The Zone

AMD-ATI's HD 4850 seems to have been completely reworked with the single GPU card lighter and smaller than its HD 3850 and HD 3870 predecessors. Markedly more powerful in terms of DX10 performance, the card does much better in apps that require more DX10 features rather than pure GPU muscle. Granted in normal GPU muscle tests like 3DMark06 and older games like Quake 4 or something similar, the card is decently powerful. However, when running stuff like 3DMark Vantage or Company of Heroes (with its DX10 patch), the card really shines. Despite the fact that it won't be able to run Crysis on maximum settings it still does much better than its 3800 series predecessors while still remaining several notches behind the HD 3870 X2. For a more in-depth review check it out in our July issue of HWM.