TestBed
Motherboard: MSI P45D3 Platinum ( Provided by: MSI );
Processor: Intel Core 2 QX9770 Extreme edition at 3.6GHz ( Provided by: Intel );
Memory: Corsair Dominator 12800 7-7-7-24 ( Provided by: Corsair);
HDD: WD VelociRaptor 300G 10,000RPM ( Provided by: SmoothCreation );
Driver: ForceWare 190.62, Catalyst CCC 9.9 Vista 32 SP1
Futuremark Tests
The R4890 Cyclone card uses its high clocks to leave the reference HD 4890 behind by as much as 12%. We were quite pleased with gaming results as well, as certain resolutions score up to 30% better results than the reference card.
Games
Far Cry2
This muscle hungry game sees the Cyclone SOC card beat the reference HD 4890 by up to 10% at all the tested resolutions, whereas the highest gap made by the Cyclone SOC between it and the reference card was 14.9%.
HAWX
HAWX seems to be the game that really likes MSI Cyclone R4890 SOC, and all the tested resolutions report a significant advantage over the reference HD 4890.
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead and World in Conflict report the R4890 to be up to 12% faster than the reference HD 4890.
World in Conflict
Conclusion
We’ve had the honor to put MSI’s R4890 Cyclone SOC 1GHz card through its paces today, and MSI has entered the circle of the brave ones who’ve dared to overclock the Radeon HD 4890 so high. In order to improve the somewhat loud reference cooling, MSI used its Cyclone cooler, which comes with a large 100mm fan and SuperPipe technology.
The Cyclone cooling however isn’t quite inaudible, but it’s not loud either, which can’t be said for reference HD 4890 cooling. MSI hit a perfect sweet spot between cooling efficiency on the 1GHz RV790 core and the noise, which no one likes.
The card is manufactured with quality Military Class components, which ensure stability and long life. Note that the card features native HDMI out as well as the standard DVI out. Note however that the higher clocks and thus higher performance will result in higher consumption than on the reference card, both during operation and when idle.
With 1GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 4000MHz, MSI’s card is ready to take on any a challenger, even at highest resolutions. We’ve even done further overclocking and hit 1025MHz core and 4400MHz memory, which goes a long way to show that default speeds will run perfectly stable.
Of course, further overclocking isn’t covered by the warranty so we don’t advise you to try and/or do so, but rest assured that the 1GHz GPU will be more than enough to satisfy your need for speed.