# Wich 4850 to get?



## MRCL (Sep 29, 2008)

So I'd like to upgrade my comp a bit, like with a fancy new GPU.
I have the 4850 Series in mind, since I am no enthusiast, but like to see some nice looking, not lagging action on my screen. 

Now, I found some cards from my favorite dealer, but I'm not quite sure wich one to take, since there aren't any significant gaps between the clocks and stuff, so... I'm a bit lost here, especially because the price range is quite big. 

Here is the link to a compact overview of the cards (it's in german language, but I think even those who don't speak that language can read its informations) Note that the prices are in Swiss Francs, but its +/- the same in US Dollars.

http://www.pcp.ch/ProductCompare-co...,14026929,14029442,14029463,14029470,14030198

PS: If you got a better suggestion on what card to get (and will do fine with my system --> specs can be seen to your left), I'll appreciate that. I appreciate any help anyways. I'm a bit a n00b when it comes to GPUs...


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## red268 (Sep 29, 2008)

I'd get the cheapest, or the cheapest ASUS one and then put a new cooler on it personally.

EDIT: Arctic Cooling Acellero 1 Rev.2 Cooler - Same cooler I've got. It's so good, I use it without a fan. But you can easily add a fan, and they're cheap!


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## King Wookie (Sep 29, 2008)

I'm currently shopping as well for a 4850, so looking at just those options, my suggestion is go with the His and use the change to upgrade the cooling.

Something worth checking though is service backup with whichever card you go with.

I personally don't see the point of the extra vram at 1680.

And enjoy!


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## MRCL (Sep 29, 2008)

So no Sapphire then huh 

Oke thanks a lot, that helped quite a bit here! I'll take the advise and mount another cooler to the card. Think I'll go with Asus, since my mobo and screen is form that brand too 

Accelero eh? I heard a lot of good things about it, definetly will take a look at that one.


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## red268 (Sep 29, 2008)

MRCL said:


> So no Sapphire then huh
> 
> Oke thanks a lot, that helped quite a bit here! I'll take the advise and mount another cooler to the card. Think I'll go with Asus, since my mobo and screen is form that brand too
> 
> Accelero eh? I heard a lot of good things about it, definetly will take a look at that one.



Took my idle temps on my 3870 from 52*C+ down to 36-38*C and load temps down from 104*C (Yeah, 104 ....) down to the 70*C mark .... all without a fan directly attached to it. I got one fan sucking air out just below it, but just a weak PCI slot fan!

Let us know how you get on!


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## Psyon (Sep 29, 2008)

go for the Gainward 4850 Golden Sample, its quiet,oc'ed and even good oc'able. 
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/16...d_4850_golden_sample_graphics_card/index.html


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## niko084 (Sep 29, 2008)

+1 on the Accelro, I have used one with 2 92mm fans attached and have heard of people using 2 120mm fans...

It's a great unit but I wouldn't buy the AC fan kit for it, if you want/need one, just grab a 80-92mm or a good pci slot cooler.

Only issue is its size can be hard for some cases.


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## Psyon (Sep 29, 2008)

well, at least in germany the Gainward hd4850 Golden Sample doesn't cost more than a cheap card and the accelero. So I would buy the GS where you have warranty on oc'd clocks and non-stock cooler. But I don't know if that card in switzerland is as cheap as in germany.

Another good is that this cards pushes the hot air out of the case via the 2nd slot


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## MRCL (Sep 30, 2008)

Its cheap enough alright, cheaper than every card on my comparison chart here. 
And looks quite ahead of a reference 4850. 

But lemme get this straight; the Gainward IS Crossfire compatible, is it? Because on the review i just read, Crossfire was nowhere mentioned, but on the shop's description, it was. So whats the deal now?


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## Psyon (Sep 30, 2008)

any 4850 is compatible to crossfire


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## MRCL (Sep 30, 2008)

Alright! So it's Gainward-Time! Heh I read they don't make that noisy cards anymore like the... what was the card again they used as a hair dryer? xD


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## MRCL (Sep 30, 2008)

Okay I just ordered the Gainward GS and an Accelero S1, now lets see when that bundle is stoppin by my front door...


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## red268 (Sep 30, 2008)

Excellent. Might be nice if you could take photos of, and document the process of taking off the old cooler and putting the Accelero on. It may proove helpful for many other people who want to do the same but are unsure about it.

If you get stuck, or need any help, be sure to let us know! Better to ask than to mess it up! (Don't mean to sound patronising - I don't know how much you know/have done in regards to this.)


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## MRCL (Sep 30, 2008)

Ok will do, I might even have some spare 140mm fans lying around... I'll surely document it.

Yes indeed, better to seek help than to waste money... No offense taken


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## Grings (Sep 30, 2008)

Im thinking of picking off a 4850, probably the overclocked 1 gigabyte gigabyte one (that companies name really dosent sound very epic nowadays does it) however, i havent been paying much attention to reviews recently, anyone heard any horror stories about these cards?


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## Psyon (Sep 30, 2008)

seriously I wouldn't buy a 1gb 4850. It is almost as expensive as a 4870 which is way faster and the 1gb vram doesn't make much sense since the 256 bit bus with ddr3 doesn't give you much bandwith. Also the more ram would only make sense in higher resolutions i.e. 1680x1050+ where the speed of this card would get limiting.

@MRCL: I personally wouldn't change the cooling of the gainward GS, it already has a very good cooling solution. And you have warranty on that.


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## MRCL (Sep 30, 2008)

@ Psyon 

Eh, I like working on such stuff, and also, I dont quite like the Gainward cooler...


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## CDdude55 (Oct 1, 2008)

The one that looks like it comes from Nvidia.


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## MRCL (Oct 1, 2008)

CDdude55 said:


> The one that looks like it comes from Nvidia.



Huh, wha?^^


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## trt740 (Oct 2, 2008)

this is a very good choice http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131118


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## MRCL (Oct 6, 2008)

@ trt

Thanks, but finding a Powercolor card in Switzerland is pretty damn close to impossible, and newegg no option.

Anyway my Gainward should be in the mailbox right about today, at least i hope so.


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## airdraft (Oct 6, 2008)

just go for the cheapest one...looks like the HIS is the winner of that. I have a visiontek 4850 which looks to have about the same heatsink as the HIS and with the fan upped it loads at like 55c


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## Zanga (Oct 6, 2008)

A word of warning, Asus "Glaciator" cooler is an experiment totaly gone wrong ! The card itself is a RMA wanabe as it hasn't any cooling on the memory or vrm so after market cooling solutions aren't an options but a must.


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## MRCL (Oct 6, 2008)

Zanga

Interesting to hear, because a well known german hardware magazine advertised those glacier coolers as very good and positiv aspect...


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## Zanga (Oct 6, 2008)

I have three Asus EAH4850 cards right now, one was bought about one month ago and had the stock / Ati reference design cooler on it. Three days ago i bought again two Asus EAH4850, although the have the same product code the new bought one features the "amazing" glaciator. The temperature on the GPU is a bit lower when running on auto compared to auto cooling of stock Ati, but there is a catch. On the normal stock cooling the same heat sink covers memory and vrm also, so it's normal that the gpu temp may be a bit higher (the same heat sink and cooler is used for all of them), on the glaciator edition, the vrm are impossible to touch and the PCB around memory modules is extremely hot.


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## Cybrnook2002 (Oct 6, 2008)

Im in austria and I have my 4850 for sale CHEAP , it already has aftermarket cooling installed.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=1005337#post1005337


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## MRCL (Oct 8, 2008)

So... the Accelero finally arrived now, one day later than the 4850. Out of curiosity, I yesterday night installed the 4850, to check the temps and do a couple benchmarks. Now the temps were like 35° celsius at idle, and approx 50° load, not bad for a stock cooler. But: I just mounted the Accelero to the card (without fans), and the temps are now 65° on idle (stable), no OC. 

Soooo... is this normal? 28° difference between stock and aftermarket cooling is quite remarkable... I didn't test the load temps yet, but I assume they will be much higher. Now for those who also own an Accelero: Do you have the same temps? 

I must confess; I'll demount the Accelero now, and spare it for another (noisier and less powerful) card...


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## King Wookie (Oct 8, 2008)

Out of interest, exactly which card did you get, as those are not typical temps for the stock cooler.

As for the Accelero, for that card don't try run it passive. A 120mm fan strapped to it will make a world of difference.


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## MRCL (Oct 8, 2008)

Gainward Radeon HD4850 GoldenSample. Has quite an impressive cooler, dual slot, two heatpipes...


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## CDdude55 (Oct 8, 2008)

MRCL said:


> Huh, wha?^^



I was saying nvidia is always the best option.!


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## MRCL (Oct 8, 2008)

Oh^^ Okay  But somehow I like thae Radeons more... dunno why, I had and have some GeForces at work, but I alwyas liked ATI the most


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## CDdude55 (Oct 8, 2008)

MRCL said:


> Oh^^ Okay  But somehow I like thae Radeons more... dunno why, I had and have some GeForces at work, but I alwyas liked ATI the most



Well, my bro also likes Ati a lot he has a x1950 Pro and plans to get a 4870 soon and he hates most things about Nvidia.(expecally there naming scheme) 

I tell he to upgrade his Core 2 Duo E4500(stock 2.2 Ghz) if he wants a 4870 but he refuses.


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## MRCL (Oct 8, 2008)

CDdude55 said:


> I tell he to upgrade his Core 2 Duo E4500(stock 2.2 Ghz) if he wants a 4870 but he refuses.



Lemme guess; the C2D will bottleneck the 4870 a lot, am I right?


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## CDdude55 (Oct 8, 2008)

MRCL said:


> Lemme guess; the C2D will bottleneck the 4870 a lot, am I right?



Thats what i was saying, but he doesnt care.


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## King Wookie (Oct 8, 2008)

That's by no means the standard ATI cooler!

It's a nicer card than mine! No wonder it performs so well.


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## MRCL (Oct 8, 2008)

King Wookie said:


> That's by no means the standard ATI cooler!
> 
> It's a nicer card than mine! No wonder it performs so well.



Heh yeah, look on the first page, it was a suggestion from a member here. I'm really satisfied with this card


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## King Wookie (Oct 8, 2008)

Well, enjoy!

Gainward is normally available here, but that card has not made an appearance yet.

Besides, mine was on special. Same price as a vanilla Sapphire 4850.


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## FooArm (Oct 9, 2008)

i would personally go with the 9800 GTX+ better performance for same price and u can oc the 9800 even more so u will get much more and most games are designed for the nvidia architecture


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## FooArm (Oct 9, 2008)

CDdude55 said:


> Thats what i was saying, but he doesnt care.





i guess he could overclock the sizzle out of the core 2 dou and it wont bottle neck it


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## ascstinger (Oct 9, 2008)

Based on the reivew here, with the HIS TurboX card, the 4850 will beat the gtx on the stock overclock, with plenty of headroom to push, which is why I just bought one (plus they're like $50 off at newegg AR) Taking a guess, the gainward probably has similar clocks and better power circuitry like its brother from palit, and should do similar


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## Psyon (Oct 9, 2008)

MRCL said:


> Heh yeah, look on the first page, it was a suggestion from a member here. I'm really satisfied with this card



I'm glad you like that card.



> I must confess; I'll demount the Accelero now, and spare it for another (noisier and less powerful) card...


That's why I mentioned that I wouldn't change the cooler, it seemed to be very good, as I read in some reviews.
I now went for a 4870 which in some ways was a mistake, because there is no good cooled/quiet card on the market upto now. I acutally have the Powercoor HD4870 PCS+ OC, with some fan tweaking its okay, but in 3D-mode its still very noisy. I guess I'll try changing the fan on the cooler somewhen....
But as I read this, I should have taken Gainwards 4850


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## Kwod (Oct 9, 2008)

http://img215.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=37399_DSCF0685_122_144lo.JPG


HIS 1 gig ICE Cooler in my possesion hehehehe


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## CDdude55 (Oct 9, 2008)

FooArm said:


> i guess he could overclock the sizzle out of the core 2 dou and it wont bottle neck it



He doesnt OC either.


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## MRCL (Oct 9, 2008)

CDdude55 said:


> He doesnt OC either.



Use the Force on him

xD


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## trt740 (Oct 9, 2008)

Zanga said:


> I have three Asus EAH4850 cards right now, one was bought about one month ago and had the stock / Ati reference design cooler on it. Three days ago i bought again two Asus EAH4850, although the have the same product code the new bought one features the "amazing" glaciator. The temperature on the GPU is a bit lower when running on auto compared to auto cooling of stock Ati, but there is a catch. On the normal stock cooling the same heat sink covers memory and vrm also, so it's normal that the gpu temp may be a bit higher (the same heat sink and cooler is used for all of them), on the glaciator edition, the vrm are impossible to touch and the PCB around memory modules is extremely hot.



VRM under the stock cooler is hot aswell and is ment to run hit. Touch the backside where the VRM is located with the stock cooler and it will burn your fingers under load.


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## Psyon (Oct 9, 2008)

yea, vrm are free to run upto 126°C actually my Powercolor 4870 PCS+ hits about 90°C, so even though its still far from maximum i wouldn't tough them. So the felt temps are nothing to worry about. Doesn't your card show the temperature of the vrms?


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## suraswami (Oct 9, 2008)

I have this Gigabyte and I like it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238

It has a Zalman cooler pre-installed so no going thru the trouble of installing yourself.  Its reasonably quiet.  And the picture seems like it is made of copper but it is not.  Its aluminum + copper pipes.

Never goes more than 59C after 2 hrs of gaming.


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## dieselcat18 (Oct 11, 2008)

Don't know if anyone mentioned this card or if it's available where you live....but Price / Performance look very nice....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161245


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