How much better is the 4830?

[TurtleCrusher]

Well i currently have a single-slot Sapphire based Radeon 3850 which delivers more than acceptable performance, but in games that use at least two cores I'm limited by it now. I skated on by for a long time using it with my s939 x2 4200+, but now i upgraded and my CPU performance is much, much higher.

So, I'm looking to spend sub $125 before rebates, after shipping, on a new video card. I cant seem to find anything better for the price. Alot of the 4830's in reviews were shipped with the wrong bios and Legit Hardware had an updated review and it was only 86 or so 3d marks behind the 4850. I'm not strict to sticking with ATI, but if both products are comparable I'd like to.

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 $99

 

[kmmatney]

I just bought the exact same card about 5 days ago. It seems like a great card for the price, and I plan to overlcock it to HD4850 speeds. it will be replacing my 2900Pro (also overclocked to 2900XT speeds). I got called off on a last minute business trip to Taiwan, so I haven't been able to actually test the card yet. I have heard that this card should easily run at HD4850 speeds, which is good enough for me.

There seems to be a lot of deals for the HD4850 the last few days, although they are still over $125 before rebates. For your resolution (1680 x 1050) you should be fine with the HD4830, although the price to upgrade to the HD4850 is smaller than it used to be.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Purchased. I'll probably get it by wednesday or thursday.

Man, i cant wait. I hope the dual-slot cooler is going to keep it cool.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You should see a nice boost, especially if you like to use AA.

http://firingsquad.com/hardwar..._performance/page3.asp

Just look at Far Cry 2 2xAA and 4xAA performance. The performance drop at 1280x1024 for the HD3850 is about 24% while the HD4830 only drops about 11%. At 1920x1200, the HD4830 drops 13% and the HD3850 drops 29%. So if you use AA (4x and above) you'll see a much bigger boost in performance than if you do not.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
You should see a nice boost, especially if you like to use AA.

http://firingsquad.com/hardwar..._performance/page3.asp

Just look at Far Cry 2 2xAA and 4xAA performance. The performance drop at 1280x1024 for the HD3850 is about 24% while the HD4830 only drops about 11%. At 1920x1200, the HD4830 drops 13% and the HD3850 drops 29%. So if you use AA (4x and above) you'll see a much bigger boost in performance than if you do not.

Nice. I didn't come across that review. I'm not a huge AA user, but in source games i'll tack on alot as its single-threaded and my cpu is OC'ed to its max.

I wonder how it will fare in Dirt if i dont enable AA. I get 33 fps with AA on 2x, 36 without it on. Maybe i'll get to 60. Just maybe

 

[TurtleCrusher]

50fps and above with the new GPU. This is at 1680x1050 COMPLETELY maxed out with 4X AA.

DiRT is one good looking game when its maxed out.

 

[Washoe]

nice, I may have to pick one up.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Same here, I've also got a 3850 and I was originally planning on just holding off until new cards came out or the 4870 had a significant price drop, but given how cheap the 4830 and 4850 are, I'm tempted to get one anyway. I'm on an X2 4800+ oc'd to 6000+ speeds.

 

[techboie]

I would have advised to go for a 4850 or 4870. I went from a 9600GT -> 4850 and the performance difference overall wasn't huge. In fact maybe a quad core might have been a better investment. You did the same jump, so...I wouldn't advise it.

 

[kmmatney]

I finally got to install and test my HD4830 - so far it works great. I have it overclocked to HD4850 speeds using the CCC - it handled this without breaking a sweat. From what I've seen, it should be able to overclock a lot higher, but I'm happy for now. I installed ATI Trya tools along with CCC, so I can get the FPS displayed for all games, and I also have it shoing me the GPU and memory speed in the top corner of the screen (to verify my overclocks are kicking in). I'm very happy, although in the HD4850 keeps coming down in price, that might be a better buy, as it overclocks to HD4870 speeds.

Bottom line is that the HD4830 provides great bang for the buck, especially once it's overclocked. I've also noticed that it performs very well with 2X and 4X AA.

 

[Marty502]

Awesome to hear good stories on the 4830.

I'll have to go back to a Radeon x1300 *EEK!* pretty soon from this 8800GTX (it's not mine, heh) and the 4830 looks like a winner to replace it.

I just have one question. How loud is the stock cooling? I think I saw a pretty tiny fan in that card... it's gotta be a screamer when pushed hard. My computer is very very silent (only 120 mm. fans at 5V) and I'd like it to stay like that. Should I order an Accelero S1 with it? Or it's OK?

Thanks!

 

[wvsilverado]

I just ordered a Sapphire 4830 and Ultra 500Watt power supply and Iam curious about that ATI Tray download, is that not part of the software supplied? And is Vista 64bit supported?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Originally posted by: wvsilverado
I just ordered a Sapphire 4830 and Ultra 500Watt power supply and Iam curious about that ATI Tray download, is that not part of the software supplied? And is Vista 64bit supported?

ATi Tray tools is a separate download (replacement for Catalyst Control Center). I think it works on Vista 64, but I have an 8800GT, so I don't know.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Glad to see other liking it. I OC'ed it to 4850 speeds and i'm at the mid 60's now in dirt. Its my only GPU intensive game. MY CPU powers it to 150fps when at lower resolutions.

 

[Washoe]

awesome. i may be getting this with an i7 and gigabyte mobo from the egg...

 

[QueBert]

I have a lowly 8600GT, this card would be a HUGE upgrade. My card still plays some games fine but it's starting to show it's age. $125'ish for a card that's probably 3-4x faster than mine seems like a no brainer.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: QueBert
I have a lowly 8600GT, this card would be a HUGE upgrade. My card still plays some games fine but it's starting to show it's age. $125'ish for a card that's probably 3-4x faster than mine seems like a no brainer.

pshhh. I'm still slumming it with my 4 year-old X800 XL

I'd "kinda" like to upgrade but the economic situation right now simply isn't favorable. especially as once I start down that dark path again, forever will it dominate my destiny (for the next 3 months or so, anyway)

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: QueBert
I have a lowly 8600GT, this card would be a HUGE upgrade. My card still plays some games fine but it's starting to show it's age. $125'ish for a card that's probably 3-4x faster than mine seems like a no brainer.

pshhh. I'm still slumming it with my 4 year-old X800 XL

I'd "kinda" like to upgrade but the economic situation right now simply isn't favorable. especially as once I start down that dark path again, forever will it dominate my destiny (for the next 3 months or so, anyway)

Oh god.. Sad GPU right there. Didn't i have this paired up with my P4 2.26ghz with 1gb of PC2100 ram?

I did..