Sapphire HD 4770 PCIe Graphics Card Review
May 22, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
Sapphire’s Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X spotted
May 20, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
While we’re still waiting for the 1GHz GPU clock-topping Radeon HD 4890 Atomic, Sapphire has presented a new RV790-powered card to make use of a Vapor-X cooler. Named simply Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X, the card has a blue PCB and a dual-slot cooler (similar to that used on the Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870), 800 Stream Processors, a 256-bit memory interface and 1GB of GDDR5 memory, CrossFireX support and D-Sub, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.
The upcoming card has stock frequencies – 850 MHz (GPU) and 3900 MHz (memory) and should become available in the next few weeks. A factory overclocked version is apparently also in the works.
Source: techconnect
Sphere: Related ContentSapphire 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
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB Review
April 20, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
Sapphire Technology is a well-known company, and is recognized as one of the largest distributors of video cards featuring AMD’s ATI Radeon GPUs. Since ATI began funneling graphics processors to AiBs in 2001, Sapphire has been at the head of the red-team pack. In addition to video cards, Sapphire also offers a series of AMD-based motherboards and multimedia products such as TV tuners and Digital Photo frames.
Today, we’re going to talk about one of their video cards: the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB.
Sapphire HD 4890 Review
April 2, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
The fast and furious pace of video card introductions last year has continued into 2009. This time Sapphire and ATI have brought forth the HD 4890 as the new flagship single GPU card in their performance arsenal. With increased clock speeds and performance, this card should offer a substantial increase in performance over the current HD 4870 crop of video cards. Built upon the same architecture as the R770 core, the HD 4890 features the same 800 stream processors and almost one billion transistors. Offering 1GB of GDDR5 memory running at 975MHz and the R790 GPU core running at an impressive 850MHz, the HD 4890 looks to be a serious contender for the single GPU crown. Sapphire doesn’t only offer just a stock clocked card. At launch there will be an overclocked card to push the level of performance higher with clock speeds of 901MHz on the GPU core and 1000MHz on the GDDR5 memory. The HD 4890 is not just about raw FPS numbers as it has all the capabilities to make this card a well rounded addition to any system with its High Definition outputs and UVD (Unified Video Decoder). Let’s see if the Sapphire HD 4890 can live up to the performance expectations as the top of the ATI single GPU food chain.
ATI Radeon HD 4890 in Crossfire Review
April 2, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
I was excited about testing the HD 4890 in Crossfire and the main reason for that was because I thought it would give us a glimpse into what could possibly be the HD 4890 X2. We know the HD 4890 isn’t the fastest single GPU card on the market and we also know that in the performance side of things it sits around the GTX 260 216SP; sometimes better, sometimes worse.
With the GTX 295 ultimately being nothing more than a pair of GTX 260s on a single PCI Express slot, we could really find out today that if ATI merged these two cards together, they may possibly have the fastest VGA card on the market.
What you have to remember is that having the fastest VGA card sells graphics cards. People look at your top product to determine if they should buy from your line. While for the most part ATI represents better value for money, people see that two cards from NVIDIA (GTX 285 and GTX 295) perform better than ATIs top card and simply choose to go the green team even when opting for a lower performing model.
Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 1GB Review
April 1, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
Baring the release of Nvidia’s GTX 295 card, the last few months in the GPU market have been eerily quiet; there have been no blockbuster launches as both ATI and Nvidia seemed to have been content in their respective positions. Granted, there have been price reductions to better face growing economic turmoil but other than rumours, nothing has really been able to tickle the enthusiast’s fancy. On the flip side of this coin, we all have to remember that even with certain parts of the economy in tatters, companies can’t sit still and hope for the best while not moving their product lineup to the next level. Innovation and making the most out of what you already have are key factors which will keep the smartest companies out front under the current market conditions. Those two factors are exactly what this review is all about.
At this point, many can argue quite successfully that ATI has made some serious inroads in the past year with their HD 4800-series of graphics cards. Their performance is top notch and aggressive pricing has helped them fight blow for blow in a highly competitive market. However, where Nvidia has had the GTX 285 to bridge the gap between the GTX 260 216 and the ultra high end GTX 295, ATI has nothing between the HD 4870 1GB and the HD 4870 X2. Enter the brand new HD 4890 1GB, a card that builds upon the HD 4870 with increased clock speeds and also has supposedly better overclocking potential. Essentially, this is exactly what the name suggests: an overclocked HD 4870 with the new designation of RV790. This sticks quite well with what we mentioned about modified versions of existing technologies being used to cement a company’s place in the market. Indeed, it seems like ATI has really hit its stride with their current 55nm cores and they are making good use of it once again.
Today we will be looking at Sapphire’s version of the HD 4890 1GB in its stock form. According to our sources pricing for this card should be very aggressive at around $320CAD which puts it slightly above the current HD 4870 prices but far below that of the GTX 285. In many cases a launch price is usually indicative of where a company expects their product to end up performance-wise but ATI has been known to buck that trend. On the other hand, availability is proving to be another question mark for us since these higher performance parts from ATI have been known for their limited availability on or around their launch date. We saw this with the HD 4870 1GB but with the competition between board partners as of late and the addition of XFX into the fold, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that initial availability could look very good.
As a bit of a boot note to this introduction, we would be selling you guys short if we didn’t mention something about Nvidia’s answer to this card: the GTX 275. Priced a few dozen bucks above the HD 4890, it is gunning for the same customer base and looks to offer some great performance to boot. While it is included in the benchmark charts you can find its full review here (link).
All in all, it seems like spring will be a very interesting time for the GPU market.
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.
Sapphire HD 4670 Ultimate 512MB Passive Video Card Review
February 26, 2009 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
After the mad dash over the latter part of last year by both ATI and Nvidia to release a swarm of new products, the graphics card industry was due for a breather. Both companies have staked their territory for the most part and that is why the last month and the next few months will be relatively quiet save for a few renaming antics of course. This gives us the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at some of the more interesting graphics cards on the market that tend to get passed by in the hustle and bustle of new GPU releases. These may not be the marquee cards which will get your blood pumping, or cut through framerates like no one’s business; they are products which will appeal to a certain niche market but could be equally well suited for those of you just looking for something different.
With so many consumers now having their PCs running double duty as home theatre devices, passively cooled cards are gaining ground rather quickly against their (sometimes loud) actively-cooled brethren. Passively cooling a graphics card is very much a double edged sword where all fan noise normally associated with a graphics card is eliminated but heat buildup can quickly become an issue. There is also a constant balancing act between wanting to provide optimal cooling but also trying to keep the size of the heatsink within acceptable limits. Heck, you could passively cool a GTX 295 but the resulting heatsink would be take up abhorrent amounts of space and cost a fortune to produce. This is why lower-end cards are usually the only ones that used to be passively cooled. The result was a glut of cards which were perfectly suitable for high definition video decoding but fell flat on their butts when it came to gaming. Luckily, that is all about to change with the current and future generations of GPUs.
The Sapphire HD 4670 Ultimate we are looking at today takes advantage of a cool-running 55nm RV730 core in order to offer passive cooling to a card that allows for more than acceptable gaming performance in addition to its HD decoding muscle. Indeed, Sapphire has a massive selection of HD 4670 cards ranging from reference models to GDDR4 equipped performance versions and even 1GB bruisers. Couple that with widespread availability at retailers across the country and you have a pretty good chance of finding exactly the right HD 4670 for you in Sapphire’s current lineup. You all just have to remember that Sapphire only offers a 2-year warranty on their cards which may have been fine a few months ago but it now looks paltry in comparison to XFX’s offerings. Just remember that 2 years is probably longer than most of you will keep this card in your systems.
Judging from the information we have seen, Sapphire is targeting the HD 4670 Ultimate directly at HTPC users with the inclusion of the aforementioned passive heatsink as well as a native HDMI connector instead of the usual dongle. I could go on and on about the features of this card but its real selling point remains the passive cooling. However, how will this cooling solution stand up to our torture test in a compact ATX case with virtually no airflow? And more importantly, how will this thing perform in games? Let’s find out.
Sapphire Released 4850 TOXIC Edition
July 17, 2008 by Cabro · Leave a Comment
Following the introduction of the highly acclaimed HD 4800 series, SAPPHIRE Technology, the leading manufacturer and worldwide supplier of AMD/ATI based graphics solutions is now shipping two new models of HD 4850 providing a further choice of price:performance points for the enthusiast.
The new SAPPHIRE HD 4850 1GB is a new version of the HD 4850 designed by SAPPHIRE for the user who demands more memory for specific applications like rendering. It offers similar overall performance to the standard model, with clock speeds of 625MHz (core) and 993MHz (memory).
Delivering higher performance to the enthusiast for only a small price premium over the standard model, the SAPPHIRE HD 4850 TOXIC Edition has been designed by SAPPHIRE to run significantly faster – shipping with core clock speeds of 675MHz and fitted with 512MB of high speed memory operating at 1100MHz. It also features a Zalman heatpipe fan, providing more efficient cooling – running at much lower temperatures than the standard design – as well as quieter operation and more headroom for performance tuning.
Both models use the PCI-Express Gen2 interface, and feature dual connectors for CrossFireX cables, allowing two or more cards to be used together on a CrossFireX compatible mainboard for even higher graphics performance. Both are based on the powerful new graphics architectures from the ATI division of AMD, incorporating 800 process units, improved memory management architecture and an upgraded hardware video decoder.
All SAPPHIRE graphics cards in the HD 4800 series incorporate the latest ATI Avivo™ HD Technology for enhanced Video display and feature a new generation built in hardware UVD (Unified Video decoder) considerably reducing CPU load and delivering smooth decoding of Blu-ray™ and HD DVD content for both VC-1 and H.264 codecs, as well as Mpeg files. In addition to two, dual-link DVI outputs, and TV-Out, a dedicated HDMI adaptor delivers both audio and video output on a single cable for direct connection to an HDMI ready display.
SAPPHIRE HD 4800 series graphics cards are Microsoft Windows Vista™ Premium certified and supported by the ATI Catalyst® suite of software, ensuring customers have ongoing access to software updates for performance, stability and added features. Like the previous generation, these cards support DirectX10.1 for enhanced rendering performance and lighting effects.
