Slappa's *New* 4850 Thread
Hey guys. Got pretty bored, so I decided to put together an extensive 4850 thread. Hope you guys enjoy, I spent about three days compiling it.
The Card
The card that this thread revolves around is the ATi HD 4850. More specifically, it is the HIS 512MB model.
This card packs 800 Shader Cores on the RV770 GPU, a 256-Bit Memory Bus and 512MB of GDDR3 Vram. The stock clocks come in at 625MHz Core and 993MHz Vram respectively.
I first got this card back on July 21st, 2008 shortly after they released. The performance is amazing for the price, and quickly shot this card into the spotlight for budget enthusiasts, and mainstream gamers alike.
Current prices range from $140-$200 USD for the ATi HD 4850.
New Cooler + Modification
It is no secret that these cards run very hot. Especially on the stock cooler. The solution to this?
Like every performance pushing member of this forum, we would replace the stock cooler with an aftermarket cooler.
I replaced my stock cooler with a Zalman VF-1000 HSF. I also applied a fresh layer of AS5 Thermal Paste to top that off.
However, I quickly found that I would need a solution to the VRM's that were left exposed. So I decided to modify the original heatsink, sawing off the portion that cools the VRM's at the back of the card.
Here is what my card looks like now:
The Temperatures
With the stock cooler, the card would idle in the 50-60 degree* range. It would load at around 80-90 degrees. Yes, it ran hot.
The aftermarket cooler I installed on my card (see above) dramatically reduced these temperatures.
I am now seeing idle temperatures of 38-45 degrees, and load temperatures of 60-65 degrees. I had one occaision when using the FurMark burn test, where the GPU ran up to a high of 75 degrees. However, with every game I have played/tested to date, it has never hit that temperature.
*The asterisk indicates the degrees are in Celsius format.
The Overclocking
Overclocking this card has probably been the most interesting I have ever done. However, it has also been the most puzzling.
It is well known by now that CCC (Catalyst Control Center) Overdrive increases core voltages on the 48XX series when using Auto-Tune. After fooling around with this feature, I got overclocks such as 680/1040, 650/1025. These were modest overclocks at best.
For the very first time, the 4850 was my first BIOS overclocked card. I tossed CCC out the windows. I downloaded RBE (Radeon Bios Editor) and got bios modding. My overclock consisted of maxing the voltage for the GPU in the BIOS. I left all the clocks the same. I then flashed the card, booted up windows, and used Rivatuner to OC. I finally settled at a monster OC of 751/1025. The core of this overclock is equal to the stock core frequency of a 4870 GPU!
751/1025 @ 1.158Vcore
GPU-Z Validation
My default clocks showed as 680/1050. I have no clue why. I believe it is because the BIOS had a modded upper OC limit, and it just displayed that as my defaults. However, the real defaults are 625/993.
If you are looking to get into BIOS modding, check this post.
OC Update 01/02/09
Hit 770 core and 1100 vmem.
This is using only an increased overdrive limit, voltage softmodded to 1.158Vcore and an autotune run. I then lowered the clocks from the autotune run and tested for stability with COD4 and GPU2 F@H. All stable.
OC Update #2 01/04/09: Here is my latest achievement!
Hit 790 core.
This is using only an increased overdrive limit, voltage softmodded to 1.158Vcore and an autotune run. I let autotune run and it set it to 790 core. All stable on GPU2 F@H.
Want My Latest Bios? Click Here
Disclaimer: I, nor OCN are responsible for any failed VBIOS updates.
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It's Benchmark Time
The System
Intel E7300 @ 3GHz (400*7.5) & 3.4GHz (400*8.5)
Mushkin HP2-6400 2*2GB @ 800MHz 5-4-4-12 Dual Channel (Only 2GB utilized in XP-32)
EP45-UD3P
HIS HD 4850 Radeon Graphics 625/993 and 751/1025
250GB 7200.8 Seagate HDD
XP Home 32-Bit
Latest Version of Directx9c
Testing Resolution: 1280*1024 (17" Monitor)
XG Catalyst 8.12 Drivers
Benchmarks
Synthetics
3DMark06
3DMark05
FurMark
Games+Apps
Crysis
Devil May Cry 4
F.E.A.R.
Half Life 2 Episode 2
Lost Planet
World In Conflict
F@H GPU2 6.23 Client
548 Point WU's
384 Point WU's
511 Point WU's
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Benchmarks
Just some things to note about these benchmarks:
-I have tests with the E7300 OCed to 3GHz, and 3.4GHz. Those are read across the X-Axis of the graphs. This was done purposely to show the affect of CPU clocks and speed on games. I also did this to prevent bottlenecks from occuring.
-I have stock (625MHz/993MHz) and overclocked (751MHz/1025MHz) results for the 4850.
**All benchmarks are ran at maximum settings and resolution unless stated otherwise.** These are DX9 tests only. FPS listed is the Average. Some games had 2 or more tests. I averaged all the tests together to get one number.
~3DMark06 and 3DMark05 were run at standard settings to get a comparable score to other computers.~
As you can see, Crysis is very GPU bound, and overclocking the CPU had no effect on the framerate.
~FEAR was run at 1280*960 as it was the closest supported resolution~
~Lost Planet was run at 1280*960 as it was the closest supported resolution~
Folding Results
The folding performance of the 4850 started out mediocre at best. Over time, the drivers and client have evolved. Here are the folding results. Keep in mind that these are approximate values (In PPD). I got these results using FahMon.Catalyst 8.12 .dll's were also used, replacing the ones that came in the clients folder. This prevents multiple issues such as driver resets, BSOD's and other problems. Read how to do it here.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that this card has an amazing value. It offers top notch performance for the budget-minded gamer/enthusiast. It scales very well in crossfire too as seen across review sites. I recommend it to anyone looking for an upgrade on the cheap!
4850's for sale at newegg.
Thanks To Everyone Who Read My Mini Review!
Edited by Slappa - 2/12/09 at 10:19pm
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