Powercolor PCS HD 4850 512 MB

[W1zzard]

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.

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[WarEagleAU]

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

 

[unclewebb]

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.

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

Its quiet though, thats for sure.

 

[W1zzard]

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

 

[erocker]

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.

 

[wolf2009]

Awesome Acoustics !!!

 

[Zehnsucht]

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

 

[coxon]

Hello.

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

cox

 

[W1zzard]

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

 

[coxon]

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

Thank you.

 

[roadie]

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

 

[Dctran]

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

 

[Deleted member 24505]

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.

 

[Scrizz]

lol puppy eyes

 

[danbfree]

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?

 

[W1zzard]

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

the bios is in the vga bios collection

 

[MilkyWay]

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

 

[Dctran]

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.
ATOMBIOSBK-ATI VER011.004.000.003.029193
B3B50102.105
Clock State 0
Core Clk: 625.00 MHz
Memory Clk: 993.00 MHz
Voltage: VID1
Flags: Boot
Clock State 1
Core Clk: 500.00 MHz
Memory Clk: 750.00 MHz
Voltage: 1.046 V
Flags:
Clock State 2
Core Clk: 665.00 MHz
Memory Clk: 993.00 MHz
Voltage: VID1
Flags:
Clock State 3
Core Clk: 665.00 MHz
Memory Clk: 993.00 MHz
Voltage: VID1
Flags:

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?

 

[W1zzard]

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

 

[Dctran]

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"

 

[W1zzard]

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

 

[Dctran]

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

 

[Scrizz]

Is this correct?

C:\atiflash -p -f 0 powercolorHD4850.bin

there ya go

 

[W1zzard]

atiflash -f -p 0 powercolorHD4850.bin