Sapphire HD 4850 cards. - Page 4

RickJ5 · 08-18-2008, 11:33 PM

I agree. I think it's a great card. I've read some of the reviews for the reference 4850's and they are running way to hot as far as I'm concerned. The Toxic runs at a much more reasonable temperature. Add to that it's overclocked compared to the reference cards. I just checked Newegg and the cheapest reference 4850 card is $149.99 after rebate. The Toxic is $199.99 right now. The cheapest version of PowerDVD is $44.99. Which almost makes up the price difference by itself. But, you also get Cyberlink's DVD Suite, which seems to retail for $89.99. In addition you get a copy of Futuremark's 3D Mark Vantage. I don't really count the other software because it seems to be demo versions. So, you get a card which is faster, and runs cooler so it should last longer, plus it includes say $150 worth of software for $50 more. I'd call that a great deal. I'm kind of holding off a bit to see the other non-reference cards that are coming out and also to see if the price drops a little more. But, I'm likely going to go for the Toxic version, if nothing else because of the copy of PowerDVD. Also, as far as ATI cards I kind of prefer Sapphire because they seem to be ATI's premier partner for video cards.

I appreciate your taking pictures of the card for me. Although I can't quite tell from your pictures if it takes up more than two slots. It appears from the pictures I have seen that the card is roughly 2 slots wide. I just can't see Sapphire designing a card that takes up 2.1 slots, which would mean it really takes up 3 slots. So, I'm pretty much assuming it only takes up 2 slots. My board layout is 1X PCI Express, 16X PCI EXpress, 1X PCI Express, 1X PCI Express, 16X PCI Express(16X physical, 4X electrical), PCI, PCI. The Toxic will cover the one 1X PCI Express slot right next to it. If I use the other 16X PCI EXpress slot then all the 1X PCI EXpress slots are disabled. So, my only option if I want to use 2 PCI Express slots is to use the one behind the video card and the one next to the other 16X PCI Express slot. So, if the Toxic does use more than 2 slots I'm out of luck. One other benefit is that since the Toxic stays cooler it won't cook the card in the 1X PCI slot above the video card as much as a reference 4850 card would.

RickJ5 · 08-19-2008, 05:53 AM

I see Newegg now has a $20 rebate on the Toxic. Too bad it's one of those Sapphire rebates where they make you jump through crazy hoops so the odds increase that you will make a mistake and they won't have to give you the rebate.

**Sandog** · 08-19-2008, 08:07 AM

If you look at the second picture you can see the back plate for the second slot (next to the TOXIC DVI connectors.) The fan blades appear not to be going past the second slot.

**Sandog** · 08-19-2008, 11:51 AM

I don't remember having a GPU running as low as 37C for years. Anyway, the TOXIC is one of my pieces of upgrades where performance went up but the power went down (at idle.)

RickJ5 · 08-20-2008, 01:13 AM

Here are two different images. The first image shows the end of the card and you can see that the fan blades don't extend past the cooler. The second image shows the card from the top after it has been installed. It looks to me like the cooler doesn't go past the second slot.

**Sandog** · 09-16-2008, 02:06 PM

Wow!

SAPPHIRE TOXIC HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E

I would have given this some serious thought if it were available when I bought my Toxic 4850. I will keep my card though as it is plenty powerful at 1280x1024 and runs cool and nice.

RickJ5 · 09-17-2008, 02:46 AM

I saw the Toxic 4870 too. I'm not really sure I need or want that much power though, but I do like the vapor x cooling. I read somewhere someone was wondering when the Sapphire Atomic versions of the cards would be coming out.

RickJ5 · 09-25-2008, 10:19 PM

I found something interesting last night and thought I'd share. I was searching for any info I could find on Sapphire Atomic cards coming out. I found a Sapphire site for their Atomic cards. Here is a link to the site Untitled Document. The site says it is being remodeled and coming October 2008. That makes me think that Sapphire will be releasing Atomic versions of the 4800 cards in October.

**Sandog** · 10-23-2008, 05:21 PM

Yeppers, I have felt that Sapphire is waiting on a Toxic 1GB model and it will be called ATOMIC. I figured that out before I bought my Toxic 4870 recently but, I don't want to pay $600 for a metal suitcase that I won't use. I am afraid that is what the ATOMIC 4870 will be like.

I've thought about (not seriously) of being able to rip off my Toxic cooler and putting it on a Sapphire 1GB card lol. I can live with 512MB, it is plenty fast.

By the way, the temps on this card are a wonder. Much better than the reviews I read stated. The temps are better than on my Toxic HD 4850. Also you do not hear the fan except for a 3 second full blast spin up every boot. The 4870 does not appear to increase my CPU temps either...just incredible.
TOXIC HD 4850 42-60C
TOXIC HD 4870 42-54C

Bampson · 10-23-2008, 09:00 PM

This Sapphire card looks interesting as well.

It's got 1GB of memory with a similar cooling solution as the toxic, but perhaps without the Vaportherm tech?

RickJ5 · 10-24-2008, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bampson

This Sapphire card looks interesting as well.

It's got 1GB of memory with a similar cooling solution as the toxic, but perhaps without the Vaportherm tech?

I saw that card too. It sure looks like the 4870 Toxic with the vapor chamber cooling. The one thing I did notice though is on the Toxic version the heatpipes are copper colored and on this one they look more nickel colored. Maybe a cheaper version of the Toxic's vapor chamber cooling.

I know I want one of thse cards, I just really can't decide which one. I probably don't need more than the 4850 Toxic, but I'd sort of like having the 4870 Toxic's vapor chamber cooling. I do kind of like the Toxic versions over the 1GB version because the Toxic versions include a copy of PowerDVD. That and also I don't really play games at a high enough resolution where I think the extra memory in the 1GB version would help me all that much.

I'll probably at least wait and see what the Atomic versions are. But, Sandog, your probably right that they are going to come in the suitcase again and they will charge a lot for it.

I'm also waiting a little longer to see if the price drops some. Newegg really gouged on the 4870 Toxic for the first week or so. It was $350 when they first got it in. I've also read that when the 4850 X2 comes out that it may cause the 4870 prices to drop some.

My guess is I'll probably end up going for the 4870 Toxic. Although one thing is kind of bothering me about that. Big Bruin did a review of the 4870 Toxic and they say that the cooler isn't quite large enough and that it causes the PCB to be slightly bent. Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD4870 512MB Graphics Card - Page 4 of 10 - Big Bruin

Decisions, decisions.

Drufuss · 10-24-2008, 09:51 AM

I really like my 4870X2 card, but it does get hot and it does get loud. Very loud.

Was playing HL2 with cinematic mod.v8 yesterday evening (really high res. textures, HDR, etc. etc.) and i had to use headphones because otherwise i would have had turn up the volume so much i would have scared the neighbours.

Greetings

Dru

**Sandog** · 10-30-2008, 02:46 PM

I've experienced yet another new Sapphire card. This time a 4870 1GB card with the silver heat pipes and large fan.

Short and skinny I sent it back and kept the Toxic 4870.

The 1GB model had fan issues where it would intermittently spin up to max then down real quick. Also the fan monitor did not work in CCC. Also this card had a great idle temp. (42C idle) which was the same as my 512MB Toxic card. The load temp. though hit up to 65C. You might think this is great for a 4870 but it is high compared to my Toxic which only reaches a remarkable 52C under load. Also the Toxic came with 5 DVD's, the 1GB version only came with 1 driver DVD and the card cost $10 more than the Toxic at the time.

As far benches go, the 1GB model scored 400pts lower than the 512MB Toxic model in 3DMark'06 but it scored about 400pts higher in 3DMark Vantage. I would prefer the card which runs higher in 3Dmark Vantage but the Toxic cards fan was always quiet and the card ran much cooler so I kept instead.

I have pretty much hit the end of the road in VGA upgrades as I'm limited to card length in my case and the GTX2xx and HD 4870 x2 series are out for me.

RickJ5 · 10-30-2008, 06:57 PM

Sandog,

I suspect the 4870 1 GB card you mentioned is the same one Bampson mentioned a few posts back.

I found an article at Big Bruin about a new BIOS for the 4870 Toxic. It sounds like it pretty much slows the fan down to make the card quieter, which will also make it run hotter. I'm not sure if you want that or not. In fact it's sort of making me wonder if I should go ahead and order the card now so I get one with the old BIOS. Here is a link to the article. Reduce Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD4870 Fan Noise - Page 1 of 2 - Big Bruin

Drufuss · 10-30-2008, 06:59 PM

Finally found a watercoolingblock for the 4870X2.

Haven't installed it yet, but read a review about it where the guys who tested it lowered the 4870X2's temps from around 100°C to 50°C under load.

Greetings

Dru

08-18-2008, 11:33 PM	#46
RickJ5 Registered User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 253	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I agree. I think it's a great card. I've read some of the reviews for the reference 4850's and they are running way to hot as far as I'm concerned. The Toxic runs at a much more reasonable temperature. Add to that it's overclocked compared to the reference cards. I just checked Newegg and the cheapest reference 4850 card is $149.99 after rebate. The Toxic is $199.99 right now. The cheapest version of PowerDVD is $44.99. Which almost makes up the price difference by itself. But, you also get Cyberlink's DVD Suite, which seems to retail for $89.99. In addition you get a copy of Futuremark's 3D Mark Vantage. I don't really count the other software because it seems to be demo versions. So, you get a card which is faster, and runs cooler so it should last longer, plus it includes say $150 worth of software for $50 more. I'd call that a great deal. I'm kind of holding off a bit to see the other non-reference cards that are coming out and also to see if the price drops a little more. But, I'm likely going to go for the Toxic version, if nothing else because of the copy of PowerDVD. Also, as far as ATI cards I kind of prefer Sapphire because they seem to be ATI's premier partner for video cards. I appreciate your taking pictures of the card for me. Although I can't quite tell from your pictures if it takes up more than two slots. It appears from the pictures I have seen that the card is roughly 2 slots wide. I just can't see Sapphire designing a card that takes up 2.1 slots, which would mean it really takes up 3 slots. So, I'm pretty much assuming it only takes up 2 slots. My board layout is 1X PCI Express, 16X PCI EXpress, 1X PCI Express, 1X PCI Express, 16X PCI Express(16X physical, 4X electrical), PCI, PCI. The Toxic will cover the one 1X PCI Express slot right next to it. If I use the other 16X PCI EXpress slot then all the 1X PCI EXpress slots are disabled. So, my only option if I want to use 2 PCI Express slots is to use the one behind the video card and the one next to the other 16X PCI Express slot. So, if the Toxic does use more than 2 slots I'm out of luck. One other benefit is that since the Toxic stays cooler it won't cook the card in the 1X PCI slot above the video card as much as a reference 4850 card would. __________________ Everyday PC: Asus P4C800-E, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Corsair PC4000, ATI 9800 Pro, Audigy 2 Platinum eX, Hauppauge PVR-350, Highpoint RocketRAID 404, 3 WD SE 100 gig drives, 1 WD 80 gig drive, Plextor 40/12/40A, Lite On DVD, Antec 550, Antec 1240 VCR PC: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Mushkin PC3500 Level II, ATI 9800 AIW, Audigy 2 Platinum, Beagle Software ClockCard, 2 WD 74 gig Raptor drives, 2 WD SE 120 gig drives, Plextor 48/24/48A, Lite On DVD, Enermax 550, Chieftec 6 external bay case in black
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08-19-2008, 05:53 AM	#47
RickJ5 Registered User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 253	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I see Newegg now has a $20 rebate on the Toxic. Too bad it's one of those Sapphire rebates where they make you jump through crazy hoops so the odds increase that you will make a mistake and they won't have to give you the rebate. __________________ Everyday PC: Asus P4C800-E, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Corsair PC4000, ATI 9800 Pro, Audigy 2 Platinum eX, Hauppauge PVR-350, Highpoint RocketRAID 404, 3 WD SE 100 gig drives, 1 WD 80 gig drive, Plextor 40/12/40A, Lite On DVD, Antec 550, Antec 1240 VCR PC: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Mushkin PC3500 Level II, ATI 9800 AIW, Audigy 2 Platinum, Beagle Software ClockCard, 2 WD 74 gig Raptor drives, 2 WD SE 120 gig drives, Plextor 48/24/48A, Lite On DVD, Enermax 550, Chieftec 6 external bay case in black
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08-19-2008, 08:07 AM	#48
Sandog DP45SG/Q9650 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 6,184	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. If you look at the second picture you can see the back plate for the second slot (next to the TOXIC DVI connectors.) The fan blades appear not to be going past the second slot.
(Online)

08-19-2008, 11:51 AM	#49
Sandog DP45SG/Q9650 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 6,184	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I don't remember having a GPU running as low as 37C for years. Anyway, the TOXIC is one of my pieces of upgrades where performance went up but the power went down (at idle.)
(Online)

09-16-2008, 02:06 PM	#51
Sandog DP45SG/Q9650 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 6,184	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. Wow! SAPPHIRE TOXIC HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E I would have given this some serious thought if it were available when I bought my Toxic 4850. I will keep my card though as it is plenty powerful at 1280x1024 and runs cool and nice.
(Online)

09-17-2008, 02:46 AM	#52
RickJ5 Registered User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 253	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I saw the Toxic 4870 too. I'm not really sure I need or want that much power though, but I do like the vapor x cooling. I read somewhere someone was wondering when the Sapphire Atomic versions of the cards would be coming out. __________________ Everyday PC: Asus P4C800-E, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Corsair PC4000, ATI 9800 Pro, Audigy 2 Platinum eX, Hauppauge PVR-350, Highpoint RocketRAID 404, 3 WD SE 100 gig drives, 1 WD 80 gig drive, Plextor 40/12/40A, Lite On DVD, Antec 550, Antec 1240 VCR PC: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Mushkin PC3500 Level II, ATI 9800 AIW, Audigy 2 Platinum, Beagle Software ClockCard, 2 WD 74 gig Raptor drives, 2 WD SE 120 gig drives, Plextor 48/24/48A, Lite On DVD, Enermax 550, Chieftec 6 external bay case in black
(Offline)

09-25-2008, 10:19 PM	#53
RickJ5 Registered User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 253	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I found something interesting last night and thought I'd share. I was searching for any info I could find on Sapphire Atomic cards coming out. I found a Sapphire site for their Atomic cards. Here is a link to the site Untitled Document. The site says it is being remodeled and coming October 2008. That makes me think that Sapphire will be releasing Atomic versions of the 4800 cards in October. __________________ Everyday PC: Asus P4C800-E, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Corsair PC4000, ATI 9800 Pro, Audigy 2 Platinum eX, Hauppauge PVR-350, Highpoint RocketRAID 404, 3 WD SE 100 gig drives, 1 WD 80 gig drive, Plextor 40/12/40A, Lite On DVD, Antec 550, Antec 1240 VCR PC: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Mushkin PC3500 Level II, ATI 9800 AIW, Audigy 2 Platinum, Beagle Software ClockCard, 2 WD 74 gig Raptor drives, 2 WD SE 120 gig drives, Plextor 48/24/48A, Lite On DVD, Enermax 550, Chieftec 6 external bay case in black
(Offline)

10-23-2008, 05:21 PM	#54
Sandog DP45SG/Q9650 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 6,184	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. Yeppers, I have felt that Sapphire is waiting on a Toxic 1GB model and it will be called ATOMIC. I figured that out before I bought my Toxic 4870 recently but, I don't want to pay $600 for a metal suitcase that I won't use. I am afraid that is what the ATOMIC 4870 will be like. I've thought about (not seriously) of being able to rip off my Toxic cooler and putting it on a Sapphire 1GB card lol. I can live with 512MB, it is plenty fast. By the way, the temps on this card are a wonder. Much better than the reviews I read stated. The temps are better than on my Toxic HD 4850. Also you do not hear the fan except for a 3 second full blast spin up every boot. The 4870 does not appear to increase my CPU temps either...just incredible. TOXIC HD 4850 42-60C TOXIC HD 4870 42-54C
(Online)

10-23-2008, 09:00 PM	#55
Bampson the lurker Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 120	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. This Sapphire card looks interesting as well. It's got 1GB of memory with a similar cooling solution as the toxic, but perhaps without the Vaportherm tech? __________________ Asus A8N32-SLI AMD Athlon FX-55 Corsair 2x1024MB 3500LL Pro EVGA GTX260 Core 216 Soundblaster X-Fi Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB (16MB) SATA Corsair TX650W
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10-24-2008, 09:51 AM	#57
Drufuss CUSL2-C -> P5Q ? Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Österreich Posts: 2,763	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I really like my 4870X2 card, but it does get hot and it does get loud. Very loud. Was playing HL2 with cinematic mod.v8 yesterday evening (really high res. textures, HDR, etc. etc.) and i had to use headphones because otherwise i would have had turn up the volume so much i would have scared the neighbours. Greetings Dru __________________ System specs: Asus P5Q Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz @ 3.42 GHz 4 x 2GB DDR2-Ram PC2-1066 Corsair Dominator @ 800MHz 3 x Seagate 7200.ESII 500GB SATA Sapphire HD4870X2 2048MB Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS, Hauppauge HVR4000 DVB-S/S2/T, Dlink DWL-G510, Logitech Z-5450 5.1 THX Wireless Enermax Modu82+ 625W Win XP MCE 2005, openSuse Linux 11 64bit, Vista Home Premium 64bit CUSL2-C ruled! ..äh... RulEd! Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
(Offline)

10-30-2008, 02:46 PM	#58
Sandog DP45SG/Q9650 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 6,184	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. I've experienced yet another new Sapphire card. This time a 4870 1GB card with the silver heat pipes and large fan. Short and skinny I sent it back and kept the Toxic 4870. The 1GB model had fan issues where it would intermittently spin up to max then down real quick. Also the fan monitor did not work in CCC. Also this card had a great idle temp. (42C idle) which was the same as my 512MB Toxic card. The load temp. though hit up to 65C. You might think this is great for a 4870 but it is high compared to my Toxic which only reaches a remarkable 52C under load. Also the Toxic came with 5 DVD's, the 1GB version only came with 1 driver DVD and the card cost $10 more than the Toxic at the time. As far benches go, the 1GB model scored 400pts lower than the 512MB Toxic model in 3DMark'06 but it scored about 400pts higher in 3DMark Vantage. I would prefer the card which runs higher in 3Dmark Vantage but the Toxic cards fan was always quiet and the card ran much cooler so I kept instead. I have pretty much hit the end of the road in VGA upgrades as I'm limited to card length in my case and the GTX2xx and HD 4870 x2 series are out for me.
(Online)

10-30-2008, 06:57 PM	#59
RickJ5 Registered User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 253	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. Sandog, I suspect the 4870 1 GB card you mentioned is the same one Bampson mentioned a few posts back. I found an article at Big Bruin about a new BIOS for the 4870 Toxic. It sounds like it pretty much slows the fan down to make the card quieter, which will also make it run hotter. I'm not sure if you want that or not. In fact it's sort of making me wonder if I should go ahead and order the card now so I get one with the old BIOS. Here is a link to the article. Reduce Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD4870 Fan Noise - Page 1 of 2 - Big Bruin __________________ Everyday PC: Asus P4C800-E, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Corsair PC4000, ATI 9800 Pro, Audigy 2 Platinum eX, Hauppauge PVR-350, Highpoint RocketRAID 404, 3 WD SE 100 gig drives, 1 WD 80 gig drive, Plextor 40/12/40A, Lite On DVD, Antec 550, Antec 1240 VCR PC: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP, P4 2.8C, 1 gig Mushkin PC3500 Level II, ATI 9800 AIW, Audigy 2 Platinum, Beagle Software ClockCard, 2 WD 74 gig Raptor drives, 2 WD SE 120 gig drives, Plextor 48/24/48A, Lite On DVD, Enermax 550, Chieftec 6 external bay case in black
(Offline)

10-30-2008, 06:59 PM	#60
Drufuss CUSL2-C -> P5Q ? Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Österreich Posts: 2,763	Re: Sapphire HD 4850 cards. Finally found a watercoolingblock for the 4870X2. Haven't installed it yet, but read a review about it where the guys who tested it lowered the 4870X2's temps from around 100°C to 50°C under load. Greetings Dru __________________ System specs: Asus P5Q Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz @ 3.42 GHz 4 x 2GB DDR2-Ram PC2-1066 Corsair Dominator @ 800MHz 3 x Seagate 7200.ESII 500GB SATA Sapphire HD4870X2 2048MB Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS, Hauppauge HVR4000 DVB-S/S2/T, Dlink DWL-G510, Logitech Z-5450 5.1 THX Wireless Enermax Modu82+ 625W Win XP MCE 2005, openSuse Linux 11 64bit, Vista Home Premium 64bit CUSL2-C ruled! ..äh... RulEd! Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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