# AMD Unveils ATI Radeon HD 4890, the Most Powerful Graphics Processor in the World



## alexp999 (Apr 2, 2009)

AMD today introduced the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card, driven by the world's most powerful graphics processor. The newest addition to the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4000 series boasts a whopping 1.36 TeraFLOPs of compute power, superior GDDR5 memory, and super-high engine clock speeds capable of nearly 1GHz. The advanced design of the ATI Radeon HD 4890 delivers the best game experience in its class, including the latest ground-breaking DirectX 10.1 titles. In addition, with the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 4890, AMD continues to enhance its "Dragon" desktop platform technology, designed to provide exceptional value to OEMs, channel partners, and do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers.



 

 




"The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card represents the AMD sweet spot strategy reloaded," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "With last year's launch of the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 products, we gave gamers great performance and an incredible value proposition. Today, we're doing it again. ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards are incredible performers, priced to sell in all major markets worldwide."

The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card continues AMD's proud tradition of technology leadership with support for the latest DirectX 10.1 games, including Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., Electronic Art's BattleForge and SEGA's Stormrise released last month, as well as GSC Gameworld's S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky. When compared to DirectX 10 game play, DirectX 10.1 games have proven to deliver higher game performance and an improved visual experience. 

"The new ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card could very well be the must-have gaming product of this spring," said Adrian Thomson, vice president, Marketing, Sapphire. "With breakthrough levels of game performance, cutting-edge feature support like DirectX 10.1, and high degree of performance tuning flexibility, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 is one of the best performers in its class."

*Making the best even better*

The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card delivers exceptional value to gamers, handling even the most intense games at high resolutions and image quality settings. For overclocking enthusiasts, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 offers tremendous performance tuning potential. Those looking to get even more performance out of their gaming rigs can combine as many as four ATI Radeon HD 4890 cards in one PC utilizing ATI CrossFireX technology.

"Gamers that want The Ultimate Visual Experience demand the best performing card, and our new ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards will give them exactly that," said Eddie Memon, vice president, Marketing, XFX. "With the new ATI Radeon HD 4890 we're approaching the holy grail of clock speeds, targeting 1GHz, achievable through XFX's superior design and the quality of the new graphics processor from AMD."

*ATI Stream technology*

By harnessing ATI Stream technology in combination with a number of ATI Stream-enabled applications, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card can also help accelerate the conversion of standard and HD video into multiple formats for use on differing consumer electronics devices. CyberLink, an innovative software developer for digital media creation, playback, and sharing applications, has optimized its award-winning video editing software, PowerDirector 7 to make use of ATI Stream technology. The recently released update to PowerDirector 7 incorporates ATI

Stream technology to provide GPU accelerated video conversion, featuring higher levels of performance and functionality when compared to CPU-only acceleration.

"CyberLink is committed to helping consumers create digital content quickly and easily," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink Corp. "PowerDirector 7, Cyberlink's award-winning video editing software, takes advantage of ATI Stream technology, making a great experience even better. With PowerDirector 7 and ATI Stream technology, anyone can edit high definition video, create an amazing movie, and encode it for playback on virtually any device faster than ever before."

*A multimedia experience that's beyond HD*

While the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card was bred to be a gaming powerhouse, it also offers exceptional HD multimedia performance. All ATI Radeon HD 4800 series cards allow users to enjoy HD digital content with uncompromising visual fidelity while helping to enhance the definition and clarity of lower resolution media. Through AMD's second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) users can be assured of smooth HD video playback, sharp, crisp images and vibrant colors. With support for HDMI, picture-in-picture and the latest HD audio technologies like 7.1 surround sound, the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card enables an impressive cinema-quality home entertainment experience.

*Ecosystem support*

The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies offering a variety of custom board and cooling solutions. Partners include ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology, VisionTek and XFX. It is available immediately for $249 MSRP (USD), and priced at select etailers as low as $229 (USD) after mail-in rebate.

For more information, visit this page.

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Blacksniper87 (Apr 2, 2009)

damn i recken this is just an overclocked 4870 right? same as the GTX 285 from nvidia


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## alexp999 (Apr 2, 2009)

This is a press release so flaming about "the Most Powerful Graphics Processor in the World" will not be tolerated. 

(Not aimed at you Blacksniper87, you just posted before I had a chance to)


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## Error 404 (Apr 2, 2009)

So they don't tell us ROP or SPU count? No clock speeds? No RAM speeds? No bus width info?
This is just a hype-builder, not useful at all to the purchaser.
I want specs!

1 GHz does look nice though, I'm just worried about the heat produced by the core running up to that speed.


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## GFC (Apr 2, 2009)

I've already seen benches, and let me tell you - it's not the fastest, man, those PR people just love titles like that, don't they?


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## alexp999 (Apr 2, 2009)

Specs are here:

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd4800/specs-4890.html


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## MRCL (Apr 2, 2009)

I'm seriously considering getting one. But not yet.


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## alexp999 (Apr 2, 2009)

As per the reviews W1zz has done, you can see that these are tweaked 4870's cus they seem to already be pretty much right on their OC limit.

Some nice performance though.


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## rizla1 (Apr 2, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> This is a press release so flaming about "the Most Powerful Graphics Processor in the World" will not be tolerated.
> 
> (Not aimed at you Blacksniper87, you just posted before I had a chance to)


i think that most mean they uped the speed of the stream prossessors.


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## deaffob (Apr 2, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> As per the reviews W1zz has done, you can see that these are tweaked 4870's cus they seem to already be pretty much right on their OC limit.
> 
> Some nice performance though.



nah people reporting ocing upto 1000 so it's not 4870 that's for sure. In some games 4890 surpasses gtx285 so it's not completely false ad


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## Tatty_One (Apr 2, 2009)

HD4890 overclocked versus GTX275 stock review

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=17863&page=1


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## Imsochobo (Apr 2, 2009)

hardocp managed to clock to 1000 mhz core clock, thats way higher than a 4870 could do with same voltage.


IT IS NOT A PURE OC VERSION OF 4870!.

it uses less power idle, and just 7 watts more load, this isnt a 4870, but a perfected 4870.

still, it isnt more than ~15% faster

But you can clock to 970 mhz easy!


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## Tatty_One (Apr 2, 2009)

Imsochobo said:


> hardocp managed to clock to 1000 mhz core clock, thats way higher than a 4870 could do with same voltage.
> 
> 
> IT IS NOT A PURE OC VERSION OF 4870!.
> ...



Agreed and this card has faster shaders than the 4870 also, however, people shouldnt get too carried away by the overclock potential.....there is a review here that shows that a card overclocked to 1000mhz against the stock 850mhz only picks up a couple of FPS in many games.  Across the board I read about a 5-7% improvement over the 4870 at stock speeds.


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## deaffob (Apr 2, 2009)

yea i was just making a point that it's not 4870. someone said it has reached it's oc potentional already but it's not true


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## alexp999 (Apr 2, 2009)

All I was saying is that you can tell it is a tweaked 4870, becuase it doesnt OC as far (in terms of %), as the 4870 can.


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## AltecV1 (Apr 2, 2009)

now we need is some volt mods


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## Imsochobo (Apr 2, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> All I was saying is that you can tell it is a tweaked 4870, becuase it doesnt OC as far (in terms of %), as the 4870 can.



It clocks more % than 4870.


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## oli_ramsay (Apr 2, 2009)

So are these more than overclocked 4870s?  I think their die size is different and they've changed the way the shaders work.


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## WarEagleAU (Apr 2, 2009)

Very nice addition to the line. That is until they move to 40nm. Come on AMD, get those shaders separated from the core.


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## nafets (Apr 2, 2009)

oli_ramsay said:


> So are these more than overclocked 4870s?  I think their die size is different and they've changed the way the shaders work.



The Xbitlabs review of the HD4890 has some very detailed info on the increased die size and additional transistors of the RV790.

As far as I can tell, ATI didn't do anything to how the shaders work, but rather "revised the RV770 internal structure".

Tomshardware also has a good comparison of the HD4890 running at clocks of 750/900, in comparsion with an HD4870 at those clocks. Results were pretty much the same, indicating nothing significant performance-wise, that is improved over the RV770 core at a clock for clock basis.

The improvements in the RV790 core and the PCB it operates on mainly attribute to it's higher GPU clock and OC'ing abilities.


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## mdm-adph (Apr 2, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> All I was saying is that you can tell it is a tweaked 4870, becuase it doesnt OC as far (in terms of %), as the 4870 can.



...except that it overclocks farther in total than a 4870 ever could.


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## Salsoolo (Apr 2, 2009)

this should go against gtx 285, 100$ cheaper, performace is close, even faster in some games.
but at 2560x1600 things get little ugly with that card.


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## Tatty_One (Apr 2, 2009)

Salsoolo said:


> this should go against gtx 285, 100$ cheaper, performace is close, even faster in some games.
> but at 2560x1600 things get little ugly with that card.



To my old eyes, it isnt as quick as the new GTX275 and in the UK I have found the cheapest 275 to be cheaper than the cheapest 4890................

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_275_Amp_Edition/29.html


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## Urlyin (Apr 2, 2009)

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_4890/


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4890/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4890_CrossFire/


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## Mega-Japan (Apr 2, 2009)

I will have a friend get one since he is upgrading his computer and I'll play with it then.

I will wait for the RV800 series instead, when it gets DX11 support and ATi finally gets a 512-bit bus :O


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Apr 2, 2009)

"the Most Powerful Graphics Processor in the World". Just like that movie entitled "Never Ending Story"


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## Valdez (Apr 2, 2009)

Mega-Japan said:


> I will have a friend get one since he is upgrading his computer and I'll play with it then.
> 
> I will wait for the RV800 series instead, when it gets DX11 support and ATi finally gets a 512-bit bus :O



Ati already had 512bit bus before (hd2900xt/pro), but it is now unnecessary because of gddr5.


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## GFC (Apr 2, 2009)

Mega-Japan said:


> I will have a friend get one since he is upgrading his computer and I'll play with it then.
> 
> I will wait for the RV800 series instead, when it gets DX11 support and ATi finally gets a 512-bit bus :O



512-bit, that's not gona happen, actually, i'd go as far as to say that we won't see any 512bit cards from nvidia OR ati for that mather, it's just too expensive to make such big GPU's (you need a lot of space for those pins you know).


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## PCpraiser100 (Apr 2, 2009)

Mega-Japan said:


> I will wait for the RV800 series instead, when it gets DX11 support and ATi finally gets a 512-bit bus :O



Thats what I am trying to do too. Why are we feasting off of the newest DX10.1 cards when DX11 is already in Win7 Beta and Model Shader 5.0 is expected to show up sometime at the end of the year?


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## mdm-adph (Apr 2, 2009)

GFC said:


> 512-bit, that's not gona happen, actually, i'd go as far as to say that we won't see any 512bit cards from nvidia OR ati for that mather, it's just too expensive to make such big GPU's (you need a lot of space for those pins you know).



Both have had them before (HD 2900/GTX200).  Nvidia will probably stop using them when they pick up GDDR5, too, I betcha.


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## zithe (Apr 2, 2009)

The TPU reviews show this card as being very promising. It's just barely faster, but it is. Dunno how far each does when both are OC'd to the max, though.


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 2, 2009)

So far, the main difference I found is that RV790 added de-coupling capacitors along the outer edge and reworked the ASIC.   So is it a new chip?  Physically, yes it is based on the improvements made but there is no logic design changes.  You also have to take into account the changes to video card itself (different caps, mosfets, etc).  And, (according to Firing Sqaud) that they added some 3 million transistors to the RV790.  Still looking for more information.


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## a_ump (Apr 2, 2009)

first true difference that i've read between the RV770 and RV790.


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## $ReaPeR$ (Apr 2, 2009)

in CF it is the most powerful gpu in the world today.. ill bet we'll see a 4890X2 very soon


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## Wrigleyvillain (Apr 2, 2009)

a_ump said:


> first true difference that i've read between the RV770 and RV790.



ORLY?

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...65-sapphire-radeon-hd-4890-1gb-review-22.html


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 2, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> ORLY?
> 
> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...65-sapphire-radeon-hd-4890-1gb-review-22.html



I am not sure what point you are making with that pic but that won't be the end all be all of performance.  
-------------------------------------------------------------(different thought)----------------------------------------------
Funny how W1z got a different score using crossfire.  The results between a single card at 1000Mhz vs CF is only roughly 2000 mark difference even though 3D06 is cpu limited.  More benchmarks about this would be interesting.  


That review testbed:
Processor: Intel Core i7 920(ES) @ 4.0Ghz (Turbo Mode Enabled)
Memory: Corsair 3x2GB Dominator DDR3 1600Mhz
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Cooling: CoolIT Boreas mTEC + Scythe Fan Controller
Disk Drive: Pioneer DVD Writer
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Power Supply: Corsair HX1000W
Monitor: Samsung 305T 30” widescreen LCD
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
ATI 8.592.1 RC1 (HD 4890)

W1z's test bed
CPU:	Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz
(Bloomfield, 8192 KB Cache)
Motherboard:	Gigabyte X58 Extreme
Memory:	2x 1024MB OCZ DDR3 Platinum @ 1140 MHz 6-6-6-19
Harddisk:	WD Raptor 740ADFD 74 GB
Power Supply:	BFG ES-800 800W
Software:	Windows Vista SP1
ATI: Catalyst 9.1, HD 4890: 8.592.1

Hmm, I wonder if 64-bit OS is really needed...


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## AltecV1 (Apr 2, 2009)

EastCoasthandle said:


> I am not sure what point you are making with that pic but that won't be the end all be all of performance.  Funny how W1z got a different score



WIZZARD dont no how do make magic(overclock)


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## Wrigleyvillain (Apr 2, 2009)

Trying to make a point about the overclockabilty. Of some of them anyway. No not the 'end all be all', of course.


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## DarkMatter (Apr 2, 2009)

$ReaPeR$ said:


> in CF it is the most powerful gpu in the world today.. ill bet we'll see a 4890X2 very soon



GTX285 SLI??


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 2, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Trying to make a point about the overclockabilty. Of some of them anyway. No not the 'end all be all', of course.



I see what you are saying.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Apr 2, 2009)

Yeah it's interesting (strange?) that W1z couldn't get near the same clocks with either of his samples including another Sapphire.


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## LittleLizard (Apr 2, 2009)

i read in fudzilla that 2 of those in cf are better than gtx 295. if thats is true, ati may have the best graphic combination but also gtx 285 in sli are better than gtx 295 (i think)


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## nafets (Apr 2, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Yeah it's interesting (strange?) that W1z couldn't get near the same clocks with either of his samples including another Sapphire.



Hardly strange at all. OC'ing ability is merely a "luck-of-the-draw" science.

It all depends on how stringent the manufacturers are with regards to chip binning. There's no guarantee that buying one brand over the other, or spending more money will get you a more OC'able video card.

In addition to that, I'd hardly base any value in the results achieved by reviewers in supposedly non-biased (impartial) video card reviews.

Once the cards reach the actual consumers hands, and we get first account feedback on OC'ing results, then you can make your judgements as to how well or not the cards perform outside of their factory set specifications...


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## Mega-Japan (Apr 2, 2009)

LittleLizard said:


> i read in fudzilla that 2 of those in cf are better than gtx 295. if thats is true, ati may have the best graphic combination but also gtx 285 in sli are better than gtx 295 (i think)



Yes, because you have to believe everything you read in the interwebz 
(no offense =P)

But yeah, it's true, 2 4890 in CrossFireX can indeed perform much better than a GTX295,  but first, the application would have to be optimized for CrossFireX (otherwise it'd make no difference whether you're using 1 or 4 cards), and of course, 2 4890 would consume much power and produce more noise than a single 295, I would still go for it though, but who needs RV790 when RV800 is around the corner?


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 2, 2009)

Here is my only concern; will we be able to adjust vcore like we did with other cards up to the HD 2900XT?  If yes, then that's a huge plus for me.  The only card that I know of right now is the Asus version which comes with their own tweaker program.  However, I can do this myself via CC's profile if it's allowed...


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## Wrigleyvillain (Apr 2, 2009)

nafets said:


> OC'ing ability is merely a "luck-of-the-draw" science.



Well of course, anyone who has even a little overclocking experience is well aware of how YMMV. Guess just surprised as they were both Sapphire review samples.


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## imperialreign (Apr 2, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Well of course, anyone who has even a little overclocking experience is well aware of how YMMV. Guess just surprised as they were both Sapphire review samples.





hmmm . . . perhaps this is just my opinion, but does it seems like Sapphire has been slowly lowering their standards since the release of the HD2000 series?  Probably just poor perception on my part . . .


Anyhow, these new 4890s look nice - but I don't see a reason to upgrade from a 4870.  Nothing there necessitates the price/performance increase you'd garnish from that slight upgrade.  Now, if the 4870 and 4890 will play nice together in Crossfire - of which, I'm betting they should considering the ability to match a 4850 with a 4870 - then, perhaps that might be a decent "upgrade" option if you have the extra room available.

Otherwise - it looks like a damn nice "revision" to the RV770 . . . if this is a mere foreshadowing of the RV800, it's time to put some savings aside for the HD5000 series


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## nafets (Apr 2, 2009)

EastCoasthandle said:


> Here is my only concern; will we be able to adjust vcore like we did with other cards up to the HD 2900XT?  If yes, then that's a huge plus for me.  The only card that I know of right now is the Asus version which comes with their own tweaker program.  However, I can do this myself via CC's profile if it's allowed...



The HD4890s use the same Volterra VRM controllers as the reference HD4870s, so I don't see why not.

It's possible it already/still works with Rivatuner and/or CCC profiles, in the same manner as it does currently with reference HD4870s.

Try and poke a few HD4890 owners to experiment with some software voltage testing...


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 2, 2009)

nafets said:


> The HD4890s use the same Volterra VRM controllers as the reference HD4870s, so I don't see why not.
> 
> It's possible it already/still works with Rivatuner and/or CCC profiles, in the same manner as it does currently with reference HD4870s.
> 
> Try and poke a few HD4890 owners to experiment with some software voltage testing...



The HD 4870 I currently have does not allow for vcore changes using CCC's profile.  However, I was able to do this with earlier cards like the HD 2900XT, etc.


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## a_ump (Apr 2, 2009)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> ORLY?
> 
> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...65-sapphire-radeon-hd-4890-1gb-review-22.html



it comes with a higher stock clock so i knew it would overclock better  lol that's not what i was meaning. I meant physical differences architecturally.


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 3, 2009)

a_ump said:


> it comes with a higher stock clock so i knew it would overclock better  lol that's not what i was meaning. I meant physical differences architecturally.



Over 10,000 modifications... according to that post.


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## DarkMatter (Apr 3, 2009)

EastCoasthandle said:


> Over 10,000 modifications... according to that post.



Over 10.000 modifications or the same mod in 10.000 different places?? I bet it's closer to the second.


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## johnnyfiive (Apr 3, 2009)

4890's are badass. In CrossFire they are REALLY badass. AWESOME card, not just a overclocked 4870 IMO.


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## EastCoasthandle (Apr 3, 2009)

959 million transistors, up from 956 million transistors
de-coupling capacitors
reworked ASIC
Over 10,000 modifications

Still trying to find out if there is more information.


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## Tatty_One (Apr 3, 2009)

I think it's safe to say, there are modifications, it's not the same chip, there are some improvements and it's a bit faster than the HD4870, it's not designed to be an upgrade FROM the HD4870 just an additional choice for those with lower end or older gen cards considering an upgrade..... thats gotta be good hasent it?


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## EarlZ (Apr 3, 2009)

"AMD Unveils ATI Radeon HD 4890, the Most Powerful Graphics Processor in the World"

They forgot to add in ATI's line up, as it does not fully beat the GTX260 216 in ALL given situations..


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## TreadR (Apr 5, 2009)

Amazing how much fuss you people make if it's the same rv770 or a new chip... when it comes to ATI.

But when nvidia pushes the same rebranded chip over and over again, hardly anyone talks about it.

Some nvidia flu, he?


Good for AMD, nice chip... still awaiting ASUS's TOP!


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## Tatty_One (Apr 5, 2009)

TreadR said:


> Amazing how much fuss you people make if it's the same rv770 or a new chip... when it comes to ATI.
> 
> But when nvidia pushes the same rebranded chip over and over again, hardly anyone talks about it.
> 
> ...



Actually NVidia get probably more grief in here.


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## Hayder_Master (Apr 6, 2009)

this statement will be more acceptable when 4890x2 release
"world’s most powerful graphics processor"


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## PP Mguire (Apr 6, 2009)

TreadR said:


> Amazing how much fuss you people make if it's the same rv770 or a new chip... when it comes to ATI.
> 
> But when nvidia pushes the same rebranded chip over and over again, hardly anyone talks about it.
> 
> ...



As was said Nvidia actualy gets more grief over rebranded cards because its just BS.


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## TreadR (Apr 6, 2009)

Not the point... I was stating that most people comment it's the same RV770 and that there are no true diferences between them!

No arguing here... for the retail market, NV more grief about it.


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