Sapphire Vapor X HD 4870 Review
May 8, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
Introduction
Sapphire first introduced its graphics cards which implemented the Vapor-X coolers back in 2007 with its 3870 Atomic cards. The Vapor-X technology meant that graphics cards could be efficiently cooled and still remain silent using a liquid coolant which vaporised at the hot GPU’s IHS. Recently Sapphire has revitalised their Vapor-X video cards with the birth of the HD 4850 and 4870. Today we’ve kindly been given the 4850 to review, let’s see how it performs.
About Sapphire
Pioneers in a new era of how data is displayed and games are played, Sapphire shepherds the performance oriented with ground-breaking solutions to an environment that remains in a constant state of flux and ultimate evolution. For over ten years Sapphire has held true to its unwavering commitment, the commitment to deliver the most feature rich and soundly engineered products. Because of Sapphire’s firm position on achieving excellence with each product that leaves our ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified factories, you can rest assured that your customers will recognize YOUR commitment to selling only the highest of quality components.
Features
- 256-bit memory interface
- Quite and Powerful Dual Slot Vapor-Chamber Cooler, Under 20 dbA in 2D Operation, under 30 dbA in 3D Operation before 85 degree °C
- DirectX® 10.1
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- PCI Express® 2.0 support
- Dynamic geometry acceleration
- Game physics processing capability
- ATI Avivo™HD video and display technology, Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray™ and HD VideoBuilt-in HDMI with 7.1 surround sound supportOn-chip HDCP
- ATI PowerPlay™ technology
Specifications
- I/O Output: VGA/DL-DVI/HDMI
- Core Clock: 625 MHz
- Memory Clock: 993 MHz
- PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface
- 512MB /256bit GDDR3 memory interface
- On-board HDMI
- 7.1 Audio Channel Support
- Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 support
- Shader Model 4.1 support
- Dual Slot Vapor Chamber Cooler
Vapor-X Cooling
Vapor Chamber Technology is based on the same principles as heatpipe technology. A liquid coolant is vaporised at a hot surface, the resulting vapor is condensed at a cold surface then the liquid is returned to the hot surface. The recirculation process is controlled by a patented wick system. SAPPHIRE Vapor-X flattens the whole system into a slim chamber – which in the graphics application is mounted in contact with the surface of the graphics chip.
NB. Insight into Vapor-X Cooling taken from Sapphire’s website, you can read more about the technology of this card here.
Sphere: Related Content
Asus EAH4870 Dark Night Review
April 20, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
There was once a time where kings ruled the land. Together a king and his knights would destroy their enemies and conquer new lands. Sadly, those days are gone, but one knight still lives on: The Dark Knight. No, I’m not talking about Batman. I’m talking about Asus’s Dark Knight video card series. If nVidia is one kingdom then ATI is another land all together. The two are in a desperate fight to take over the territory and maintain control. As soon as one is able to hold any ground, the other sends another strike.
We just recently looked at Asus’s ENGTS GTS 250, which was a member of this dark family. It featured a custom cooler with four heat pipes and didn’t perform half bad. However, the ENGTS 250 isn’t the only Dark Knight hanging around. ATI, with the help of Asus, has turned its 4870 into a medieval, armor clad god.
Today we will be looking at the EAH4870, which as stated above, is a member of Asus’s Dark Knight series. If a video card’s cooling solution is its armor, then the EAH4870 must have gone to the same blacksmith as then ENGTS 250. It uses the same four heat pipe cooling solution, which worked pretty well on the 250. It was both cool and quiet, the latter being something ATI’s 48XX series cards aren’t known for. Anyway, enough talk, let’s find out if this Knight can live up to its title.
ASUS RADEON HD 4850/4870 and GeForce GTX 285/295 Review
April 20, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
More and more plain reference copies are released into the market, and it’s a sad situation for reviewers, as there is no point in presenting just another copy for the Nth time.
Fortunately, company’s R&D department still exists in its full strength, so we have an opportunity to see original ASUS products from time to time.
Still, there are some exceptions: e.g. NVIDIA GTX 2xx products have been represented only by reference designs so far. But those are special because of the complex PCB design with 512-bit and 448-bit buses. Engineers haven’t probably come up with their own cheaper design yet. And if it’s not cheaper, there is no point in it.
Let’s examine new cards from ASUS based on top NVIDIA GPUs as well as Mid-End GPUs from AMD.
CoolIT 4870 VGA Liquid Cooler Review
April 7, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
CoolIT is a local company that has a special place in many hearts as they offer great products and excellent support. One of their latest big-name products is of course the CoolIT Domino A.L.C. This cooler only chills your CPU, but what if the hottest part of your system is your toasty graphics card? CoolIT has a solution for Radeon HD 4870s as well and today we are looking at the 4870 VGA LC kit that features a complete water-cooling kit for a single 4870.
While some people state that this is pretty much overkill for a single card, it really depends on what you want to do with your card and how much you hate noise. I’ve measured the sound pressure level over 60dB with stock cooling on Radeon HD 4870 cards, and the CoolIT 4870 VGA LC is almost dead-silent in comparison. It cools much better than stock cooling, is super quiet but it is bulky. Keep on reading for more details as we continue.
HIS HD 4870 IceQ4+ Turbo 1 GB GDDR5 Review
March 25, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
AMD’s HD 4870 has been on the market for a while now and is soon to be succeeded by the HD 4890. Nevertheless the card is still a great performance choice, especially since many manufacturers are also offering 1 GB versions of the card. The reference design featured 512 MB of GDDR5 at launch.
HIS has couple a custom colored AMD reference PCB with their own IceQ cooling solution and an extra overclock of 770 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory.
Sapphire HD 4870 2GB Vapor X Series Review
March 24, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
When it comes to the HD 4870, just about everything has been done. There have been versions that were overclocked, versions with the memory increased, custom cooled cards, non stock PCBs and they all have been pretty solid pieces. The biggest problems originally faced with the HD4800 series was not really a performance issue but rather the cooling performance of the ATI factory cooling solutions. When they ran at the stock fans speeds, we were left with cards that would literally get hot enough to burn your fingers if you left them in place long enough. I remember seeing the decals faling off one HD48xx card because it was so hot. The solution, of course, was to increase the fan speed, but you are left with the sound of a hair dryer. Neither of these two options are really favorable in light of the challenges for each problem. Sapphire took a decidedly different approach with the HD3870 Atomic card back in January 2008 with the introduction of Vapor Chamber technology to provide cooling to the latest GPUs. The company has continued to expand and improve this concept with its “Toxic” HD4870 1GB model that offered increased clock speeds on a custom PCB, as well as a tremendous decrease in the operating temperatures of the card thanks to hybrid Vapor X technology coupled with heatpipes and a large fin array.
Just when you thought there was no more to be done, Sapphire comes along with its latest HD 4870. The Sapphire HD 4870 2GB Vapor-X card is built on a self designed PCB that carries with it a host of improvements such as higher specification solid capacitors and special patent pending “Diamond Black” heatsink chokes that run cooler and are 25% more efficient. Add in the whopping 2GB of GDDR5 memory for increased performance and an Improved Vapor-X cooling solution and you have what amounts to a whole new from the ground up piece of hardware. The Vapor-X cooling solution works much the same as a heatpipe does using a liquid that is turned to vapor and transported via a series of wicks to carry away the heat where the vapor is once again liquified and the process starts all over again. However, instead of a series of pipes, this solution is flat and lays directly over the GPU core to provide the most effective cooling. With all the work done on the cooling and design of this card, it still carries the stock clock speeds of 750MHz on the RV770 core and 900MHz on the GDDR5 memory. I have no doubt that the cooling capabilities of the Vapor-X Edition will be superb, but I am curious as to the benefits that will be realized by the increase in memory as well as the overclocking potential with the newer cooling.
Gigabyte GV-R487D5-1G -ATI HD 4870 Review
March 13, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
If you have recently checked out our review of the nvidia GTX285,then you are sure going to be interested to find out the test results of Gigabyte’s version of ATI’s HD 4870, which is based on the RV770 core. The HD 4870 has been out in the market for a while now but is still a great card as it takes the memory to the new GDDR5 which, even with lower memory clock speeds, actually finds ways boosts its memory bandwidth over that of GDDR3, all with a 256-bit memory bus versus the 512-bit that all of the new NVIDIA GTX200 series cards are using.
XFX Radeon HD 4870 XXX 1GB Video Card Review
March 13, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
In recent times we’ve taken a look at a couple of boards from XFX’s new range of ATI-powered graphics boards, both representing different facets of their line-up. On the one hand we had the custom cooled, factory overclocked Radeon HD 4850 XXX, while on the other there was the reference cooled and clocked Radeon HD 4870 X2.
Today’s review takes in a graphics board which sits between these two parts in terms of both performance and what XFX bring to the table, going down the same factory overclocked route as the Radeon HD 4850 XXX but retaining AMD’s reference cooling solution as per the Radeon HD 4870 X2.
The part we’re talking about is the Radeon HD 4870 XXX 1GB, and if you want to know more then it’s time to turn the page and proceed to read our comprehensive review!
Palit Radeon HD 4870 512MB Sonic Dual Edition Video Card Review
September 24, 2008 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
In the last few months we have seen more new graphics card releases than many people were ever expecting after the longest time without much change in the GPU market. While some of these new cards were just rehashes of existing technology, some were brand new series based on evolutionary technologies. One of the more talked-about topics lately has to be ATI’s new 4800-series of graphics cards and how it has provided a springboard for a whole new generation of competitive products from the boys in Markham. Without a doubt, the ATI HD 4800-series has helped vault ATI’s name back into the limelight after many people had begun reading them their last rites. We have had several reviews of these cards and their follow-up designs here on Hardware Canucks and have been impressed again and again.
With all the hoopla surrounding recent releases in the graphics card industry, it has been a bit hard to focus on the cards which are based on existing technology but still bring something new to the table. Nvidia’s board partners are well known for releasing legions of pre-overclocked cards into the channel but ATI’s partners have always been somewhat lacking when it comes to introducing anything other than reference designs. However, with the release of the HD4800-series, things have rapidly changed with custom PCBs, better cooling solutions and higher clock speeds becoming more common place on ATI graphics cards. While it doesn’t seem like these out-of-the-box overclocks reach the same heights as their Nvidia counterparts, ATI’s partners are trying and succeeding in adding value to their products.
One of the first companies to release their non-reference cards is always Palit Multimedia and when it comes to the HD 4870, they came to the table with all guns blazing. They have released their HD 4870 512MB Sonic Dual Edition which not only sports a custom dual slot, dual fan heatsink but it also features a unique dual BIOS setup. With this type of setup, a user is able to quickly and painlessly switch between a stock BIOS and a custom overclocked BIOS. There will also be a 1GB version of the Sonic Dual Edition which will be released within the next few weeks with all the same features and (of course) a “slight” price premium.
Speaking of pricing, the Palit Sonic Dual Edition is surprisingly affordable at around the same price most other reference-based HD 4870 cards. Unfortunately, while the bang for buck value may be through the stratosphere Palit’s paltry 2-year warranty sours the experience somewhat but just remember that two years is probably longer than you will probably keep this card.
All things considered, it seems like Palit’s stars have aligned perfectly since the HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition is being released at just the right time to compliment the rest of the ATI lineup while adding some needed spice with its faster clock speeds. Let’s hope it performs up to our expectations.
ATI HD4870 & HD4850 Crossfire & Mixed Crossfire Performance Review
August 7, 2008 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
When you think of Crossfire what is the first thing you think of? Performance? Price? Driver issues? Well, if we were back in 2005 when Crossfire was first introduced as a competitor to Nvidia’s SLI, you would have probably said “frustration”. Back then, Crossfire was a mishmash of ultra-expensive “Crossfire Edition” cards, wonky external cable loops and vague motherboard requirements. A lot has changed since then as ATI’s multi-card solution has gradually matured into what some would call a perfect alternative to Nvidia’s SLI. Within the last few weeks we have seen some amazing developments in the graphics card world with the release and subsequent price cutting of many high end video cards. These lower prices coupled with a bevy of motherboards supporting Crossfire has meant that many people are seriously considering a system with a pair of ATI graphics cards. Indeed, in the race to have the fastest computer on the block, many people have gravitated towards dual card setups within the past few years and this trend seems to be increasing as of late.
Right now Intel has the processor families of choice for both enthusiasts and gamers alike while having chipsets which seem to be loads more popular than their Nvidia competition. Since higher-end Intel chipsets like the X38 and X48 fully support ATI’s Crossfire, cards like the HD4870 and HD4850 have quickly become more and more popular as viable options for running a dual GPU configuration. Now with the advent of the new P45 chipset-based boards which support 8x / 8x PCI-E 2.0 Crossfire support, there is a whole new market of mainstream users who have access to a highly competitive Crossfire platform. AMD processors also have Crossfire chipsets with their 790-series of motherboards and upcoming SB800 products but they are unfortunately saddled to somewhat less popular processors right now. That being said, the AMD 790FX boards are the only ones available at this time to actively support up to 4 graphics cards running in Crossfire on quad 8x PCI-E lanes.
While the inclusion of Crossfire on Intel chipsets has proven to be a boon for ATI, it is really only part of the reason we are seeing more and more systems pop up with a pair of their graphics cards. The other part of this equation comes with the fact that since the HD3800-series, the majority of ATI’s cards have been priced in the sub-$300 price segment. Many times people (myself included) bought one card with their system and then once prices decreased a bit and games increased in their demands, bought a second card to tie them over until the next big thing arrived.
Up until this point we have somewhat shunned full-on dual card reviews but with the current popularity of Crossfire and ATI’s current crop of sub-$300 graphics cards, it is high time we tackled this subject. In this performance review we will be taking a look at Crossfire configurations with HD4870 cards from Palit, HD4850 cards from Sapphire and a few little interesting twists (Mixed Crossfire) and turns (Crossfire by combining 4800-series and 3800-series cards) along the way. So please feel free to pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and read a bit more about Crossfire and decide if it is of any use to you.
