There you have it, the new Radeon HD 4850, which is shaping up to be a very impressive product. Unfortunately we have only had time to benchmark this new ATI graphics card in six gaming titles along with 3Dmark Vantage, but the results almost seem unanimous. When compared head to head with the GeForce 9800 GTX, the Radeon HD 4850 appeared to get the better of the exchanges, with Unreal Tournament being the only game it came out right second in.
As always, when reviewing a new graphics card for the first time we are using sample drivers, and often this means there are a few bugs and performance issues that need to be ironed out. Using a modified version of the Catalyst 8.5 drivers, the Radeon HD 4850 worked like a charm, showing no signs of instability or any compatibility issues with the games we used. Obviously the performance seems up to scratch, especially if ATI are really going to release this graphics card at the suggested MSRP of just $200, as that really would be something!
Looking back at the results it is hard to be anything but impressed, as the Radeon HD 4850 really took it to the GeForce 9800 GTX. Games such as Crysis, Supreme Commander and Unreal Tournament 3, saw the Radeon HD 4850 match the GeForce 9800 GTX in terms of performance. While the Radeon HD 4850 was clearly faster in Devil May Cry 4, Quake Wars and World in Conflict even with anti-aliasing enabled, which was most impressive.
When it came to the power consumption numbers the Radeon HD 4850 continued to shine, using significantly less power than the GeForce 9800 GTX. At idle the Radeon HD 4850 uses 12% less power than the GeForce 9800 GTX, and while under load it used 11% less power, which is impressive given in most cases it was actually faster! Furthermore, because the Radeon HD 4850 uses less power, it only requires a single 6-pin PCI Express power connector where as the GeForce 9800 GTX uses two.
The Radeon HD 4850 did seem to run quite hot, though we are unable to get any official numbers just yet; we can tell you however, that the cooler is very quiet when operating. The compact design of the Radeon HD 4850 will make it very suitable for Crossfire configurations. Keeping that in mind, at $200 US each, a pair of Radeon HD 4850 graphics cards in Crossfire mode could pose quite a threat to the mighty GeForce 9800 GX2.
Another exciting thought is the upcoming Radeon HD 4870, and of course the dual GPU version which will be known as the Radeon HD 4870 X2. As far as we are aware the Radeon HD 4870 will feature the same core configuration as the Radeon HD 4850, while running the core and memory at significantly higher clock frequencies. Unfortunately overclocking our ASUS Radeon HD 4850 did not go well, as we were barely able to raise the core above the default specification.
This makes us wonder if ATI are having any trouble with the Radeon HD 4870, as we are yet to receive any samples and ATI’s partners are unable to tell us when they are coming. Interestingly, one of ATI’s partners did tell us that they were disappointed with the performance of the RV770 (HD 4850), which is surprising given what we have seen. Again, should these cards come in at $200 US, we feel there is absolutely nothing to be disappointed about. For now it looks like the Radeon HD 4850 has what it takes to combat the GeForce 9800 GTX, though we are keen to check this new graphics card out in much more detail very soon...
Reviewed By Steven Walton
