XFX 4890 - 2 designs - which one should i go for?

[Anoop Parwani]

Hi there,

Im looking to pick up a XFX 4890 as the 5850 prices have increased and are also out of stock. I dont mind them for 259, but 279 is way to high compared to the 4890 at 185.

So im going with XFX for the 4890 only coz they look nice then other brands and i see two designs of the 4890 by XFX.

The 2 of them are --
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150438

I prefer the second one as it looks better.

What i want to know is if there is a difference between the 2 designs in terms of performance, heating or anything else. Is there something i should know why both of them are designed differently? does this have anything to do with reference and non reference designs?

pls assist.

Thanks!

 

[xaira]

these tend to be cooler and quieter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150438

 

[tortnotes]

I agree. Neither card is going to be particularly quiet, but the reference fan design is very loud... and generally the non-reference coolers manufacturers put on these cards do a good job. I just picked up an Asus 4890 with a custom cooler myself.

 

[photonboy]

Don't get the one mentioned previously. The card may have a bigger fan but it dumps the hot air back into the case which just means that your case fans have to spin up to compensate. It's been shown that overall system noise is actually HIGHER with these cards.

The best card is the Sapphire HD4890 1GB Vapor-X, though I don't know the price.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=0001&pid=262

 

[Anoop Parwani]

Wont the vapor-X dump hot air back into the case as well as the fan is in the same place like the others?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102848

 

[swifty_morgan]

I'd get the first one. If you set the fan between 37 and 40% it will be relatively quiet and vent hot air out the back of your case.

 

[tortnotes]

I'd get the first one. If you set the fan between 37 and 40% it will be relatively quiet and vent hot air out the back of your case.

And it'll also run a lot warmer under load.
What kind of case do you have? If your case has good airflow, it doesn't matter if the GPU doesn't push all of the hot air out the back.... so long as you're not running two or three of these cards all bunched up together.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I disagree. It always ran cooler by keeping the fan speed constant than waiting for the card to ramp up by itself.

Card was always so hot the medal "X" n the back was almost untouchable and you couldn't hold your finger on it for long. Not so with constant fan speed. .

 

[pepperman]

I disagree. It always ran cooler by keeping the fan speed constant than waiting for the card to ramp up by itself.

Card was always so hot the medal "X" n the back was almost untouchable and you couldn't hold your finger on it for long. Not so with constant fan speed. .

Agreed. I keep my 4870 reference cooler design at 40% constant; idles around 30 C, furmark load never goes over 68 C. Plus its barely louder than my case fans.

 

[Anoop Parwani]

how do u guys know which one pumps out air from the back and which doesnt? arent all cards supposed to pump air out the back? r u guys sure the second one doesnt? would it be a bad choice if i went for the second?

 

[xaira]

get the second and announce me the best answer please, we know that the first piches air out the back because the only vent is at the back, the second has one at the back and one at the front

 

[pepperman]

They both pump air out the back, but the second design pushes a some back into the case, due to the open back part of the card. In terms of cooling performance, the second one should run cooler, but you need to make sure you have enough case fans to deal with the extra hot air coming from your gpu (as opposed to the first one, which is the reference design, which pushes all* the air out the back).

*There are slight openings as the card isn't airtight.

 

[swifty_morgan]

how do u guys know which one pumps out air from the back and which doesnt? arent all cards supposed to pump air out the back? r u guys sure the second one doesnt? would it be a bad choice if i went for the second?

Take a look at the design of the cooler for one. But don't take the word of a couple of people who actually had/have these cards vs somebody who buys cards once every four years. And take a look at the clock speeds. You gonna pay the same price for a slower card ? We all gave you our opinions and some of us gave you our hands on opinions. Buy what you want. You're the one who has to live with it.

 

[Anoop Parwani]

wow i didnt notice the memory speed was 300mhz slower compared to other models.. wonder why they did that..

thanks for all your opinions!!

 

[wsupduck]

even if the memory is slower just oc it in ati overdrive, and it is my understanding that a 4890 is a oced version of a 4870???

 

[pepperman]

even if the memory is slower just oc it in ati overdrive, and it is my understanding that a 4890 is a oced version of a 4870???

The 4890 involved a die shrinkage from 55 nm to 40 nm, so they are not the same chip.

 

[wsupduck]

oh ok, i was not sure if they were or not, thats just what i heard from i cant remember where

 

[xaira]

http://www.amdpromotions.com.au/images/ati-4890_18.jpg

the 4890 is not a die shrink, nor is it an overclocked 4870, it is an optimised 4870, they are both made on 55nm tech, the rv770 chip is used in the 4870 whereas the 790 is used in the 4890, which has 3mil more transistors and several other optimisations allowing it to reach higher clocks.

 

[pepperman]

My bad, I was thinking that the 4890 was shrunk as well as the 4770.

 

[wsupduck]

oh ok

thanks for clearing that up for me