bit-tech News: Gigabyte's Radeon HD 4850 1GB (GV-R485MC-1GH)

[news 28]

Hi all,

 

We have just published a review of the *Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 1GB

(GV-R485MC-1GH) graphics card*. If you could post a link on your site

that would be very much appreciated.

 

*Link:*

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/11/28/gigabyte-gv-r485mc-1gh-radeon-hd-4850-1gb/1

 

 

*Picture:*

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/11/gigabyte-gv-r485mc-1gh-radeon-hd-4850-1gb/fp_img.jpg

 

 

*Quote:

*/There are some clear benefits to the additional 512MB of graphics

memory present on Gigabyte's Radeon HD 4850 1GB graphics card in some

titles, but they're not there in others. Over time, the industry trend

is definitely moving towards more graphics memory - that trend has

existed for years now and it's not going to change any time soon - but

the improvements on the Radeon HD 4850 1GB aren't quite as profound as

they are on the Radeon HD 4870 1GB.

 

That is something to do with the resolutions that the Radeon HD 4850, in

general, delivers an optimal gaming experience - they're not as high as

they are with the Radeon HD 4870 and so the gains aren't quite as

obvious. Without a doubt, they are still there though and the decision

to opt for a 1GB Radeon HD 4850 over a much cheaper 512MB variant.

 

The premium works out to be approximately £30 or 25 percent, which is

quite considerable in our opinion when you see that the difference

between the Radeon HD 4870 512MB and 1GB variants is only 10 percent.

And we're not even referring to Gigabyte's GV-R485MC-1GH Radeon HD 4850

1GB here either, as the passive cooling solution naturally pushes the

price up a little - it'd be unfair to make that comparison because we

believe the passive cooler does add some genuine value here.

 

Overall then, Gigabyte's GV-R485MC-1GH is a decent enough card backed

with a good warranty that's ideally suited for those who are on a quest

for absolute silence. However, we don't recommend the Radeon HD 4850 1GB

for the wider market at the moment because the price increase doesn't

reflect decent enough performance improvements in more than a few select

titles at some rather extreme settings - that's not a fault of

Gigabyte's, it's merely because of the general price difference between

512MB and 1GB variants of the Radeon HD 4850.

 

Should you choose to purchase the GV-R485MC-1GH though, there is one

recommendation we need to make: you'll need to employ at least some

airflow inside your chassis because the heat needs to be moved somewhere

in the long run even though Gigabyte's Multi-Core cooler is better than

a lot of passive coolers we've seen over the years./

*

 

*Cheers guys!

 

Tim Smalley

www.bit-tech.net