First take on reading the Radeon 4850/4870 reviews

Post by **CA_Steve** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:19 pm

Awesome passive results

eddd · Post by **eddd** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:19 pm

Going to give the 4870 with an S1 a try. Still debating whether to use a turbo or go the whole hog with a couple of 120s.

nafets · Post by **nafets** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:21 pm

korsch · Post by **korsch** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:39 pm

I too am looking at the 4850 and am wondering how much worse my old VF900 would perform compared to the S1. Any guesses?

Freyr · Post by **Freyr** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:16 pm

SPCR has a article with your answer. They used the ATI Radeon X1950XTX which is a hot card.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article793-page4.html

Accelero S1 (Nexus 120mm)
5v
~20dBA
67Â°C

Zalman VF900-CU
12V
28dBA
89Â°C

korsch · Post by **korsch** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:15 pm

Thanks, that's helpful.

I may still give it a go with the VF900.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:54 am

korsch wrote:Thanks, that's helpful.

I may still give it a go with the VF900.

If you do, be sure to post your before and after temps.

korsch · Post by **korsch** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:36 pm

CA_Steve wrote:If you do, be sure to post your before and after temps.

Yes, I would like to. I'm still waiting for delivery and will break in the card a bit to be sure it's not defective before voiding my warranty.

In the meantime, I just discovered this report of a fan-replaced VF900 on an overclocked 4850:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=193361

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:30 am

I found this article at Extremetech, they cool the 4870 with a VF-900, which I find hard to believe, since the 4870 AFAIK draws upto 150W.
And the VF-900 usually chokes over 100W, so it would still be OK with the 4850, but shouldn't be able to cool the 4870.
To be accurate, the VF-900 cools only the GPU directly, which I estimate to be 80W (out of 110W) for the 4850 and 120W (out of 150W) for the 4870.
Link to article: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 593,00.asp

korsch · Post by **korsch** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:21 am

Nice find. Wow, the VF900 cooling a 4870 reasonably effectively -- who would have thought?

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:29 am

I think the main thing is to wait and see what the official drivers do once released. If they get the power management stuff sorted out, hopefully idle temps and noise will drop dramatically.

If idle temps and power consumption are okay, I don't mind some noise in games, because the games themselves drown it out

Stumbles · Post by **Stumbles** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:34 am

Any advice on cooling a 4850 inside an Antec Fusion 430 case?

I'm going to be putting together a HTPC/gaming system, and I don't think an s1 will fit inside the Fusion without some major bending.

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:01 pm

I'm going to sit this round and wait for the next die-shrink.

Still generating too much heat (drawing too much power) IMO.

Really looking forward to what revisions/improvement come out by end of year from ATI/AMD.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:29 pm

aztec wrote:I'm going to sit this round and wait for the next die-shrink.

Still generating too much heat (drawing too much power) IMO.

Really looking forward to what revisions/improvement come out by end of year from ATI/AMD.

Next die shrink is expected in Q1 09.

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:36 pm

It's probably worth waiting for the drivers to get sorted out. Hopefully that will cure most idle power woes.

Stumbles · Post by **Stumbles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:40 am

How long before we can expect the new drivers to be out? Any estimates?

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:43 am

ATI do monthly releases, and one is due in the next couple of weeks I think. Rumour is that it sorts out the 4850s, but no word on the 4870s.

Stumbles · Post by **Stumbles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:05 am

Thanks!

Looks like I'll be waiting a week or two to order my 4850.

Freyr · Post by **Freyr** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:39 am

Going by this, here are the power consumption for the HD4850/4870.

Code: Select all

System     Idle        Load
4850       115watt     110watt
4870       106watt     158watt

4850       Idle        Load
Single:    45watt      133watt
Crossfire: 90watt      266watt

4870       Idle        Load
Single:    78watt      136watt
Crossfire: 156watt     272watt

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:35 pm

I noticed the guy that used the VF900 on the 4870 didn't put any ramsinks on the vrm's I didn't think you could do that. I like the small footprint the VF900 has on the 4870. I might pick that up and put it on my 4870...

lm · Post by lm » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:59 am

Freyr wrote:

Code: Select all

System     Idle        Load
4850       115watt     110watt
4870       106watt     158watt

4850       Idle        Load
Single:    45watt      133watt
Crossfire: 90watt      266watt

4870       Idle        Load
Single:    78watt      136watt
Crossfire: 156watt     272watt

Your post does not make much sense. One row is 115W idle, 110W load. Add more verbosity, I can't figure out even those other numbers meanings.

And how do you get these numbers from the picture you pasted?

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:58 am

I'm going to try the VF900 on my 4870 when I get home....