He said he could play Crysis fine no problem. He was having some problem with his first 4850GS, screen was blinking or something (weird, that's the way he described.) After going for the exchange, he said everything was smooth. No driver/software changed in the system.

His system was using about 200-300watt range during gaming. He is using an AMD X2 system.

On the side note: I want my faulty free 4850GS T_T.

Definitely getting it later than 15th October =/ Until then no hardcore gaming. My current PC can't play much games =/ 7300GT Now I realise the difference lol, didn't felt it when changing to the new comp. Slow -> fast never feel anything, fast -> slow omg big difference.

I think my case fans are louder than 4850GS @ 55% fan speed (Using those CM silent fans 12CM which are pretty much silent since they spin sooooo slowly).

For reference board, all same but different manufacturer, different sticker on the cooler, and different warranty period. They are entirely the same card with same clock speed, and PCB board.

Differences only comes with the non reference ones, that you need to surf around and see which you like . But, Gainward 4850GS is a good performer in this category.

Yes, those are the non reference cards. Comes with better cooling, faster memory, better power management and those are stock factory fitted.

Better performance yes, read around for the reviews comparing the OC-ed versions vs reference. And for the problems part, should be no. (Though mine had problem ._. now back for RMA. I might be the few unlucky ones, but the new batch is superb compared to the batch I had.)

Palit 4850 Sonic clocking 685/2000 seems slow compared to a lot of other manufacturers out there. Closest in design would be the Gainward 4850 Golden Sample. If you notice, even the heatsink is the same just different cover. Gainward is partly owned by Palit, no surprise there.

The 4850GS is clocked at 700/2200 though Not saying the Palit is not good, but there are better clocked OC version around. Can't recall the clock for the HIS ICEQ4 4850 685/2200? Not sure this one is the Turbo-X or Turbo.

Simple, the fastest among all the non reference. Gainward 4850 Golden Sample @ 700/2200 factory clocked. Price wise is reasonable as well.

What kinda monitor are you using ar , no tearing effect ar? so high the FPS haha. My LCD sure got tearing effect liao, that's why I always use vsync.

Mmmm, CRT sure won't face this problem. LCD usually will get this especially when you run 200+ FPS on 60Hz LCD screen. Google around for it, I don't know how to put it nicely in word =/ Basically can see the image tearing when playing FPS, when you turn fast, can see the walls like... distorted.

What happened to the ROG? I reckon those look cooler, sometime ago they announced for the 4850 hmm.

Yes on reference cards, but most non reference are able to cope with the heat.

CCC8.9 is the latest, unless you want to try the CCC8.10 beta.

Driver optimization for games as usual . The 8.10R2 aren't official, someone leaked it out. Can try if you want, but becareful. There are people who are having problems with the beta though.

http://www.ati-forum.de/allgemein/news/p61...zu-20/#post6179

I think your friend saw the results from this page perhaps.

8.9 vs 8.10 beta.

Or maybe Asus bring in lesser stock + Sapphire brought in more stock

E8400 + 4670 should enable you to play most of the new games IMO @@.

Those games you played... is ancient... >.<

4850 has the best price/performance among the 4800 series. (Err, this was during 4850 and 4870 only...) Not sure if the newly introduced cards have better price/performance ratio?

I forgot what are the numbers like, 170+W during idling I think? Including the CPU, Mobo, and the drives.

This post has been edited by celciuz: Oct 10 2008, 11:10 PM

4850 and 4870 both will down clock a little to save power during idle.

4850 goes to 500MHz core from 625MHz (reference).

Downclock is only during desktop though, it will automatically go back to the original clock when required.

Anyways, manage to find some numbers of wattage usage.

For 4670, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3405&p=9

For 4850 + 4870, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

Oh my bad, 4850GS idles at 500/1100. But weird enough, in tweaktown's review the 4850GS actually idles lower than the Gigabyte reference.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1607/17/g...card/index.html

Check the clock speed, if it is the same then same. Else the higher one would have better performance.