Asus Radeon HD 4890 Voltage Tweak Review

Value and Final Thoughts

While the Asus Radeon HD 4890’s stock performance trades blows with that of the competing GeForce GTX 275, it’s this card’s overclocking potential that’s so exciting and in the end what really lets it stand out from the madding crowd of reference, more so than if Asus had shipped it with a paltry stock overclock.

While the card’s stock performance is solid enough at stock speeds, twenty minutes with Asus’ Smart Doctor software (with its ability to alter the card’s core voltage) allowed us to massively overclock the card, eclipsing even the Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Atomic we looked at a few weeks ago.

It was almost too easy for us to overclock the Asus to the 1GHz core and 4,200MHz memory clocks of the Atomic with a minor bump to the vcore, and there was still more performance to be wrung from the RV790 GPU as we peaked at a monster speeds 1,025MHz core and 4,444MHz, making the Asus Radeon HD 4890 the fastest Radeon HD 4890 we’ve yet to get our hands on.

However, while Asus’ software unlocks a whole load of previously inaccessible overclocking potential this is still a stock Radeon HD 4890, and so still has some notable drawbacks. Folding@home performance is still best described as rubbish when compared with that of the competing GeForce GTX 275 and the dual slot, paddle fan based cooler is still invasively noisy, even more so when you apply such a furious overclock as were able to.


In comparison the Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Atomic, which is pre-overclocked to a similar level to what we achieved with the Asus, ships with an excellent vapour-X cooler, making for a much cooler and more importantly quieter graphics card, as the expense of exhausting hot air into rather than out of your case. Of course, the Atomic costs a good £35 more (although is mysteriously absent from e-tailer shelves at present), but for a guaranteed overclock and much quieter operation that seems more than reasonable.

It’s also worth mentioning that budget GeForce GTX 275s can now also be had from less than £180, the same price as the Asus while offering comparable stock performance with few of the HD 4890’s problems.

In the end the appeal of the Asus Radeon HD 4890 will hinge on how much effort you want to put into overclocking and how much cash you want to save. If you’re just after the performance of a 1GHz HD 4890 then the Sapphire HD 4890 Atomic is the better choice (if you can find it in stock), offering a guaranteed 1GHz core speed and far superior cooling to boot.

If all you’re after is bang for buck though, then Asus Radeon HD 4890 seems to a real winner, and while it’s important to remember that getting a core speed of 1GHz is not guaranteed with this card, as it is with the factory overclocked Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Atomic, the Asus is the cheapest, easiest route to a 1GHz core clock speed, as long as you can tolerate the noisy cooler.

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• 8/10

Score Guide