SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100245L

Pros: Let me start of by saying that I am a Nvidia guy, always have been. Well, that is until I bought the Asus P5Q Deluxe and found out I couldn't use my two 8800GTS cards in SLI. Intel-based boards like my P45 chipset do not support SLI. Oh well, I was dead-set on linking two cards, so I spent maybe $30 more per card and bought these two beauties. My board is "Crossfire-Ready", so it just made sense.

Right out of the box with no OC'ing on my CPU or GPU's I was getting 15,954 on 3Dmark5, 13,547 on 3Dmark6, and 11,715 on 3Dmark Vantage!!

So, I got me the latest driver-signed version of *ivatuner (2.2), and OC'd it up to 700mhz clock and 1150mhz memory clock. Now I'm getting 21,321 on 3Dmark5, 17,568 on 3Dmark6, and 12,581 on 3Dmark Vantage!! (I should note that I've also OC'd my Q6600 from 2.4ghz to 3.4ghz as well for the last measurements)

Cons: These cards run hot. I was getting up to 90C during a full load. Definitely think about an aftermarket cooling fan.

I can hear the cards when set at 100%, but with my 7 other fans, it really isn't a big deal.

Overall Review: These cards may not look as cool as the 8800GTS cards, or even other versions of the HD4850. But because of that you'll save money and space in your case. I should also mention that these cards are shorter than the 8800GTS and will not crowd out your SATA's when plugging in the power connectors. Both cards some with a Crossfire bridge, and both cards have two slots each. Since I didn't find any literature (officially) about using one or both - I opted for both. Not sure if there is a benefit to that, but it makes me feel better none-the-less.

Pros: Worked great for the first two weeks, no problems at all

Cons: After the two weeks the fan stopped working then it died.

Overall Review: good card for a good price, but i didn't pay for a piece of junk.