Radeon HD 4850 Graphics Issues - Not quite what I expected!

Hi All

I just purchased a HIS Radeon HD4850 512mb as seen in the link below.

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(3749 [...] -PCIE.aspx

Now its supposed to have a gpu clock speed of 625mhz which according to Catalyst is correct, but the memory speed seems to be out, its supposed to be 1986mhz but Catalyst tells me its only 993mhz ?

Also according to PC Wizard 2008 its pixel shader is only 3.0 but its supposed to be 4.1 ??

See screen shots below;

I originally purchased a GF 9600gt 512mb and some games liked Gears of War and Vegas 2 still seemed a little quirky, so I upgraded to a leadtek px8800gts 640mb and Vegas 2 still seemed a tiny bit quirky (the odd slight stutter when spinning round for some shootage) so then I decided to go with the hd4850 and still Vegas 2 seems a little quirky! I cant afford another card any better than this so will I have to put up with the slight graphics issue with this game?

I thought that with a dual core cpu running at 3.0ghz with 4gb of installed ram, fast 32mb hard drive and Windows Vista Premium I would have the world at my hands! My Vista score beats the recommended so whats the issue? Should I be getting slight stutter glitches in graphics with a 4850 or should I be looking to solve the problem elsewhere?

Is this a fairly common problem with modern pc games? This is the first time Ive gone for a powerful gaming pc as ive always used a 360 for games. I need to get on the better quality pc band wagon!

Any advice or similar experience would be much appreciated.

My systems specs are:

Gigabyte ga-p35c-ds3r mb
E6600 cpu @ 2400 (tested overclocked @ 3ghz also)(watercooled)
4gb OZC 800mhz memory (rated at 3.25 Vista 32-bit)
Seagate 500gb 32mb Hard Drive

OK, youre using XP and the memory is read at half speed

I have the latest 8.8 catalyst drivers. The 4850 is also brand new and not a refurb etc.

Im using 32-bit Vista Premium.

Thanks for the info cjl So my cards not reading the wrong the memory speed then! How does that explain the shader in PC Wizard 2008? Or is this software known to behave like this?

The graphics is not so much a stutter as when it stutters to make you get shot etc but a slight stutter that someone watching will not see, but when you have some heavy gun fire at you then you can sure see it yourself, its something you have to look for but lets say when your under fire and you look left then right some of the backdrop images stutter for a split second.

Hello

I'm not sure if the micro stuttering is ATI only...currently I have the following Graphics cards...Geforce 8800GT 512mb, 9600GT 512mb , Radeon 1950 pro AGP , Radeon 3870 (crossfire) , Radeon 4850...

I have experienced the same stuttering with all the graphics cards. This might have been a issue relating to the UNREAL engine 3.0 rather than Graphics cards...

I noticed it with Unreal tournament 3 as well until I installed the latest patches for the game. Never had any issues with COD4 but the games I did have issues with were BIOSHOCK, GEARS OF WAR, UNREAL TOURNAMENT 3, RAINBOW 6 VEGAS, SPLINTER CELL DOUBLE AGENT, BLACKSITE AREA 51, MASS EFFECT...

All these games use the UNREAL ENGINE...And for the other shader model 4.1 issue..If it works it works...If you run CRYSIS and the DIRECTX 10 options are there then PC wizard 2008 is reading your card wrong...Use GPU-Z if you want to see your card specs...

Try doing the search yourself, they are a result of multi-gpu rendering where the delay between cards it pronounced and aren't limited to ATi.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?article_id=631668

http://translate.google.com/transl [...] n&ie=UTF-8

Preformance dips happen with single cards too, but that's not micro-stutter.

@ ape if you were you telling me to do the search?? I already did and solved problems with major stutters and micro stutters... (on more than one PC)
Micro stutters are not limited to dual card setups..

You obviously did not read/understand my post.

@ slush if your rig is setup correctly with the right settings to maintain a smooth frame rate then you should not get stutters.

You will get frame rate drops if your rig is working too hard... but its not the same thing.

Thanks for the responses everyone, Ive only tried Vegas 2 so far on my machine, im going to try some more today to see how things go.

I really want Crysis - It comes accross as the ultimate game to throw at you rig to test its performance! Anyone know where I can get it cheap? Its still £35 in the shops near me!

Not to sure where you'll get it cheap. I live in South africa and the game goes for about R180 - R200 ($23 - $25)...

Your slowdown in VEGAS 2 might just be related to the graphics engine...Try a game that doesnt use Unreal engine 3 and just see what you think. Like I said patches fixed the error for me in the games. Micro stuttering is exclusive to multi cards yes. But the problem you have with your graphics card is not related to the card. Also just try tweaking some of your graphics settings in CATALYST and play the game again. Push detail up and down till you get what you want.

My problem with MS (micro stutter) is the MS is now being used in so many ways, its lost its true identity. Also, pointing to ATI asthe only one having MS is a utterly false and very non informed and incriminating opinion, based neither on fact, or in this case relevance

Yea, Ive seen the threads where theyve tested the x2 vs other cards, but not 4870s in CF. So far tho, most of the MS problems on most current games isnt an issue with the x2. Tho, that could change with newer games

LOL Nice PB reference Inigo.