OC3D Review: Asus HD4850 512mb PCI-E Graphics Card EAH4850

[JN]

"ATI have been quietly boiling away at their latest gen. We take the HD4850 out for a spin and see how it gets on"

Asus HD4850 512mb review

By Kempez & Jim (dont ask)

 

[Ham]

Been spying on this review for a while .

So its not the most powerful card in the world. But it can be had for £120. VFM wise i can't see anything better atm. Rather tempting to pick up 2.

 

[nunzio]

Looks like a great card, wonder if i can Crossfire them on my commando.

 

[JN]

Looks like a great card, wonder if i can Crossfire them on my commando.

8x 8x config might not work too bad with these cards actually. Especially at the price. Doesn't matter too much if you loose a few fps thru PCI-E bottlenecks

 

[nunzio]

Aye, just worried about the fact they might need PCI-e v.2

 

[w3bbo]

Nice review m8. Looks like ATI are slowly clawing back some performance.

 

[ionicle]

very nice looking cards

XFX should come across to the Red camp

i think XFX and ATi would make some damn fine cards together..

but yea, nice

good review

 

[nunzio]

lol yeah XFX ATi cards would be the best.

 

[Jaster]

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT....its about time ATI stopped cowering behind the bikesheds...it bodes well for the 4870 and x2 derivitives.....

 

[Luigi]

Great review as ever Jim, the cost per frame is simply staggering on this card, much lower than nvidia

 

[Kerotan]

Awesome review and card really. ATi bringin back VFM, nuff said really

 

[!TIMMY!]

It is really tempting to get one of these, and then get another for crossfire at a later date.

Great reviews as always!

 

[Toxcity]

Not to bad a card really, performance is goodish... but price, WOAH!

 

[Mr. Smith]

For £120 that is a smoking card!

I think I might have to buy a 4870x2 when they come out, ati seems to have won this round

 

[nepas]

For £120 that is a smoking card!

I think I might have to buy a 4870x2 when they come out, ati seems to have won this round

that could be classed as an understatement

 

[JN]

For £120 that is a smoking card!

Deffo. Especially when you consider that with a bit of overclocking it has the potential to totally wipe the floor with the 3800x2 cards.

 

[cl0ck_ed]

Looks like a great card, wonder if i can Crossfire them on my commando.

8x 8x config might not work too bad with these cards actually. Especially at the price. Doesn't matter too much if you loose a few fps thru PCI-E bottlenecks

I think the commando is actually 16x/4x. The 4x bus of the second slot is too crippling to performance. I was looking at two of these cards for crossfire on the same board and after researching crossfire on the p965 chipset there is little point. Best to sell the commando and buy a x38 or x48 mobo.

The HD 4850 is by far the best card VFM wise recently. I think it'll be even more of a hit than the 8800gt. Unless nVidia drastically reduce the price of there 9800gtx to the same or lower price level.

The Hd 4850 appears to beat the 9800gtx and the 8800gtx in most games. I was thinking of upgrading my 8800gts 640mb to a 8800gtx, but I'm glad I didn't as this card is cheaper and performs better.

I showed the card to my bro, and with a little persuasion I made him buy it. He'll be happy with it hope fully, upgrading from a x1950pro lol.

Also he got the HD 4850 for about £115 delivered from pixmania.com, hasn't arrived yet though.

 

[niky_d]

Great review Jim, as always. :worship:

The price/performance ration is clearly top with the 4850, but I’m looking more in the direction of the 4870 for my self.

It would be nice to see, how a 4870 performs against the gtx260 in a battle review .

And now that there will also be a black edition 4870 that can go over 1Ghz with its cpu, nvidia will have a hard time.

Better cards from ati, lower price for us, at least I hope nvidia will lower their prices.

 

[JN]

I think the commando is actually 16x/4x. The 4x bus of the second slot is too crippling to performance. I was looking at two of these cards for crossfire on the same board and after researching crossfire on the p965 chipset there is little point. Best to sell the commando and buy a x38 or x48 mobo.

For most P965 boards that would be true, but the Command actually has a "Crosslinx" chip that splits the bandwidth of the first PCI-E slot into 8x/8x when running cards in Crossfire.

The HD 4850 is by far the best card VFM wise recently. I think it'll be even more of a hit than the 8800gt. Unless nVidia drastically reduce the price of there 9800gtx to the same or lower price level.

The Hd 4850 appears to beat the 9800gtx and the 8800gtx in most games. I was thinking of upgrading my 8800gts 640mb to a 8800gtx, but I'm glad I didn't as this card is cheaper and performs better.

I showed the card to my bro, and with a little persuasion I made him buy it. He'll be happy with it hope fully, upgrading from a x1950pro lol.

Also he got the HD 4850 for about £115 delivered from pixmania.com, hasn't arrived yet though.

Bloody hell thats a good price

 

[cl0ck_ed]

For most P965 boards that would be true, but the Command actually has a "Crosslinx" chip that splits the bandwidth of the first PCI-E slot into 8x/8x when running cards in Crossfire.

Bloody hell thats a good price

Are you sure? Can’t find that anywhere. On the asus site it says 16x/4x. Sure your not thinking of the Blitz.

For the cheap price, sign up to Quidco, and you get 5% off at pixmania, you can also get money off at Misco and Novatech.