![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , October 05, 2009
- Author:
- Matthew Krysiak
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
XFX Radeon HD 4890 Extreme Review
Today we are going to be evaluating the XFX Radeon HD 4890 Extreme, and if the box is anything to go by, we for should be in for a treat. We compare with a reference Radeon HD 4890 and a GeForce GTX 275 to see how it does in the latest games including Arma II, CoJ 2, and Ghostbusters.
Arma II
We are using the full Steam version of Arma II with latest patches. For our testing procedure, we are playing the first five minutes of the single-player scenario entitled "Counterattack", in which Russian forces are tasked with retaking control of a city from rebel forces. We begin our FRAPS recording immediately following that ejection, while we work our way into the outskirts and eventually into the city heart.
Highest Playable Settings
In Arma II the XFX Radeon HD 4890 Extreme and the AMD Radeon HD 4890 both were playable at 1920x1200, no AA, 16X AF, a Visibility set to 1600, a Texture Detail set to Very High, a Terrain/Object/Shadow Detail set to High, and Postprocess Effects set to Low. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 was playable at the same resolution, AA, and, AF levels however, we had to turn the in-game setting of Visibility down to 1000 and the Terrain/Object/Shadow Detail settings down to Normal.
This meant that with the two Radeon HD 4890s we had a better gameplay experience since not only were world details rendered further away; there were also better Terrain/Object/Shadow details. The frequency boost of the XFX Radeon HD 4890 Extreme also didn’t provide any gameplay advantages for us and only provided an almost unnoticeable .2 difference in average framerates from that of a reference Radeon HD 4890.
Apples-to-Apples
For our apples-to-apples comparison we are using the same settings on all three video cards that we found playable on the two Radeon HD 4890s. Using these settings we see the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 is at a huge disadvantage in Arma II; having almost 10 less FPS than either of the 4890s.
Image Quality
Above shows the difference of between the image quality on the XFX Radeon HD 4890 Extreme and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275. Note the differences between the hand and the gun in the two pictures. On the right note how it seems there is light coming from behind us even though it is overcast and there is no artificial light source behind us while on the left it is shaded correctly. Also note how there is more grass, trees, and details in town on the XFX Radeon HD 4890 Extreme then there is on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275.