Conclusion
HIS HD4850 IceQ 4 TurboX
The HIS card is a viable all round purchase. It performs great, looks stunning, and can be obtained at an extremely competitive price. The card is packed with all the latest features such as 7.1 HDMI surround sound support and DirectX 10.1 capability. Even with the aggressive out of the box pre-overclocking the IceQ heatsink managed to keep the toasty RV770 core at respectable temperatures and exhausted the hot air out the rear of the case. Additionally, the cooling configuration is quiet and is more than likely to be almost inaudible in the majority of enthuasiast systems.
The card will set you back about £135, which is a little more pricey than some of the other overclocked 4850s we’ve seen on the market, but the card is one of the best overall configurations and worth the extra money.
We couldn’t find any obvious drawbacks with the HIS model and it is one of the best purchases in its respective price zone.
Available from Microdirect for £135 inc vat and Newegg for $194.99
Edit: it has been brought to our attention that stock is out at Microdirect and the card is available from Overclockers for around the £140 mark
Club3d HD4850 Overclocked Edition
First impressions are mixed because although the Zerotherm cooler is a solid performer a rear exhaust is missing which means that ambient case temperatures will increase. Additionally, the Zerotherm cooler is still large enough to prevent anything being installed in a slot directly next to it.
Upon installing the card in the system, we also were disappointed to find that Club3d had left the memory speeds untouched, this is rather surprising as with additional manual overclocking we found significant increases. Now, these drawbacks wouldn’t be so bad if the card was priced accordingly, but at £136.15 inc vat the card isn’t as competitive as we would have liked and it needs to be lowered by £10 to make it a must have product. That said, there is still value with the product, especially if you spend some time manually overclocking it.
Edit: Due to recent price drops, we feel the value of the card now merits an
Editor's Choice Award.
Available from Aria for £129.19 Inc Vat
