Radeon HD 4800: overview of the video card

Many people know that quite recently ATI's business was not the best. Most video cards manufactured by the company could not impose serious competition on models from Nvidia. Especially bad was everything in the segment of productive solutions. There was Radeon HD 2900, but he did not become the best option. Although it did not fail, it was remembered by users for their energy and high temperatures. The then video processors from Nvidia, built on the core of the G80, were a head taller than its competitor.

Causes of failures

The failures of ATI were associated with the ambiguous architecture that was used in older models. A breath of fresh air seemed to bring a new solution in the form of ATI Radeon HD 3800. Immediately the company's revenues and its role in the market of 3D accelerators increased. However, they could not surpass the main competitor. The reason was that ATI released a chip with fixed bugs, but no more.

Then there was a good Radeon HD 3870 X2, which even became a leader in the segment of high- end graphics cards, but it did not last long. It was obvious that the accelerators of the company had exhausted their potential. The rescue for ATI was the Radeon HD 4800, which did a lot of noise in its time.

Packing and equipment

The Radeon HD 4800 Series video card was launched under the brand name of Power Color, which for a long time was the representative of ATI. Deliveries of the video card began in a small vertical box made of cardboard. On the front side there is a colorful image, as well as the main features of the model. Initially, the Radeon HD 4800 was positioned as a gaming solution, as evidenced by the slogan on the box. However, the impression of packaging is quickly passed. In fact, the company did not add anything new to the packaging that would have allocated it from the general mass. The users already got bogged down images of robots, monsters and other fictional characters.

In the box there is a special pallet with compartments, in which the contents are placed. In addition to the video adapter, the box contains a set of adapters, the bridge ATI CrossFire, as well as the manual in English and a CD with drivers.

A set of Radeon HD 4800 is quite typical for this kind of products. To get started, you do not have to buy anything, but superfluous were nice add-ons, such as a game or software. Whatever it was, the package and the box make a pleasant impression.

Characteristics

First of all, it should be noted that the video card uses a fairly old type of memory - GDDR3. Of course, this refers to its shortcomings, but it is possible to single out one significant plus-price. Due to the type of memory, the video card will cost the user only $ 200.

Developers managed to create a good model, which is able to impose competition Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX. In this case, it is more compact in size. Many users are even surprised that a small device has such a performance.

The video RAM of the Radeon HD 4800 is only 512 MB, which is the minimum required today. Despite the small volume, the video card demonstrates good performance. This is made possible by the efficient use of memory chips.

Cooling system

The system is of the type that is available in the Radeon 3800 series. It is not known how the developers implemented cooling, because the 4800 series is more energy-intensive. Therefore, there may be overheating.

The cooling system is a cooler with a large number of blades, as well as an updated radiator. Everything is done in the form of one slot. The design may seem copper, but in fact from another alloy: to be sure of this, it is enough to scratch the coating. The radiator is assembled from small plates, which must remove 110 watts of heat. The fan has received 19 blades, which increases the efficiency of its operation. The system is quite noisy. However, if you take into account the sound of other components of the computer, it is acceptable.