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Sapphire Tech 100267L Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Customer Reviews for SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
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Review Summary (71 Reviews): Rating + 4
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Excellent Rating + 5 46ReviewsExcellent
newegg
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Good Rating + 4 13ReviewsGood
newegg
18%
Average Rating + 3 3ReviewsAverage
newegg
4%
Poor Rating + 2 3ReviewsPoor
newegg
4%
Very Poor Rating + 1 6ReviewsVery Poor
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Reviewer Product Review
Ahmed
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
10/2/2009 12:36:34 AM

Rating + 5 what can i say?


Pros: GREAT CARD !!!!!
wow everything is just suddenly running smooth as hell
at mirrors edge i probably get more than 70 frames per second
all max 4xAA
its idling and under load (load = mirrors edge , haven't got crysis yet) at 60C idle , 63C max at load LOL :D
but its not really load.... i still have a 17" monitor
getting a 23" soon thats why i bought this card

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: its one of those cards you'd never think of running in crossfire
because one of it is more than enough!
---
so...
BUY IT , BUY IT NOW XD
(i didn't get it from newegg)

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/30/2009 1:35:04 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: I am very pleased with this card. It runs extremely quietly and extremely cool while playing every game I throw at it. Crysis and FarCry 2 have given me no problems, and Source games run like a dream. Under load, it reaches something like 50° C. Great performance for the price, and the cooling system is amazing.

Cons: Nothing I can think of.

Other Thoughts: Win7
4 GB DDR3 1333
AMD Phenom II X4 955

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

QuiddlerX
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/22/2009 4:40:04 PM

Rating + 5 Nice overclocker!


Pros: First off, I purchased this card as a replacement for an MSI 4870 card rather than buying an aftermarket cooler to reduce heat and reduce noise. This card is silent in 2D mode and nearly silent while the fan is running at full speed playing Crysis. I have the card overclocked to 790 core and 1050 memory and it runs smooth as could be.

Cons: My greatest qualm with ATI cards is the catalyst drivers! Recently, upgrading to catalyst 9.9 drivers, my computer started to blue screen!!!! Horrible feeling, and after downclocking the card to default speeds, same problem. After uninstalling and running games, no such problem. Re-installed drivers and catalyst, BAM, same problem. 9.8 drivers work fine, so get them, but remember that sometimes it is the drivers, not the card.

Other Thoughts: Get this card.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/21/2009 6:55:39 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome Product


Pros: Runs all my games smooth, the fan is quiet. the built in LED matches the lights in my case (blue). Built in HDMI, enough said...

Cons: the card runs hot at 55C and goes up to 60C during heavy duty gaming. but judging from the ATI control catalyst 55C-60C is still in the green range so i don't think those temperatures are a problem

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RNB
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
9/17/2009 10:40:17 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect except for one thing...


Pros: Great GPU cooling (just the GPU, not the memory), awesome power, runs all of my games on ultra settings, it's made by AMD.

Cons: Very poor memory cooling. Must increase the speed of the fan from a mere 25% (~1500RPM) to around 65% to 70% to cool GPU temps down to around 52 degrees, and idle memory temps down to 62 degrees. More details below.

Other Thoughts: After I installed this card, I tried running 3DMark06. I experienced a crash after five minutes. Why? Well, when I checked GPU-Z's temperature readings I found that the GPU itself was at "only" 60 degrees, but the memory was at 95 degrees (and this was AFTER the card had a bit of time to cool off).

I LOVE ATI cards, but I hate their cooling solutions (if you can call them that). Nvidia's cards come with dual-slot coolers that divert heat away from the memory and GPU out the BACK of the case, not back IN the case. This card's fan pushes heat INTO the case, which heats up the poorly-cooled memory very quickly. If you decide to buy this card, PLEASE invest in VRAM heatsinks. You can buy pure copper ones from Newegg for about 15 dollars. They will do the job of cooling the memory. Now that I have applied those to my card, there have been no more problems. :)

So, despite the poor cooling, I still highly recommend this card. The cooling problem can be easily remedied.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Bruiser
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/17/2009 3:15:15 PM

Rating + 5 fast


Pros: This card is very fast. Plays COD WAW full- Crysis warhead full graphics.

Cons: it weighs as much as a red brick. My 2 year old Gateway wide screen HD moniter died ,not sure if it was the card that killed it.
Didnt have any problems with 8800 gt oc. lasted 1 week with the new card. Maybe it would have died with either card we will never know.

Other Thoughts: new egg rules!!!!!!

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/11/2009 11:15:46 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: incredible card. does anything i need it to do, crysis on high the Sims 3 on high, overclocked and all.. SUPER GREAT CARD

Cons: kind of bulky and big

Other Thoughts: super power for a great price a total must buy

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/9/2009 12:45:29 PM

Rating + 4 Quality Hardware


Pros: Definitely a great video card. Runs everything the way I want to. Sapphire's cards are very solid, I was running an X1950 GT before upgrading to this one.

Cons: The only thing I can think of so far is that it runs at 60 degrees C when it's idle, though the load temps aren't much higher than that from experience. The highest I've gone with it is maybe 67 degrees and that's usually when I'm running the Crysis demo (with 8x FSAA also). With other games such as Mass Effect, Oblivion and Street Fighter 4 it usually runs at 64 degrees, so I suppose temps aren't a huge issue.

Other Thoughts: AMD Phenom X4 9750 2.4ghz
Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD4870, 1gb
4gb GSkill ram, 1066mhz
Biostar TA790GXB A2+ Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 1tb Hard Drive
500 watt Antec Basiq PSU

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cMo
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/9/2009 12:23:09 AM

Rating + 3 Nice Video card....but!


Pros: Fast! I love it.

Cons: Cooling is poor... dumps heat into the case instead of taking it out. Not all ram chips are covered by the two heatsinks and only one (for the gpu) has a fan. Had to use Riva tuner to get my fan to go past 50%.

Other Thoughts: Good Value!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Talenzor
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/6/2009 5:08:08 AM

Rating + 5 Only one thing better than one....


Pros: And that is two of these! I purchased one a few months back and never had any problems with it. So I decided to get another to do crossfire with. All I can say is that I am blown away.

This is a fantastic card for a fantastic price. I am currently able to run Crysis DX10 on very high and never dip below 30fps. Best bang for hte buck for a 4870 in my opinion.

Not really understanding the reviewer who said he had two that were DOA. Personally I would be looking at other components if it were me like the power supply.

Cons: Ummm my motherboard doesn't have a 3rd PCI-E x16 slot :P

Other Thoughts: AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.5GHz
4GB Mushkin DDR2 1066 Redline Memory @ 1092Mhz
2 Sapphire Vapor-X 4870 GPUs @ 775 Core and 1150 Memory
Gigabyte MA-790FX-UD5P

Rig built with all parts from Newegg Why buy parts anywhere else???

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LaserCats3D
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/2/2009 4:12:47 PM

Rating + 5 Awesomely Hot


Pros: HDMI port, Crossfire, built like a tank! These cards run very hot, but with proper circulation/ventilation within your case you'll be fine. Also comes with a lifetime supply of Hot Pockets!!!

Cons: - Can only fit 2 in my rig......
- No Hot Pockets......

Other Thoughts: I'm currently running Arma 2 with crossfire set to 2 of these cards. I play on the highest settings and everything runs amazingly smoothe. Both cards idle at 70-75C while playing. All other games i play including Crysis, both cards rarely see 65C. Just remember, good circulation and ventilation when using these cards.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Chris
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/1/2009 1:01:02 PM

Rating + 4 Happy so far


Pros: Cheap, fits in my HP case (nvidia cards dont), huge FPS increase over my 9600GT

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: For those wondering about the size, I replaced a 9600GT in a HP Pavillion 9150f (mid tower case). You will obviously need a larger power supply than stock - but I upgraded my PSU when I bought the 9600GT. It is roughly the same length (9-9.5 inches) but a bit wider. You might need to remove the USB and power connector for the LARGE proprietary media drive bay - but I never used it anyway.

It is quieter than the GEFORCE 9600GT it replaced. I set the fan on a constant 65% and idle temps run 46C ARMA II almost maxed temps running 79C-83C.

My first ATI card because NVIDIA upgrades to the 9600GT would not fit my case. Very happy so far. Speed is looking 50% or better over 9600GT.

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intel352
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/31/2009 8:08:08 PM

Rating + 5 Awesome card, great price!


Pros: As an avid gamer, I've been building computers for 15 years. Due to marriage, responsibility, and finances, lol, I haven't been able to give my rig a proper update in the past 4 years, until this past December. I purchased a new AMD dual-core CPU, 4gb ram, new mobo from Newegg, but didn't have the extra $$ to get a proper video card at the time.

I have finally been able to purchase the Sapphire HD 4870, and this card rocks! :-)

I've been dealing with barely passable performance with my old rig's Nvidia 6800 LE, then my new rig's onboard ATI HD 3200 (awesome for onboard, comparable to the 6800), and had essentially given up on playing my 70+ game collection on Steam.

With this new update, I'm able to play each of my new games at 1680x1050 (max res on this LCD), max details, and the card is performing flawlessly!

This card isn't overclocked like the other 4870s available, but according to reviews, it's cooler can handle a solid overclock, and it has a great price tag attached

Cons: I don't have the money to buy a 2nd 4870 for Crossfire :'(

Other Thoughts: Recently found a ASUS Deluxe 4 PCI-E slot mobo on Newegg, if I ever get the $$ together for that (and 2 or more vid cards), that'll be my next upgrade :-D

Hey, I can dream can't I? :-)

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

UberGeek
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/28/2009 7:11:24 PM

Rating + 5 Nice Card


Pros: Nice upgrade from x1950 pro. Easy to drop into the Family room with the HDMI Audio/Video. Works great playing Blu-Ray content.

Cons: Who decided that everything must have blue lights and can I turn them off please? Please let us add our own lighting if we want or need it.

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=alAmo=RuffRider
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
8/26/2009 7:35:29 PM

Rating + 2 Worked for a whlie


Pros: Very fast card. Worked well with gaming. Software very user friendly.

Cons: Clock speed has locked up. Will not adjust at all. Stays at 500 MHz all the time. Net games are now locking up. Can't play any High intensity game for more than 5 minutes without it locking up. sending back for an exchange. I hope this goes well. I have no patience with returns.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

DIRTY DURDEN
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/24/2009 6:21:05 PM

Rating + 1 Do not buy this


Pros: Nice looking

Cons: I bought all new parts for my build back in late July; I got the GPU in a combo pack along with a MoBo & CPU. It took me three days to figure out the GPU was D.O.A. (because of the MoBo was giving me unused POST LED codes) so I RMA the GPU. I waited a week & just receive the new one today & again, D.O.A. so all in all I have waited 5 weeks to get this PC up & running & I am still not complete. I will have to wait a couple more weeks because Sapphire has no Q.C. & can not make GPUs
Also I do not know if all of the other parts are working because of the GPU & New egg’s return policy is 30 days & I am a week over 30 days waiting on 2 D.O.A. GPU .

Other Thoughts: But this product if you like sending your money on shipping back D.O.A. GPU

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Shiach
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/23/2009 9:27:16 PM

Rating + 5 Great card.


Pros: This card tears through games. Cranks out the frame rates for Aion even with settings near maxed. Stays cool from what i've seen so far aswell.

Theres a penguin on the box. Awesome.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Love it.

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Tugboat
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/23/2009 4:52:09 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome


Pros: Every game I have runs astoundingly well. First time I've had a computer that the auto-detect selects the highest settings on everything(AA, etc). I have 2 of these cards in Crossfire mode on an Asus P5T Pro mobo, i7 2.66GHz CPU and 8GB DDR2 RAM.
Also, the Vapor-X and fan seem to keep these cards plenty cool.

Cons: Big! But they're in a full-tower case, so not such an issue.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/22/2009 9:58:46 AM

Rating + 2 Too Hot


Pros: It looks pretty

Cons: Horrible shroud redesign...what were they thinking? This shroud is much smaller than the previous design and leaks / fills the case up with hot air!!! Not only that, but the previous design's shroud had a "U" shaped design which reinforced the main board...now the board itself sags downward near the front of the case / feels cheap & flimsy.

Other Thoughts: This card runs so hot its brought my CPU / case temps up 10C!! Better have lots and lots of ventilation! I've always been impressed with Sapphire products, but this one has me scratching my head. Why go backwards?!

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

nick
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/21/2009 4:54:42 PM

Rating + 5 Perfection


Pros: I have maxed out every game ive tried to play.. this is unbeatable graphics card. and to think it can run cross fire! ill have this one for a while till games can catch up.

Cons: big.. but thats how they all go

Other Thoughts: love crossfire

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migrax
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/21/2009 10:58:17 AM

Rating + 5 Vapor-X to the Rescue


Pros: I bought this to replace an ailing Sapphire X1950Pro I have had for a couple of years. The X1950 was exhibiting temps above 95 Deg, though it had worked fine untill then. I popped this card into my gaming machine and fired it up. I was a little worried about it being a double wide card, in fact I had to remove the PCI Network card and use the onboard NIC so the fan could intake air properly. Temperature out of the box was 65 Deg idle and 71 deg Full bore. I am very happy with the card, my frame rates are all through the roof and everything I have runs with all features turned on at 1280x1024 the max my monitor can handle. Temperatures inside my computer are up a tad, but acceptably so.

Cons: The card is very wide and pretty long, make sure you have enough room in your case to accomodate this beast.

One thing that really isn't a con, for the first few days after I installed the card I heard the fans reving up really high, even with no 3D games running... then I determined it was my power supply fans that are on full time, and not the card's fault... guess I'll have to hit Newegg up for a new power supply.

Other Thoughts: It isn't much of a high end machine, but it works great in this configuration. I am probably bottle necked by my CPU but I am not seeing any problems yet.

Athlon 4400+
Asus A8V-XE Mainboard
2 Gigs Value Ram
Creative X-Fi Platinum
500 W Rosewill PS

Oblivion
Fallout 3
STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl
Two Worlds
all run maxed.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/20/2009 3:57:31 PM

Rating + 1 Sapphire FAIL!


Pros: I received the card within 2 days of ordering!!!
The card worked...just not well.

Cons: This card was TERRIBLE! It had heating issues, its very loud compared to other cards, and it only ran one game of mine without complete failure. (left 4 dead)

Couldn't even watch Hulu in full screen without extreme choppiness.

Other Thoughts: I got this card to play WoW and it couldn't even handle medium settings without dropping my frame rate below 20.
Perhaps it was a faulty card, but this is my first and last time doing business with Sapphire.

Btw Vapor-X is not as good as they say it is.

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

n1
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
8/20/2009 3:49:20 AM

Rating + 4 Not a good overclocker but good


Pros: Don't get me wrong this card is a good card and is already oc'd to 870/1050 but you won't get much more then that out of this card. Size wasn't a factor because I upgraded from a 9800gtx+ and this card is actually smaller so no problem with size. The temps I get are 49c idle and 60c which is fine with me. All in all a good card but if you're looking to oc a 4890 this is not the model to get. I hear the asus 4890 is a good oc'er with good cooling also. I wanted a card that could hit 1ghz but didn't find out till after I got this one that it can't get anywhere near 1ghz.

Cons: This 4890 vapor-x model doesn't overclock well at all. 901/1015 is what I got stable so far. Haven't messed with the voltage yet though.

Other Thoughts: This card performs great at the clocks that it comes at and cools well also. So if your looking for a great card with a good cooler that your not planing on oc'ing then this is it. If you're looking for more gains from oc'ing then look at a different 4890 model or maybe the toxic edition which is a little more but comes at 960/1050.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/18/2009 10:09:42 AM

Rating + 5 Great card for the price


Pros: Fast, runs LOTRO and CRYSIS with max settings no prob at 1650x1080.

Cons: slight whistle during long periods of gaming.

Other Thoughts: nice design, blue/black with no pictures on it of stupid characters.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

New PC Smell
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/17/2009 2:54:31 PM

Rating + 5 Great Card!


Pros: - Runs Americas Army 3 Extremely well.
- Cool Blue logo light for those digging blue LED look.
- Comes with PCI Express 6 pin adapters & Crossfire Bridge
- No heat problems for me.
- Quality, well known company.

Cons: - Very Large, won't be able to Quad Crossfire due to size with my motherboard.

Other Thoughts: Can't wait to bust this baby out with some other new games. I have not had any heat problems, however i did use ATI Overdrive software to increase fan speed as recommended in one of these reviews.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

aanewb
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/15/2009 2:57:32 PM

Rating + 4 Great quality graphics. Some problems.


Pros: Easy install. Free HDMI cable.
The card maxed everygame I have from bioshock to half life 2 episode 2. Amazing quality and FPS.

Cons: The card itself gets very hot!! I moved my harddrive to the highest bay so that the heat from this video card would not burn my harddrive. I mean seriously this thing is so hot you cannot touch it. If you have a midtower case I highly advise that you leave your case open so that the card's heat will not affect any other devices ie processor, ram, hdrives.

No free DVI cable.
VGA cable will not fit into the female slot on the video card because there is not enough room.

Other Thoughts: Vapor X. It works. I have my fan set to 60% and I can barley hear the card with my case open. I keep my fan at 75% and it's audible. The temp stays around 45C at idle and 50C at load.
Overall I'm satisfied. I bought the card for it's silent capabilities. I had fun toying with my case to meet the video card's speacial needs.

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4870
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/14/2009 12:11:55 AM

Rating + 5 Good Gpu


Pros: Used this gpu for my first build ( which i assembled 3 hours ago) and i really like it, just it barrely fitted my case. expected package to be better - no games. Gpu stays cool at least now .. Cpu fan 40% - 45 degrees iddling.

Cons: none that i know, just that blue light is kinda annoying..

Other Thoughts: Didn't expect the card to be that huge ..

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Inestimable
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/12/2009 9:09:22 PM

Rating + 5 Running Well


Pros: This card could win an award for industrial design. It is almost a work of art, and does very well for a second generation "cooler" design. The heat sinks all do their job. This raised my 3DMark 06 by over 3000 points alone, (over a 4850), and tremendous resolution in both Crysis, (and I am not even a gamer), and DVD playback.
This card is very overclockable, however, not for sustained periods due to heat. Good value for a 4870 with 1 GB RAM, and unique cooling solution. It does run cooler then the reference design by a good 5'C at load, and the fan is not noticable until you set at 70% or more. It is a long card, but no longer then the old reference design 4850. I like the native HDMI port, using it on an HP w2207h to good effect. (1680 X 1050).

Cons: Using only 4850s previously, I knew these 4870s ran hot, but did not know how hot. You could use this in the mens room to dry your hands. Yes, I have the case cooling and the fans needed, but was still a bit surprised. While I like the LED lighted "S" on the side of the card, mine flickers on and off, although not impacting anything else. The cooling fan could have been a slower unit designed to move more air, but it sounds like a weed wacker at high speed.

Other Thoughts: Running 3D Mark 06, at 99% Load, the GPU hit 64' C, with the fan at 72%, (not bad), and MEMIO hit 78'C.
Just make sure you are moving plenty of air through your case to keep all your other componants cool. A Zalman VF cooler might do slightly better on this, but again, the stock cooling is pretty good and the performance is definately there. I would buy this card again, although beware as it may be too big (almost 2 1/2 slots) for cross fire in most MB/Case set ups. One card is good enough for me.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Chris
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/11/2009 11:37:39 PM

Rating + 5 Great card


Pros: quick and easy install. Works like a charm. The blue sapphire logo goes nicely with the blue LED's in my case...
QUIET!

Cons: Didn't come with COD WAW. :-(

Other Thoughts: Overall a nice video card. I'm running CoD4 at max settings (4x AA, etc) and am getting roughly 220fps average on most of the multiplayer maps.
I'm fairly happy with it. It's much better than the Geforce 8600GT I was using before running this one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Mitch B.
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/11/2009 12:29:28 PM

Rating + 5 Awesome


Pros: Very, very quiet, especially compared to my previous X1900XT. Temp never rises above 70c. Runs all my games at highest or nearly highest settings with AA and AF.

Cons: Not a one.

Other Thoughts: Don't let anyone fool you, I have a relatively old PC and this card has breathed new life into it. You don't need the latest and greatest to see great improvements in FPS and image quality with this hardware. Leaps and bounds better than my X1900XT. Huge performance increase at 1024x1280. CPU bound blah blah blah. Don't listen to um.

DFI NF4 Ultra-D
X2 3800+ @ 2.8Ghz
2GB PC3200 Corsair XMS
4870 1GB
X-FI Titanium

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/8/2009 8:56:19 PM

Rating + 5 So quiet, yet effective cooling


Pros: It's a Radeon 4870, GDDR5 allows you to play any modern game in high resolution. The cooler is amazingly quiet even with the fan manually ramped up to 70% you can barely hear it. Temps are very reasonable. Load just approaches 60C, Idle 48 or so. Set the fan manually in overdrive to about 70% and just forget it.

Love having HDMI built into the card

Cons: I purchased and a few days later, then supply an HDMI cable and game with it. typical....

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/8/2009 5:59:52 PM

Rating + 5 I love this card


Pros: I used to be a geforce guy. When I had a ati radeon long time ago, it wasn't a good experience. The card itself might be good, but the driver was bad. I was building a HTPC so looking for a hdmi graphic card and decided to try hd4850. It was very good. It was reliable, fast and cheaper compare to geforce. So I bought another ati which is 4870. This card is just excellent. I am so sure that I got the right card for me. It's performance was impressive and look great with blue sapphire logo. Hdmi port works with no problem. I can't ask any more for a graphic card.

Cons: Heatsink of this card gets really hot.

Other Thoughts: Any one look for a graphic card with performance,hdmi, good looking and relatively cheaper, don't look further.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/6/2009 4:55:13 PM

Rating + 1 DOA


Pros: I placed the order and it was at my location the next morning.

Cons: They didn't know how to package the card. They put it in a huge oversized box, with the video card on the bottom with peanuts piled on top of it. The vga card must have absorbed all impacts in shipping. Issued an RMA, but I have to pay for shipping back a DOA item. booooo.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/6/2009 12:54:54 PM

Rating + 5 Exceptional Card for the Price


Pros: I've owned this card for about six weeks now, and could not be happier. This is the first "high end" offering I've bought from either GPU manufacturer, and it also happens to be the cheapest. Aside from gushing about the price, I've been very happy with the performance of this card as well. It's handled everything I've thrown at it (primarily Demigod, Dawn of War 2 and GRiD) with out an issue at 1680x1050 with the AA cranked up.

Cons: When the fan is quiet, it's quiet. And when it's loud, it's loud. I've found it's inaudible up to 30%, whisper quiet at 40%, but by the time you reach 60% fan speed it gets be to in the upper range of what I'd consider reasonable. Once you hit 70,80% it's very loud. However I've been leaving the fan on auto and it's never reached those levels when actually playing a game, only when tinkering around with the manual fan settings. However if you were planning on overclocking and generating more heat, the fan noise could become borderline unbearable.

Other Thoughts: Although somewhat slower than the 4890 (about 20%), I strongly feel the 4870 hits the sweet spot in the price:performance ratio. You would be well advised to save the extra money from the 4890 "upgrade" and put it aside to buy a second 4870 for crossfire down the road when we have games that can actually take advantage of that kind of power. For the time being, the 4870 gives you exceptional performance at an extremely attractive price point,

I don't know if the "X-Vapor" cooler is actually useful or just a gimmick; either way I give the Sapphire X-Vapor 4870 a strong buy recommendation.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

XPystchrisX
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/6/2009 6:50:13 AM

Rating + 5 HD4870


Pros: Fast & Cool

Cons: Large

Other Thoughts: This is exactly what you expect it to be. Reviews have been abundant for this card as it is nearing the 18 month old mark. I put this card in an Antec P180 with a fan directly in front of it that is throttled down at idle and throttled up when gaming. Temps are routinely at 55 idle and 65 max. Noise is an issue when the fan ramps up but that is only during game play. At idle the card is virtually silent.
Full marks for this card as it is exactly what you expect it to be.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Dark-Harbinger
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/4/2009 10:27:41 AM

Rating + 5 THIS CARD RAWKS!!!!!


Pros: I have had the card for a month now, was trying to decide if I wanted to upgrade to the 2GB version but I am so impressed with the card that I think I'll just crossfire another. I get 150fps in COD4 @ 1440x900 max res for my current monitor with all the bells and whistle maxed out. I can barely hear the fan @ 100%, but I do have the 1200 and it's 6 fans tend to drowned out the 4870's I have yet to see any temp above 60c no matter what I am playing this card is just awesome can't wait to see what it'll do crossfired.

Cons: None what so ever.

Other Thoughts: ASUS M4A79 Deluxe
AMD PII 955 Black
8GB DDR2 PC6400
Vapor-X 4870 1GB
WD Caviar Black 1TB
Antec Quattro 850
Windows 7

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MikeC
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/2/2009 11:31:55 AM

Rating + 5 Huge bang for the buck


Pros: This is my first high end graphics card, just upgraded from an Nvidia 8600GT. The only game I play is COD4 and I have it completely maxed out at 1280x1024 and it almost never drops below 150fps and goes all the way up to 250fps for the less complicated areas!! I read a lot of the reviews and was worried about heat but the vapor x is definitely what you want. See other thoughts for more explanation on heat/noise.

Cons: It's a heavy card, in my case the card is noticeably bending towards the end. For the time being I have a piece of foam wedged between the memory coolers and the bottom of the case to provide upward support because the bending looks like it will eventually damage my card or motherboard. I am going to buy a Silverstone Raven case to rotate the mobo and take the weight off the pci x16 connector. Also, you will need to have good thermal management in your case or this card will heat everything up and cause your PSU and CPU fans to work overtime.

Other Thoughts: The card puts out a lot of heat, but it can be managed by manually tuning the fan up to 65%. If you leave it on the stock settings the card is probably quieter than the other components in your system- it's almost inaudible. However that causes the heat to build up inside the case which makes everything else hotter- my cpu fan started going to 100% and my PSU was even getting hot. After adjusting the fan speed manually and changing the fan configuration in my case I was able to get everything under control. I now see 50 degrees C after a few hours of gaming which for a powerful GPU is nothing. CPU temps with the stock cooler went up, but are still in the high 30's and that's acceptable too. I'm going to ugprade to a gaming PC case with better airflow just to be on the safe side. If you have a standard case with poor thermal management then you will probably have issues with this card.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

spind0c
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/31/2009 6:40:04 PM

Rating + 5 Edit to previous post


Pros: See below

Cons: ATI Overdrive under clock problem

Other Thoughts: After activatine ATI overdrive my GPU locked @ 500Mhz. The FPS of 56 was @ that clock.

After editing the Profile I was able to get the FPS to 106

To find the fix just do a search on google for:
"ATI overdrive fix 500mhz"

Stable @ 780Mhz GPU & 1090Mhz Memory

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MIke
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/31/2009 6:24:24 PM

Rating + 2 Dead after 1 week....


Pros: Typically a very fast card with very good overclocking potential

820 core 1050 mem stable.

Very cool, about 65C full load.

Very nice Blue LED and case badge

Cons: Seemed to be getting a lot less performance that i should have been getting....
Bluray playback was poor and lag in games was a bit high for this card.
Finally died on me after one week so im sure it was just a faulty card.
RMA without any questions and cant wait to get a working card
Newegg was very helpful in replacing my card for me

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

spind0c
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/30/2009 8:03:31 PM

Rating + 5 Hard to beat for the $$$


Pros: Excellent performance, Outstanding gameplay, Quiet, Cool. Great value!!!

Cons: Power connectors on end instead of top.

Other Thoughts: In my opinion the best buy for the money!! I replaced a 2900xt with this card. The difference is dramatic. Using ATI Overdrive Clocked to 780Mhz (GPU) and 1090Mhz (MEM) with no problem. (BTW the utility took about an hour to complete, and I had to move the mouse ocasionally to keep it from going to sleep)

Stable framerate after multiple passes @ 56 fps @1920x1080 in HL Lost Coast test, AA @ 4 and AF @ 8

Although it is the same size as my 2900xt, ATI moving the pwr connectors to the end of the card made it a VERY VERY tight squeeze in my midtower workstation case.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Mordachai
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/29/2009 6:45:08 AM

Rating + 1 Had to RMA


Pros: Good looking.
I've had good experiences with Sapphire in the past.

Cons: Cooling system is terrible. 80C at idle!
Too wide. The heatsinks on the backside of the board cause it to take up more than 2 slots!
Cannot be used in Crossfire (too wide)
The fan shroud is only an umbrella, spilling most? much? of the heated air into your case, and not out the back vent! The inside temps in my well-ventilated case went way up with this thing.
Overheated: I had to do an emergency shut-down at 115C and climbing!!!
I had to RMA this unit.

Other Thoughts: I own an earlier model of 4870 1GB from Sapphire that is great - idles at 56c, full load at 80c (could run cooler if I ran the fan harder - I wish there was a way to up the responsiveness of the fan w/o having to set it to a constant speed). But the shroud on the earlier model is complete, blowing the hot air mostly out the back, and sparing the rest of my components from overheating. I have no idea why they gave up their earlier heat-pipe design?

AMD's 4870s are running rather hot. They may well be rated to 120C, but that's horribly inefficient: burning ridiculous amounts of power to heat the air in your room (I guess you won't need a space heater this winter). They need to work on getting their power requirements way, way down, and hence the heat way down.

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Mordachai
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/24/2009 5:38:00 PM

Rating + 4 Some Caveats


Pros: Good looking, Fast, Reasonable Price

Cons: Hot!!! 80c idle (compared to 56c for my other 4870 - the older Saphire 4870 model with the heat pipes).
Wider than a double slot - so don't try to XFire two of this model.

Other Thoughts: You should be aware that you can't really do crossfire with two of these. They have a heatsink on the backside, which probably helps with cooling (but man is it hot), but the extra bulk means you literally cannot fit two in crossfire.
Luckily, the other Saphire 4870 that I have is the correct size, so I can fit it next to the other one.

Ultimately, I'm going to have to exchange this Vapor-X cooling one for the older model. 24c difference in temp at idle is obscene, and doesn't lend itself to inspiring confidence that this thing isn't going to melt down to slag sometime soon (or cause hard locks, reboots, game instabilities, etc.)

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Mike
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/24/2009 7:15:30 AM

Rating + 4 Only Review You Need....


Pros: This card is very fast, and can take a very reasonable overclock.
820 core/ 1075 mem. with no overheating....
Brought my 3dmark06 score up from 8900 to 13700 right out of the box.
Has an awesome blue LED with the sapphire logo lit up, added bonus for my blue led themed Nzxt Zero 2 case....
HDMI plug is awesome, and does truly support 7.1 surround sound. VGA plug might come in handy if my monitor ever stops working and im forced to use an old one.... Of course it has a DVI output as well
Card fan is easily adjusted in the ATI CCC, but make sure ATI Tray Tools isn't running, or else the option to set the core/mem/ and fan speeds will be greyed out.
This card just straight up destroys my old 8800gts, i get about 55fps with Crysis warhead at 1080p and 2x aa. not bad considering i used to get about 16 with that 8800gts.(my amd6000+x2 @ 3.4ghz prolly still bottlenecks this puppy)
This card in crossfire would just be insane.

Cons: Memory heat sinks on back of card get REALLLY hot. Doesnt seem to do anything, but i think we could push memory clocks well over 1100 if these didnt get so hot.
ATI CCC just doesnt compare to Nvidias. NO custom AA or AF settings for individual games.
I get some noise while playing blurays that really damages the hi-def look of the movies. Seems like Nvidias "Noise Reduction" option in their CCC would be useful here.
No heat is blown out of the back of the card, so for those with poor circulation in their cases, this could be a problem.
Card came with crossfire bridge, two 4pin to PCIE power cables, driver, and Sapphire case badge. No dvi,hdmi cables.

Other Thoughts: a few thigns would make this card 100% better -

Better cooling options for the memory = less artifacting
Better heat exhaust = might lower case temps

A few things about this card that destroy= is simply a powerhouse capable of destroying crysis,farcry 2, etc as well as prototype, and fear 2 for example, at 8x AA highest settings maxed out.

Enjoy this card!

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ToddK
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/21/2009 8:30:32 PM

Rating + 5 Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB


Pros: Cool and surprisingly quiet.

Cons: Back heat sinks seem to get really hot compared to my old Visiontek 512MB version, and not all of the heat is exhausted out of the back of the case. It does seem to stay just as cool according to my monitoring software, though.

Other Thoughts: Newegg comes through again and again. Why shop anywhere else.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/19/2009 9:06:58 PM

Rating + 5 Great


Pros: Relatively quiet fan. Runs cool as a cucumber.

Cons: none

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

FrustrationMan
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/18/2009 10:47:27 PM

Rating + 1


Pros: It looks good.

Cons: VGA plug is blocked by the bracket for the card, the screw-holes on the mounting bracket don't align they are out of place, i received the card damaged.

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
7/17/2009 11:16:06 PM

Rating + 5 FAN SPEED


Pros: Its a ini file i believe you can change the fan speed with notepad and then save and overwrite the file, i dont know what its called but there will be a text file in the installation directory for the drivers, use google

Cons: macs

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/14/2009 9:37:43 AM

Rating + 5 re:50BMG


Pros: You can edit the fan speed in CCC (Catalyst Control Center).

Cons: nothing

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

50BMG
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/13/2009 5:07:47 AM

Rating + 5 hot rod


Pros: quiet, cool, fast. 69c at max load 56c idle, never hear the fan, doubled fps on some games. My old crossfired 3870's only got 45FPS on cod4 wetworks map, now it gets 100fps.

Cons: fan speed control is non-existant, but it runs so cool it doesn't need it. The fan speeds up when under load, so it works well. Just no way to edit fan speed. I dont OC graphics cards so no problem. those who OC graphics cards may need have issues.

Other Thoughts: Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4
Intel Q9550 @ 3.4Ghz
4G PNY 800Mhz DDR2
Sunbeam Core Contact Cooler (heatsinc & fan)
Antec 1200 case
800w BFGTech psu

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

50bmg
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/11/2009 3:14:40 PM

Rating + 5 smooth


Pros: cool and quiet, improved all of my applications. Maybe 2 quiet.

Cons: fan and activity show 0 on CCC. but it works. needs better fan control.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

daemondarque
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/9/2009 12:09:38 PM

Rating + 5 Awesome card!


Pros: This is one amazing card! I ran Oblivion on a 3850 with 512mb, and texture memory was always maxed out--but with this 4870, memory handling is so much more efficient, it's not even close to what the old card carried. And then there's the speed...
Sapphire's vapor-x cooling works beautifully; the fan noise is more of a whoosh than anything else, and is only noticeable at higher manual settings (above 60).

Cons: It's big--very big. Spans the full length of my Centurion case, coming right up against the drive bays; and it takes up two full slots, leaving only a very small clearance for a PCI card in the next.

This thing puts off some heat and stirs a lot of air, and blows it all out into the case. As a result, I had to re-evaluate air flow, and overhaul my case-fan speed adjustments to keep my motherboard from overheating. With that done, though, the temps dropped dramatically on all components--and now they stay well within tolerances even under load. (The answer to cooling isn't always to add more fans ... sometimes you have to take some away!)

Other Thoughts: This is a super value at $169--heavy and solidly-built, and the vapor-x technology is a winner. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/7/2009 5:16:54 PM

Rating + 4 Good Card


Pros: Simple installation and quiet fan. Definite improvement over my 512MB ATI Radeon 3870.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Worth the cost for the games I play and 22" widescreen monitor @ 1650 x 1080

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Squid267
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/7/2009 1:38:29 PM

Rating + 5 Great Product, Great CS


Pros: Somewhat Quiet
Powerful
Stylish
Able to Run all my favorite games at 1440x900 (My bihghest Resolution) @ high quality
1 Gig
HDMI

Cons: Around 70%+ fan speed its considerable louder.

Other Thoughts: I bought thi sin June when it was $199.99. a couple days and price drops to $159.99. I talked to a rep over chat he said I wouldn't be refunded so I emailed them (BEST OPTION) and i was given $20 off my next order (Better than nothing). I RMA'd it, I thought it was defective it was noth, it was my Power supply giving out. So by the time my card returned the dead to post mark the rebate was over. I talked to a Newegg rep and I was told send in the rebate and if i was denied Newegg will honro the $20! This is what you call a buisness!

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/7/2009 1:29:20 PM

Rating + 3 Great but not in X-fire


Pros: Wicked speed

Cons: Poor temperature management

Other Thoughts: Sapphire touts their Vapor-X technology, but it doesn't work well at all. I switched from 2 3870's (w/factory cooling) w/no problems to 2 of these. I can't run a game for more than 30 mins w/out the cards overheating. Am looking at a water cooled solution now. Love the cards, but can't say much for Vapor-X.

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Dread
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/5/2009 11:24:03 PM

Rating + 5 Love It


Pros: Runs very cool and VERY quiet. I have this card crossfired with a diamond 4870 and this card doesn' t make a fraction of the noise. The look of the card is very cool too with the blue sapphire led logo on it.

Cons: Box has very little documentation in it and looks kind of cheap but your not buying this for the box, what's inside is all that matters.

Other Thoughts: Wish i could trade my diamond 4870 for another one of these.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/4/2009 2:05:11 PM

Rating + 5 good enough for me


Pros: 1280x1024 on desktop(dvi) and 1920x1080(hdmi) on 52" aquos, both auto detected. Video playback of files and br have no issues.

no issues with any adobe software.

Cons: tad rough getting into 900 case on P6T SE. hdd didn't allow 1st slot usage so used the 2nd. that takes up one hdd slot but no biggie, 3 others are open for use.

Other Thoughts: If I ever decide to go crossfire, I'll need to move my hdds down.

used other sapphire cards with no issues so said why not with price/performance needed.

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jlecornu
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/1/2009 6:29:04 AM

Rating + 5 Nice card


Pros: Fast. HDMI port. Runs cool if you bump the fan speed up.

Cons: None so far...

Other Thoughts: Very large card. Like most cards now it is very long, but the heatsink/fan also adds a lot of height to it. I installed this as an updrade for my brothers HP e9100z series. The case is tiny and there was very little clearance for this card.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
5/18/2009 8:41:08 AM

Rating + 5 No Video, check pwr requierments


Pros: The newer high end GPU's require more power. If the mfg says 500w go 650w+ to be one the safe side. I've owned several sapphire GPU's and have never had any issues or DOA. Oops, maybe that' because I know what I'm doing. Yes I'm also a tech and build custom game rigs as well as well as my own. If you don't get a p.o.s.t. video error ane end up with a black screen look the the power suppy as the most likely suspect. 3 under powerd computers will give the same results. Missing a power input on the card will as well.
Hope this helps someone with this issue.

Cons: Don't blame the mfg if you don't know what you are doing.

Other Thoughts: Newegg has the some of the best CS anywhere!!!

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I'm Broke
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/15/2009 10:08:47 PM

Rating + 4 Almost Perfect


Pros: This is the fastest card I have purchased. Just upgraded from an 4670 512 MB to this monster. The 4670 don't get me wrong is not an bad card at all with vertical resolutions ranging from 720-800 P, any thing above it will scream I need more than 128 bits memory controller. I tested out my new 4870 on an number of games that has come out recently. FC2, its playable with every thing maxed, just don't expect the smoothes gameplay all the time. FEAR 2 is butter smooth, I tried my best to make the game run under 60 FPS, not a chance. COD4/5 plays both smoothe with everything maxes, just in COD 5 you might not want to be around too many explosions, tends to slow down with 8 X AA. Crysis War Head, it plays smooth in the begining, but choppy in the snow levels and end. BIOShock and Mass Effect, perfectly smooth with everthing maxed out. GTA 4 it plays smooth with some stutter here in there. Saint Rows 2 it plays it in the Teens, no fault of the card, just an poorly ported game.

Cons: This card idle heat is perfectly fine as long the fan is set to 50-60 percent for the speed. Load temps and nosie can get out of hand. With the card fan being set to 65 percent it will keep the GPU generally under 75 C during load, anything less than that your talking about baking eggs on the front plate. Pushing the fan past 70-75 will keep the load temps on 70 C, but you can expect to hear something sound like those little remote control cards stuck against the walls with the tires turning. Overall not as cool running as they advertise, the box content seem to be missing items from the review copy. I wish I could do an half star off because this card is pretty good except for the cooling system, its either silent and hot, or loud and cool, pick your posion.

Other Thoughts: All in all and great card, not had this kind of power before. My Rig, Core 7 920 overclocked to 3.1 GHZ, 6 GIGS of OCZ 1600 DDR 3 Ram, Blu Ray and 22 X DVD drive. 800 watt Zalman Power supply, ATI 650 TV Turner,
Sound Blaster 4 Fatility Edition sound card. 560 5.1 logitech setup and a 25.5 inch Samsung TOC monitor.

17 out of 21 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

I hate RMA
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/14/2009 8:59:03 PM

Rating + 4 Gets the Job Done


Pros: This card is sleek with blue lights around the fan and with black and dark blue color scheme. Not only does it has looks, this baby has power to match. 50 FPS in GTA max settings, over 120 FPS in FEAR 2 maxed out, over 100 FPS in TF2 maxed out, and 56 FPS in FAR CRY 2 maxed. No doubt with the 9.4 drivers this card can be GTX275 in some cases and games, best high performance bang for your buck not including the 4770.

Cons: Where to begin, this card has an heat problems, and its loud. I found the perfect settings that works for me in terms of noise to heat ratio. Manually setting the Fan to 55-62 percent its keeps the GPU in the mid 50's idle and high 70's load without the GPU sound like an vacum.

Other Thoughts: My Rig
Apevia Navigator case Full Tower
Intel Icore 920 with 6 GB of DDR1600 ram
WD 320 HD and 250 Maxtor HD
Creative SB4 with 64 MB of ram onboard
ATI 650 PRO TV Turner
and of course 4870 1 GB Vapor X Radeon.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/13/2009 8:44:17 PM

Rating + 4 A quiet 4870


Pros: This card runs all my games very quietly. I was easily able to overclock it to 800/1000 which is plenty for me. (If you need more go for the 4890) The fan works well at automatic settings and only spins up when it needs to. Even running games overclocked for long periods it has yet to go above 50% and the noise is barely discernable. It worked well straight out of the box and I was up and running very quickly. Even the Windows 7 drivers seem to be working pretty good. I don’t know what all the warranty fuss is about. Look at the specifications. It comes with fairly standard 2 year coverage for parts and labor.

Cons: I was disappointed with the lack of any significant included software package. A driver CD is the only software that’s included. I was hoping for at least a DVD codec / software! Yes, you get a power adapter and a crossfire connector but I'll dock it one egg for practically being a bare bones product.

Other Thoughts: This card offered the best 4870 value for me while still being quiet. 4890's are still only available with noisy stock cooling and 4850's just don't offer enough punch.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Moxnicht
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
5/8/2009 6:29:43 PM

Rating + 3 Doubts


Pros: I do not own this item but it sounds like a really great card to pair in crossfire with another Sapphire 4870 1g I purchased from Newegg earlier, the lower temps are quite appealing.

Cons: The card I purchased earlier is covered by NE for the first year, and this card is apparently covered by NE for only 30 days. The idea of doing warranty business with a company on the other side of the Pacific ocean, with me paying round trip shipping,and a "logistics" fee, seems to be a real deal killer.

Other Thoughts: The first card I purchased runs great and overclocks decently, but the fan control blows, and I don't mean in any effective manner. It has to be set manually, and you listen to the fan whether it's needed, or not.

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Euphoria
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
5/1/2009 7:55:25 AM

Rating + 5 Excelent card


Pros: -Ok cooling
-Great VRM heatsink
-HDMI port

Cons: I bit higher idle temp of 67C but High load temp never goes beyond 81C so is not really a con, but i thought I'll mention it. Also note that my card is OCed at 790/1000

Other Thoughts: I purchased this card as a 2nd HD4870 1Gb to run in crossfire with my HIS HD4870 1GB which I got from NewEgg few months back. They both run at 790/1000
I'll highly recommend this card to anyone looking for an upgrade.

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Jim
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/29/2009 8:30:16 PM

Rating + 1 DOA x 2


Pros: Newegg as usual had fast shipping and was efficient on replacing defective units.

Cons: Ordered first one two weeks ago and Dead On Arrival. No video output at all. Put it in the three different computers I have in my home and dead on all three. Put my old trustee Nvidia 7950 back in my computer and have video again. Received the replacement from Newegg today and guess what? Dead on arrival. No video output at all. I am a computer repairman, and was starting to doubt my own abilities. Again, I ran the card through three different machines and only a black video screen and yellow warning light on monitor. Put the old 7950 in again and am using it to type this review. I would stay a long way away from this one. Obviously quality control at Sapphire is lacking. This is the last Sapphire component I will buy.

Other Thoughts: I insisted on a refund from Newegg, because I did not want another replacement of this particular model. Newegg was super in agreeing to this. If you order this model, good luck.

1 out of 14 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/25/2009 10:50:34 AM

Rating + 5 Good so far


Pros: Newegg delivered this baby promptly and intact, as always!

I haven't overclocked this card yet, as there has been no real need to. It performs beautifully and stays cool. Once I disabled the stupid fan control and threw in on 100%, I dropped my idle temps from 65C to 47C. The fan is certainly audible, but fairly quiet as these things go. When under load, it gets back up around the old idle temperatures, but I've run Assassin's Creed and TF2 at absolute max settings, 1920x1080 without so much as a hiccup from this thing.

Once I've abused this thing more thoroughly, I may update this review, but all indications point to this being an excellent card, so far! I'm pleased with my choice. I just wish I'd waited another couple of weeks to have bought it and saved another $20!

Cons: Note really a con since it's expected, but like all 4870's, the thing is big. 9.5" big. I forgot to take power cables into account when doing case measurements, and ended up doing some creative wiring through my hard drive cage because I was a quarter of an inch off.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Zee
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/23/2009 3:06:04 PM

Rating + 5 The overclock master


Pros: I personally feel this card runs nice and cool for an ATI card. I have a HD 4850 reference design card that easily bumps 85 degrees all the time. The Vapor-X cooling keeps this card (which I've overclocked to 785/1085Mhz, which ATI allows with their CCC utility) below 70 deg C at ALL times, even during various benchmarking and stress tests.

Cons: Still not happy with the audio output over HDMI. Don't know if that is an audio card problem or this card's problem. The audio over HDMI sounds like a bad connection on a cell when first booting up. Afterwards it's fine.

Other Thoughts: I'm definitely getting another to run in Crossfire. Crysis is beautiful and smooth, and it can only get better by popping another one of these bad boys in.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

AusDog
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/23/2009 1:05:07 AM

Rating + 5 Superbly Cool


Pros: Fantastic performance. Use your fav OC utility and run it at 1000 and 780 all the time so your 2D is great also. Just set the fan on manual 70% constant and it never goes over 60C. Dropped right in no problem and quiet as a mouse.

Cons: The Sapphire has the worst warranty in the biz at only 60 days whereas XFX warrants their cards for the life of the first owner AND the second owner. Vapor-X was what sold me and it's worth the trouble to get.

Other Thoughts: Tickled Pink.

12 out of 17 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

prod211
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/14/2009 2:24:58 PM

Rating + 4 Good Product


Pros: Its powerful. It runs COD 4 really well. Looks good in my Siverstone sugo sg01 case.

Cons: It runs hotter than I expected even with the vapor-x cooling technology. It takes awhile for it to cool and auto readjust the fan speed back down. It does a satisfactory job of upscaling regular dvd movies, but I has hoping it would upscale with just a bit more quality.

A week later after I bought this the rebates became available. I should have waited because I would have bought the 2GB version with the rebate.

Other Thoughts: Overall I'm happy with the card, but again I feel that it runs too hot!! and too slow to cool it down.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Goblin. Namco.
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/11/2009 6:33:03 PM

Rating + 5 AMAZING


Pros: 1Gig GDDR5!!!

This card preforms great. WoW and CSS on highest setting with 24x custom AA and 16x AF getting plenty of frames and no jitters. This thing does it all.

Cons: I didn't upgrade my motherboard so I am still running PCI-Express 1.0. Card is 2.0. So I run half frame rates, yet still get 70-150 in WoW and 200-300 in CSS. Not a reason to give and loss of eggs. Card preforms great.

Other Thoughts: As i said i have an older am2 board that only supports pci-e 1.0. So I'm running my gfx at half power. The graphics card has a self clocking mechanism that down clocks the card to 500mhz core from 750.

THIS IS A POWER SAVING FEATURE.

As soon as you enter a game or anything that is highly graphical it will increase back to 750 or whatever you overclock to.

Card is definitely a go buy now sort of thing. I needed an upgrade from my ATI x1950gt. and this card fit the bill. Next year when the ATI 5000 series hits i plan to upgrade to that but will end up getting an am3 processor and ddr3 1333 memory.....

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

revan.05
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/11/2009 11:30:17 AM

Rating + 4 touch it, break it, smack it, shake it... tec-no-lo-gy!


Pros: Absolutely the coolest/quietest card I've seen using the RV700 series chips. At max load with the fan on auto, this card has only hit 64'C... Fallout 3 @ 4xAA, forced 16xAF, max detail settings @ 1680x1050... after playing for +/- 30min, I averaged 52fps. Thats nothing to scoff at. The 1gb of GDDR5 makes a world of difference, as I upgraded from a Visiontek 4870 w/ 512gb. Also the blue LED Sapphire logo is a cool addition to any PC case w/ a blue-light setup, such as my own.
I would feel safe saying that this is by far THE BEST HD4870 on the market (value+performance)... unless your running Vista/DX10.0, in which case the 2gb model may actually put the extra 1gb of ram to use.

Cons: Again, limited overclocking. This card has great potential for overclocking, and as we all know, Overdrive doesnt give much in that department. Even if there were more OC room granted by the drivers, the BIOS limits this, as this card has only one voltage setting(or PowerPlay mode). My VisionTek 4870 has 3 seperate PowerPlay modes: one for stand-by & 2D/desktop use, one for 3D/Gaming clocks, and another setting which was .15v higher that wasnt even used... Until I changed the BIOS settings to make use of it and then OC'd the bejeesus out of it!
Also, the exhaust slots on the output-port panel are useless with this card... The way the heatsink/fan and shroud are designed is very efficient, but makes NO USE of the exhaust port. With the fan@100%, there was no heat coming out of the panel at all. This really hurts a case like mine where everything is sealed, and the fans are to be the only in/out for best air/heat transfer.

Other Thoughts: I usually set the fan manually at 55% for gaming. The Vapor-X system is extremely efficient, and the fan almost seems un-needed at times. The fan on this card should NEVER hit 100%- Even so, @100% it only matches my case fans in noise (during gaming) and is inaudible at anything under 80%.
A friend has already changed the BIOS on his card. Without a voltage increase the card is stable @ 810mhz-GPU with an adjusted fan-slope, though no additional room was needed for the Mem clocks, as 1000mhz is plenty with GDDR5/PCI-E2.0
*** Seperate RAM on these cards already! 1gb Video/Shader RAM & 1gb Texture RAM *** just an idea...

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/27/2009 3:51:27 PM

Rating + 4 It’s very quite


Pros: It’s very quite, a little too quite at first I was not sure if the fan was running at all. Seems to be stable and the 1 gig of ram is more then enough for all of today's programs, and I don’t plan on keeping it for more then 2 years so no real reason to pay extra for the 2 gig yet.

Cons: I think sapphire needs to adjust the smart fan controller on it, by disabling it and turning the fan to 100% the temp drops by 15-20 degrees (idle and under load) and even with the fan at 100% its not near as loud as my old 8800 GT under normal load so i am not sure why they have it set up not to kick in until the card is over 60 degrees (below 60 the fan spins at about 20% then ramps up)

VGA port why? If you are spending more then 150 bucks on a card you don’t have anything that still uses VGA. A second dvi port would have been much better.

Other Thoughts: The review copies that I have been seeing on a number of websites came with a lot of extra software why did they not include anything bundled with the retail box.

The box just has a small sticker that says 1 GB over the 2 GB card box seemed like a cheap way to do it.

With the card only being out less then a week it shipped with old drivers that had to be updated as soon as it was installed.

very little documentation in the box.

5 out of 15 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

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