HD4850 review

Why 4850 but not others? If you a persistent PC gamer, you know that when buying a graphic card, you only have to look at the model code to tell you around how much the card would cost you. Being a mid range graphic card supporter for the past few years, I always get the x600 series, like Radeon 9600 and GF 6600GT, those are the card that give you a decent performance within a acceptable budget. I never really consider the x800 series because this series belongs to the highest performance card (not include 2 core or CF), and of couse come with higher price, which the price, to me, is way too expensive.
But now for the first time, you can get the x800 series, the 4850 with a price of a mid-range card. Previously, a mid-range card can only give you a middle quality setting in the game. Now you can enjoy the high setting for those recently release game with the 4850. (the 4870 is still very costly)
So, which brand to take? There are many brand like saphire, Gigabyte, ASUS, etc. And also some with OC and customize heatsink and fan. Well, you just need to take the standard version and the cheapest avalaible. Why? You may say other brand have OC and specially design cooling solution, isn't that better? Yes, of course the performance for those card are better, but don't forget they cost you more, probably a 20 over % than a standard card. The performance gain for those card only 10 to 15%. If you have a game only able to played at 20fps, then a 22fps(10% increment) or 23fps(15% increment) make you any different? A branded good quality card (come with higher price tag) is not much different to a "not so good but cheap" card. They all comes with warranty and mount with the same GPU. A long as they last until you change to another card, they are basically the same. A new generation graphic card only last a few months before a newer card comes out. So, if you want to play new game with your card, you probably need to change your card every 1 or 2 years. So, just safe those extra $ for your next card and sell off your old card, they could still cost around 20% after 2 years.