Power Color ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3: Package and Accessories

Tul Corp., which owns Power Color brand-name, has been ATI-exclusive partner for many years now, hence, it is completely expectable that the company is among the first to unveil its ATI Radeon HD 4800-series lineup. Regrettably, the realities of the today’s graphics board business do not allow even first-tier partners to truly differentiate themselves during the initial product launch from each other. What is good, is that ATI Radeon HD 4800-series graphics boards from Power Color are already available, whereas modified versions are being prepared.

Power Color HD 4850 512MB (model AX4850 512MD3-H) comes in a moderate-size box that resembles packages from the company in the last year. The illustrations on the front side of the box give an idea regarding the chip that is onboard, the amount of memory as well as support for dual-link DVI and HDMI.

The new motto of Power Color’s graphics cards is “Mesmerizing 3D Graphics for True Gamers”, but while we can say that we are impressed with the architecture of the ATI’s Radeon HD 4800, we are hardly mesmerized with the lady who holds a sword drawn on the box. There are so many packages with robots, monsters and warriors that they are hardly eye-catching nowadays.

The box contains a cardboard tray. The graphics card and accessories lie in the compartments of this tray. Here is what was found inside:

• DVI-I → D-Sub adapter
• DVI-I → HDMI adapter
• Mini-DIN → Composite/S-Video converter
• Mini-DIN → YPbPr converter
• ATI CrossFire bridge
• PCI Express power adapter
• Brief user’s manual (in English)
• Disc with drivers

The set of accessories is quite common for this class of graphics adapters, it includes virtually everything what is needed to use the graphics board, however, it does not contain any bonuses that would be appreciated, such a games or free software.

It is especially regrettable that the graphics board does not feature software player for playback of high-definition video on Blu-ray or HD DVD media that takes advantage of ATI Radeon HD 4800’s decoding engine and post-processing capabilities. Usually, software high-def players from companies like Cyberlink cost approximately $50 in retail, but bundled versions cost manufacturers a lot less than that, therefore, it is a surprise to see that even with the new generation of graphics cards Power Color decided not to include such player into the bundle.

To sum it up, we definitely liked the Power Color HD 4850 512MB graphics card: it comes in a moderate sized box, which means that the manufacturer does not want end-users to pay for stock storage space and/or think that he/she acquires something extraordinary that should come in a large package; the product bundle includes virtually everything that is needed to use the product and does not include certain things that would be redundant (nobody needs a YPbPr cable if HDMI connection is used). However, we regret that the product lacks high-definition video player.