ATI Radeon HD 4890 Roundup (ASUS, Diamond, HIS, Sapphire, XFX)

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ATI Radeon HD 4890 Roundup (ASUS, Diamond, HIS, Sapphire, XFX)

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Since the days of the first Intel Pentium chip, ATI and Nvidia have been battling it out in the trenches of discrete graphics card market. However, it seemed that the summer of 2007 would be the beginning of the end for ATI. They had just released their thoroughly underwhelming, power sucking HD 2900 XT that just couldn’t keep up with Nvidia’s GeForce 8800-series and there was literally no help in sight. Under the tutelage of AMD, things have turned around for the better and what was once a David versus Goliath fight has now turned into a Rumble in the Jungle, Ali versus Foreman slugfest. Even though ATI is now matching Nvidia blow for blow, can the perennial underdog stage an upset win? They’re certainly trying.

The HD 4890 is ATI’s lone bid to win in the high performance portion of the single GPU market. Not only is it their highest-end single chip design but it has the potential to reach speeds on air cooling that were previously unheard of outside of enthusiast circles. With some products reaching up to and above the 1Ghz mark in terms of core speeds, the potential is definitely there for ATI to really put the screws to Nvidia.

Nvidia on the other hand knew what was needed: to pull a proverbial rabbit out of their hats and they did just that with the GTX 275. The only problem we encountered with this move was that when it was originally released; the GTX 275 had the feeling of a slightly rushed product with next to no availability. With an actual hard launch, the HD 4890 was able to gain a valuable foothold in one of the market’s most lucrative price points and win over countless new fans.

Since prices have finally stabilized and manufacturers have begun to release their own unique takes on the HD 4890, we thought that a little roundup was in order. Today we have five HD 4890 cards hailing from all walks of life; from mildly overclocked to insanely clocked to custom cooled. Sapphire is on deck with their Atomic Edition which sports a 1Ghz core clock, ASUS sent their TOP series card with Voltage Tweak options and Diamond sees the light of day with their overclocked XOC card. Since some of the manufacturers we hoped would participate couldn’t get us their cards in time, we purchased cards from two other aspiring ATI board partners: XFX and HIS. All in all, we believe these five cards will give a good cross-section of the current HD 4890 lineup.

To make things a bit more interesting, other than the usual reference-based cards used for comparisons, we will also be including the EVGA GTX 275 FTW in the charts. This is one of the highest clocked GTX 275 cards on the market today so it will be interesting to see how which of the HD 4890 cards has enough horsepower to muscle past a card that routinely beats a stock GTX 285.

Now that we’ve got you all excited, let’s get on with this thing.

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The Specifications of our HD 4890 Pile

The Specifications of our HD 4890 Pile

Specifications-wise, we really tried to touch all bases when it came to this roundup and as you can see, our goal was met.

*Please see below for issues with the HIS card.​

First up we have the ASUS HD 4890 TOP. The TOP series of cards have always been the readily available overclocked cards of the ASUS lineup – as opposed to the limited edition Ultimate series – and the card here today keeps with that tradition. It features an overclocked core whose speed is 50Mhz above that of a bone stock card while the memory gets a 100Mhz bump. This should give it a bit of extra horsepower but whether these clocks will result in actual gameplay differences has yet to be seen.

Diamond’s XOC actually sports the second highest core clock and highest memory clock in this roundup. The XOC lineup is a relatively new addition to Diamond’s product range but considering its clocks, we have high expectations for it.

Sapphire was the first to announce a HD 4890 clocked at a full 1Ghz on the core and let me tell you; they have delivered. Not satisfied with a mere core speed increase to insane levels, Sapphire has also gone ahead and upped the memory speeds 4100Mhz (effective) along with including a custom Vapor-X cooler for good measure. Will this particular card have the raw power to overcome Nvidia’s higher-priced GTX 285?

XFX’s entry into this roundup has lower clocks than any of the other cards but its core is still overclocked a good 25Mhz over stock values. The memory speeds remain at stock values but we have heard through the grape vine that XFX may have tightened up the timings for some additional performance.


HIS: Clock Speed Issues Galore

HIS came into this roundup with a well overclocked card; until we booted it up and it turned out to be clocked at reference speeds. Since I went and bought this card out of pocket, I was originally thinking that the retailer I bought it from had made a mistake, but there it was clear as day: the product number H489FT1GP indicating a Turbo Edition.

We all know that every now and then a manufacturer will send out cards with incorrect clock speeds so I was thinking this was just a bad apple. After contacting one of my friends who works at a retailer out west (not the same retailer I bought the original card from), it became apparent that his last in-stock HIS HD 4890 Turbo was also clocked at the incorrect speeds. Interesting indeed.

After sending numerous messages to HIS about this and not receiving a response for more than a week, I decided to buck up and buy as many HIS HD 4890 Turbo cards I could find in the Montreal area. See guys, this is what happens when I get curious about something: I ended up buying three more of them. Two came from the one retailer and the last one I found came from a small shop on the other side of the city. Three more cards and ONE; --- let’s say that again: ONE – had the correct clock speeds (it was one of the pair I had bought at the first local store).

That makes four in five cards from four different retailers across Canada with the incorrect clock speeds. To us this indicates a lot more than a random BIOS flash at the factory going wrong. Could an entire shipment to a HIS distributor been affected? We don’t know but we encourage anyone with this card to post in the thread we have dedicated to it.

In addition, it should be noted that at the time of writing we have pushed back this roundup at least 10 days in order to give HIS the chance to respond. So far: nothing.

 

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Meet the Manufacturers and their Warranties

Meet the Manufacturers and their Warranties

Note, that in order to compile the warranty information below, we sent each manufacturer a questionnaire to fill out regarding their Customer / RMA support in Canada and in USA. Remember, anything written in the warranty sections comes direct from the manufacturers and your experiences may vary. The lone exception to this is HIS who have not answered emails or requests for contact. As such, we tried to dig up as much information about their policy as possible.

ASUS: Old Faithful

Note, that in order to compile the warranty information below, we sent each manufacturer a questionnaire to fill out regarding their Customer / RMA support in Canada and in USA. Remember, anything written in the warranty sections comes direct from the manufacturers and your experiences may vary.

Literally everyone knows ASUS and their products; from hard-core overclockers to those of you who are just starting out in the wide world of DIY computer systems. While these days the general public’s perception of ASUS may be limited to the diminutive Eee PC, we DIYers know them for their wide selection of motherboards and graphics cards. Much like Gigabyte, ASUS has massive distribution chains and their products can be found everywhere; from the smallest mom and pop shop to giant online retailers like Newegg and NCIX. Their attention to quality and reasonable pricing means they are usually at the forefront of people’s minds when upgrading components.

Warranty and Support Info

Like almost all of the other companies in this roundup, ASUS guarantees their GPUs for a period of 3 years with or without registration. Shipping to their facility in California is paid by the person RMAing the card but luckily return shipping is covered by ASUS. Customers returning a physically damaged card will be charged for the repair but standard returns (manufacturer defects) will not normally be charged any additional fees. ASUS also ensures that any cards being shipped back into Canada will have the necessary customs documents detailing the shipment as an in-warranty replacement.

Customer Support URL: livesupport.ASUS.com
Customer Support Tel. #: 510-739-3777
Customer Support hours of operation: 7AM – 7PM PST (Mon – Fri)

Diamond: Quiet but Confident

Ever since many of us have been buying video cards, Diamond Multimedia has been one of the major players in an ever-changing industry. After a brief hiatus from the AIB market, Diamond dove back in and is now an ATI exclusive partner with a wide range of products and usually very competitive pricing. In addition, they are one of the only partners that is certified to produce ATI’s professional FireGL cards.

If anything, Diamond is one of those strong, yet silent companies which works tirelessly in the background. They aren’t know for outrageous custom designs but over the last two years, they have released a number of highly clocked cards under the XOC brand. It seems that with this push for higher performance cards, this is one company which is about to break onto the enthusiast scene in a big way.

Something we should also mention is that here in Canada we can usually find cards from Diamond at both Best Buy and Future Shop.

Warranty and Support Info

In a bit to become even more competitive in the cut-throat GPU market, Diamond has recently increased their warranty length from a single year to two years with registration within 30 days following purchase. We can do nothing but applaud this move as it comes hot on the heels of a thorough reorganization of Diamond’s tech and customer support sections as well. If an RMA is needed, both US and Canadian customers must send their cards back to Diamond’s main facility in California. Shipping to this is paid by the customer and return shipping is paid for by Diamond if it is within 90 days after the purchase date. We have also been assured that for us Canadians, all the customs paper will be properly filled out so you won’t have to pay taxes or duties on your RMA’d card.

Customer Support URL: Diamond Multimedia Product Support and Downloads
Customer Support Tel. #: 1-888-238-2272
Customer Support hours of operation: 8AM – 4:30PM PST (Mon – Fri)

 

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Meet the Manufacturers and their Warranties con't.

Meet the Manufacturers and their Warranties

HIS

HIS (Hightech Information Systems) may seem too many as a relatively young company when compared to some of the other players represented here today but believe it or not, they have been around since the late 80s. Like Diamond, they only release cards based off of ATI chipsets which allows them to concentrate on one market without getting involved in the politics that come with being a dual solution provider. Even though they are based in Hong Kong, HIS cards can be found in retailers all over North America and Europe.

Out of all the ATI board partners, HIS is usually the first out of the gate with pre-overclocked and custom cooled models. Their ICEQ series has become synonymous with the term “high quality air cooling” to the point where we have seen people actually wait to buy an ATI card until they can get their hands on an ICEQ3 version. This in itself is impressive yet it also goes to show how far HIS has come in the market.

Warranty and Support Info

All cards from HIS come with a 2 year warranty and as best we can tell, there isn’t an area on the HIS site where you can register your card so you get the full 2 years the second you buy the card. RMA information is a bit sketchy as well but as best we can tell, you first have to contact HIS for an RMA number and then download this form (PDF) to complete the process. In North America a company called Lexy Pacific now handles all RMAs and shipping to their facility is paid for by the customer.

Customer Support URL: Support | HIS Graphic Cards
Customer Support Tel. #: (408) 331-8847
Customer Support hours of operation: Unknown (we will assume 9-5 PST)

Sapphire: The One and Only

When it comes to ATI board partners, there are few that can even approach the size of Sapphire’s operation. Being one of ATI’s major partners means that Sapphire cards are widely available everywhere; from large retailers to local shops that have limited selection. As such, this is one board partner that has been synonymous with the ATI namesake for years.

It used to be that Sapphire was content with releasing reference-based cards and nothing else. However, they have gradually moved towards offering their customers a more varied selection of cards ranging from custom cooled to overclocked. Advanced cooling technologies like Vapor-X and highly clocked Atomic cards have led the push for increased performance and judging from the way they have been received, enthusiasts are definitely on Sapphire’s side.

Warranty and Support Info

Sapphire’s warranty terms are pretty straightforward: 2 years and no registration required. The RMA process is a bit more complicated but shipping cards to and from Sapphire’s repair facilities definitely benefits us Canadians: we ship our cards to a location within Canada while Americans ship within the USA. Now we get to the interesting part. According to Sapphire, US customers have to pay shipping to the RMA facility and then pay a minimal processing fee if the RMA is done after the first 90 days of owning the product. Canadian customers on the other hand do not pay for shipping or any processing fees as long as the card was bought from an authorized retailer.

Customer Support URL: Sapphire Technology - support
Customer Support Tel. #: (905) 513-1228 (Canada)
Customer Support hours of operation: 9am to 5pm EST & PST

XFX: Team Green and Team Red

For years fans of ATI cards have been begging for a board partner to step up and offer the same kind of support, warranty and availability many of the larger Nvidia partners had in place. Their prayers were answered when one of those same Nvidia AIBs stepped out of line and showed us how things should be done. We are of course talking about Pine Technology’s XFX division.

With their partial defection into the ATI camp, XFX brought with them a full Double Lifetime, modder-friendly warranty (more on this later) and some of the industry’s best customer support. As such, it seems like ATI is putting a lot of support behind XFX, especially in the North American market where their cards can be found in abundance at all of the major retailers. This is one company that also tends to release their fair share of overclocked models as well with XT and Black Edition cards popping up soon after almost every new release.

Warranty and Support Info

XFX is the only company which offers a Lifetime Warranty to the original purchaser of their cards that can also be handed down to the next person who buys your card. They call this their Double Lifetime Warranty and to be covered by it you must register with them within the first 30 days after purchase, otherwise you will be looking at a 1 year warranty.

Since XFX is based in California (who isn’t?), all shipping is done through their main facility but Canadians won’t have to worry about customs or duties since all of the necessary RMA forms will be filled out. As for who pays for RMA shipping; the cost is split between XFX and the customer with each paying for shipping one way.

Customer Support URL: Support
Customer Support Tel. #: 1-800-880-3225
Customer Support hours of operation: 9am – 5pm PST

 

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ASUS HD 4890 1GB TOP

ASUS HD 4890 1GB TOP

Manufacturer Product Page: ASUS HD 4890
Product Number: EAH4890 TOP/HTDI/1GD5
Warranty: 3 years
Price: Click here to compare prices

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ATI’s HD 4890 is packaged in a flashy, eye-catching box that actually looks pretty good. Within the outside slip cover lies a beautifully designed black box with a gold-embossed ASUS logo which opens up to reveal yet another, smaller box and a secondary compartment. This packaging scheme has all the look and feel of an extremely high-end product and we have to give ASUS a pat on the back for showing a bit of excess when many other manufacturers are cutting back.

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The card itself sits amongst a bed of protective foam and is additionally wrapped in an anti static bag. Remember that secondary box and the little compartment to the right of the card? These hold the accessories and the documentation for the card. All in all, it is a very well-rounded package without any corner cutting. You get:

- ASUS mouse pad
- TV-Out adaptor
- Component Video Out cable
- Crossfire connector
- DVI to VGA adaptor
- DVI to HDMI dongle
- Molex to 6-pin power cable
- Quick install guide
- Driver & Software CDs (Including SmartDoctor & GamerOSD)

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ASUS sticks to the reference HD 4890 design for their TOP Edition which means the usual PCB layout and a total length of 9.5”. Other than that, we absolutely love how well the graphic design of the heatsink sticker perfectly plays up ATI’s corporate color yet adds some contrast with a WoW-style knight. It just looks great.

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On the backplate we have the standard two DVI and single TV-out connector along with the grille for hot exhaust air.

 

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Diamond HD 4890 1GB XOC

Diamond HD 4890 1GB XOC

Manufacturer Product Page: Diamond HD 4890 XOC
Product Number: 4890PE51GXOC
Warranty: 2 years
Price: Click here to compare prices

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What we have here is a box that just screams ATI. Complete with ATI’s own femme fatal Ruby and a predominantly red color, this is one box that is sure to catch your eye. It should also be noted that Diamond frequently ships OEM cards so this design is specifically designed to play up the ATI side of things while minimizing Diamond’s own logo. The only distinguishing factor to differentiate this card from other reference cards is the small silver XOC sticker.

With so many companies outsourcing their customer support to other regions of the world, it is good to see Diamond making an effort to keep things local. They make a point to advertise US-based support so let’s just hope they stay the course on this one.

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It seems that Diamond went the extra mile when if came to protecting the precious contents of the package since the card it wrapped lovingly in foam and is additionally protected by a cardboard acessory compartment.

The accessory package is quite complete and includes the following:

- TV-Out adaptor
- Component Video Out cable
- Crossfire connector
- DVI to VGA adaptor
- DVI to HDMI dongle
- Quick install guide
- 50 Free song voucher from eMusic

Notably absent is a Molex to PCI-E adaptor but the voucher for 50 free downloadable songs definitely adds some value to the package.

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Once again we see a reference-based card but I have to admit that the overall design of the graphics here look great while keeping well with the ATI theme of the XOC. At 9.5” long Diamond’s card should fit without an issue into most ATX compatible cases but remember that since the power connectors are at the back, an additional inch or so should be added to the length when looking at enclosures.

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Swinging around to the backplate, we see the usual connectors and nothing else. Honestly, we can’t see many cards diverting from this design for the simple matter that many already provide DVI to HDMI dongles.

 

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HIS HD 4890 1GB Turbo

HIS HD 4890 1GB Turbo

Manufacturer Product Page: HIS HD 4890 Turbo
Product Number: H489FT1GP
Warranty: 2 years
Price: Click here to compare prices

*For the issues we experienced with this card, please refer to Page #2

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The first thing that will strike you about HIS’s box is how compact it is. At barely 2” high, it is a miracle that they could even fit a card into its cramped confines but trust us; there is a HD 4890 shoe-horned into there. Cutting down on the volume like this is great for people who struggle with high shipping costs.

The only apparent indication that this is an overclocked card rests with a “Turbo” sticker. While it may not be much, we have to give kudos to HIS for actually including clock speeds on the outside of their box.

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Amongst the predominantly white interior packaging, we have a very well protected card that sits within a cocoon made of plastic. Accessories are pushed off to the sides in their own small compartments so they are not bouncing around the interior.

Speaking of accessories, this is what you get:

- TV-Out adaptor
- Component Video Out cable
- Crossfire connector
- DVI to VGA adaptor
- DVI to HDMI dongle
- Molex to 6-pin power cable
- Quick install guide
- HIS case sticker

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Once again we see a reference-based card with a length of 9.5” and a pair of PCI-E power connectors. Unlike other manufacturers featured in this roundup, HIS went without playing up on the red heatsink and PCB but rather used shades of purple and blue on their heatsink sticker. Believe it or not, we sort of liked the contrast but remember: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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As this the Turbo is based off of the stock HD 4890, we see all the standard output options on the backplate.

 

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Sapphire HD 4890 1GB Atomic

Sapphire HD 4890 1GB Atomic

Manufacturer Product Page: Sapphire Atomic HD 4890
Product Number: 100269ATL
Warranty: 2 years
Price: $300 USD / $350 CAD

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The Atomic is the Big Boy of their lineup so Sapphire took their exterior packaging to the next level. The whole exterior box is covered in a silver, highly reflective finish that can and will blind you if you carry it outside on a sunny say. Within this exterior box is a plain cardboard box which holds the card and accessories.

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The secondary box opens up to reveal a well protected card along with an additional, flatter box at the bottom. This contains a glut of accessories including:

- Cyberlink Power DVD
- Cyberlink DVD Suite
- 3DMark Vantage (Full version)
- HDMI Cable
- TV-Out adaptor
- Component Video Out cable
- Crossfire connector
- DVI to VGA adaptor
- DVI to HDMI dongle
- Molex to 6-pin power cable
- Molex to 8-pin power cable
- Quick install guide
- Sapphire case sticker

Seriously, there isn’t anything else you could ask for?

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After going through all of the reference-based cards in this roundup, the Atomic proved to be a breath of fresh air. It has a unique dual slot cooler design with a single large fan right in the middle. The downside to this design is that for all its cool looks, it still exhausts a fair bit of hot air into your case.

Even though the Atomic is a custom Sapphire design, it maintains the 9.5” overall length of the reference HD 4890.

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The heatsink Sapphire chose uses their proprietary Vapor-X technology which we covered here http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...hire-hd3870-512mb-toxic-edition-review-6.html and uses a quartet of large heatpipes to move heat aware from the core. In addition, the heatsink uses a full coverage contact plate that touches the ram modules and VRMs. This ensures that every component on this card is properly cooled.

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Since the Atomic runs at some extremely high clock speeds, Sapphire built in a little insurance when it came to power connectors. Instead of the usual dual 6-pin connectors found on a reference HD 4890, we now have a single 6-pin and an 8-pin connector.

 

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XFX HD 4890 1GB XT

XFX HD 4890 1GB XT

Manufacturer Product Page: XFX HD 4890
Product Number: HD-489A-ZDEC
Warranty: Double Lifetime (with registration)
Price: Click here to compare prices

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XFX’s box is unique due to the fact that it isn’t designed like all the others: instead of the usual flattened rectangle we are used to, it looks like a shoe box. Looking a bit closer…wait, what is this we see? Can it be? Yes, a full game is included with the HD 4890 XT. While HawX may not appeal to some of you, I can tell you that it is worth a try at least if you have any interest at all in aerial dogfights. The inclusion of a full game is becoming a serious rarity these days to it is definitely good to see XFX biting the bullet to include one.

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Within the slip cover lies a box that contains the card and all of its accessories in a perfectly laid out manner. Just like the ASUS card, XFX has really gone to great lengths to make sure you feel like your money was well spent.

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The HD 4890 is well protected within the bowels of the box by a generous helping of cardboard and an anti-static bag.

The accessory package has a unique flair to it: a placard to put on your door which proclaims “Do Not Disturb, I’m Gaming” while also acting as a handy quick reference for customer support information. It’s brilliance lies in its simplicity. The full list of accessories is as follows:

- Tom Clancy’s HawX (Full Version)
- XFX door knocker
- TV-Out adaptor
- Component Video Out cable
- Crossfire connector
- DVI to VGA adaptor
- DVI to HDMI dongle
- 2x Molex to 6-pin power cable
- Quick install guides

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XFX decided to stick to the reference design with their HD 4890 XT. Granted, the heatsink sticker is uniquely XFX in its flavor but other than that, the card retains the same 9.5” length as the stock ATI card and doesn’t feature any additional aftermarket cooling.

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As with all the other cards, the HD 4890 XT maintains the reference backplate design as well.

 

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Included Software

Included Software

Yes, we know that there are plenty of free programs out there which will help you overclock and monitor your graphics card. From Rivatuner to GPU-Z, they can be downloaded in a few clicks of the mouse and are regularly updated to support the latest and greatest hardware. In order to try and break into the GPU tuning scene, graphics card manufacturers are turning to their own proprietary software. We haven’t really focused much on what manufacturers offer but in this roundup we decided to take a look at the programs each of these companies distributes with their cards.

Unfortunately, ASUS is the only company in this roundup to have overclocking and monitoring software included with their card.


ASUS GamerOSD / SmartDoctor
System Resource Usage (GamerOSD): ~4.8MB
System Resource Usage (SmartDoc.): ~8.1MB

Click on image to zoom​

GamerOSD mainly consists of the functions you would normally find within a game monitoring program like FRAPS. It is exactly what the name suggests: an on-screen display for frames per second, GPU temperature and other information while you are gaming. You even have the option to record movies and take screenshots. All in all, this is a pretty interesting little program.

Click on image to zoom​

When you first start SmartDoctor, you are greeted with cluttered interface with all of the important settings compacted down at the bottom of the screen. The left side shows a somewhat pointless animation of a magnifying glass passing over your graphics card while the upper right hand portion of the screen gives you the fan speed setting (without the option to change it) and temperatures. The clock speed sliders are straightforward and you can easily set the core and memory speeds but we wish this section was given prominence.

Click on image to zoom​

The real meat to this program lies in the Advanced Settings pop-up. Here you can easily control a massive amount of options from fan speeds to temperature alarms to monitor settings. We wish the whole program would have been set up in this format instead of having the overclocking relegated to the bottom quarter of a convoluted interface.

Regardless of how much we hate the interface on this program, it does offer a good amount of options for overclocking and monitoring the health status of your graphics card.

For the ASUS HD 4890 TOP, this are slightly different because ASUS has advertised this card as a Votage Tweak edition which allows users to control the voltage for the GPU core. The voltage adjustment is above the standard clock speed sliders and allows adjustments up to 1.45V.