Ahhh I was wondering when will I be able to review a Radeon HD4890 unit! The time is now!
The Appearance
Nothing out of the ordinary, the usual red colored PCB.
As you can see it’s using the reference cooling system, audible noise when RPM set to anything above 40% while at 100% it sounds almost like a hair-dryer.
The HD4890 requires 2 PCI-E power connector.
Just as the rest with the reference cooler, it occupies 2 slots.
Comes with dual-DVI and a video out.
The Bundle
– Driver CD
– Manual
– 2x 4-pin to PCI Express 6-pin power adapter
– DVI to VGA adapter
– DVI to HDMI adapter
– Component video adapter
– S-video adapter
– Crossfire cable (Yes! it comes with a crossfire cable!)
Card Details
Here’s a summarized detail of the card.
More details at the official product page
Test Setup
The computer setup used for this review.
| Processor | Intel Coreâ„¢2 Duo E7200 @ 3.6ghz |
| RAM | Kingston HyperX 4GB Dual-channel Kit |
| Motherboard | Jetway X-Blue P45 |
| Cooler | Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer Heatsink 92mm |
| Monitor | 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD |
| Power Supply | Gigabyte Odin GT 550w |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit |
| Driver Version | ATi Catalyst 9.4 |
The Performance
World In Conflict
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 35 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 28 |
| ASUS EAH4870X2 | 36 |
Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 55.9 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 49.1 |
| ASUS EAH4870X2 | 58.0 |
Lost Planet : Extreme Condition
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946
| Card | Snow (Average) | Cave (Average) |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 64.6 | 60.6 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 49.6 | 59.6 |
| ASUS EAH4870X2 | 102.5 | 55.4 |
Crysis
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 22.21 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 14.11 |
| ASUS EAH4870X2 | 29.07 |
H.A.W.X.
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050, not using DX10.1 for mode.
| Card | Average |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 52 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 42 |
| ASUS EAH4870X2 | N/A |
Furmark
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 42 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 25 |
| ASUS EAH4870X2 | N/A |
Operating Temperature
Furmark was used for graphic card stressing.
| Card | Idle (°C) | Load (°C) | Stress (°C) |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 50 | 76 | 88 |
Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.
– Load, Furmark was run for 1 minute at 1680×1050 with 4xAA.
– Stress, Furmark was run under the Stress Test mode for 5 minutes.
Power Consumption
Please note that the numbers below indicate the wattage for the entire system, not the graphic card alone.
| System Power Consumption | Idle (w) | Load (w) |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD4890 1GB | 90 | 266 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 73 | 239 |
Readings taken with Gigabyte’s P-Tuner software.
Conclusion
I don’t have any HD4870 with me so the HD4850 is the best I could compare it with now. Generally it’s a good card, it’s even comparable to the HD4870X2 in some cases.
What I like about this Gigabyte HD4890 is that it comes with 3 year warranty and a nice bundle of accessories. The 1GB unit retails at around RM 1,000 – that’s quite a fair bit to pay for the performance gained over the HD4850 which retails at around RM 600 while the HD4870’s retail price hovers in between the 2.
So if you intend something that’s more powerful yet unable to stretch your budget to the HD4870X2 and have no option to crossfire, do consider the HD4890.
*I’m sure many of you heard of the comparison between HD4770 in Crossfire and the HD4890 – I have the benchmarks and the article will be published within the week! 😀 Stay tuned!
Goldfries, how much does this Graphics Card cost?