Sapphire HD 4830 Video Card Review

Conclusions

Let’s first compare Radeon HD 4830 to its main competitor, GeForce 9800 GT, as both can be found on the same price range (USD 130). Both cards achieved the same performance level on Crysis, with Radeon HD 4830 being between 9% and 14% faster on 3DMark Vantage, up to 7% faster on Call of Duty 4 and between 26% and 41% faster on Half-Life 2: Episode Two with image quality enhancements maxed out. GeForce 9800 GT was up to 5% faster on 3DMark06, up to 7% faster on Unreal Tournament 3 and between 4% and 14% faster on Half-Life 2: Episode Two with image quality enhancements disabled.

As you can see, we have a technical tie, because which card is faster will depend on the game, resolution and image quality settings you play, with Radeon HD 4830 having a slight advantage on DirectX 10 games.

We decided to compare it to GeForce 9800 GTX, as this model from NVIDIA can be found at USD 150, not being a far more expensive video card. Except on 3DMark Vantage, where Radeon HD 4830 was between 10% and 18% faster than GeForce 9800 GTX, this card from NVIDIA was faster than Radeon HD 4830, being up to 20% faster on 3DMark06, up to 15% faster on Call of Duty 4, up to 16% faster on Crysis, up to 74% faster on Unreal Tournament 3 and up to 40% faster on Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

Then we have the natural question: by how much is Radeon HD 4850 faster than the new Radeon HD 4830? The big sister was up to 17% faster. On 3DMark06 it was up to 13% faster, on 3DMark Vantage it was up to 17% faster, on Call of Duty 4 it was up to 12% faster, on Crysis it was up to 16% faster, on Unreal Tournament it was up to 13% faster and on Half-Life 2: Episode Two it was up to 15% faster.

Now we have to think in terms of cost/benefit ratio. Radeon HD 4850 – which is a video card that we highly recommend to users looking for a high-end performance at a very affordable price – is at least 23% more expensive than the new Radeon HD 4830, but it doesn’t bring a 23% performance increase over the reviewed card.

That said, Radeon HD 4830 (and GeForce 9800 GT, we most remember) provides a good cost/benefit ratio for users looking for a video card on the USD 130 range that will provide an excellent performance for this price point. Of course if you can afford a Radeon HD 4850, go for it. But if you are a mainstream user that likes to play but doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on a video card, Radeon HD 4830 is a good option.

As mentioned, Radeon HD 4830 is a technical tie with GeForce 9800 GT, so basically your choice will be based on the games, resolutions and image quality settings you use (see our results) and your personal preference for ATI or NVIDIA brands (unless you want to run Folding at Home; in this case GeForce 9800 GT is a better option, see here why).

Talking specifically about Sapphire’s model, we loved the fact that Sapphire decided to use its own cooler instead of using ATI’s reference model, which is heavy and heats a lot.