http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/ Engadget Comments for PowerColor PCS HD4850 graphics card packs 2GB of memory http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
Alas, my lone 640mb 8800 GTS 'tis but a scratch by today's standard, and I can almost max out Crysis on it.

I'll consider one of these... make that two of these beauties once I have a CrossFire motherboard and some money `-.-.]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 12:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 18th 2008 7:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/the new ati cards perform quite well with these resolutions...]]>Jul 14th 2008 12:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
with this much RAM, the size of your framebuffer is pretty much a non-issue in terms of RAM usage. a double buffered 2560x1600x32bit framebuffer uses 32MB, i.e. 1.5% of video RAM.]]>Jul 14th 2008 12:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/There's a youtube video in which the ATI guy says they didn't release that demo yet because the voxel/raytrace scenes need a LOT of RAM and they were busy compression it all so people can run it at home on normal systems, of course that was demoed on 2x4870 so I'm not sure having tons of RAM on a 4850 is helping much in those cases unless it's in crossfire maybe.]]>Jul 14th 2008 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 10:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
We, the consumer wins. Now if they could only deliver an Quad Core killer. ]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 12:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
The 4850 is a middle tier card, the 4870 is a high end card, apples and oranges people!]]>Jul 14th 2008 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
Otherwise 2GB on 4850 (not 4870!) is definitely overkill.]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
Given that you've only got to go back about 3 years (F.E.A.R.) to see the point at which developers started recommending 512MB, I'd guess there's not much out there that's recommending 1GB and certainly (again, my guess) nothing that's going to show a significant difference with 1GB. Even Crysis only really needs 512GB for higher resolutions.

(Admittedly all bets are off if you're running 2500xsomething resolution... but then you're not going to try that on a single graphics card and expect to enjoy it)

And by the time there are games which can use 2GB, people are going to laugh at your puny 4850.

I suspect this card is for the "my card's better than your card" people and folks with more than half a brain should be saving their money.]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 11:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/]]>Jul 14th 2008 12:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 1:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/It could run relatively smoothly on a Radeon 7200 with only 64 MiB VRAM, when the point of view holds still. But turn the camera a bit, shifting the scene to another room, and it will be incredibly choppy while moving. When the camera holds still on one room, the graphics are smooth again.]]>Jul 15th 2008 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
But when did memory requirements of graphics cards catch up with that of the main PC? Back then I had 128MB (i.e. 32 times as much), now I have 4GB (i.e. only twice as much as this).]]>Jul 14th 2008 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/I dont know either, but I had 128MB EDO with a 4MB S3 Virge after upgrading the system from the 16MB FastPage and a 1MB Cirrus Logic card that came in it. My upgraded system could play all the large maps in Total Annihilation back in the day. Interstate 76 played quite nice as well in all of its DirectX 3 glory. Those were the days....]]>Jul 14th 2008 1:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/i have about 5 or 6 ATI's until now and never one failed me...
its true ATI its not in the front but their cards are reliable]]>Jul 16th 2008 7:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
I love my 512meg HD4850! : D ]]>Jul 14th 2008 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Bur nobody forces you to use a 32bit OS do they?
]]>Jul 14th 2008 1:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 12:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
There are workstation graphics cards with 8gb... I remember 5 years ago looking at one that had 2gb and wondering why they didn't do that on consumer cards.

Hell, this certainly isn't the first as you have been able to get a 2gb fireGL on Newegg since about sept last year.]]>Jul 14th 2008 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 1:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/You don't just use RAM for pushing it to the RAMDAC anymore.

]]>Jul 14th 2008 1:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 3:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
http://www.ibuypower.com/images/4GBInfo.pdf]]>Jul 14th 2008 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/
While I admire ATI for developing such an amazing price/performance based core, this particular card however is for all intents and purposes, a gimmick.

If you think about it, the only time you would need such a massive amount of memory on a card is either when you are dealing with huge amounts of textures (which is rare in of itself, save for mods such as those that can be found in Oblivion ... but even then, 1 GB will suffice), or if you plan on increasing the resolution up beyond the 1920x1200 range while cranking the AA / AF up, to the point where it may saturate a 512MB buffer in some games/apps, but by then, RAM is not what will be holding you back entirely either. Instead, it will be the GPU that will serve as the bottleneck, especially when the GPU is this particular one.

In other words, no one will likely see any real-world benefit from this card because in the scenarios that could make use of the RAM, the GPU will be the bottleneck.

I wonder how many suckers are going to buy it anyways.]]>Jul 14th 2008 1:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/Jul 14th 2008 2:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/14/powercolor-pcs-hd4850-graphics-card-packs-2gb-of-memory/However, I imagine for gaming you would be better off with 1GB of stupidly fast GDDR5 (like on the 4870) than 2GBs or GDDR3.
Maybe this card will have it's uses though (budget workstation?).]]>Jul 14th 2008 2:58PM