# Powercolor PCS HD 4850 512 MB



## W1zzard (Aug 14, 2008)

Powercolor's latest HD 4850 PCS graphics card is based on the AMD HD 4850 reference design but comes with an improved cooler and slightly increased core clocks. While the overclock makes only a small performance difference, the cooler substantially improves the product. Even under load the PCS 4850 is barely audible which makes it the quietest graphics card ever tested - of all performance classes.

*Show full review*


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## WarEagleAU (Aug 14, 2008)

Excellent review as always W1zz. One thing I like about this is the cooler. Granted whatever cooling on the vrm and chips is substandard, its got an awesome cooler on top. Just the tip of the iceberg for the 4850, 1gb or 2gb flavors already


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## unclewebb (Aug 15, 2008)

This is the card I'm waiting for.  I thought the Toxic was going to be the card for me until I saw your noise level tests.  PowerColor have got this one right.  

Do you know if you can increase the fan speed a little by editing a file like you can for other 4850 cards?  I'd prefer keeping it below the high 80C range when gaming.  It also might overclock a little better if it could be kept cooler with more fan speed.


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Aug 15, 2008)

Its quiet though, thats for sure.


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## W1zzard (Aug 15, 2008)

unclewebb said:


> This is the card I'm waiting for.  I thought the Toxic was going to be the card for me until I saw your noise level tests.  PowerColor have got this one right.
> 
> Do you know if you can increase the fan speed a little by editing a file like you can for other 4850 cards?  I'd prefer keeping it below the high 80C range when gaming.  It also might overclock a little better if it could be kept cooler with more fan speed.



yes you can edit the fan speeds in the bios with rbe


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## erocker (Aug 15, 2008)

I really like this card.  Thanks for the review W1zzard, it looks like I found another place to put a heatsink on the card!  Didn't realize the memory uses a couple vrm's on the top of the card.


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## wolf2009 (Aug 15, 2008)

Awesome Acoustics !!!


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## Zehnsucht (Aug 15, 2008)

Thank you W1zzard for putting relative performance/resolution!!!


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## coxon (Aug 15, 2008)

Hello.

Thanks for the review. But im missing the temperature. Is there no thermal diode on this card?

cox


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## W1zzard (Aug 15, 2008)

coxon said:


> Hello.
> 
> Thanks for the review. But im missing the temperature. Is there no thermal diode on this card?
> 
> cox



temps are there, please read the review again


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## coxon (Aug 15, 2008)

Oh, there were hidden in overclocking area. Something im not interested first time. 

Thank you.


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## roadie (Aug 15, 2008)

Nice review, this card looks like one of the best in the 4850 range.  Do you think there's any chance of getting the Gainward Golden Sample 4850 in for a review?  It looks like a decent all round card:

Link


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## Dctran (Aug 15, 2008)

Hi *W1zzard*
I need PowerColor PCS HD4850 512M original BIOS, can you give it to me?


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## Deleted member 24505 (Aug 15, 2008)

Is the gainward golden sample the same as the normal gainward 4850? Is it just the cooler that is differant?

Nice review w1zzard,i would like to see you review a gainward golden sample for the above reasons.


As far as i know,gainward is owned by palit.


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## Scrizz (Aug 15, 2008)

lol puppy eyes


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## danbfree (Aug 15, 2008)

Nice core OC, lousy memory... my stock Visiontek only does 685 core stable but hits 1100 easily on the memory even with voltage tweaks on the core and fan speed increases. I got mine at Fry's before the official launch so maybe the core yields are better now?


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## W1zzard (Aug 16, 2008)

Dctran said:


> Hi *W1zzard*
> I need PowerColor PCS HD4850 512M original BIOS, can you give it to me?



the bios is in the vga bios collection


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## MilkyWay (Aug 16, 2008)

there is a 2gb version too and apparently it works good when the memory is oc'd

in Unreal tournament 3 i get 40-50fps with my 8800gt its not FAIR! 1280x1024 so its not even high res


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## Dctran (Aug 16, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> the bios is in the vga bios collection


I have a HIS HD4850, I want flash BIOS to Powercolor PCS HD4850
But in the VGA BIOS collection


> GPU Device Id: 0x1002 0x9442
> *TEST*
> Wekiva RV770 B50102 Board
> (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.
> ...


I worried this BIOS is a *test version* or bad BIOS
So I want *PowerColor PCS HD4850 512M original BIOS*
The BIOS in vga BIOS collection is original BIOS?


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## W1zzard (Aug 16, 2008)

this is the bios that wason the card, yes it doesnt look like a production bios. i uploaded it myself so it does work with the card


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## Dctran (Aug 16, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> this is the bios that wason the card, yes it doesnt look like a production bios. i uploaded it myself so it does work with the card



Thanks, I try flash this BIOS by WinFlash2.0.12 and I have a message "P/N mismatch"


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## W1zzard (Aug 16, 2008)

use the -f parameter .. you can run winflash from a command prompt and it accepts the same command line parameters as atiflash for dos


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## Dctran (Aug 16, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> use the -f parameter .. you can run winflash from a command prompt and it accepts the same command line parameters as atiflash for dos


Is this correct?

*C:\atiflash -fp -p 0 powercolorHD4850.bin*


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## Scrizz (Aug 16, 2008)

Dctran said:


> Is this correct?
> 
> C:\atiflash *-p -f 0* powercolorHD4850.bin



there ya go


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## W1zzard (Aug 16, 2008)

atiflash -f -p 0 powercolorHD4850.bin


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## XSAlliN (Aug 17, 2008)

The card is ok, but except memory and cooling there isn't much difference compared to reference design. On the other hand, there is a *Palit HD4850 Sonic*

















Now that's a real solid build that could show some potential. If the price is as good as it looks, might make some people happy. Hope you'll review one in near future. For me it's only a curiosity since I already own a HD 4850.


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## PluCiorX (Sep 19, 2008)

Hi All

I just bought this card and waiting for delivery tomorrow, but I Have a small problem:
I have just 500W Raidmax power supply and there is no 6 pin additional power connector for pci-e cards, i know that sometimes adapter molex->vga power comes with card, does this one have one ? 
I'm not sure that this 500W power supply will be enough for my system 
Asus P5E3 X38 
2gb corsair XMS DDR3 
500GB Maxtor
And this card ATI HD4850 
and C2D E8400 

nothing is overclocked at the moment but maybe in future I will want to do some improvements.

Kind regards.


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## W1zzard (Sep 20, 2008)

PluCiorX said:


> Hi All
> 
> I just bought this card and waiting for delivery tomorrow, but I Have a small problem:
> I have just 500W Raidmax power supply and there is no 6 pin additional power connector for pci-e cards, i know that sometimes adapter molex->vga power comes with card, does this one have one ?
> ...



no power adapter with the cable. maybe it was not included with our package (unlikely). if you dont get one you can buy one on ebay or your friendly local pc store. or ask a friend who has a modern graphics card and doesnt need his cable.

your psu should be fine, as you can see on page 24 our whole test system used a peak power of 213W with this card.


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## PluCiorX (Sep 20, 2008)

unfortunately here in my city every shop is closed on Saturday, and ony of my friends have one... Maybe someone know specification for this connector so i can build my own adapter.


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## wudz (Sep 28, 2008)

W1zzard, i have a Powercolor PCS HD 4850 512 MB, i was wondering, is it possible to edit its fan speed? as you would know, the fan has only 2 cables..


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## PluCiorX (Sep 28, 2008)

Finally i run my machine :], after one problem with my P5E3 ( Latest bios was necessary to run my C2D E8400 ) card is just amazing, I'm very happy with it.


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## nightbase (Oct 1, 2008)

I bought this card but temperature is not low , on idle 54c on full load reaches 80c even at %100 fan speed and fan speed is not quiet at %100 fan speed ! why is so hot


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## DMF (Oct 18, 2008)

Hot?  That's not hot.  100+°C is hot. 

If you want it cooler, lower the temperature inside your case.


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