Crysis is a science fiction first-person shooter developed by Crytek. Crysis uses Microsoft's new API, DirectX 10 for graphics rendering, and includes the new engine—the CryEngine 2—that is the successor to Far Cry's CryEngine. CryEngine 2 is among the first engines to use the DirectX 10 framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista and Windows XP.

Crysis 1.2 1600x1200 HQ - AA/AF 1600x1200 4xAA Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 36.8 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 21.8 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 27.95 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 25.2 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 39.75 ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 24.7 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 22.01 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 25.09 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 35.28 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 17.12 1600x1200 8xAA Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 37.2 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 28.2 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 34.52 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 28.8 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 42.89 ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 26.9 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 24.22 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 21.25 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 26.59 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 16.5 1900x1200 4xAA Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 33.8 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 20.3 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 24.69 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 14.5 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 35.43 ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 18 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 18.41 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 19.78 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 26.21 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 14.2 1900x1200 8xAA Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 34.2 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 24 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 30.88 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 24.3 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 38.19 ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 23.4 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 21.02 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 18.56 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 21.33 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 13.58

In PCSTATS last benchmark, the AA Crysis tests, the ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A emerges victorious. At these detail settings there are very few video games that are more demanding of GPU hardware than Crysis, and the ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A rises to the challenge admirably. It's fast enough to remain playable at 1920x1200 with 8x anti-aliasing turned on, a claim that few other videocards can make.

Conclusion - ATI HD 4890 Overclocks

AMD hasn't missed a beat getting its newest hardware out the door and into stores. The Radeon HD 4890 has arrived on the market less than a year after the AMD R770 GPU, and its been born into a more competitive graphics card market than ever before. Timing, as they say, is everything.

With a core clock speed of 850MHz and a 1GB of onboard memory running at 3.9GHz, the ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A is the fastest-clocked member of the Radeon HD 48xx family, with overall performance that sits just below the mighty Radeon HD 4870 X2.

The performance-oriented ATI RV790 GPU will eventually replace the Radeon HD 4870 1GB and 512MB altogether, with the Radeon HD 4850 and 4830 rounding out the value segment. The Radeon HD 4890 competes directly with NVIDIA's G200 GPU based videocards, beating the Geforce GTX 260 and approaching the GTX 285 in terms of overall performance. Depending on which games you're playing, either the Geforce GTX 285 or the Radeon HD 4890 will be the fastest single-GPU video gaming solution on the market today.

PCSTATS' benchmarks place the ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A performance above that of a pair of Geforce GTS250 videocards in SLI mode, and the Radeon HD 4890's lead increased significantly once higher resolutions and better image quality settings were enabled. While the ASUS EAH4890's performance is generally better than that of a pair of Geforce GTS 250 videocards, its overall power draw was closer to that of a single GTS 250. This speaks volumes of how efficient AMD's RV7XX GPU design is.

NVIDIA, of course, has a response ready with its Geforce GTX 275, and both the new Radeon and Geforce cards will be converging on the hotly-contested $250USD ($300CDN, £175GBP) price point. Only time and head-to-head benchmarks will determine who the winner is...

ASUS does have one particularly exciting Ace up its sleeve with the ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A videocard that can't be overlooked. That card is SUPERB overclocking, thanks in part to decent headroom from the AMD RV790 GPU and memory, as well as ASUS' adjustable GPU voltage settings.

In the PCSTATS Labs we easily overclocked the Radeon HD 4890 GPU from its stock clockspeed of 850MHz to 965MHz without any voltage adjustments. Good results for sure, but going beyond those speeds became possible because ASUS allow users to increase GPU voltage from its stock setting of 1.312v. We served the ATI RV790 GPU 1.387v, enabling the ASUS EAH4890 videocard to achieve an astonishing overclock of 1000MHz GPU! Outstanding, particularly for a top-end videocard. The GDDR5 overclocked like a dream to 1200MHz, or effectively 4.8GHz.

These overclocking gains have the potential of propelling the $300 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A's overall performance to near that of a $440 Geforce GTX 285, and that extra performance is free and easy to unlock. Since the ASUS EAH4890 supports GPU voltage modification out of the box, ASUS has played it safe and required a second PCI Express power adapter to ensure that the EAH4890 receives clean, stable power. Remember that this also means four PCI Express power connectors will be required to enable Crossfire mode.

ASUS 'EAH4890 videocard is going to capture the attention of a lot of enthusiasts. ATI's Radeon HD 4890 has so far proved to be one of the fastest single-GPU videocards on the market. The closest performing counterpart from NVIDIA, the Geforce GTX 285, is significantly more expensive. Combine that with the ability to play pretty much any game at 1920 x 1200 resolution with all eye candy options turned to their maximum, and the ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A is a compelling videocard for anyone who's serious about having a high-quality gaming experience. Recommended.

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