Introduction

Today AMD announced their Radeon HD 4890 Series. It is based on the RV790 GPU which is an improved version of the RV770. The major cornerstone specifications have remained the same, only improvements related to clock frequencies have been made. While it was almost impossible to get an RV770 to run far beyond 800 MHz, the ATI HD 4890 reference runs at 850 MHz core by default. Many partners will be offering overclocked boards as well ranging up to 1000 MHz core speed.

We have three HD 4890 reviews for you today:
Sapphire HD 4890 (this review), PowerColor HD 4890 and AMD HD 4890 CrossFire. While AMD has been sending out overclocked cards running at 900 MHz, our cards are based on the reference design clocks of 850 MHz.

Packaging & Contents

We received the card from Sapphire in an unprinted brown box. The picture above represents how the final package of the card will look like.



You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Documentation + Driver CD
• Cyberlink PowerDVD + Cyberlink PowerDirector + 3DMark Vantage Full Version
• CrossFire bridge
• PCI-Express power cables
• DVI Adapter + HDMI Adapter
• TV out Adapter + Cables

The Card

Sapphire uses the AMD reference design PCB and cooler with their own sticker on it. On the sample we reviewed, the final artwork is not present, so a picture was provided by Sapphire with the final design.


The card has two DVI ports, the most common output configuration today. If you want to use the card with your big TV screen you can use the included HDMI adapter. In case you need an analog port you can also use the included DVI adapter.
For HDMI Audio, NVIDIA requires you to feed an external audio source, for example from your motherboard's on-board audio, to the card via SPDIF cable. AMD on the other hand has integrated a sound device inside their GPUs which is the easier solution for most users.


The HD 4890 supports double, triple and quad CrossFire configurations for improved performance or better image quality.


Here are the front and the back of the card, high-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods etc, please include a link back to this site or let us post your article.

A Closer Look

AMD's HD 4890 cooler is very similar to that of the HD 4870. It uses a copper base plate that is connected to a bigger heatsink via heatpipes. The fan design exhausts hot air outside of the case.


Two six pin power connectors are present on the reference design. Both are required for operation of the card.


The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Qimonda and carry the model number IDGV1G-05A1F1C-40X. With a cycle time of 1.0 ns, they are specified to run at 1000 MHz.


AMD has put two VT1165 voltage controllers on their cards. One is responsible for the VGPU core voltage and the second one controls the memory voltage. This is very nice for overclockers because they can now change both voltages via software. For the average joe, it is a production cost increase that seems quite unnecessary.


This is AMD's new RV790 GPU. It is made in a 55 nm process at TSMC Taiwan with 959 million transistors. Please note that the die size is slightly increased from the RV770, the exact reason for that is unknown.