New 4850 w/ 512 MB @ $41 - A Good Deal ?

[Raviolissimo]

I saw these @ Geeks.com

ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB DDR3 PCI Express (PCIe) Dual DVI 102-B50102 Radeon HD4850

I remember how much I wanted one when they first came out, since the reviews were comparable to those for the 8800 - a good low-cost high-performance card.

I waited patiently until they had been out about a year and a half, then bought the Sapphire 4850 1 GB.

So now they are on sale for $41. Not just any old 4850 - the original ATI 4850. Very distinctive heat-sink, etc.



Anyway, what do you think - is that a good deal ?

For me, it's tempting.

[great_big_abyss]

...Why? What are you planning on doing with it?

[bliz]

high performance card
First of all this card is slow as hell.. why do you want it? It's not very expensive of course..
the design is cool,you can buy it for a collection of retro PC parts..

[Adzsask]

No, just no. You can grab a used 260/275 for that price that will run circles around this old "high performance" ATI card.

[JD]

Plus it's no longer supported by AMD/ATI for drivers either. Therefore, no Windows 8 support.

[dandelioneater]

Its gotta be a 5 year old card with no current driver support. You'd be better off with a used gtx 460 or radeon 5850 if money is a concern.

[Arinoth]

Not to mention the 512MB video RAM would won't let you run a lot games on high resolutions like 1080p without all other eye candy set to low (or some features off)

[Ajiki-kun]

You clearly want this thing for reasons beyond practical usage.

Get it if you want, it's your money. Enjoy your nostalgia... or your childhood dreams being utterly shattered. Take your pick. =D

[m0pelley99]

Guys, maybe he just wants to know if the performance/price ratio is any good.

To the OP:

Think of it this way, the 4850 produces 1000 gflops. In your case, the 4850 would give you a performance/price ratio of 1000/41, or 24.4 gflops/$.

A new card, say the GTX 650 Ti, is priced at $144.99 on NCIX right now. The 650 Ti produces 1420.8gflops. Therefore you have a performance/price ratio of 1420.80/144.99, or 9.8gflops/$.

I would say that indeed, yes, it is a good deal. BUT, like other people were saying, you lose Windows 8 support, driver support and the card is in general old and outdated. It also gets fairly hot.

Pick and choose but if it's down to pure performance, yes you're getting a good deal.