# ATI Radeon HD 4850 vs. 8800GTS



## feifei (Jul 1, 2008)

I've got an evga GeForce 8800GTS 320mb superclocked edition.

However, I've found that 320mb is simply not enough video memory for my needs or tastes (I'm not satisfied unless I can run Crysis at highest settings at 30+ fps)

I was wondering if the ATI Radeon HD 4850 was a good choice for an "upgrade."

I've been reading that the 4850 might be a great choice. I wanted to know if anyone knew how it stacked up against my 8800GTS.

There's just so many things to keep in mind when it comes to researching and buying PC parts... it gives me a headache.

But the reason I want a new card is... well... I don't like being obsolete.

I have a 19" LCD that's 1280x1024.

I've overclocked my GPU and I get an average of 25fps w/ high/medium settings (no AA).

When things get hectic.... The fps drops considerably more.

And the fps also fluctuates wildly, making gameplay a little jarring.

I also notice some texture thrashing on some of my other games because of low vram.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

Yea the old 320/640 g80 8800's are a little slow now. You would notice more improvement if you went with a 9800 gtx or a 9800 gx2. But note , these require pci-e 2.0 slots and 700w or higher psu's.


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## feifei (Jul 1, 2008)

Well unfortunately, I've only got a pci-e x16 1.0. P5N-E SLI board. And all I've got is a 550W.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

Yea , even the 4870 is 2.0 and require at least a 650w.


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## patriothntr (May 29, 2008)

You could manage with a 550 watt PSU if it is a good quality and fairly new unit (aged capacitors can hurt output). Your unit would be close...

PCI 2.0 is backward compatible with 1.0, so you should be able to use the card, though it won't be quite as fast.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

Pci-e 2.0 card will only work in 1.0a or 1.1 slots , they do not work in 1.0 slots. And no matter what brand , 550w isn't enough.


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## patriothntr (May 29, 2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCIe#PCI_Express_2.0 

says that they work in 1.0, though there are rare issues with 1.0a 

as far as the PSU goes...I respectfully disagree...now the 4870 I would at least have a higher quality unit @ 550watts to pull everything.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

Yes , wiki seems to be wrong in this case. Or typed incorrectly. 1.0a and 1.1 slots work with 2.0 but not 1.0. And I know you disagree about the psu , but 550w is more midrange and 650 would be better on a high range card. They wouldn't make 650w psu's if you didn't really need them. Plus is it really that much of a price difference that you wouldn't get a 650w anyway?


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## patriothntr (May 29, 2008)

> Then PCIe 2.0 must be backward compatible with PCIe 1.1 and 1.0?
> Yes. The PCIe Base 2.0 specification supports both the 2.5GT/s and 5GT/s signaling technologies. A device designed to the PCIe Base 2.0 specification may support 2.5GT/s, 5GT/s or both. However, a device designed to operate specifically at 5GT/s must also support 2.5GT/s signaling. The PCIe Base specification covers chip-to-chip topologies on the system board. For I/O extensibility across PCIe connectors, the Card Electromechanical (CEM) and ExpressModule™ specifications will also need to be updated, but this work will not impact mechanical compatibility of the slots, cards or modules.


PDF: http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie2.0_faq/PCIe2_FAQ_FINAL082706.pdf

All that said, you may be right that in most cases there will be issues with some of the older standards with some hardware not being completely compliant...nothing wrong with staying on the side of caution with that...I haven't had any experience with the issue, so I'll defer to you. 

As far as PSUs go, I'll try not to beat a dead horse...but one of the things that I work for on my desktops is for them to be as efficient as possible...and if you but a 80+ PSU, you need to be utilizing around 20% to hit that 80% curve...so if my computer idles at 100-150w and I have a 500-550w PSU, I'm inside that higher efficiency curve. If I go for the 600-650 I start to waste electricity due to the curve. 

Speaking of that...I saw enermax just came out with a 82+ PSU...pretty nice unit...3 12v lines at 25amps: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194034

Hope that helps explain some of the reason I go for the "middling" units.


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## feifei (Jul 1, 2008)

lol.

This is why I hate doing research for new components. Such a headache!

But I thank you all for your help. I think I'll need to save up a bit more for a more powerful PSU.

Thanks again!


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