Support NeoGAF

[godhandiscen]

You can't read numbers or something? The average FPS dropped with AA on.

You mad? Take a chill pill.

I was talking about this:

CRYSIS:

1680 x 1050, dx9, high, no AA
Min = 26.83
Max = 56.83
Avg = 43.84

1680 x 1050 dx9, high, 4x AA
Min = 47.53
Max = 47.53
Avg = 36.39

Thats the resolution I play at. And the numbers increased in the user's post. There is clearly and error there.

 

[Zzoram]

You mad? Take a chill pill.

I was talking about this:

CRYSIS:

1680 x 1050, dx9, high, no AA
Min = 26.83
Max = 56.83
Avg = 43.84

1680 x 1050 dx9, high, 4x AA
Min = 47.53
Max = 47.53
Avg = 36.39

Thats the resolution I play at. And the numbers increased in the user's post. There is clearly and error there.

So how does the HD4850 scale in xfire? What are single card numbers under the same conditions?

 

[godhandiscen]

So how does the HD4850 scale in xfire? What are single card numbers under the same conditions?

Give me a couple minutes then refresh this post, I also want to find those numbers.

This is the closest I could come to a 4850 review under an almost identical system circunstances. Note that the 4850 is tested on a slightly better system.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=191096

1680 x 1050 4x aa high settings
min 10.86
max 28.27
avg 24.05

1900 x 1200 4xaa high settings
min 13.35
max 22.17
avg 19.6

http://forums.anandtech.com/message...M=&STARTPAGE=62&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear#top

1680 x 1050 dx9, high, 4x AA
Min = 19.7
Max = 47.53
Avg = 36.39

1900 x 1200 dx9, high, 4x AA
Min = 16.16
Max = 37.83
Avg = 29.97

Thats amazing scalability if you ask me. More results when you click the link.

 

[Pachael]

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q62/steelsix/crysis7.jpg
That post on anandtech copypastaed wrongly - thankgoodness for the screenshot.

1680x1050, High, 4xAA
Min = 19.70
Max = 47.53
Avg = 36.39

 

[GHG]

Still, those are pretty insane numbers. Looks like I'll be getting a 4850 and then adding another at a later date.

 

[camineet]

AMD, Nvidia graphics chip designs diverge


UPDATE: On Monday, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia are launching graphics chips based on distinctly different design philosophies.

Nvidia's GTX 280 and GTX 260 are designed to deliver the biggest performance bang per chip. A so-called "monolithic" approach packs 1.4 billion transistors and 240 processing cores onto one piece of silicon.


AMD's modular approach tends toward less is more: smaller, less power-hungry chips that can be strung together to achieve higher performance. The company plans to implement this strategy with the HD 4850 and HD 4870 graphics processing units (GPUs) that are being introduced on Monday. (See "Notes" below.)

"The beauty of this design is that it's scalable. You can put one or two (chips) on a board," said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing at AMD's Graphics Products Group.

In the midrange segment ($200 to $300) AMD uses a single chip--for example, an HD 4870. At the high-end ($500 and above), it adds another chip to scale up to better performance. This dual-chip design--code-named the R700--will be marketed as the 4870 X2.

On the other hand, Nvidia says its emphasis on a single, very-high-performance chip is necessary to keep it out front. "At the high end, there is no prize for second place," Ujesh Desai, general manager for GeForce products at Nvidia, said in an interview with Nanotech: The Circuits Blog last month.



And Nvidia is trying to raise the bar with GTX 280. "We're rendering about 3 million triangles per frame," Curtis Beason, an engineer at Nvidia, said last month at an event where Nvidia previewed the GTX 280 chip.
AMD targets smaller chips that can be strung together to get better performance.

"With (the previous-generation) GeForce 8800, what we achieved is a very photorealistic character. Very detailed skin. But it was a single character," Jason Paul, the GeForce product manager, said at the Nvidia event last month. "With GTX 200 what we're moving to is multiple highly realistic characters."

--AMD 4800 series processors will be available starting next week at Besy Buy, according to AMD VP Rick Bergman, speaking Monday at an AMD event. "In just a little over a week from today. You'll be able to walk into a Best Buy and buy this chip (4800 series) on a graphics board for about $200. A teraflop for $200," Bergman said. He added that systems will also be available from Falcon Northwest, Velocity Micro, and ibuypower. "We're also introducing a system that can take four of these boards," he said. "That's almost five teraflops of performance in a personal computer."

--Both AMD and Nvidia say their GPUs can achieve about one teraflops (trillion floating point operations per second) of performance.

--Nvidia's GeForce GTX 280 will retail for $649 and be available on graphics boards starting Tuesday. The GeForce GTX 260 will be priced at $399, with availability slated for June 26.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9968992-7.html


I wonder what the systems with four boards, almost 5 teraflops, are?
EDIT: AMD's refresh of the 'Leo' platform?

Sounds like they will be using 4 of the fastest HD 4870 boards, about 25% overclocked to reach 5 teraflops. Doesn't sound like they're using four 4870X2 boards (8 TeraFlops, lol) I don't think PSUs could support that, but then, I don't know.

Two R700 4870X2 boards (4 RV770 GPUs) or four 4870 boards (4 RV770 GPUs) sound like a mighty interesting option.

 

[Tenacious-V]

I wonder what the systems with four boards, almost 5 teraflops, are?
EDIT: AMD's refresh of the 'Leo' platform?

Sounds like they will be using 4 of the fastest HD 4870 boards, about 25% overclocked to reach 5 teraflops. Doesn't sound like they're using four 4870X2 boards (8 TeraFlops, lol) I don't think PSUs could support that, but then, I don't know.

Two R700 4870X2 boards (4 RV770 GPUs) or four 4870 boards (4 RV770 GPUs) sound like a mighty interesting option.

They willbe using 4x4870s. There is no overclocking needed.

4850 = 1 teraflop
4870 = 1.2 teraflops

according to the slides. That is what they are at their standard clocks. So 4x4870s would be the "almost 5 TFs" they are talking about.

 

[camineet]

They willbe using 4x4870s. There is no overclocking needed.

4850 = 1 teraflop
4870 = 1.2 teraflops

according to the slides. That is what they are at their standard clocks. So 4x4870s would be the "almost 5 TFs" they are talking about.

Oh I see, thanks for the correction


Seems like AMD have REALLY hit the sweet spot this round.

 

[bill0527]

Its here !!

Be back in a couple of hours.

 

[Vic]

Its here !!

Be back in a couple of hours.

Wooooo! Finally, a gaffer got the card!

-Mass Effect came with the card?

 

[-SD-]

I can honestly say that I'm having more fun with Crysis's single player than I did with COD4. Its the difference between a shooting gallery, and a real FPS. I know the difference now, after playing one after the other.

Congrats on seeing the light

 

[Jaagen]

A quick question. Should I get the 4850, and sell off my 3870, or should I get another 3870(they're becoming cheap now) and CF them? I mean, option number two sounds very tempting, as my 3870 is only five months old and still good for gaming.

 

[bee]

looks like it time to abandon the good ship nvidia to me

i'd get two 4870's next week if my board was crossfire shame its not and i dont really wanna change it until nehalem, its almost exactly 2 years old now e6600 + gigabyte ds3 rev 1.0

not sure what to do yet, waiting for the 4870x2 seems like my best bet at the moment though

 

[Proelite]

looks like it time to abondon the good ship nvidia to me

i'd get two 4870's next week if my board was crossfire shame its not and i dont really wanna change it until nehalem, its almost exactly 2 years old now e6600 + gigabyte ds3 rev 1.0

not sure what to do yet, waiting for the 4870x2 seems like my best bet at the moment though

Get (4870x2) quadfire sometimes in 2009. That's 8 GPUs in total, and 4GB of video memory. The most powerful solution you can have.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Got my card but can't install it until tonight.

 

[nataku]

If only I had waited an not bought an 8800GT recently. Damnit!

 

[Cheeto]

If only I had waited an not bought an 8800GT recently. Damnit!

Why? It still works doesn't it?

 

[Sanjay]

any news on the 4850 and 4870 uk prices?

 

[camineet]

Get (4870x2) quadfire sometimes in 2009. That's 8 GPUs in total, and 4GB of video memory. The most powerful solution you can have.

Heh, that would be like 8 to 9.6 teraflops. I dunno if systems can support that. Would that no require 8 slots since each 4870X2 takes up two? I guess a custom built solution could be offered.

Or I could just wait for Next-Gen Xbox with 10-12 teraflops :lol

 

[Hajaz]

4870x2 takes up one slot, however, you can only crossfiref two of them since theyre already dual gpu's.

 

[Chiggs]

Looking at some posts around the net (HardOCP, Rage3d, etc), the estimated cost for a 1GB GDDR5-equipped 4870 will be $339.99. Looks like I'm gonna have to break my $300.00 video card rule. It's always so fun to draw lines in the sand.

 

[Proelite]

Looking at some posts around the net (HardOCP, Rage3d, etc), the estimated cost for a 1GB GDDR5-equipped 4870 will be $339.99. Looks like I'm gonna have to break my $300.00 video card rule. It's always so fun to draw lines in the sand.

I just want a card with GDDR5, 4850 or 4870 don't make a big difference.

 

[Bulla564]

I don't get it...

will there be a 4870 AND a 4870X2 launching soon?

I'll be getting one of these as soon, but I want to go for the 4870X2. Is one of those apparently better than the GTX280? (I know pricewise it probably is).

 

[Proelite]

I don't get it...

will there be a 4870 AND a 4870X2 launching soon?

I'll be getting one of these as soon, but I want to go for the 4870X2. Is one of those apparently better than the GTX280? (I know pricewise it probably is).

IF 4850 crossfire can outdo the GTX280, then the 4870X2 has no problem. It's basically 4870 in crossfire.

 

[Chiggs]

I just want a card with GDDR5, 4850 or 4870 don't make a big difference.

I think you're going to have to go with 4870 then. If I'm not mistaken, ATI poo-poo'd the GDDR5 4850.

 

[camineet]

I don't get it...

will there be a 4870 AND a 4870X2 launching soon?

I'll be getting one of these as soon, but I want to go for the 4870X2. Is one of those apparently better than the GTX280? (I know pricewise it probably is).

4870 in a few weeks (early July), 4870X2 in a few months (August or September) I think.

The 4870 should be fairly competitive with the GTX280, especially since 4870 will be about half the cost. Some areas, GTX280 will win. In others 4870 should be close or even ahead, but again $650 vs ~$300

The 4870X2 ($500 or $600 depending on what source) should easily beat GTX280.

Nvidia does have GT200b coming in the fall, and if they get the clockspeed up on that, it'll be interesting to see how it compares to 4870X2 in certain areas. 4870X2 will be king in terms of floating point power at 2 to 2.4 Teraflops.

 

[bill0527]

Ok, I've gotten to play around with my 4850 for an hour or so...

I'm not a professional reviewer and I don't keep an army of benchmarking tools at my disposal. I use shareware fraps and any in-game benchmarking tools if a particular game has them.

Installation was easy. I ran the Catalyst Driver CD that came with it and it set everything up correctly. I searched for an updated driver and the HD 4800 series is not listed on ATI's website yet, nor is it listed on their registration pages, so I'll have to wait to do all of that. I'm coming from an nVidia card, so I'm not familiar with the driver designations that ATI uses. The disc installed driver version 8.5 dated 5/14/2008.

I haven't done any tweaks to the card at all, everything is still set up default, other than changing to my monitor's native resolution.

My setup:

e6420 Core 2 Duo @ 2.13ghz
2GB Corsair XMS RAM
32-bit Vista Home Premium
Sceptre 22" 1680x1050 monitor

I was previously using a Geforce 8600gts 128-bit, 256MB card.

Well, obviously, the 4850 just fucking smokes it out of the water. I've tested it so far on 3 games - Bioshock, The Witcher, and Crysis single player demo (can't find Crysis disc right now).

On my old card, the best I could do on Bioshock was 1280x720, dx10, everything high, and get about 30-35fps. Now at 1680x1050, dx10, everything high, I'm getting anywhere from 60-120fps. The crash scene at the beginning had a few dips down into the high 40's.

I pretty much had the same results with The Witcher. I previously had to run it at 1280x720, mostly medium with a few high settings to get 35-40fps. Now I'm running it at 1680x1050, everything high, 2xAA, 16AF, and getting around 40-60 fps, a few dips into the 30's. If I turn AA off, it never goes below 45fps and pretty much stays in the high 60's.

As for Crysis, I'm not sure how much more optimized the final version is from the demo, but based on the demo, the game kicks this card's ass as expected. I tried a bunch of different resolutions and settings:

It detected that I should run at 1280x720, medium, no AA and I got 50-75 fps.
1280x720 very high, no AA ; 25-35fps
1440x900 very high, no AA; 20-30fps
1440x900 high, no AA; 30-45fps sweet spot for this card, for this particular game, imo
1680x1050 high, no AA; 25-35fps

I think its going to be a great mid-range card, which is what its advertised to be. It'll kick the shit out of anything at 1680x1050 and below, except for Crysis, but we already knew that. Plus it'll only get better with driver updates.

One last point before I go try Company of Heroes; the noise. Its deathly silent. My 8600gts was very quiet, and this card is just as quiet. I did hear the fan kick in a little bit trying the different Crysis settings, but it was still barely audible. I mention the noise because we've read that the Geforce GTX cards are unbelievably loud, and I think it'll be a small bulletpoint in ATI's favor for those who want to crossfire 2 of these cards vs. purchasing a GTX.

 

[camineet]

Jesus, a 1.2 Teraflop RV770 / 4870 seems like it would make the perfect Nintendo GPU once it shrinks to 32nm. It would provide an absolutely MASSIVE leap beyond Wii, could still be extremely cheap, cool, quiet. Yet, would also be concidered below lowend by PC standards in 2011/2012 when the follow-up to Wii would be expected.

Think of that. GameCube is rated at 10.5 Gflops total, over 8 Gflops of that is from the Flipper GPU. The Hollywood GPU in Wii is 50% faster, thus, over 12 Gflops.

12 Gflops => 1200 Gflops


And yet, if that's all Nintendo & AMD put in Wii HD, it would still be less advanced compared to PCs for 2011/2012
than GameCube was in 2001.

 

[sutom]

Thanks for the impressions bill0527, it sounds really good. If you get time any info on how it runs CoH/OF would be great too - that's probably what I'll play most if I get a 4850.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Double the performance per watt, and quiet. That's what I like to see.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Thanks for the impressions bill. I'm loving those numbers and the fact they are so quiet.

Can you measure the temps on the card when you get the chance? Preliminary reports suggest the cards run hot, but it could just be an isolated instance. Also, how much bigger was the size of the 4850 card compared to your 8600 GT?

Thanks again and grats on the upgrade.

 

[Cheeto]

grab this
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

 

[Beer Monkey]

Thanks for the impressions bill. I'm loving those numbers and the fact they are so quiet.

Can you measure the temps on the card when you get the chance? Preliminary reports suggest the cards run hot, but it could just be an isolated instance. Also, how much bigger was the size of the 4850 card compared to your 8600 GT?

He could try the automatic overclocking thing in Catalyst and it will task the card 100% and measure the temperature.

 

[Durante]

Jesus, a 1.2 Teraflop RV770 / 4870 seems like it would make the perfect Nintendo GPU once it shrinks to 32nm. It would provide an absolutely MASSIVE leap beyond Wii, could still be extremely cheap, cool, quiet. Yet, would also be concidered below lowend by PC standards in 2011/2012 when the follow-up to Wii would be expected.

Think of that. GameCube is rated at 10.5 Gflops total, over 8 Gflops of that is from the Flipper GPU. The Hollywood GPU in Wii is 50% faster, thus, over 12 Gflops.

12 Gflops => 1200 Gflops


And yet, if that's all Nintendo & AMD put in Wii HD, it would still be less advanced compared to PCs for 2011/2012
than GameCube was in 2001.

All of that is true, but Nintendo could already have put a significantly more advanced graphics chip (I'm talking nearly an order of magnitude here) into Wii with around the same thermal properties and cost, and choose to refrain from doing so. I've given up trying to predict their hardware decisions.

 

[Proelite]

Ok, I've gotten to play around with my 4850 for an hour or so...

I'm not a professional reviewer and I don't keep an army of benchmarking tools at my disposal. I use shareware fraps and any in-game benchmarking tools if a particular game has them.

Installation was easy. I ran the Catalyst Driver CD that came with it and it set everything up correctly. I searched for an updated driver and the HD 4800 series is not listed on ATI's website yet, nor is it listed on their registration pages, so I'll have to wait to do all of that. I'm coming from an nVidia card, so I'm not familiar with the driver designations that ATI uses. The disc installed driver version 8.5 dated 5/14/2008.

I haven't done any tweaks to the card at all, everything is still set up default, other than changing to my monitor's native resolution.

My setup:

e6420 Core 2 Duo @ 2.13ghz
2GB Corsair XMS RAM
32-bit Vista Home Premium
Sceptre 22" 1680x1050 monitor

I was previously using a Geforce 8600gts 128-bit, 256MB card.

Well, obviously, the 4850 just fucking smokes it out of the water. I've tested it so far on 3 games - Bioshock, The Witcher, and Crysis single player demo (can't find Crysis disc right now).

On my old card, the best I could do on Bioshock was 1280x720, dx10, everything high, and get about 30-35fps. Now at 1680x1050, dx10, everything high, I'm getting anywhere from 60-120fps. The crash scene at the beginning had a few dips down into the high 40's.

I pretty much had the same results with The Witcher. I previously had to run it at 1280x720, mostly medium with a few high settings to get 35-40fps. Now I'm running it at 1680x1050, everything high, 2xAA, 16AF, and getting around 40-60 fps, a few dips into the 30's. If I turn AA off, it never goes below 45fps and pretty much stays in the high 60's.

As for Crysis, I'm not sure how much more optimized the final version is from the demo, but based on the demo, the game kicks this card's ass as expected. I tried a bunch of different resolutions and settings:

It detected that I should run at 1280x720, medium, no AA and I got 50-75 fps.
1280x720 very high, no AA ; 25-35fps
1440x900 very high, no AA; 20-30fps
1440x900 high, no AA; 30-45fps sweet spot for this card, for this particular game, imo
1680x1050 high, no AA; 25-35fps

I think its going to be a great mid-range card, which is what its advertised to be. It'll kick the shit out of anything at 1680x1050 and below, except for Crysis, but we already knew that. Plus it'll only get better with driver updates.

One last point before I go try Company of Heroes; the noise. Its deathly silent. My 8600gts was very quiet, and this card is just as quiet. I did hear the fan kick in a little bit trying the different Crysis settings, but it was still barely audible. I mention the noise because we've read that the Geforce GTX cards are unbelievably loud, and I think it'll be a small bulletpoint in ATI's favor for those who want to crossfire 2 of these cards vs. purchasing a GTX.

Does Crysis look better in 720p very high, or 900p high?

 

[camineet]

All of that is true, but Nintendo could already have put a significantly more advanced graphics chip (I'm talking nearly an order of magnitude here) into Wii with around the same thermal properties and cost, and choose to refrain from doing so. I've given up trying to predict their hardware decisions.

True.

I cannot predict what Nintendo will do with their next system. They clearly go their own path when it comes to hardware, totally different than that of PCs, Xbox and PlayStations.

 

[artist]

Does Crysis look better in 720p very high, or 900p high?

I will take very high over resolution given I get the same frame rates for those options ..

Can a mod change the title since we have GAF impressions now? Thanks!

Congrats bill, you are one lucky son of ..

Can you measure the temps on the card when you get the chance? Preliminary reports suggest the cards run hot, but it could just be an isolated instance. Also, how much bigger was the size of the 4850 card compared to your 8600 GT?

Idle temp is similar to 8800GT and load temp is lower.

As for size (length) 4850 is 23cm (9 inches) and 8600GT is about 18cm (7 inches).

 

[camineet]

"Teraflop in my hand"

 

[MaritalWheat]

1440x900 high, no AA; 30-45fps sweet spot for this card, for this particular game, imo

Awesome!!! Thanks for the impressions dude, this is great ; I have a very similar setup to yours and 1440x900 is my native rez, so looks like this card is my buy for a solid 30 fps in Crysis!

 

[Proelite]

Awesome!!! Thanks for the impressions dude, this is great ; I have a very similar setup to yours and 1440x900 is my native rez, so looks like this card is my buy for a solid 30 fps in Crysis!

What kind of framerate would a 8800GT get in 1440x900 high?

 

[artist]

What kind of framerate would a 8800GT get in 1440x900 high?

Its hard to compare different rigs but .. I have Q6600 and XFX 8800GT, I get 20-30fps at those settings.

 

[Proelite]

Its hard to compare different rigs but .. I have Q6600 and XFX 8800GT, I get 20-30fps at those settings.

So it's about 50% performance increase, for 50% of increase of price over the 8800GT. Sounds reasonable, but the 4850 has far more potential with new software updates.

 

[brain_stew]

bill0527 you should really try overclocking that CPU. At its current clockspeed it'll be holding the GPU back a bit especially in games like Crysis. Even a mild overclock to 2.6 or 2.8ghz (which is 100% achievable and really simple) should net some pretty good results. Might as well make the most out of your new GPU. In reality 3gz+ should be more than achievable and at that sort of speed you'd remove any CPU bottleneck from modern games.

 

[bee]

8.6 catalyst drivers just got released, supports 48xx series as you'd expect

xp

vista 32

vista 64

 

[godhandiscen]

8.6 catalyst drivers just got released, supports 48xx series as you'd expect

xp

vista 32

vista 64

OMG OMG OMG OMG I am downloading them as soon as I make it home. I talked to Spyre (ATI forums mod) and he told me that there was a possibility of these drivers increasing performance in Conan. Also UT3 performance was highly increased. I'll be reading the driver notes. 4850 owners, get these drivers asap as they actually will automatically improve your performance.


edit: No performance update on Conan according to the release notes....

 

[artist]

OMG OMG OMG OMG I am downloading them as soon as I make it home. I talked to Spyre (ATI forums mod) and he told me that there was a possibility of these drivers increasing performance in Conan. Also UT3 performance was highly increased. I'll be reading the driver notes. 4850 owners, get these drivers asap as they actually will automatically improve your performance.

From the Release notes:

• 3DMark Vantage: Performance increases between 10% to 15% across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series of products, with larger performance gains in specific cases.
• Call of Duty 4: Performance increases across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series of products, with performance gains as large as 35% in specific maps.
• Call of Juarez DX10: Performance increases between 2% and 9% across all ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series of products
• Company of Heroes (DX10 version): Performance increases between 4% and 10% across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3600 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 Series of products.
• Lost Planet (DX10 version): Performance increases of 1 or 2 frames per second across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series products and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series of products, resulting in as much as a 20% performance increase.
• Lost Planet (DX9 version): Performance increases between 2% and 20% across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series or products
• Prey (OpenGL): Performance increases between 3% and 5% s across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series or products
• Quake 4 (OpenGL): Performance increases up to 8% across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series or products
• Shadermark 2.1: Minor performance improvements across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series or products, with the largest gains appearing on the ATI Radeon™ HD 3650 (up to 9%)
• ViewPerf 10: Substantial performance improvements across several of the sub-tests, with the largest gains in ugnx (up to 55%), catia (up to 17%) and tcvis (up to 10%) across the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series and the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series or products

 

[bill0527]

Got some more stuff here with pics this time !!!

Note - these are on the 8.5 drivers. I'll download and update 8.6 and try it out later tonight.


Devil May Cry 4 - for some reason it only gives me really odd resolutions to select. There was nothing for 1680x1050, so I selected the closest one - 1600x1000

Company of Heroes - highest settings possible on everything

With 8xAA

AA off

 

[bill0527]

To answer some of the other questions:

Wooooo! Finally, a gaffer got the card!

-Mass Effect came with the card?

No Mass Effect didn't come with it.

Can you measure the temps on the card when you get the chance? Preliminary reports suggest the cards run hot, but it could just be an isolated instance. Also, how much bigger was the size of the 4850 card compared to your 8600 GT?

bill0527 you should really try overclocking that CPU. At its current clockspeed it'll be holding the GPU back a bit especially in games like Crysis. Even a mild overclock to 2.6 or 2.8ghz (which is 100% achievable and really simple) should net some pretty good results. Might as well make the most out of your new GPU. In reality 3gz+ should be more than achievable and at that sort of speed you'd remove any CPU bottleneck from modern games.

I'm on OC noob. I spent probably 6-8 hours over 3 days last week trying to get my settings right to bump my processor up to 2.8-3.0ghz. I almost had a stable system. The problem was that the higher I clocked up the FSB, it seemed like the less power it would send to my video card and I could never find the right setting to get it stable. The higher I set the FSB, the lower FPS I would get in my games. At 3.0ghz, I was getting like 10-12fps in Bioshock where I normally got 35-45.

 

[Zzoram]

Holy crap the HD4850 runs hot!!!

Did you just stop playing Crysis to show 79C? That is only an appropriate temperature for load.

 

[bill0527]

Holy crap the HD4850 runs hot!!!

Did you just stop playing Crysis to show 79C? That is only an appropriate temperature for load.

No I just exited out of Company of Heroes. The screenshot is a little fuzzy, but its showing 74C, not 79C, and this is at idle.