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 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.
