ATI Radeon HD 4850 vs GeForce GTX 590

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 590 and Radeon HD 4850, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 590
2011
3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) GDDR5, 365 Watt
8.67
+226%

GTX 590 outperforms ATI HD 4850 by a whopping 226% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking497811
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.780.26
Power efficiency1.631.66
ArchitectureFermi 2.0 (2010−2014)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameGF110RV770
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date24 March 2011 (13 years ago)25 June 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 590 has 200% better value for money than ATI HD 4850.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1024800
Core clock speed607 MHz625 MHz
Number of transistors3,000 million956 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)365 Watt110 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature97 °Cno data
Texture fill rate38.9125.00
Floating-point processing power1.244 TFLOPS1 TFLOPS
ROPs4816
TMUs6440

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus support16x PCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length279 mm246 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)512 MB
Memory bus width768-bit (384-bit per GPU)256 Bit
Memory clock speed1707 MHz993 MHz
Memory bandwidth327.7 GB/s63.55 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsThree Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model5.14.1
OpenGL4.23.3
OpenCL1.11.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 590 8.67
+226%
ATI HD 4850 2.66

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 590 3341
+226%
ATI HD 4850 1026

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 590 25720
+187%
ATI HD 4850 8972

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p47
+62.1%
29
−62.1%
Full HD109
+173%
40
−173%
1200p112
+489%
19
−489%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.414.98

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+133%
9−10
−133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14 0−1
Battlefield 5 24−27
+550%
4−5
−550%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+243%
7−8
−243%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+346%
12−14
−346%
Hitman 3 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+133%
21−24
−133%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+1200%
2−3
−1200%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+300%
6−7
−300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+164%
10−12
−164%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+55.3%
35−40
−55.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+133%
9−10
−133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14 0−1
Battlefield 5 24−27
+550%
4−5
−550%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+243%
7−8
−243%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+346%
12−14
−346%
Hitman 3 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+133%
21−24
−133%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+1200%
2−3
−1200%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+300%
6−7
−300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+164%
10−12
−164%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+84.6%
12−14
−84.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+55.3%
35−40
−55.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+133%
9−10
−133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+346%
12−14
−346%
Hitman 3 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+133%
21−24
−133%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+164%
10−12
−164%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+84.6%
12−14
−84.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+55.3%
35−40
−55.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+300%
6−7
−300%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 16−18
+325%
4−5
−325%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+225%
4−5
−225%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Far Cry 5 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+260%
10−11
−260%
Hitman 3 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+267%
3−4
−267%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+244%
16−18
−244%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Hitman 3 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+240%
10−11
−240%
Metro Exodus 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Far Cry 5 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Forza Horizon 4 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%

This is how GTX 590 and ATI HD 4850 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 590 is 62% faster in 900p
  • GTX 590 is 173% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 590 is 489% faster in 1200p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 590 is 1200% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 590 surpassed ATI HD 4850 in all 57 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 8.67 2.66
Recency 24 March 2011 25 June 2008
Maximum RAM amount 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) 512 MB
Chip lithography 40 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 365 Watt 110 Watt

GTX 590 has a 225.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 37.5% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 4850, on the other hand, has 231.8% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 4850 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 590
ATI Radeon HD 4850
Radeon HD 4850

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.8 49 votes

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3.9 266 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.