Palit HD 4850
Roydon Cerejo, Jul 04, 2008 1641 hrs IST
ATI is back with a bang, and its about time.
Superb performance, slim profile, Value for money
Heats up a lot, poor overclocker
It's been a really long time since we've seen anything new from ATI that would make us jump out of our seats and take notice. With NVIDIA spitting out new cards like nobody's business, ATI has remained quiet all this while. The first of the HD series from ATI, the HD 2900XT looked really good on paper having 320 shader units and a 512-bit memory bus. This was better than the top '8' series from NVIDIA. But when it came to real world performance it just couldn't keep up with the 8800GTX. It couldn't overtake the '8' series in the game tests but it did overtake it in the amount of power consumed.
The next release was the HD 38xx series. It had the same amount of shader units but the memory bandwidth was cut into half (from 512-bit to 256-bit) but at the same time they were using GDDR4 memory, which worked at an impressive 2.25GHz. The cards were more than decent but couldn't keep up with the NVIDIA 8800GT, the performance card for budget conscious users. Given ATI's shaky drivers, this round once again went in NVIDIA's favour. It seemed like ATI just couldn't catch up. But now, times seem to have changed and the dark clouds are starting to clear. We have the much-hyped Radeon HD 4850 in our labs today. Even though this card isn't officially launched here (that will happen next week) we managed to get our hands on an evaluation sample. This card is touted to take on the 9800GTX, which is currently the fastest card under the 20K range. Let's see if ATI can break the jinx they have been under for a long time.
Specifications
The first striking difference is the new core based on the RV770 chipset. This new chip packs in a whopping 800 shader units compared to the 240 on the GTX 280. Of course NVIDIA and ATI both have completely different architectures so you can't really compare them.
Here's a list of some of the new improvements ATI has been working on:
TeraScale Graphics Engine - the new graphics engine is capable of over one teraFLOPS and nearly one billion transistors. That's some serious processing power that will come handy for high resolutions.
Advanced GDDR5 Memory - While NVIDIA is still stuck on GDDR3, ATI has gone GDDR4 and now GDDR5. This provides twice the bandwidth per pin of GDDR3. It can be found on the HD4870; the 4850 ships with DDR3.
Unified Video Decoder 2(UVD 2) -This helps offload the task of streaming and rendering HD content from the CPU. The latest iterations also lets you take full advantage of Blu-Ray functionality with dual stream processing and PIP capabilities.
Some of the other features include DirectX 10.1 support, CrossFireX technology, Accelerated Video Transcoding, enhanced DVD upscaling.
The Box
The card came in the shaped box as all of Palit's cards come in, except in red attire. The front is dominated by 'Frobot' with a '4850' sticker on the left mentioning the specs of the card. On the right we have the logos of the technology the card supports. The back as always is the specs of the card in many languages.
USER COMMENTS
its already available in mumbai and india i purchsed it last weak for 11350/-
by Sanket Naik, Mumbai, on Aug 03, 2008 11:25 PM, Report abuse
one of the best in business full marks from my side eats up any of the damn game available good crysis performance aswell. good midrange card looking forward for farcry2 !!!!
by Sanket Naik, Mumbai, on Aug 03, 2008 11:23 PM, Report abuse Reply
Can Intex power supply support this card, because i think there is no PCI-e power connector
by Anoop, Cochin, on Jul 24, 2008 07:23 AM, Report abuse Reply
Pleazzzzzzzz tell where it ca be purchased in Delhi.
by ashish, shimla, on Jul 15, 2008 12:50 AM, Report abuse Reply
The 4850 architecture is superior because AMD raised the bar for single-card, single-GPU performance through good design, execution and timing. But then also the Value for money factor comes in. In International market 4850 by reputer manufacturers is now $ 170 i.e. 7k and at this rate an excellent value.
by vijayshimla, Shimla 171001, on Jul 06, 2008 08:13 AM, Report abuse Reply
hi vijay i want to buy this card. can u pl help. I also live in shimla. 9805012805
by bharat, shimla, on Jul 12, 2008 01:10 AM, Report abuse
Call us for Ready Stocks, SETHIA INFOTECH. Ph.32982159/42149599
by Pradeep, chennai, on Jul 10, 2008 12:18 AM, Report abuse Reply
will it work on 400w smps or do i have to upgrade my smps.if yes which one should i opt for.
by Rohit, Mumbai, on Jul 06, 2008 02:21 PM, Report abuse Reply
ATI recommends 450W or more. But even a VIP 500W should be enough. If you want to upgrade the Corsair VX450 is the best.
by Homer, Mumbai, on Jul 06, 2008 09:15 PM, Report abuse
what a waste card it has ddr5 but memory bus width is 256 (SO ANY 1 TELL WHAT THE USE OF DDR5)
by NOOB, NOOB, on Jul 05, 2008 02:01 PM, Report abuse Reply
you, sir! are an ass.. go read some shit on ways to increase mem b/w.. then read on the trade offs.. 512 bit doesn't come for free.. if u want 512 bit pay for the 280 n stikk it up yours..
by whtever, whtever, on Jul 05, 2008 10:31 PM, Report abuse
Ok! Atleast he knows he's a Noob
by YourDad, Your Home, on Jul 06, 2008 12:19 AM, Report abuse
Who said that HD4850 has DDR5 dude? Read the review carefully, HD4870 is a DDR5 card. And besides HD4850 goes head to head with 9800GTX and i don't see it in the review.
by jannat, mumbai, on Jul 06, 2008 03:31 AM, Report abuse
dude when u dont know what ddr4 or ddr5 memory can do on 256 bit bus width, dont comment, it gives it more bandwidth, which is the name of the game, how much memory can the gpu access.
by Anonymous, Gurgaon, on Jul 06, 2008 08:59 AM, Report abuse
techtree has created history, ATI card review in such a short time..the card performs awsome..i was shocked with the price.. incredible!
by muzux2, Srinagar, on Jul 05, 2008 06:44 PM, Report abuse Reply
techtree could u please post a a guide about graphics card that are used for dual monitor display and hdmi output connections from graphic cards ... i have been searching for this solution all over the internet .... another reader nishant has a similiar problem
by mohammed younus, HYDERABAD, on Jul 05, 2008 10:09 AM, Report abuse Reply
All these solutions are readily available with Aditya Infortech. You can contact Mr. Ishaq @ 98490 17024 for more details
by Ashish Gandhi, Hyderabad, on Jul 05, 2008 01:50 PM, Report abuse
Guys ...I needed your help. I am looking for a graphics card primarily to play HD movies and general requirements for Vista (like DreamScene). I was hoping for a HDMI and Component output (I am not sure how easily DVI to HDMI convertors are available). Could you help me out?
by Nishant, Hyderabad, on Jul 04, 2008 04:54 PM, Report abuse Reply
Try the Radeon 3650... It ought to be good enough for hdmi... Will cost around 5k I guess...
by Ikrana, Pune, on Jul 05, 2008 12:54 PM, Report abuse
Sweet!! =* ATI is proved its self again!! :D
by SamRock, Bangalore, on Jul 05, 2008 11:39 AM, Report abuse Reply
by Digvijay, New Delhi, on Jul 05, 2008 11:02 AM, Report abuse Reply
THANKS A LOT TECHTREE FOR POSTING THE REVIEW OF HD 4850 I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS CARD SINCE MAY ..... CAN U PLEASE POST A GPU COOLER GUIDE STEP BY STEP AND WATER COOLER GUIDE .... THE LATEST GPUS GTX SERIES OR ATI 4XXX SERIES HEATS UP LIKE BOILED EGGS ... PLEASE POST A GUIDE ABOUT THE COOLERS THE WHAT COOLERS WE HAVE BUY AND HOW TO INSTALL THEM ...
by mohammed younus, HYDERABAD, on Jul 05, 2008 10:04 AM, Report abuse Reply
so u dont have a 9800gtx to compare this against at ur labs?
by tjr, mumbai, on Jul 05, 2008 02:42 AM, Report abuse Reply
thank go atleast hd 4000 series
by asfhan, mumbai, on Jul 04, 2008 09:15 PM, Report abuse Reply
the best bang for buck.. just love ati
by Chintan, Mumbai, on Jul 04, 2008 07:01 PM, Report abuse Reply
by jigu, ahmedabad, on Jul 04, 2008 06:55 PM, Report abuse Reply
Excellent job! Great review :)
by anoop, mumbai, on Jul 04, 2008 06:05 PM, Report abuse Reply
Finally review of HD 4xxxx cards. Great Job
by gopinath billav, mysore, on Jul 04, 2008 05:16 PM, Report abuse Reply
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Please tell when is it comming to India
by Pavan, Bangalore, on Jul 16, 2008 05:55 PM, Report abuse Reply