Many people know that recently ATI was not doing well. Most of the video cards produced by the company could not impose serious competition on models from Nvidia. Everything was especially bad in the segment of productive solutions. There was a Radeon HD 2900, but it did not become the best option. Although it did not fail, it was remembered by users for its energy consumption and high temperatures. The then video processors from Nvidia, built on the G80 core, were a cut above its competitor.
Reasons for failures
ATI's failures were due to the ambiguous architecture that was used in older models. A breath of fresh air, it would seem, brought a new solution in the form of ATI Radeon HD 3800. Immediately increased the company's revenue and its role in the market of 3D accelerators. However, they could not surpass the main competitor. The reason was that ATI released a chip with bug fixes, but nothing more.
Then there was a good Radeon HD 3870 X2, which even became a leader in the segment of productive graphics cards, but this did not last long. It was obvious that the company's accelerators had exhausted their potential. The ATI's salvation was the Radeon HD 4800, which made a lot of noise at one time.
Packaging and equipment
The Radeon HD 4800 Series graphics card was launched under the brand name of Power Color, which has long been a representative of ATI. The supply 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 graphics card was positioned as a gaming solution, as evidenced by the slogan on the box. However, the impressions of the packaging pass quickly. In fact, the company did not add anything new to the packaging that would set it apart from the rest. Users are already pretty fed up with images of robots, monsters and other fictional characters.
The box has a special tray with compartments, in which the contents are placed. In addition to the video adapter, the box contains a set of adapters, an ATI CrossFire bridge, as well as a manual in English and a CD with drivers.
The Radeon HD 4800 is pretty typical for this kind of product. You don’t have to buy anything to get started, but nice additions, such as a game or software, were useful. Be that as it may, the equipment and box make a good impression.
Characteristics
The first thing to note is that the video card uses a rather old type of memory - GDDR3. Of course, this refers to its shortcomings, but one significant plus can be distinguished - the price. Thanks to the type of memory, the video card will cost the user only $ 200.
The developers managed to create a good model that can impose competition on the Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX. At the same time, it stands out in more compact dimensions. Many users are even surprised that a small device has such performance.
The video memory of the Radeon HD 4800 is only 512 MB, which today is a necessary minimum. Despite the small volume, the video card demonstrates good performance. This was made possible thanks to the efficient use of memory by the chip.
Cooling system
The system is designed like the one found in the Radeon 3800 series. It is not known how the developers implemented cooling, because the 4800 series is more energy-consuming. 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 a single slot. The design may seem copper, but in fact from a different alloy: to make sure of this, it is enough to scratch the coating. The radiator is assembled from small plates, which should remove 110 watts of heat. The fan received 19 blades, which increases its efficiency. The system works quite noisy. However, given the sound of other computer components, it is acceptable.