Asus eah4890 top

Looks pretty impressive and despite being an overclocked model has lower peak power consumption than a slower clocked referance HD4890 card:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...p_video_card/1

The card is also very near to the GTX275 in idle power consumption and at 1920x1200 seems to be faster than the GTX275. It is a tad pricey at around £170 though. If it were around £150 to £160 though the lower power consumption,factory overclock and better cooler would make this a great card for the price.

Expensive for a 900mhz card. The XFX Black at 1Ghz is a notably better performer for an extra £12, and I'm not especially convinced by Asus' coolers. Or of course you could buy a stock 4890 and overclock it yourself :P

Its interesting that this review says that the dual fan card is not quieter than the standard reference heatsink. How is it for noise?

I assume that the Vapour X version is quieter?

Not great, from all the reviews I've read. People say the Vapor-X cooler from Sapphire is meant to be quite good, but you have to be a bit careful as Sapphire have held the title for worst graphics cooler in the past.

Not a particularly stellar performance in comparison to a std HD4890, can't see it being a particular winner tbh.

It's only 900mhz vs 850mhz, with 1Ghz cards around, it doesn't seem like much.

Back in the days of my x1650 pro, they gave me a tiny excuse for a heatsink, first time i used it, temps hit 128deg, and i was like that cant be right, burnt my hand on the heatsink. Then fitted a zalman and never will go back to sapphire.

I have never seen a card overheat that badly from stock, I assume you had pretty dire case ventilation back then.

vapor-x is the best deal around, plus it's got a small factory OC

best standard performance one, the high-grade one is the Atomic.

Yeah but for that money, surely it's better to get a standard clocked GTX 285 or such with even more scope for overclocking (not to mention better frame rates)

not when a gtx285 is still vastly more expensive.
HD4890: £130
HD4890 1Ghz: £185
GTX285: £240
A lot to pay when a 285 isn't really much faster than the overclocked 4890.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sammorris

not when a gtx285 is still vastly more expensive.
HD4890: £130
HD4890 1Ghz: £185
GTX285: £240
A lot to pay when a 285 isn't really much faster than the overclocked 4890.

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But the atomic is around that price. Or was at least, not sure of latest price.

Not seen the atomic around lately, but the XFX Black, which is essentially the same but without the awesome cooler, is £185. Since nvidia cards run hot as hell with the stock cooler, it isn't really fair to compare an ati card with an aftermarket cooler

There is also the PowerColor HD 4890 PCS+ which has a 950mhz core speed and an aftermarket cooler for just under £160:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167324

Hmm, call me suspicious but every ati card I've ever seen go wrong either of mine or a friend's has been Powercolor...