Thanks very much for the article. I find these kind of comparison reviews facinating.
What I find most interesting about it though is the fact that the 280 SLI and 4870 Crossfire almost always bettered their two core counterparts, the 295 and 4870 X2. I would have guessed the opposite.
It would have been interesting to see a 4850 Crossfire included for comparison, at the expense of even more work for you guys.
Great article overall, I especially appreciate the power consumption charts, those are telling. One thing here I wish you guys would do: come up with a composite performance score & divide that by watts under load for a perf/watt chart.
One other thing I wish you could have included in this article: 9800GX2. That's still a very capable card, I believe, would have been great to see how it stacks up against the higher end G200 single & dual core cards.
SLI GTX 280 is nearly always going to top the GTX 295. The 295 runs GTX 260 clocks & only has 2x896MB RAM (only!!).
CF 1GB 4870 vs 4870X2 should be a wash in most cases.
Tim, that comment about those who fold: that's the single reason I won't consider AMD GPUs today. Their PPD just suck compared to what is obtained from even lower end G92/G200 cards. The 4850X2 might be a great value for gaming but just won't cut it in a folding farm (not to mention - two or three of those cranking away @ 100% fanspeed - ouch).
Radeon 4850 X2 Fan Noise Problem Solved
I purchased the Radeon 4850 X2 2GB card 3 days ago (upgrade from nVidia 8800 GTS OC) and nearly sent it back due to the ridiculous noise it makes.
Having scoured the internet for a solution (editing profiles, downloading new bios updates etc) I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to put up with it.
It is true you can set the fan speed to 20% via the Catalyst Control Centre, however this is actually louder than automatic, which seems to run at 12%.
At 3am last night however, I found a way which gives you the best of both worlds; superb gaming performance which is cooler than before but also non-gaming noise levels that are so low, my hard disk makes more noise
The main reason for the excessive noise, is ATI/Saphiresâ over conservative and inefficient approach to cooling their card. With the method listed below, I am able to get an idle temperature of 42 degrees celcius and a load temperature of 62 degrees celcius without spending a penny. My idle fan speed is 2% and anything above 50 degrees celcius has a % increase in fan speed relative to the temperature of the card (as it should be).
To achieve this, just follow these steps:
1. Download and install âRadeon Bios Editorâ (RBE) http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Utilities/RBE/
2. Download and install âATI WinFlashâ http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1364/Winflash_2.0.1.7.html
3. Run RBE and click the âAcquire/flashâ icon at the bottom
4. Locate your installed âATI WinFlashâ software by clicking browse at the top right (ATIWinFlash.exe)
5. Click âAnalyzeâ at the bottom to refresh the attached graphics card list
6. Select the first adapter in the list and click âAcquire Biosâ at the bottom
7. The Bios will be load into the RBE program
8. Click âSave Biosâ so that you have a backup copy of the adapters default bios settings (safety first)
9. Select the âFan Settingsâ tab at the top
10. Select the âUse transfer function (recommended)â button under âFan throttle control settingsâ heading
11. Change the following:
âTmin (C)â to 50
âDuty cycle min (%)â to 2
âHysteresis (%)â to 10
âTmin hysteresis (C)â to 4
12. Select the âAdditional featuresâ tab at the top
13. Select the âFix/already fixedâ button under âFix spin up bugâ heading
14. Click the âAcquire/flashâ button at the bottom
15. Click the âFlash Biosâ button at the bottom (this will apply the changes listed above)
16. It may ask you to reboot, but say âNoâ if you have the other GPU adapter to update aswell
17. Repeat points 6 to 15, but selecting the second adapter
18. When you click âFlash Biosâ on the second adapter, it may notify you the product number is different, but continue anyway
19. Once updated, say âYesâ to rebooting
20. Once rebooted you should notice a strange sensation of your ears going back to normal
I use a âTmin (C)â setting of 50 degrees celcius, because this is the level my card temperature sits below when idling. This level may be different for your system, so you may need to experiment.
You will have noticed than when you were inputting the numbers, the graph on the right also changes. With the figures selected above you will get a linear increase in fan speed corresponding to a similar increase in card temperature after 50 degrees celcius (the graph can be manually adjusted to suit your needs).
I hope this guide has been useful but please note any changes made your cards Bios is at your own risk.
When this card first came out, the Sapphire drivers were far better than the ATI radeon driver, so when tested with the wrong driver results weren't great, but now ATI drivers are great: Catalyst 9.2 and 9.6 stable and fast. Just released 9.9, but too early to say on that one. Great bang per buck!!!! http://www.overclock.net/ati/429656-official-ati-radeon-hd4850x2-thread.html
This card can be bottle-necked by the CPU, so overclocking the CPU above 3ghz really makes it fly.
I use an Antec 1200 case so don't find this card too noisy at all, and heat has never been an issue
The price for the 2Gb version is now about the £200 or less. September 09
@Fletchertron:
Your posting was very useful - and I am very afraid, that it does not work for me.
It would be really nice, to see you still subscribed to this thread after all those months - because it seems that we are the only two users, who are interested in a silent Sapphire 4850 all over the internet. ;-)
I have bought the SAPPHIRE HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E HDMI. Because of the extremely loud fan, I have tested several settings with RBE all day long. I also have tried Hysteresis between 0 and 50.
The biggest problem is, that with most of those settings, the fan changes its speed every few minutes, which is very annoying.
Do you see a chance for me, to find settings for a silent 4850? The card is already at 4% fan-speed very loud.
Comments 26 to 34 of 34
ReplySome time this month :D
i suppose it's be safe to expect them around mid week since its the only week left hahaha
What I find most interesting about it though is the fact that the 280 SLI and 4870 Crossfire almost always bettered their two core counterparts, the 295 and 4870 X2. I would have guessed the opposite.
It would have been interesting to see a 4850 Crossfire included for comparison, at the expense of even more work for you guys.
Thanks again for your efforts.
One other thing I wish you could have included in this article: 9800GX2. That's still a very capable card, I believe, would have been great to see how it stacks up against the higher end G200 single & dual core cards.
SLI GTX 280 is nearly always going to top the GTX 295. The 295 runs GTX 260 clocks & only has 2x896MB RAM (only!!).
CF 1GB 4870 vs 4870X2 should be a wash in most cases.
Tim, that comment about those who fold: that's the single reason I won't consider AMD GPUs today. Their PPD just suck compared to what is obtained from even lower end G92/G200 cards. The 4850X2 might be a great value for gaming but just won't cut it in a folding farm (not to mention - two or three of those cranking away @ 100% fanspeed - ouch).
I purchased the Radeon 4850 X2 2GB card 3 days ago (upgrade from nVidia 8800 GTS OC) and nearly sent it back due to the ridiculous noise it makes.
Having scoured the internet for a solution (editing profiles, downloading new bios updates etc) I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to put up with it.
It is true you can set the fan speed to 20% via the Catalyst Control Centre, however this is actually louder than automatic, which seems to run at 12%.
At 3am last night however, I found a way which gives you the best of both worlds; superb gaming performance which is cooler than before but also non-gaming noise levels that are so low, my hard disk makes more noise
The main reason for the excessive noise, is ATI/Saphiresâ over conservative and inefficient approach to cooling their card. With the method listed below, I am able to get an idle temperature of 42 degrees celcius and a load temperature of 62 degrees celcius without spending a penny. My idle fan speed is 2% and anything above 50 degrees celcius has a % increase in fan speed relative to the temperature of the card (as it should be).
To achieve this, just follow these steps:
1. Download and install âRadeon Bios Editorâ (RBE)
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Utilities/RBE/
2. Download and install âATI WinFlashâ
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1364/Winflash_2.0.1.7.html
3. Run RBE and click the âAcquire/flashâ icon at the bottom
4. Locate your installed âATI WinFlashâ software by clicking browse at the top right (ATIWinFlash.exe)
5. Click âAnalyzeâ at the bottom to refresh the attached graphics card list
6. Select the first adapter in the list and click âAcquire Biosâ at the bottom
7. The Bios will be load into the RBE program
8. Click âSave Biosâ so that you have a backup copy of the adapters default bios settings (safety first)
9. Select the âFan Settingsâ tab at the top
10. Select the âUse transfer function (recommended)â button under âFan throttle control settingsâ heading
11. Change the following:
âTmin (C)â to 50
âDuty cycle min (%)â to 2
âHysteresis (%)â to 10
âTmin hysteresis (C)â to 4
12. Select the âAdditional featuresâ tab at the top
13. Select the âFix/already fixedâ button under âFix spin up bugâ heading
14. Click the âAcquire/flashâ button at the bottom
15. Click the âFlash Biosâ button at the bottom (this will apply the changes listed above)
16. It may ask you to reboot, but say âNoâ if you have the other GPU adapter to update aswell
17. Repeat points 6 to 15, but selecting the second adapter
18. When you click âFlash Biosâ on the second adapter, it may notify you the product number is different, but continue anyway
19. Once updated, say âYesâ to rebooting
20. Once rebooted you should notice a strange sensation of your ears going back to normal
I use a âTmin (C)â setting of 50 degrees celcius, because this is the level my card temperature sits below when idling. This level may be different for your system, so you may need to experiment.
You will have noticed than when you were inputting the numbers, the graph on the right also changes. With the figures selected above you will get a linear increase in fan speed corresponding to a similar increase in card temperature after 50 degrees celcius (the graph can be manually adjusted to suit your needs).
I hope this guide has been useful but please note any changes made your cards Bios is at your own risk.
http://www.overclock.net/ati/429656-official-ati-radeon-hd4850x2-thread.html
When this card first came out, the Sapphire drivers were far better than the ATI radeon driver, so when tested with the wrong driver results weren't great, but now ATI drivers are great: Catalyst 9.2 and 9.6 stable and fast. Just released 9.9, but too early to say on that one. Great bang per buck!!!!
http://www.overclock.net/ati/429656-official-ati-radeon-hd4850x2-thread.html
This card can be bottle-necked by the CPU, so overclocking the CPU above 3ghz really makes it fly.
I use an Antec 1200 case so don't find this card too noisy at all, and heat has never been an issue
The price for the 2Gb version is now about the £200 or less. September 09
Your posting was very useful - and I am very afraid, that it does not work for me.
It would be really nice, to see you still subscribed to this thread after all those months - because it seems that we are the only two users, who are interested in a silent Sapphire 4850 all over the internet. ;-)
I have bought the SAPPHIRE HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E HDMI. Because of the extremely loud fan, I have tested several settings with RBE all day long. I also have tried Hysteresis between 0 and 50.
The biggest problem is, that with most of those settings, the fan changes its speed every few minutes, which is very annoying.
Do you see a chance for me, to find settings for a silent 4850? The card is already at 4% fan-speed very loud.
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