About
All feedback (237)
- s***r (436)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseWonderful seller. Contacted ME when he noticed a shipment issue! Awesome.
- poisonbulb (2551)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseGood buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
- popstoppokemonshop (11683)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseGood buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
- epc-smallparts (41339)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseGood buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
- electroparts_warehouse (79666)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseGood buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
- aso118 (187)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseGood buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
Reviews (14)
30 July 2016
Very good video card for an older PC, but it has a bad cooler/heatsink design
The HD4850 is an older card, but don't be mistaken - it is still a decent performing video card, especially in older games (equivalent to GeForce 9800 GT more or less). And it's dirt-cheap now - can often find a working one for under thirty dollars shipped.
Just *beware* that the HD4850 video cards with the single-slot ATI reference cooler run extremely HOT: around 50°C idle and easily go above 80°C within few minutes of gaming. Because these cards run hot, they don't last very long - at least not if you play games. Eventually they will either start displaying artifacts or not show any video at all.
The good news is, this problem is preventable. My suggestion to anyone who considers buying this card is to also invest in a good after-market GPU cooler/heatsink (preferably with 2 or more heatpipes and large fans). If the maximum running temperature is kept below 65°C, the video card may actually last quite a long time (I'd guesstimate more than 5 years). And you will probably end up with a more quiet computer anyways. While the stock fan is quiet under light or no load (i.e. desktop), it quickly becomes LOUD after a few minutes of gaming.
Also, unlike the nVidia video cards from that same era, I've had very good luck bringing these ATI video cards back to life after they fail. Typically, they just need a reflow of the GPU (or re-ball, if you have the proper rework equipment). So for the technicians out there that do this work, just know that these video cards have a high success rate of working after repair. I've fixed 4 out of 4 attempts so far with these HD4850 cards.
Last but not least: power consumption. This video card requires a single 6-pin PCI-E power connector and draws about 110 Watts maximum from the power supply. So if coupled with a low-power CPU (such as Core 2 Duo), you can probably get away with just a 300-350 Watt *good quality* power supply.
So overall, I think the HD4850 video card would be a very good upgrade for an older PC (i.e. something with a Core 2 Duo CPU or equivalent Athlon 64 X2). But again, just make sure to upgrade the cooler/heatsink if you plan to play games or otherwise do any stressful work with the GPU. Otherwise, the video card may not last more than a year or two.
AIR FLOW JU616 CN-0N764D-72449-8AK-0061 Heatsink Heat Sink LOOK
12 May 2019
Cools very well!
Pros:
- Very powerful 92 mm 4-pin PWM fan (can go up to 3600 RPM) by AVC
- Well-designed mounting mechanism with spring-loaded screws instead of push pins (so it won't warp your motherboard.)
- Has 4 heat pipes and cools very well.
Cons:
- Fan can be a bit loud, especially under high load. Of course, this will vary the CPU you have in there along with the fan profile you make/select.
Other thoughts:
I'm currently using this to cool an older Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU overclocked to 3 GHz at slightly below stock voltage (these CPUs are well-known to dissipate up to 150-160W of power at that level.) But even then, my highest CPU core temperature (not overall CPU temperature that most programs report, which is always 5-10C lower) never goes past 60 Celsius. In other words, this cooler can be pretty much on par even with the higher-end aftermarket solutions, such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. Of course, to achieve that, I did make the fan profile fairly aggressive. Thus, the PC can be a little loud under full 100% load. But when idle or just surfing the web, I set the fan to run around 700-1000 RPM, so it's barely audible. The stock Q6600 cooler would not have allowed me to do this at all without overheating the CPU. And I didn't even use good quality thermal compound (just generic gray compound in a big tube I found on eBay for cheap.) I'm sure I can shave at least 3-5C from my max temperatures with MX-2/4 or AS5.
So overall, this is a really great cooler. Certainly a worthy upgrade over a stock cooler any day. Moreover, the fact that it can cool a 105W TDP (150W @ full load) CPU and keep it under 60C should tell you everything. Basically, it will cool as well as a 212 Evo, but will be slightly louder due to the smaller (and faster-turning) 92 mm fan.
21 April 2016
Inexpensive alternative to an ESR meter
I bought this meter mostly for testing electrolytic capacitors. It works great for that! Of course, that is only with capacitors removed from the circuit. (Make sure to discharge them first, too!)
Perhaps the only short-coming about these meters is that they cannot measure inductance (L) less than 0.01 mH (10 uH). That is, inductors with more than 5 uH inductance are rounded up to display as 0.01 mH (10 uH). And inductors with less than 5 uH will not be detected as inductors. Instead, they will appear as a low-Ohm resistor. So for anyone that does computer motherboard repair (laptop or desktop), this meter will not be able to measure those inductors (which typically are 3.3 uH or less). However, this meter can still measure the inductance of many transformers and chokes in power supplies. So the function is still very useful.
Other than that, I really have no complaints about this meter. It works great for its intended purposes. Well worth its price.
The meter can also be upgraded with a rotary encoder (sold separately) to scroll easier through the menus. Very useful if you plan to use the PWM and frequency generator functions often.