XFX Radeon HD 4890 1GB Video Card Review

Introduction

In our second review of an XFX video card, we have the Radeon HD 4890 1GB. As you might recall, we reviewed our first ATI based XFX video card in the Radeon HD 4850 1GB and found it to be a great option for gaming on a budget without making sacrifices in image quality. Today we are looking at the big dog of the 4000 series cards from ATI, the 4890.

Unlike the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870, the 4890 comes equipped with a minimum 1GB of memory with some add-in board partners upping the ante to 2GB. On our card today, XFX chose to stick with the reference design Radeon HD 4890, which means that our card has 1GB. Being that it is a reference design, the GPU is clocked at 850MHz, while the memory is clocked at 975MHz. These numbers are nothing to scoff at; the ATI Radeon HD 4890 video card still has plenty of gaming performance for those looking to spend less than $200!

You can see that the card has the reference heat sink and fan, which means it is a double slot solution. I personally think that the dark tones of the sticker with the red fan and surround make the card look very sharp. Combined with a black PCB, you have a nice looking card.

From the top, you can get a better look of how the colors mesh together, with the PCB as the backdrop.

There really isn’t much on the backside of these video cards, aside from the black PCB and the heat sink retention mechanism. Non-reference Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards with a frame buffer of 2GB will almost always have the additional memory on the back.

XFX adds a little flair to their DVI ports with some red accent. I have found this handy in low light situations, while crawling under my desk to hook up the monitor! Both of the DVI ports are dual link, each of which can run up to 2560×1600 in resolution. The outputs are HDCP capable. There is also an S-Video style connector for RGB out in case you wanted to use component cables to hook to your HDTV.

Finally, we can see the PCIe power connectors for our XFX Radeon HD 4890. This card requires both a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector. A 500W or larger power supply with one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe is recommended by XFX. If you want to run CrossFire, a power supply of at least 600W is suggested with two 6-pin connectors and two 8-pin connectors.