Should I be afraid of the 4850's high temp??

[caldezar]

I'm looking at upgrading the graphics card on my system (see sig) yet again. I recently upgraded from a 7600GT 256MB to a 9600GSO TOP 384MB; and although it was a performance jump to be sure, it was nothing even remotely close to what I was expecting. I've talked to my local dealer and they're willing to let me return the card for store credit minus a $15 restocking fee. (Thank the Lord) So now, given the price range I'd like to stay in (150-200) I'm struggling over what card to get.

My choices are as follows:
eVGA 8800GT 512MB - $174
BFG 8800GTOC 512MB - $220 (A little over price range but BFG has an incredible track record)
eVGA e-GeForce 9800GT 512MB - $180 (what does the 'e' stand for?)
Sapphire Radeon HD4850 512MB - $199
(If prices seem off to some, it's because I'm in Canada)

Now, reading several reviews online, and using the following charts: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_4850/8.html I've come to the conclusion that the 4850 seems to be the best bang for the buck. My hesitancy, however, is mostly due to the overwhelming feedback online about the extremely high operating temp of the 4850. IT's load temp averages 85 degrees, vs. the 8800GT and 9800GT's average of 35 degrees! You could fry an egg on the 4850! Now, down the road I could likely find myself a 3rd party cooler for the 4850, but I can't really afford to buy it at the same time. Is this going to be an issue for me?

My other concern is that I've NEVER owned an ATI card. I'm not an nVidia fan-boy or anything; I've simply always stuck with them since they've never let me down. I also know that there are a LOT of games out there that favor the nVidia cards for some reason, and I would hate to be limited in my game play because software engineers have a hate-on for ATI.

As an informational note, I run Windows XP Home (DX10 may be great but Vista's not proved to me it's worth it) and my gaming intent is primarily going to be Warhammer Online. I do, however, enjoy a lot of other games from C&C 3 to Bioshock to UT3. I run a widescreen display at 1680x1050 native res and play all my games at this resolution. (dumb'ing down the resolution on an LCD creates extremely grainy graphics) I own a copy of Crysis, but I never play the bloody game since at my resolution it plays around 5-10fps on my current system.

*edit* activated sig for machine spec's, sorry =/

 

[dagger]

Don't worry about temperature. 4850/70s run hot. It's a fact of life. They've been known to hit 100C without destablizing or even artifacting. It seems they don't just produce more heat, but also tolerates more. In comparasion, my current 8800gts never go above 60C, but if I disable the fan it will start artifacting the moment it hits 80C. It's a different architecture. No point comparing apples to oranges.

As for optimization, there are lots of games optimized for ATI as well, like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, Quake Wars, Quake 4...etc. By using an ATI card, you'll have a large advantage with those titles. The myth that "everything is skewed for nvidia" is spread by whinning ATI fanboys who wanted pity. Don't listen to them. The 4850 is relatively powerful card that runs everything well, some more than others, no pity needed.

 

[coozie7]

Asus, HIS and Sapphire are introducing, or have introduced HD4850 cards with improved cooling solutions and at your rez even THAT GAME should play smoothly enough.
Check out the benchmarks before deciding on the Nvidia cards you have listed, in some cases they are much slower that a HD4850.
There is a `tweak` to reduce the temperatures of 4850/70 cards that can be found all over this Forum and also here:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=61906

 

[dagger]

Asus, HIS and Sapphire are introducing, or have introduced HD4850 cards with improved cooling solutions and at your rez even THAT GAME should play smoothly enough.
Check out the benchmarks before deciding on the Nvidia cards you have listed, in some cases they are much slower that a HD4850.
There is a `tweak` to reduce the temperatures of 4850/70 cards that can be found all over this Forum and also here:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=61906

Lapping gpu is not for the non-1337. Lol... It viods warranty and you can't even rma it if you mess up. Just run it as is. The temperature is fine, don't worry.

 

[caldezar]

Asus, HIS and Sapphire are introducing, or have introduced HD4850 cards with improved cooling solutions and at your rez even THAT GAME should play smoothly enough.

How do I know if the card I'm looking at is one of the ones with improved cooling? Here's the link: http://www.mikescomputershop.com/sapphire-radeon-hd4850-512mb-ddr3-dual-dvii-pcie-lite-p-3662.html

 

[dagger]

It'll look different from stock cooler, like those:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127370

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102760

 

[caldezar]

Ah yes, there's quite the difference for sure. I'm not sure if those are available in my area without custom ordering, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the help! I'm feeling a lot better about the temp on the 4850 and will likely be picking one up. Wish me luck on my first ATI card. =P

 

[RetiredChief]

Might want to find a dual slot that vents the hot air. Temp may not be a problem for the GPU, But make sure it does not raise internal case temp above acceptable levels. But even this is correctable with proper airflow.

Enjoy, I would probably buy the 48x0 card, but really don't need as I'm not a gamer.

 

[coozie7]

Strange, I`ve checked your link and it shows a Sapphire Toxic card, in my country (GB) it has an improved cooler, yet Mikes (your link) shows a standard cooler for the same part.
Dagger is correct, DO NOT mess with a new part under warranty and the high temperatures are normal, so you are right to feel better.

And DAGGER; What is 1337? I`m old and new to this Forum stuff.

Good luck, good gaming :=)

 

[leon2006]

Go for 4850...The price hovers around $150 to $199....As the other guys stated the 4850/70 are designed to run hot. Visiontek provides lifetime warranty on ATI base video card. For ATI base video cards i have use visiontek and sapphire.

You need to make sure your PC-case can move the HOT air out and push more cool air in. If not 4850 will increase the internal temperature of your PC-case.

The 4870 has the advantage that it force the hot air out at the back. That will reduce the impact of the internal temperature inside the case. Of course its $100 more.

What type of PC case do you have? PC-case with good cooling design like Antec-900/1200 won't have an issue with 4850/70.

Its your choice

 

[darkguset]

"be afraid... be very afraid!..." hehe... seriously only time will tell if those temperatures will reduce the product's lifetime. Only, by the time a 4850 breaks down due to heat, you will probably need to upgrade it anyway, so... There is a small hack used to spin the fan at higher than 22% speed, which adds a bit more noise, but keeps the temps way down. Even at AUTO, my temps are around 50oC at idle and 80oC at load.

Regarding the temps, your worry and you being an NVIDIA fanboy, may i remind you and everyone here the 6800 Ultras that ran at 110oC+ at load and 70oC+ at idle and yet they ran fine with no problems or artifacts???

End line, get an HD4850 if you want it, it is a very good and cheap upgrade, even if you don't hack the drivers to spin the fan faster, it is an awesome card for its money and a decent upgrade.

 

[spanner_razor]

There is a toxic card on that site but it's 50 bucks more expensive. The 8800 GT doesn't run 35 at load btw, 55 with a decent cooler is more realistic, maybe 60-70 for stock cooler. If the card does have heat problems though it's ATI's fault so you can get it sent back if there's a problem. Also curse those prices it would cost 320 dollars to get that card in the UK so count yourself lucky there.

 

[xc0mmiex]

hey, in my opinion go for the 4850, its worth the money and is great upgarde. about the heat thing , don't worry about it, mine runs just fine at 86C on high load and there are no problems at all. I even OC'd it a little bit and it still runs at the same temps. Here is an example (GPU-Z).... With the clock of 675 at 84% load ( was playing left 4 dead on all max), temp is 84C and the fan runs at only 40%. I also always owned nvidia before this, except when i had the Radeon 9250 back in the day. I was nervous about the switch but this card didn't disappoint. Oh, on the nvidia temps, i had 7950GT, it ran at 120C when i was playing TF2 with fan maxed out, took it quite a wile before it gave out.

Oh, and 1337, means "leet".