Is the Radeon HD 4850 a good buy?

[PimpinPenguin]

I'm currently considering buying a Radeon HD 4850, but i'm not sure if it would be the best card to get. Currently i have a 8600GT which sucks, and i want a card that can max out current games, BUT the max resolution i'm going to use is 1208*1024 so i don't need an uber card for uber resolutions. Another issue i have is that i have a standard 400W PSU which being a retail bought PC won't be a very good make, so i'm not sure if it will be able to handle that card.
This is the link to the card:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Radeon-4850-GDDR3-PCI-Express/dp/B001BX19FU/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2
I''ve never bought a graphics card before so i'm not quite sure if there is anything else i should look out for.

 

[Krynn72]

Short answer: yes.


Long answer: yes, it is.




Basically its one of the better values right now. Its cheap, but it will run all near-future games perfectly, especially at that resolution. Ive only got a 500watt PSU and its running fine along with a quad core cpu, 4 hard drives and two optical drives.

 

[Barney Fife]

I'm currently considering buying a Radeon HD 4850, but i'm not sure if it would be the best card to get. Currently i have a 8600GT which sucks, and i want a card that can max out current games, BUT the max resolution i'm going to use is 1208*1024 so i don't need an uber card for uber resolutions. Another issue i have is that i have a standard 400W PSU which being a retail bought PC won't be a very good make, so i'm not sure if it will be able to handle that card.
This is the link to the card:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Radeon-4850-GDDR3-PCI-Express/dp/B001BX19FU/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2
I''ve never bought a graphics card before so i'm not quite sure if there is anything else i should look out for.

Yes!!! ...Yes Damn U... Yes!!!!!!!

You should also consider upgrading PSU.

 

[Killing2Live]

The Radeon 4850 is an excellent card. Awesome price/performance ratio.

 

[Asus]

The 4850 is an awesome card. The fact that you only do 1280x1024 means you DEFINITELY don't need a faster card than the 4850. It should play everything very very smooth.

Only if you needed 1920+ resolution at Max quality would I start not recommending the 4850 and say go for a 4870 or 260GTX.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Alright cheers for that guy's, i'm going to get it.

 

[kupocake]

Mine runs everything it needs to at 1280x1024 smooth as can be. Experienced some occasional chugging in Fallout 3, but that's usually a case of it caching models and stuff and it soon sorts itself out. Everything I own defaults to maximum settings, the exception being Crysis but I think it's still the case that max settings are out of bounds for PC hardware with that game.

I'm quite keen on the idea of adding a second 4850 into my computer in a years time to make HD resolutions viable, since the card will be even cheaper and Crossfired 4850s compare well to single 4870s... though I hear it's hit or miss whether certain games use the cards at all.

 

[bam23]

mine is chewing through games atm.

 

[Darkwolf]

the exception being Crysis but I think it's still the case that max settings are out of bounds for PC hardware with that game.

HD4870X2 will run it at 1920x1200 on max.

 

[Krynn72]

I played Crysis on my 4850 at 1920x1200 max at ~35 fps average.

 

[kupocake]

Perhaps the benchmarks I've seen have been needlessly adding maximum AA into the mix or something.

If I actually installed my copy of Crysis, I could probably verify what it works like for myself, couldn't I?

 

[MRG]

I'm gonna mimic everyone here.

The HD 4850 is an amazing video card. I love the one I got for my birthday last year.

Crysis? - NO PROBLEM!
Crysis: Warhead? - NO PROBLEM!
Fallout 3? - NO PROBLEM!
COD Series? - NO PROBLEM!
FarCry 2? - NO PROBLEM!

Just to name a few or 5 games that work super.

-MRG

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Woo, i just got mine. I changed and got the Sapphire model. The only issue is the fan is so big and there is barley any room between it and the sound card, so now i can hear it roaring away. Overall performance is awesome, every game i've tried so far works perfectly, apart from GTA4, but i'm guessing thats due to Rockstar's shitty port.

 

[Druckles]

I played Crysis on my 4850 at 1920x1200 max at ~35 fps average.

I ran it on my HD3870 at this. Unfortunately object detail was low. It was pretty good for scenes outside the mountain.