn the fan up to a noticeable level when gaming.

We get it already, you've got a GTX 260 216 and it's just the most exciting thing evar

You know you could have got one of the many OEM solutions for the 4850 that would solve all the things you whinge about there, let alone aftermarket options.

Just remember that the 4X00 cards are the sole reason nvidia cards are so dramatically far below the remarkable launch MSRP these days

Back to the 4890, it will be interesting to see how, and if, this puts any further downward pressure on the existing cards.

@BFG: Nice site :thumbsup:

Have Nvidia fixed the utter bending over their cards get with 8XAA yet?

What's wrong, are you thinking that wreckage hacked my account or something?

My last 3 cards in my main gaming rig were x1900xt, 3870, and 4850. I would still probably go with ati if all things were equal, I just couldn't find a 1gb 4870 for a similar price. I'm sure there's a reason for that. It's one thing to have a slight preference for one card company over the other, it's quite another to blindly buy gtx 260's for $400 or 4850's for $140 when you can get more performance for the same price from the other guy.

Fanboys from either camp are very annoying.

I also bought the gtx 260 when I did because I gambled that 4890 and gtx 275 would just be slight improvements for a lot more cost, thus exerting little if any downward pressure on current cards. Since ati cards have actually gone up a little bit in price recently, I think that I made the right decision. Only time will tell.

I think you made an excellent decision at the price points available, FWIW :beer:

I was just unkindly ripping on your recent bubbly enthusiasm for your new card, something I've been just as guilty of in the past

You are correct that the intitial 4850 single slot cooler wasn't fantastic, but perhaps because we get all these things later here, there was a reasonable range of decent OEM solutions fairly quickly that addressed that.

 

[bryanW1995]

I don't blame amd for using the single slot cooler, I just blame myself for buying it even though I knew that the noise would piss me off. Also, nvidia bumped up their gtx series release last june and ati's partners started preemtively letting cards out in the wild, so they were kinda stuck releasing what they had available. I almost got an accelero when I bought the 4850, but eventually decided to just live with it as long as I could. Unfortunately for my wallet, that wasn't very long :| on top of that, I ended up getting a new monitor to go with the gtx 260...:|:| CURSE YOU UPGRADE GODS!!

The only worse thing would be if 4890 or gtx 275 comes out much better than rumored and 4870/gtx260 prices tank to $100. If that happened I might end up hurting myself.

 

[CrystalBay]

LoL for all the pre released benchmarks and availibility of sku's... AMD pretty much stopped anymore leaks , including Daily Tech which said they have some results last Monday...

 

[ronnn]

Yep jumped the gun here, calling this a review thread. :laugh:

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
I don't blame amd for using the single slot cooler, I just blame myself for buying it even though I knew that the noise would piss me off. Also, nvidia bumped up their gtx series release last june and ati's partners started preemtively letting cards out in the wild, so they were kinda stuck releasing what they had available. I almost got an accelero when I bought the 4850, but eventually decided to just live with it as long as I could. Unfortunately for my wallet, that wasn't very long :| on top of that, I ended up getting a new monitor to go with the gtx 260...:|:| CURSE YOU UPGRADE GODS!!

The only worse thing would be if 4890 or gtx 275 comes out much better than rumored and 4870/gtx260 prices tank to $100. If that happened I might end up hurting myself.

The life of a hardware enthusiast. My wife got my 4870 for me for Christmas, I believe she paid about $215 AR for a 512MB 4870 (granted, non reference cooler and a small factory oc, but still...). I just look at it as this is the cost of this hobby, we paid more than we could have if we would have waited a few months, but I've had many hours of enjoyment on this card over the last few months.

But I am curious to see what the GTX275 and 4890 can do to pricing. I think we all have a ball park guestimate on what their specs will be (the only big question in my mind is about the rumored OC ability of the 4890). If these cards are priced right, I'd love to pick up another 4870 on the cheap and give CrossFire a whirl. The last time I tried multicard was with a GeForce 6800GS (the 12 pipe version) and was very much not impressed. I assume things have matured a bit since those days. Just don't know if 2 512MB cards are really worth it, then I'd also have to convince the wife that there's no way I can live without a 24-26" monitor.

 

[Creig]

Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor @ 2500 Mhz
CPU ID: x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 3
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows Vista? Home Premium 32-bit Service Pack 1
Physical memory: 3.25 GB
Display adapter: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series 1024 MB
Video Processor: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9460)
Driver version: 8.01.01.882 (20090304065144.000000-000)
Motherboard: DFI LP DK 790FXB-M2RS 1.0


CRYSIS

//////////// Summary \\\\\\\\\\\\

01/01/2008 00:26:09 - Microsoft® Windows Vista? Home Premium 32-bit Service Pack 1

DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: ambush @ 0 1680 x 1050 AA 2x
==> Framerate [ Min: 11.58 Max: 27.52 Avg: 23.12 ]

DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: ambush @ 0 1920 x 1200 AA 2x
==> Framerate [ Min: 15.94 Max: 28.26 Avg: 23.23 ]

DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: avalanche flythrough @ 8 1680 x 1050 AA 2x
==> Framerate [ Min: 14.90 Max: 24.07 Avg: 20.15 ]

DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: avalanche flythrough @ 8 1920 x 1200 AA 2x
==> Framerate [ Min: 15.93 Max: 24.33 Avg: 20.17 ]

DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: avalanche flythrough @ 8 1920 x 1200 AA 8x
==> Framerate [ Min: 0.00 Max: 0.00 Avg: 0.00 ]


DirectX 9.0c ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: ambush @ 0 1680 x 1050 AA 8x
==> Framerate [ Min: 12.85 Max: 29.45 Avg: 22.83 ]

DirectX 9.0c ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: avalanche flythrough @ 8 1680 x 1050 AA 8x
==> Framerate [ Min: 11.67 Max: 26.62 Avg: 20.50 ]


FARCRY 2

Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1680x1050 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(2x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)
* Average Framerate: 35.43
* Max. Framerate: 56.98
* Min. Framerate: 23.71

Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1680x1050 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(4x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)
* Average Framerate: 35.76
* Max. Framerate: 58.52
* Min. Framerate: 23.73

Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1680x1050 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(8x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Custom), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)
* Average Framerate: 30.92
* Max. Framerate: 47.22
* Min. Framerate: 22.91

http://www.hardforum.com/showt...d.php?t=1406910&page=2

 

[bryanW1995]

marcvenice has a 4890. he's under nda, but he did mention that the rumored specs were pretty accurate.

 

[SSChevy2001]

@Creig

He's too CPU bound for that card. Here's what I'm getting on my 4870 @ 850/975.

FARCRY 2

Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1680x1050 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(2x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Ultra High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)
* Average Framerate: 52.25
* Max. Framerate: 62.56
* Min. Framerate: 44.30

Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1680x1050 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(4x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Ultra High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)
* Average Framerate: 47.32
* Max. Framerate: 62.26
* Min. Framerate: 37.60

Settings: Demo(Ranch Small), 1680x1050 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(8x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Ultra High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)
* Average Framerate: 35.28
* Max. Framerate: 57.35
* Min. Framerate: 25.18

 

[BFG10K]

A new review has been added to the OP.

 

[lavaheadache]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
A new review has been added to the OP.

looks quite competitive to the GTX285. I'd like to see shelf prices of these cards after the anticipated 2 week gouging

 

[CrystalBay]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
A new review has been added to the OP.

Great, now all I need is a 30" monitor...

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
A new review has been added to the OP.

Nice overclock on that card. Looks like 1.0GHz core clocks shouldn't be too hard.

 

[MrK6]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
A new review has been added to the OP.

Excellent find.

It's great to finally see some overclocking results AND benchmarks. Now I'm waiting for the first Crossfire review .

 

[zod96]

Here is what others had to say looks like it can almost give the GTX285 a run for its money in certain games..

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....view&id=12942&Itemid=1

 

[Jacen]

Originally posted by: zod96
Here is what others had to say looks like it can almost give the GTX285 a run for its money in certain games..

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....view&id=12942&Itemid=1

He is just discussing the same link in the OP, which we have been discussing here =p