Thread: XFX HD4890 review

ATI graphics card launch has been a cause of excitement for garners. Priced aggressively, these new cards have also consistently impressed on performance and value for money. The new ATI HD4890 is the most powerful from their stables, at least when it comes to single core GPUs. The card we got into our labs was XFX's take on the ATI chipset and at the end of the day, it left us impressed.

The XFX HD4890 looks like a mean machine with a single big fan attached over its core. It also has two DVI ports and a Video-Out port on its side. The packaging is attractive and XFX has made sure that the card comes with every possible connector, adaptor and documentation that is needed. Therefore, bundled along with the card comes power connectors, a VGA to DVI adaptor, an HDMI to DVI adaptor, a CrossFireX connector and Video-Out cables. It also comes with the requisite installation guides and a copy of the game.

The XFX HD4890 has a memory of 1GB and a core clock speed of 850MHz. Along with that, it also boasts of 800 steam processors, a memory clock speed of 975MHz and a 256-bit memory interface.

When it came down to testing the card, we did so on a rig made up of the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processor, 3GB of Kingston HyperX high-speed RAM, an Intel X25 80GB SSD and a Gigabyte EX-58 mother¬board. For benchmarking the card we used only those games that we thought made proper use of DirectX 10.1 or really had it in them to stress the hardware. Howev¬er, we began our tests with the 3D Mark suite comprising of 3D Mark '06 and 3D Mark Vantage. In the former, the HD4890 clocked 17,501 marks, more than 1,500 marks than what its precursor- the HD4870 managed.



Similarly in 3D Mark Vantage (set at High), the HD4890 scored 6958 marks, just under 800 marks away from the HD4870. The first gaming benchmark we ran with the card was Crysis, a game that has managed to make every card toil. We set the game's resolution at 1680xl050, all settings at their highest and only changed the anti-aliasing (AA). In the first instance, with no AA the card gave average frame-rates per sec¬ond (fps) of 29. When we upped the AA to 4x and 8x, these numbers dropped to 24 and 23 respectively. In comparison, with no AA the HD4890 had managed 24 fps.

Next in line was Ubisoft's Far Cry 2, another new game that really gets graphics hardware working. With the AA set to zero, the resolution at 1680xl050 and all other settings maxed, the HD4890 pumped out an average fps of 50. At 4x AA, the fps went down, the card clocke'd 32 fps. The final gaming benchmark was Tom Clanry's H.A. Wx., which makes gOQd use of DirectX 10.1. At 1680x1050, 8xAA and everything set at the highest, the card gave average fps of 48.

With all the tests completed, the verdict was clear. The XFX HD4890 is priced about 30% more than the HD4870 and it gives a performance boost of also the same amount. We think for itS price, the card is a great buy. It might not give the performance of the top Nvidia cards, but manages to get close at a much lesser price.