GeForce RTX 4090 vs Radeon HD 4850
Aggregated performance score
GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 4850 by 3674% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
Primary Details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 773 | 1 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation | 0.16 | 15.05 |
| Architecture | Terascale 1 (2008−2010) | Ada Lovelace |
| GPU code name | RV770 | AD102-300-A1 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 25 June 2008 (15 years ago) | 20 September 2022 (1 year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $199 | $1,599 |
| Current price | $138 (0.7x MSRP) | $1756 (1.1x MSRP) |
Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
RTX 4090 has 9306% better value for money than ATI HD 4850.
Detailed Specifications
General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 800 | 16384 |
| Core clock speed | 625 MHz | 2235 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 2520 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 956 million | 76,300 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 55 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 110 Watt | 450 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 25.00 | 1,290 |
| Floating-point performance | 1,000.0 gflops | no data |
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).
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Length | 246 mm | 304 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 3-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin | 1x 16-pin |
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 type | GDDR3 | GDDR6X |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 24 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 993 MHz | 21000 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 63.55 GB/s | 1,008 GB/s |
| Shared memory | no data | - |
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 Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |
| HDMI | no data | + |
API Compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 10.1 (10_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 4.1 | 6.6 |
| OpenGL | 3.3 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.3 |
| CUDA | no data | 8.9 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance 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.
GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 4850 by 3674% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
Passmark
This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 4850 by 3674% in Passmark.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 17%
GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 4850 by 1429% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.
3DMark Cloud Gate GPU
Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.
Benchmark coverage: 14%
GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 4850 by 2124% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.
3DMark Ice Storm GPU
Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.
Benchmark coverage: 8%
GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 4850 by 958% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.
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:
| 900p | 28
−3650%
| 1050−1100
+3650%
|
| Full HD | 40
−563%
| 265
+563%
|
| 1200p | 19
−3584%
| 700−750
+3584%
|
| 1440p | 5−6
−4140%
| 212
+4140%
|
| 4K | 3−4
−4900%
| 150
+4900%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 5−6
−4400%
|
225
+4400%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 3−4
−7733%
|
235
+7733%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 5−6
−3760%
|
190−200
+3760%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 12−14
−1383%
|
170−180
+1383%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 5−6
−4340%
|
222
+4340%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 3−4
−6867%
|
209
+6867%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 3−4
−5833%
|
178
+5833%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−5100%
|
300−350
+5100%
|
| Hitman 3 | 5−6
−4280%
|
210−220
+4280%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 4−5
−6775%
|
275
+6775%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 6−7
−2933%
|
180−190
+2933%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 9−10
−3167%
|
294
+3167%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 1−2
−18700%
|
188
+18700%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 3−4
−7267%
|
221
+7267%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 5−6
−3760%
|
190−200
+3760%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 12−14
−1383%
|
170−180
+1383%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 5−6
−4180%
|
214
+4180%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 3−4
−6600%
|
201
+6600%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 3−4
−5600%
|
171
+5600%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−5100%
|
300−350
+5100%
|
| Hitman 3 | 5−6
−4280%
|
210−220
+4280%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 4−5
−6150%
|
250
+6150%
|
| Metro Exodus | 4−5
−5550%
|
226
+5550%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 6−7
−2933%
|
180−190
+2933%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 9−10
−3100%
|
288
+3100%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 6−7
−9450%
|
573
+9450%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 1−2
−17200%
|
173
+17200%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 3−4
−5867%
|
179
+5867%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 5−6
−3760%
|
190−200
+3760%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 5−6
−4100%
|
210
+4100%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 3−4
−6133%
|
187
+6133%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 3−4
−5033%
|
154
+5033%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−5100%
|
300−350
+5100%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 6−7
−4983%
|
305
+4983%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 1−2
−15200%
|
153
+15200%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 5−6
−2880%
|
140−150
+2880%
|
| Hitman 3 | 5−6
−4160%
|
210−220
+4160%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 9−10
−2533%
|
237
+2533%
|
| Metro Exodus | 1−2
−17600%
|
177
+17600%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 1−2
−9200%
|
90−95
+9200%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 6−7
−4417%
|
271
+4417%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 0−1 | 155 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
−15300%
|
154
+15300%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 4−5
−4550%
|
186
+4550%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 1−2
−28300%
|
280−290
+28300%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 3−4
−8833%
|
268
+8833%
|
4K
High Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 2−3
−4700%
|
95−100
+4700%
|
| Hitman 3 | 3−4
−4167%
|
120−130
+4167%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 7−8
−2571%
|
187
+2571%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 1−2
−6300%
|
60−65
+6300%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2
−11900%
|
120
+11900%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2
−11900%
|
120
+11900%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 4−5
−4225%
|
173
+4225%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 6−7
−2317%
|
145
+2317%
|
This is how ATI HD 4850 and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:
- RTX 4090 is 3650% faster than ATI HD 4850 in 900p
- RTX 4090 is 563% faster than ATI HD 4850 in 1080p
- RTX 4090 is 3584% faster than ATI HD 4850 in 1200p
- RTX 4090 is 4140% faster than ATI HD 4850 in 1440p
- RTX 4090 is 4900% faster than ATI HD 4850 in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4090 is 28300% faster than the ATI HD 4850.
All in all, in popular games:
- Without exception, RTX 4090 surpassed ATI HD 4850 in all 53 of our tests.
Pros & Cons Summary
| Performance score | 2.65 | 100.00 |
| Recency | 25 June 2008 | 20 September 2022 |
| Cost | $199 | $1599 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 24 GB |
| Chip lithography | 55 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 110 Watt | 450 Watt |
The GeForce RTX 4090 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.
Comparisons with Similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
