discussion Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 1GB Passive Review

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Crysis: Warhead (DX9)

Crysis: Warhead (DX9)

To benchmark Warhead, we recorded a 5 minute timedemo on the Ice level which included ranged and hand to hand combat. The sequence was then played back using the Crysis Benchmarking Tool from HOC

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Crysis: Warhead (DX10)

Crysis: Warhead (DX10)

To benchmark Warhead, we recorded a 5 minute timedemo on the Ice level which included ranged and hand to hand combat. The sequence was then played back using the Crysis Benchmarking Tool from HOC

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[SKYMTL]

Fallout 3

Fallout 3

For these Fallout 3 benchmarks we decided to use one of the more graphically intensive portions of the game: a gameplay session which starts at the exit from Vault 101, through Springvale, over a small hill towards Washington and then back towards Megaton. Within this session two ants were fought near Springvale. All in all, the gameplay time is about 6 minutes.

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Far Cry 2 (DX9)

Far Cry 2 (DX9)

Even though Far Cry 2 has its own built-in benchmarking tool with some flythroughs and “action scenes”, we decided to record our own timedemo consisting of about 7 minutes of game time. It involves everything from run-and-gun fights to fire effects. The built-in benchmarking too was then set up to replay the timedemo and record framerates

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[SKYMTL]

Far Cry 2 (DX10)

Far Cry 2 (DX10)

Even though Far Cry 2 has its own built-in benchmarking tool with some flythroughs and “action scenes”, we decided to record our own timedemo consisting of about 7 minutes of game time. It involves everything from run-and-gun fights to fire effects. The built-in benchmarking too was then set up to replay the timedemo and record framerates

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Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV

Due to the limitations the game puts on the graphics presets and how they can be adjusted, we decided to tweak our install. To do this we added a .txt file within the main game install folder with the command parameters –norestrictions and –nomemrestrict. In addition to this, we added a command line to effectively fool the game into thinking 512MB cards were in fact able to access 1GB of memory. Unfortunately, this means a 512MB card will in fact be accessing slower system memory to make up for the discrepancy but that is a necessary evil to get comparable results. Finally, view distance was limited to 65%.

In this test we used a typical didn’t use the built-in benchmark but rather used a 10 minute gameplay sequence of which approximately 6 minutes were spent on foot while the remainder was spent driving. All results were recorded with FRAPS.


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Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead

For benching Left 4 Dead, we used a pre-recorded 5 minute timedemo taken on the No Way Out campaign during The Rooftop Finale mission. Framerates were captured with FRAPS.

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Tom Clancy’s Hawx (DX9)

Tom Clancy’s Hawx (DX9)

Even though HawX has a built-in benchmarking tool, we found that it did not provide accurate enough results needed to reflect what actual in-game performance would be. Thus, we played through the first 6 minutes of a mission and recorded the results with FRAPS.

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Tom Clancy’s Hawx (DX10)

Tom Clancy’s Hawx (DX10)

Even though HawX has a built-in benchmarking tool, we found that it did not provide accurate enough results needed to reflect what actual in-game performance would be. Thus, we played through the first 6 minutes of a mission and recorded the results with FRAPS.

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Heat & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Heat & Acoustics

Since these tests were done on an open test bench with a 120mm fan placed a good 6” away from the card, I really must say that the temperatures came as a bit of a surprise. 61°C is pretty amazing for a passively cooled HD 4850 1GB considering this is what many would call a higher performance card. If that isn’t awe-inspiring, it is also nearly 30 degrees cooler than the stock heatsink. Gigabyte definitely hit this nail on the head.

Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well. Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.

Gigabyte spends quite a bit of time talking about how they are using higher quality components in order to lower power consumption and considering the results, this is no idle boast. Even though the idle power consumption isn’t that much different from the reference version, this card’s efficiency at load made us stand up and take notice. Even with 1GB of memory and a slightly overclocked core, it was still consumed a good 26W less than the reference version. What more is there to say other than “wow”.