ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 is a mobile graphics processor from AMD, built on the TeraScale architecture and fabricated by TSMC on a 55 nm process. The M98 chip contains 956 million transistors on a 256 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 3.7 million per square millimeter. Released on January 8, 2009, the part is now end-of-life. The database places it at the 50th percentile among all GPUs tracked, indicating a median performance position. It follows the M8x generation and is succeeded by Manhattan.

How It Compares

No nearest-rival comparison data is recorded for this part, so there are no direct competitor deltas or scores to anchor a head-to-head assessment. The only positioning metric available is the 50th percentile figure, which places the Mobility Radeon HD 4850 at the exact middle of the database's GPU performance distribution. A median position implies that the card is neither a performance leader nor a bottom-tier part within the tracked population; it sits squarely between the faster half and the slower half of all GPUs in the database.

In generational terms, the M98 chip succeeds the M8x generation, and the architectural step to TeraScale brought the 800 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation pipelines that define this part's throughput profile. Its successor, Manhattan, continues the line, but no benchmark scores are recorded for that part either, so a quantitative generational comparison is not possible from the available data. The 50th percentile ranking, combined with the end-of-life status, suggests a part that was mainstream at launch and has since been superseded. The absence of any rival entries means the percentile is the sole comparative anchor, and it is a meaningful one: the card holds the statistical middle ground across the entire database.

Who Should Consider It

The performance envelope of the Mobility Radeon HD 4850 is defined by its 804.8 GFLOPS of FP32 compute, an 8.048 GPixel/s pixel fill rate, and a 20.12 GTexel/s texture fill rate. These figures, together with a 1024 MB GDDR3 frame buffer, point toward a card that is best suited to lower-resolution rendering and moderate detail settings. Users running games at standard-definition resolutions, or early high-definition resolutions with reduced texture quality, are within the card's comfort zone. The 16 ROPs cap the pixel throughput at 8.048 GPixel/s, which becomes a limiting factor as resolution increases. The 40 TMUs deliver 20.12 GTexel/s, a texture rate that comfortably feeds the pixel pipeline. The 800 shading units provide 804.8 GFLOPS of FP32 arithmetic, sufficient for the shader workloads of the DirectX 10.1 era.

The card supports DirectX 10.1 (10_1) and OpenGL 3.3, so it is aligned with titles built for those API versions. There is no Vulkan support, meaning users of Vulkan-based titles would have no native path and would need to rely on OpenGL compatibility or a newer GPU. For users who prioritize high resolutions, large texture sets, or maximum in-game detail, the 1024 MB memory capacity and the 54.40 GB/s bandwidth will be the binding constraints. The card is better matched to laptops where the display resolution is modest and the game library is contemporary with the 2009 release window. It is not a candidate for modern high-detail workloads, but for its intended era and resolution class, the specifications are coherent.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem consists of 1024 MB of GDDR3 on a 256-bit bus. The memory clock is 850 MHz, which translates to 1700 Mbps effective, yielding a bandwidth of 54.40 GB/s. The 256-bit bus width is the defining feature of this configuration; it allows the GDDR3 memory to achieve a respectable bandwidth despite the relatively moderate clock speed. A narrower bus would require a much higher clock to reach the same throughput, so the wide interface is a deliberate design choice that keeps memory latency and bandwidth in balance with the chip's compute capabilities.

At high resolutions, the frame buffer capacity becomes the primary constraint. 1024 MB is sufficient for the frame sizes and texture budgets of the card's era, but workloads that demand large, high-resolution textures will exceed it. The bandwidth of 54.40 GB/s is balanced against the chip's fill rates: the pixel rate of 8.048 GPixel/s and the texture rate of 20.12 GTexel/s can be sustained by the memory subsystem without the memory becoming a severe bottleneck. The 256-bit interface is a sign that the design intended to keep the memory pipeline wide, a choice that benefits bandwidth-hungry operations such as full-screen effects, anisotropic filtering, and high-resolution frame buffers. The effective data rate of 1700 Mbps is a product of the 850 MHz clock, and the combination of a wide bus and moderate clock is a common approach for mobile parts of this generation, where power and thermal constraints favor wider buses over higher clocks.

FAQ

Q: What architecture is the Mobility Radeon HD 4850 based on?

A: It uses the TeraScale architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 55 nm process. The chip, designated M98, contains 956 million transistors on a 256 mm² die, with a transistor density of 3.7 million per square millimeter.

Q: How much memory does it have and what type?

A: It has 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory clock is 850 MHz (1700 Mbps effective), producing a bandwidth of 54.40 GB/s.

Q: What API levels does it support?

A: It supports DirectX 10.1 (10_1) and OpenGL 3.3. No Vulkan support is listed in the data.

Q: When was it released and what is its production status?

A: It was released on January 8, 2009, and its production status is end-of-life.

Q: What are its core throughput figures?

A: It has 800 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation pipelines. FP32 performance is 804.8 GFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 8.048 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 20.12 GTexel/s.

Q: What bus interface does it use?

A: It uses a PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.

Benchmark Performance

No benchmark scores are recorded for this part, so the performance analysis must rely on the derived throughput metrics and the percentile placement. The 50th percentile position is the single most informative comparative data point: it indicates that the card performs at the median of the entire GPU population in the database, a position that reflects its mainstream mobile orientation. This is not a flagship placement, nor is it a bottom-tier one; it is the statistical midpoint of all tracked GPUs.

The compute profile is defined by 804.8 GFLOPS of FP32 throughput, delivered by 800 shading units. This arithmetic capability is paired with a texture rate of 20.12 GTexel/s from 40 TMUs and a pixel rate of 8.048 GPixel/s from 16 ROPs. The relationship between these figures shows a design weighted toward texture and shader work rather than pixel output. The texture rate is substantially higher than the pixel rate, which suggests the card can sustain complex texturing operations while the pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. This is a typical balance for a GPU of this class, where texture-heavy scenes are more common than pure pixel-fill workloads.

In the context of the 50th percentile, these numbers indicate a card that was competitive within its generation but not exceptional. The memory bandwidth of 54.40 GB/s, delivered over a 256-bit bus, is well matched to the fill rates; the memory subsystem does not appear to be a disproportionate bottleneck relative to the compute and texture capabilities. The FP32 figure of 804.8 GFLOPS places it in a class of parts that can handle contemporary DirectX 10.1 titles at moderate settings. The absence of Vulkan support and the DirectX 10.1 ceiling mean that newer titles requiring DirectX 11 or higher would not run on this hardware.

The end-of-life status and the January 8, 2009 release date frame the card as a product of its time. The data shows a part that, at the 50th percentile, holds a median position in the database — a reminder that a median placement in a broad GPU population does not necessarily correspond to a specific performance tier within a single generation. The M98 chip's successor, Manhattan, would presumably address the limitations of the 16 ROPs and the 1024 MB frame buffer, but no data is recorded for that part. Overall, the Mobility Radeon HD 4850 is best understood as a balanced mainstream mobile GPU: sufficient compute, a wide memory bus, and fill rates that align with its era, but with capacity and API limitations that make it unsuitable for modern high-resolution workloads.