Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven

Zardon · Mar 19, 2009, 08:21 AM

Read The Review Here
___________________

Today Sapphire becomes the first GPU manufacturer to attach 2 GB of DDR5 to a Radeon 4870 making it one of the most impressive models available in terms of paper specifications. They haven’t stopped there however as the card also features their own PCB design and a cooler based on the Vapor-X technology which we have seen on a few of their previous cards.

We are lucky enough to have one of these new cards on our test bench and have run it through a number of real world tests to show exactly how consumers benefit from the increased memory and new cooler.

lepel · Mar 19, 2009, 09:25 AM

I like the cooler they put on it. I can't wait to see the 4850 variant with Vapor-X.

Good review, but.. no Warhead benchies?

***Veridian3*** · Mar 19, 2009, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lepel

I like the cooler they put on it. I can't wait to see the 4850 variant with Vapor-X.

Good review, but.. no Warhead benchies?

Warhead runs into GPU limitations on today's hardware well before it runs into memory limitations...

Mac Daddy · Mar 19, 2009, 11:33 AM

Great review Stu and a nice looking card for sure. The temps are down from the 1G versions and nice to see fan noise issues being addressed as well.

Still a bit warm for me but might be a sign of the way things are going in the industry. Not sure what 4870 reference card was used but the 4870 512 I have here idles at 43C on auto fan.

comp_ali · Mar 19, 2009, 11:36 AM

Nice review there ,I liked the comparison between 1/2gb models

. And I see you extorted a great efforts in benchmarking.

IvanV · Mar 20, 2009, 12:05 PM

Good review, it turned out very different from what I thought it would. I thought that there would be no benefit at all from the second gigabyte of memory, but that the cooling would allow it to overclock like crazy.

In reality, a couple of games showed a very nice benefit from added memory, while the cooling proved to be a slight disappointment. Being quiet is a welcome feature and the temperatures at default frequencies are impressive, but the card overclocked only marginally better than the reference board so it wasn't what I thought it would be.

Still, it is the best 4870 out there, but a lot is going to depend on the price. If it's not much more expensive than regular 4870s, great, but if it gets much higher then it'll be pointless especially with the new 4890 expected this month.

Cow_160483 · Mar 20, 2009, 01:02 PM

Sweet card, given time the extra memory will come into play with newer game, loved the fact that GTA 4 ran at max viewing distance

vj8usa · Mar 21, 2009, 01:18 AM

Would it be possible for you guys to add GTA4 benchmark results for the 1GB card with all settings maxed? If you use the availablevidmem command, you can make the game think you have more VRAM than you actually do. I feel like this would be very useful, as this would show the performance difference in a situation that actually needs over 1GB VRAM.

GodWhomIsMike · Mar 25, 2009, 12:16 AM

Excellent Review. Looks like a very good card.

GodWhomIsMike · Mar 26, 2009, 06:28 PM

Zardon - Any possibility of getting a follow-up review or an update with how two of these cards preform in Crossfire?

Zardon · Mar 26, 2009, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GodWhomIsMike

Zardon - Any possibility of getting a follow-up review or an update with how two of these cards preform in Crossfire?

Would be nice to see I agree. Unfortunately we are pretty much swamped with hardware right now with an ever growing list.

Would perform very well however if you have the funds !

bratboy · Mar 26, 2009, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

Today Sapphire becomes the first GPU manufacturer to attach 2 GB of DDR5 to a Radeon 4870 making it one of the most impressive models available in terms of paper specifications.

I'm confused! I bought my Sapphire 4870x2 with 2 gigs of DDR5 memory back in October of 2008. so why are you saying they have only just done it now?

BlueMak · Mar 26, 2009, 08:34 PM

because you have a different radeon model. You have the 4870X2 and he is talking about the 4870.

BTW, the 4870 2GB is it still slower than the 4870X2?

Zardon · Mar 26, 2009, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueMak

BTW, the 4870 2GB is it still slower than the 4870X2?

It is if the game supports Crossfire yes. on a single core basis the review is pretty accurate for that scenario as well.

BlueMak · Mar 28, 2009, 01:28 AM

Thank you.

It looks like a fine card. I guess if you are going to buy a single 4870 you might as well get the 2GB one.

zemo · Mar 28, 2009, 09:59 PM

I want ask you about heat come from that GPU , i hear it have problem in the heat . it may reach 100 degree and make a system shutdown. is that true . i read about this problem.

Bolletje · Mar 28, 2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zemo

I want ask you about heat come from that GPU , i hear it have problem in the heat . it may reach 100 degree and make a system shutdown. is that true . i read about this problem.

Well, the airflow of your system is also an important thing, but the Vapor-X cooling of this specific card is much better than the stock version I believe.

Zardon · Mar 28, 2009, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zemo

I want ask you about heat come from that GPU , i hear it have problem in the heat . it may reach 100 degree and make a system shutdown. is that true . i read about this problem.

The problem you have read was the original reference cooling solution of the 4870 series and poorly configured fan settings by ATI. We even had threads in the ATI forum showing users how to manually change fan settings.

Sapphire have included a proprietary cooler with this card being reviewed however which dramatically reduces the temperatures. This is discussed in the review in the temperatures section.

Mac Daddy · Mar 29, 2009, 12:21 AM

It has helped but these cards running over 1G of RAM still suffer higher temps. I feel this is due too two reasons.

1) On certain cards the heatspreader is shared between RAM and the GPU and since they operate at different frequencies and transfer heat differently this is an issue.

2) On 1G and 2G cards some of the additional RAM is located on the backside of the card where proper cooling isn't taken care of and therefore heats up the GPU.

Just my thoughts ...

BlueMak · Mar 29, 2009, 12:32 AM

I don't believe the problem with these cards is the heat/high temperatures. The only problem is the annoyingly loud fans in most of them. If you increase the fan setting to 70% then you will never have a heat issue with them. I have it at 52% for most games and only for some very demanding I increase it a bit more. This way the card has never gone over 70C.
Now, having that in mind, if this card has a better, read quieter, fan, then even that is not an issue.
Just don't leave a card at automatic fan setting IMO, at least when you are playing games or doing something else demanding.

Mac Daddy · Mar 29, 2009, 12:40 AM

I leave mine on automatic all the time sitting @ 39C idle right now will never hit over 70C under the highest stress test.

bratboy · Mar 29, 2009, 12:47 AM

Using Rivatuner and a guide someone else pointed me to at hardforums my I run my 4870x2's fan, with automatic speed up depending on temp, at default speed of 36% which isn't loud and as a rule that keeps the temp at right around 51 degree's. I think I managed to push it up to 70 running futuremark but can't recall for sure

zemo · Apr 19, 2009, 04:31 PM

Thank you man for explaning about the temp. and yes i see it about using Vapor-X cooling , that's awsome .

Dybdal · Jun 16, 2009, 08:42 PM

A very nice review! Thanks. it really helped my settling my mind on buying it.
And by the way this card looks great in pics, but it looks even greater in real life.
I Would really love to see a Crossfire review of this too.

davidintel · Aug 28, 2009, 01:47 AM

I'm glad someone finally review this card with GTA IV as one of the test games! I use an awful lot of mods and I love to maximize settings.

Mar 19, 2009, 08:21 AM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Read The Review Here ___________________ Today Sapphire becomes the first GPU manufacturer to attach 2 GB of DDR5 to a Radeon 4870 making it one of the most impressive models available in terms of paper specifications. They haven’t stopped there however as the card also features their own PCB design and a cooler based on the Vapor-X technology which we have seen on a few of their previous cards. We are lucky enough to have one of these new cards on our test bench and have run it through a number of real world tests to show exactly how consumers benefit from the increased memory and new cooler.

Mar 19, 2009, 09:25 AM	#2
lepel HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Belgium Posts: 552 Rep Power: 41 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven I like the cooler they put on it. I can't wait to see the 4850 variant with Vapor-X. Good review, but.. no Warhead benchies?

Mar 19, 2009, 11:33 AM	#4
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Great review Stu and a nice looking card for sure. The temps are down from the 1G versions and nice to see fan noise issues being addressed as well. Still a bit warm for me but might be a sign of the way things are going in the industry. Not sure what 4870 reference card was used but the 4870 512 I have here idles at 43C on auto fan. __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Mar 19, 2009, 11:36 AM	#5
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 10,469 Rep Power: 339 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Nice review there ,I liked the comparison between 1/2gb models . And I see you extorted a great efforts in benchmarking. __________________

Mar 20, 2009, 12:05 PM	#6
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,908 Rep Power: 333 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Good review, it turned out very different from what I thought it would. I thought that there would be no benefit at all from the second gigabyte of memory, but that the cooling would allow it to overclock like crazy. In reality, a couple of games showed a very nice benefit from added memory, while the cooling proved to be a slight disappointment. Being quiet is a welcome feature and the temperatures at default frequencies are impressive, but the card overclocked only marginally better than the reference board so it wasn't what I thought it would be. Still, it is the best 4870 out there, but a lot is going to depend on the price. If it's not much more expensive than regular 4870s, great, but if it gets much higher then it'll be pointless especially with the new 4890 expected this month. __________________ If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Mar 20, 2009, 01:02 PM	#7
Cow_160483 HH's only cow moooooo... Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: BOTSWANA Posts: 6,813 Rep Power: 299 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Sweet card, given time the extra memory will come into play with newer game, loved the fact that GTA 4 ran at max viewing distance __________________ Decode! Muhahahahah!

Mar 21, 2009, 01:18 AM	#8
vj8usa DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Would it be possible for you guys to add GTA4 benchmark results for the 1GB card with all settings maxed? If you use the availablevidmem command, you can make the game think you have more VRAM than you actually do. I feel like this would be very useful, as this would show the performance difference in a situation that actually needs over 1GB VRAM.

Mar 25, 2009, 12:16 AM	#9
GodWhomIsMike DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Excellent Review. Looks like a very good card.

Mar 26, 2009, 06:28 PM	#10
GodWhomIsMike DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Zardon - Any possibility of getting a follow-up review or an update with how two of these cards preform in Crossfire?

Mar 26, 2009, 08:34 PM	#13
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,464 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven because you have a different radeon model. You have the 4870X2 and he is talking about the 4870. BTW, the 4870 2GB is it still slower than the 4870X2? __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Mar 28, 2009, 01:28 AM	#15
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,464 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Thank you. It looks like a fine card. I guess if you are going to buy a single 4870 you might as well get the 2GB one. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Mar 28, 2009, 09:59 PM	#16
zemo DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Cairo,Egypt Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven I want ask you about heat come from that GPU , i hear it have problem in the heat . it may reach 100 degree and make a system shutdown. is that true . i read about this problem.

Mar 29, 2009, 12:21 AM	#19
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven It has helped but these cards running over 1G of RAM still suffer higher temps. I feel this is due too two reasons. 1) On certain cards the heatspreader is shared between RAM and the GPU and since they operate at different frequencies and transfer heat differently this is an issue. 2) On 1G and 2G cards some of the additional RAM is located on the backside of the card where proper cooling isn't taken care of and therefore heats up the GPU. Just my thoughts ... __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Mar 29, 2009, 12:32 AM	#20
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,464 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven I don't believe the problem with these cards is the heat/high temperatures. The only problem is the annoyingly loud fans in most of them. If you increase the fan setting to 70% then you will never have a heat issue with them. I have it at 52% for most games and only for some very demanding I increase it a bit more. This way the card has never gone over 70C. Now, having that in mind, if this card has a better, read quieter, fan, then even that is not an issue. Just don't leave a card at automatic fan setting IMO, at least when you are playing games or doing something else demanding. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Mar 29, 2009, 12:40 AM	#21
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven I leave mine on automatic all the time sitting @ 39C idle right now will never hit over 70C under the highest stress test. __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Mar 29, 2009, 12:47 AM	#22
bratboy HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Using Rivatuner and a guide someone else pointed me to at hardforums my I run my 4870x2's fan, with automatic speed up depending on temp, at default speed of 36% which isn't loud and as a rule that keeps the temp at right around 51 degree's. I think I managed to push it up to 70 running futuremark but can't recall for sure

Apr 19, 2009, 04:31 PM	#23
zemo DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Cairo,Egypt Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven Thank you man for explaning about the temp. and yes i see it about using Vapor-X cooling , that's awsome .

Jun 16, 2009, 08:42 PM	#24
Dybdal HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Aarhus, Dk Posts: 234 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven A very nice review! Thanks. it really helped my settling my mind on buying it. And by the way this card looks great in pics, but it looks even greater in real life. I Would really love to see a Crossfire review of this too.

Aug 28, 2009, 01:47 AM	#25
davidintel DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Here Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Re: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 2 GB Vapor-X Review @ Driverheaven I'm glad someone finally review this card with GTA IV as one of the test games! I use an awful lot of mods and I love to maximize settings.