who regrets buying a 4850?

[shangshang]

I got rid of my 8800GT 512MB to jump on the 4850 bandwagon when Best Buy had it for $150 without rebate. So Ebayed off the 8800GT, and in went the 4850.

Let's see. First there was the high temperature issue, with my 4850 hiting as high as 93-95C when my ambient room temp is 92F, causing random crashes in games. So had to pretty much stop gaming when room temp gets this high. But that was before the BIOS and fan mod, and after modding the BIOS/fan mod, temp. improved a bit and games stopped crashing. But the fact that I even have to do this for "fix" the issue is quite unacceptable.

Then comes unstable drivers issues. Now that the temp. issue is fixed, and I had more time to "game", I find that my games are now crashing because of shoddy drivers. None of them are crashing on my buddy's PC which has the 8800GT. This could only be one thing, it's the 4850 drivers. And speaking of drivers, AMD has yet to officially release them for the 48xx series yet. Wow, one month after the release of the 4850 hardware, the software portion is still a hack.

Other than the fantastic benchmarks of the 4850 posts on all the techie websites (such as this one), real life gaming (at least for me) stability remains elusive. So while I spend my time mucking with... oh let's see.. Catalyst 8.6, then 8.6 hotfix, then 8.7 leaked beta, my buddies are gaming without me on their ancient 8800GTs. I guess at the end of the day, I can comfort myself that my 4850 out benches their 8800GTs!

I reckon by the time AMD releases an official Catalyst for the 4850, the price will probably drop 20%. I guess AMD just want to get the hardware out asap and use end users as beta testers. I understand every releaese has its teething period with drivers, but what AMD is doing is crap.

Next time when I decide to buy AMD, I will make sure they post the drivers for their hardware on their site first. For those who haven't bought the 4850 yet, don't buy it until AMD releases stable drivers. For those with 8800GT 512mb, don't even think about buying this.

I know the AMD boys are reading this at work, and they better not be laughing!


I'd say this thread has gone far enough.

n7
Video Mod

 

[Red Storm]

Originally posted by: shangshang
when my ambient room temp is 92F

92F?!

 

[zod96]

Your not alone. I too jumped on the bandwagon after reading the reviews from various websites inlcluding anandtech and after messing around with it and benching it against my 8800GT I found that it was barely faster than my GT by like 3-5 fps big deal. Then the heat, my GT idles at 42 without a fan! And loadsabout 54 using the S1 cooler. Then's their's IQ, the GT had much better IQ in the games that I played, BF2 COD4 Oblivion. That's why I never believe most website reviews. I buy the card from a place that offers 30 day money back policy so I can test the card myself and decide. In the end the 4850 was ok, but it was certainly not a 8800GT killer far from it. I have no idea how websites said the 4850 is faster than a 9800GTX, in my book no way, its more like neck and neck with the GT but with way more heat and more power consumed. I'm glad I kept my GT over the 4850 and have no regrets because its a better card

 

[HOOfan 1]

If my ambient room temperature was 92F then I would be randomly crashing.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

lol

 

[Creig]

shangshang, ygpm

 

[postmortemIA]

shangshang, do you have a roof?

 

[Capt Caveman]

The initial 8800GT had the same heat/fan issue.

 

[idiotekniQues]

92F home temperature is a problem you need to deal with regardless of who is your video card provider.

 

[zod96]

True about the initial release of the GT. I'm not so much let down by the heat and the noise. Its the performance. Every review site said it beats the 9800GTX, which in my findings is complete BS at the very least its tied with the 8800GT

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
If my ambient room temperature was 92F then I would be randomly crashing.

:laugh:

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
shangshang, do you have a roof?

If so, he should probably knock a hole in it to let some of that heat escape.

As far as the card, that's why I try not to buy tech right when it comes out. I gave the 8800GT a few months for the price to settle before I built my rig, and I'm glad I did.

 

[zod96]

I'm not saying the 4850 is bad, far from it. But if you already have an 8800GT their's no point in upgrading to the 4850 because that's more of a side step than an upgrade. If you have something slower than a 8800GT, then by all means a 4850 would be perfect

 

[sticks435]

That's why I bought mine at best buy. After playing Crysis at 16x10 with 2xaa and ME with forced driver 2xAA, it's just not enough. Now that the 4870's are in stores, I'm waiting for another 12% off coupon and I'll pick one up.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: zod96
Your not alone. I too jumped on the bandwagon after reading the reviews from various websites inlcluding anandtech and after messing around with it and benching it against my 8800GT I found that it was barely faster than my GT by like 3-5 fps big deal.

I smell CPU limitation, a lower monitor resolution such as 1440x900 or 1280x1024, older games, frame capped games, vertical sync enabled, user error, not running AA to really push the 4850 (which could help explain something you say later), or a combination of the aforementioned...

Then the heat, my GT idles at 42 without a fan! And loadsabout 54 using the S1 cooler.

So your 8800GT with the world's best aftermarket passive cooler runs cooler than the 4850? Amazing!!!

Sarcasm aside, my 4850 runs no hotter than my 8800GT, each with an S1 installed...

Then's their's IQ, the GT had much better IQ in the games that I played, BF2 COD4 Oblivion.

This is what I mentioned before, the 4850 (or 4800 series in general) really excels when it comes to cranking up the AA, and is where they start to leave the G92 cards in the dust. Having both and being able to run higher AA on the 4850, I simply do not believe your statement.

That's why I never believe most website reviews.

the above is why I tend believe website reviews more than user testimonials

I have no idea how websites said the 4850 is faster than a 9800GTX

because it is faster (although your inability to comprehend this could very well be linked your lack of understanding the AA issue which would explain just about everything)

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: shangshang
Next time when I decide to buy AMD, I will make sure they post the drivers for their hardware on their site first. For those who haven't bought the 4850 yet, don't buy it until AMD releases stable drivers. For those with 8800GT 512mb, don't even think about buying this.

It really just sounds like you have a heat issue, installing an aftermarket cooler should solve the problem. Thus far my 4850 has actually been more stable in Vista x64 than my 8800GT (although it looks like it might be more stable with the newer drivers released in June).

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: zod96

Your not alone. I too jumped on the bandwagon after reading the reviews from various websites inlcluding anandtech and after messing around with it and benching it against my 8800GT I found that it was barely faster than my GT by like 3-5 fps big deal.

Let me guess: 1680x1050 with no AA, aka CPU limited?

The RV6xx architecture is very strong with 8xMSAA; turn that on and it should demolish the 8800 GT.

 

[zod96]

I had both the 8800GT and the 4850 for a week. I game at 1680x1050 with an Intel E8400 Overlcocked to 3.6 and 4gb PC1600 DDR3 Ram running 7-7-7-18 1T timmings and I have an intel X48 motherboard so not a low end system and no cpu bottleneck. Using windows Xp. When I tested the above mentioned games I used 4xAA and 16xAf and off I went with fraps to benchmark. After running the benchmarks, the 4850 got on average about 3-5 fps more than the GT. And this is with 4xAA and 16xAF. Now for the tests I ran without vsync. And I ran these tests quite a few times, all with similar results. So if after all my testing, I would say yes the 4850 is faster at this resolution by about 3-5 fps big fricking deal Oh and I tried all the drivers out their for the Ati card, the ones on the CD, the 8.6 with and without the hotfix as well as the 8.7 beta drivers and all this did nothing, so when review sites state this numbers I usually don't believe them because I find quite the opposite

 

[AzN]

Not a side step. It's definitely an upgrade but a minuscule one.

 

[zod96]

Ok I'll give you that

 

[deepinya]

Originally posted by: zod96
I had both the 8800GT and the 4850 for a week. I game at 1680x1050 with an Intel E8400 Overlcocked to 3.6 and 4gb PC1600 DDR3 Ram running 7-7-7-18 1T timmings and I have an intel X48 motherboard so not a low end system and no cpu bottleneck. Using windows Xp. When I tested the above mentioned games I used 4xAA and 16xAf and off I went with fraps to benchmark. After running the benchmarks, the 4850 got on average about 3-5 fps more than the GT. And this is with 4xAA and 16xAF. Now for the tests I ran without vsync. And I ran these tests quite a few times, all with similar results. So if after all my testing, I would say yes the 4850 is faster at this resolution by about 3-5 fps big fricking deal Oh and I tried all the drivers out their for the Ati card, the ones on the CD, the 8.6 with and without the hotfix as well as the 8.7 beta drivers and all this did nothing, so when review sites state this numbers I usually don't believe them because I find quite the opposite

You seem to be in the minority so maybe something else is holding you back?

 

[zod96]

Yeah believe I know I wish this card was as fast as all the review sites say, but I found it just wasn't the case. I even did a full format and retested with the same results. And their is a bunch of threads over at Hardforums, Futuremark, Extremeforums with posts about "Gee I bought the 4850 based on reviews and its barely faster than my 8800GT" so I'm not the only one Maybe the 4850 shines at resolutions above 1680x1050

 

[brxndxn]

If your ambient temperature is 92 degrees, you shouldn't own a video card... until you have enough money to pay for AC.

http://failblog.org/2008/07/01/priorities-fail/

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The problem with those users is clearly they're not cranking up the AA, much like you. 4x on the 4850 on a 1680x1050 LCD is going to be pretty much for free (considering any frame rate higher than 60 is going to be wasted due to the LCD's low refresh rate) on most all games save a few (like Crysis). Heck, I can run most of my games on my 8800GT with 4x AA...the difference really starts to show when you go any higher

The target audience of the 4850 is naturally going to be the 20-22" LCD crowd, and many of these reviews have to test the 4850 against the 9800GTX @ 1920x1200 to really start showing where the 4850 starts to pull ahead. While this doesn't bode well for the 4850 in the here and now, it will also most likely mean that it'll last longer into the future...of course if you're upgrading from an 8800GT to a 4850, chances are you're a frequent upgrader and thus wouldn't really care about longevity...

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
If your ambient temperature is 92 degrees, you shouldn't own a video card... until you have enough money to pay for AC.

http://failblog.org/2008/07/01/priorities-fail/

LOFL

 

[zod96]

So your saying if I would have applied say 8xAA the 4850 would have blown away the GT even at 1680x1050?