Page 1: Intro, Box, RV770, Specs
Intro:
Graphics card just keep getting faster and faster and there seems to be no end in sight on how much features and power we can cram into a GPU. The playing field has just turned with the release of the RV770, the Radeon HD 4850. Sapphire steps up to provide a card for this review. It is very fast.
About Sapphire:
RV770:
Since this is a brand new graphics card chipset, I will go into the technology behind it. Unlike the RV670 that this replaces, the RV770 Pro (4850) uses GDDR3 instead of the GDDR4 that the 3800 series used. The RV770 XT (4870) will move up to GDDR5 and should provide much more memory bandwidth for stream processing. Interestingly enough, both AMD and Nvidia are saying the benefits of using GPUs for generic stream calculations. AMD's GPGPU project aims at supporting this.
AMD has partnered with Intel (amazingly) to provide HAVOK physics for its own GPUs. The 4800 series will support HAVOK in the future. GPU physics has finally arrived and thankfully we don't need another expansion card. Nvidia is doing the same with PhysX.
The 4850 supports 800 stream processors (meaning stream calculations will be a breeze for this card), a 965 million transistor count build on a 55 nm process, 40 texture units, and clock speeds of 625MHz for the core and 1986MHz for the GDDR3 512MB RAM. The card has a maximum power consumption of 110 watts.
The latest graphics chips from AMD support the lot of standard and de facto standards including OpenGL 2.0 and DirectX 10.1. In terms of codec support, the UVD 2 (Unified Video Decoder 2) supports a range of formats. Sadly, open source support for UVD is still lacking but that should change soon. AMD is working on bringing the open source side of their graphics on par with the Windows side.
Box:
The Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 retail box is black with red accents. This is the case it should be since ATI graphics are known to be red. Also, red and black are my favorite colors. While the box says it supports some stuff, there is no mention of Linux support even though AMD has said it wants its partners to include a penguin or other open sourcey stuff on the box. The Catalyst 8.6 drivers for Linux support this GPU and were released last month.
100242L Specs:
The 4850 GPU should be faster than the 3870 and the testing will show this in games. It is amazing that mid range graphics products are coming out before the high end products. This is really how the cycle should be. The money makers are the mid range products, after all. The 4850 is the GPU for everyone.
Graphics card just keep getting faster and faster and there seems to be no end in sight on how much features and power we can cram into a GPU. The playing field has just turned with the release of the RV770, the Radeon HD 4850. Sapphire steps up to provide a card for this review. It is very fast.
About Sapphire:
Quote
Pioneers in a new era of how data is displayed and games are played, Sapphire shepherds the performance oriented with ground-breaking solutions to an environment that remains in a constant state of flux and ultimate evolution. For over ten years Sapphire has held true to its unwavering commitment, the commitment to deliver the most feature rich and soundly engineered products. Because of Sapphire's firm position on achieving excellence with each product that leaves our ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified factories, you can rest assured that your customers will recognize YOUR commitment to selling only the highest of quality components.
"Sapphire is ATI's largest and best performing partner World Wide" Dave Orton, CEO ATI
Since ATI announced its manufacturing & distribution relationships with ODMs and AiBs in June of 2001, SAPPHIRE has been THE key ATI Graphics Boards Supplier worldwide and now stands poised and ready to capture the mainboard audience of those who seek a stable platform for their mission critical operations.
Captured within the circuitry of each of SAPPHIRE's graphic cards and mainboards can be found the collective feedback from generations of enthusiasts in every market niche. Brought to life through performance oriented innovation and an emphasis on quality control, SAPPHIRE designs, manufactures and distributes the most complete range of ATI video boards and mainboards--from the mainstream products that afford the casual user the opportunity to enjoy enriched graphics and affordable platform solutions to the state-of-the-art technological marvels that drive fantasies to before unattainable thresholds of realism, and offer the pinnacle of stability and performance! SAPPHIRE refuses to compromise quality by cutting corners at the expense of its customers experience with their products. All ATI board designs undergo a stringent layout inspection by our staff of engineers to guarantee that they represent the usual high-quality image of ATI original boards. We also enjoy the resources of a highly innovative technical department that layout complex designs to accommodate different market niches as they arise. SAPPHIRE ATI video boards have long been the reliable choice for a great number of OEMs and large System Integrators in Europe, North America, Asia and Latin America based largely on our ability to meet a fast paced technical markets advancements as well as our means to produce large quantities of product.
All SAPPHIRE ATI video boards are manufactured under 100% ATI production criteria including QC and outgoing system. Our monthly video board production capacity can reach a lofty 1.8 million and often topples this landmark figure. Our factory has always been the major manufacturer on ATI boards for most of the top ten tier 1 OEMs worldwide. With this background, you should undoubtedly be guaranteed of the impeccable quality, production capacity and product reliability of all ATI video boards and mainboards from SAPPHIRE. Be they business oriented or something just off center of the crosshairs, Sapphire has a solution for you and we look forward to an exciting and prosperous relationship with you!
RV770:
Since this is a brand new graphics card chipset, I will go into the technology behind it. Unlike the RV670 that this replaces, the RV770 Pro (4850) uses GDDR3 instead of the GDDR4 that the 3800 series used. The RV770 XT (4870) will move up to GDDR5 and should provide much more memory bandwidth for stream processing. Interestingly enough, both AMD and Nvidia are saying the benefits of using GPUs for generic stream calculations. AMD's GPGPU project aims at supporting this.
AMD has partnered with Intel (amazingly) to provide HAVOK physics for its own GPUs. The 4800 series will support HAVOK in the future. GPU physics has finally arrived and thankfully we don't need another expansion card. Nvidia is doing the same with PhysX.
The 4850 supports 800 stream processors (meaning stream calculations will be a breeze for this card), a 965 million transistor count build on a 55 nm process, 40 texture units, and clock speeds of 625MHz for the core and 1986MHz for the GDDR3 512MB RAM. The card has a maximum power consumption of 110 watts.
The latest graphics chips from AMD support the lot of standard and de facto standards including OpenGL 2.0 and DirectX 10.1. In terms of codec support, the UVD 2 (Unified Video Decoder 2) supports a range of formats. Sadly, open source support for UVD is still lacking but that should change soon. AMD is working on bringing the open source side of their graphics on par with the Windows side.
Box:
The Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 retail box is black with red accents. This is the case it should be since ATI graphics are known to be red. Also, red and black are my favorite colors. While the box says it supports some stuff, there is no mention of Linux support even though AMD has said it wants its partners to include a penguin or other open sourcey stuff on the box. The Catalyst 8.6 drivers for Linux support this GPU and were released last month.
100242L Specs:
- Core frequency 625MHz
- Memory frequency 993MHz (1986MHz DDR)
- Unified shader pipelines 800
- Memory Bus (bit) 256
- memory type GDDR3
- data bus PCI Express x16
- RAMDAC 2x400MHz
- Peak memory bandwidth (GB/sec) 63.55
- Pixel Shader version 4.1
- DirectX DX10.1 SM4.1
- OpenGL 2.0
- HDTV compatibility (YPbPr) yes
- HDMI compliance / HDCP ready HDMI 1.3 / yes
- HDMI modes (over DVI) 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
- Native display support 10-bit
- 3D Graphics Resolution 2560x1600
- TV Out resolution 1024x768 1080i
- Physics support
The 4850 GPU should be faster than the 3870 and the testing will show this in games. It is amazing that mid range graphics products are coming out before the high end products. This is really how the cycle should be. The money makers are the mid range products, after all. The 4850 is the GPU for everyone.