MSI Radeon HD 4830 512MB OC Video Card Review

The MSI Radeon HD4830 Graphics Card

The battle for the high ground in the sub-$125 price market continues to be a tough one. When AMD announced the Radeon HD 4830 graphics card back in October 2008 we found it to be a good deal for a card that retails for under $130. Today, we take a look at what MSI brings to the table with the MSI Radeon HD4830 T2D512 OC. This Crossfire ready Radeon HD 4830 features 512mb of GDDR3 memory with a core clock of 585MHz and a memory clock of 1800MHz. It also has a non-reference seaweed-blade fan and custom heat sink for improved cooling that sits atop the newly designed PCB that MSI developed to offer the most advanced power module of any Radeon HD 4830. Priced at just over $100 after rebate, let’s take a look and see how this custom designed card stacks up.

Here we get a good look at the card’s cooler. MSI includes a Seaweed-Blade Fan. This special design blade shape is said to produce higher cooling efficiency, with less noise.

Video output is handle via a pair of Dual Link DVI-I connectors, TV-Out (via S-Video to Composite)/HDTV-out, VGA (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor), or HDMI (DVI to HDMI adaptor), so the choice is yours.

Tucked away under the cooler are the 8 Samsung 828 memory ICs that make up the 512MB for the 256-bit frame buffer. Also here you see the single 6-pin power connector. Notice that the 4 + 1 phase power design uses solid capacitors and solid state chokes. This helps reduce loading and provides more stable and power and a longer lifespan. Not all the capacitors are solid state though, as the video card has five electrolytic capacitors.

Let’s take a look at the retail box and bundle from MSI.