SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 DirectX 10.1 100257L 512MB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Pros: I don't really need to explain this, it's known already. Major upgrade from my X1800XT.

Cons: The very abnormal idle temps which may cause GPU failure if not taken care of correctly.

Overall Review: Here is what I did and what you should do too. You can search online for the Radeon BIOS editor that will allow you to modify the stock BIOS "temperature vs fan speed" transfer function residing in the BIOS, which will help keep your GPU much cooler than 68C. Also you can use the editor to patch the annoying 100% fan spin-up at boot bug that is present in the HD4870. On top of that, throw some aftermarket thermal compound on the GPU and your good to go. My HD4870 now idles at 48C. During load it hangs around 66C.

Pros: This card is a massive improvement over my 8800. Runs Crysis at 1280x1024, highest settings between about 40-60fps with anti alliasing turned on. CoD4 with max settings gets about 150-200 fps constant. Just a massive improvement over my 8800 and a great value for the price.

Cons: Card runs a little hot but but it's not really a problem.

Overall Review: Little tricky fitting it in my coolermaster case.

Pros: At first I couldn't believe how hot this card ran, but that is easily fixed with the ATI 'catalyst control center' that comes with ATI's drivers now. Just up the fan speed another 10% and it will run MUCH, MUCH cooler. If you keep upping the fan speed, it will get pretty loud, though

Cons: This card is big so make sure you have room for it. But all of the high end cards that are coming out now are just as big, if not bigger

Overall Review: The performance and image quality with this card is incredible. Having a lot of fun maxing out all settings in the games that I play, and still getting playable FPS :)

Pros: Card runs stable, upgraded from a 8800GT 512, appears to give a much smoother game play experience. I upgraded because I bought and am Running games on 24" Dell 2408. 1920x1200 was too much for the 8800GT. This 4870 seems to handle the higher resolutions much better.

Cons: ATI. Driver packages are horrible. MUST use the control center to keep the temps low (set fan speeds).

Overall Review: REBATE - the WORST rebate requirements I have ever seen. READ THE FORMS - they have about 6 requirements that they can disqualify you for. They seem to have it written and designed to trick out of the rebate. Rebates take 14 weeks to process..... Don't count on getting it.

Pros: Ran fine the first few days. Nice and fast and not too noisy with the fan speed set at 40%. Temps never went over 65C at full load.

Cons: After a couple of days it started to artifact. I swapped it out with my wife's Asus 4850 and the problem went away on my PC and followed the 4870 to her system.

Overall Review: Its on the way back to Newegg now for a replacement RMA. Hopefully it won't take more than a week.

Pros: Very fast and stable card with 8.10 drivers. Playing Crysis "very high" dx9 settings and Gears of War PC atm. all settings maxed 1600x1200 resolution with no hiccups; no slowdown.

Cons: I'll agree the card does get hot (at idle) you may see upwards of 70 deg. C. Funny thing is, at full load it doesn't get much hotter.

Overall Review: As said previously in other reviews, the 8.10 drivers do have fan speed control and just a little nudge really makes the temps drop fast and without too much fan noise. If you do decide to crank the fan to 100, you will definitely hear it.

Pros: I've yet to see what these "high temps" are that people are referring to with this card. I've OC'd this to 800mhz core and my idle and load temps are very close to each other - 68 idle 70 load. Considering the performance this GPU is pushing, that's quite chilly. Heck my old 8800GT would reach 80+ and that's still considered normal for a GPU. Performance is as you'd expect: very good, even compared to a not-so-old 8800GT. Before the upgrade, I was able to pull off ultra settings @ 1680x1050 in Fallout 3 without AA to a good 30+ fps outdoors. With the 4870 (even without OC), I'm able to push it up to 4xAA and still get a solid 50+ fps outdoors. I've seen improvements across the board that put an 8800GT to shame. I was very torn when deciding whether or not the jump from my 8800GT to a 4870 would be worth it. I'm glad I made the choice. All the games I wanted to push a bit higher ended up being able to be pushed much farther than I thought.

Cons: I wish I could come up with a better con, but I hate the stupid decal on the card. I wish it was just plain 'ole red all over like some of the other 4870s instead of having Miss Lara Croft rip-off embedded on my card. Some of Sapphire's card designs from the past are great, this one......not their best. They stuck iPhone screen covers in the box.....come again? This is a desktop video card, something that has absolutely nothing to do with an iPhone. Sigh.....can't argue with the price of this card though.

Overall Review: Make sure you ditch the CD drivers it comes with and go straight to ati.amd.com and get the proper latest drivers. This is my power supply amperage, for your own reference: 29 Amps total on 12v rail. Two 12v rails at 14a and 15a. I was weary about using this with my 500w Thermaltake PSU with the above mentioned amperage because some people with 50+ Amps were worried about running this card......talk about being worried over nothing. This runs like a dream on my card, and I even got to make use of one of the Molex to PCIe power adapters that came in the box.

Pros: getting 50 fps on farcry 2 with 4x AA. i saw a comment about mishaps with 4870 and p5q pro mb. i havent had a problem. i updated the bios and ati drivers.

Cons: can't complain yet. runs quiet

Overall Review: using P5q pro; corsair 750W PSU, 2gigs crucial ballistx DDR 800. E8400 dual core. i haven't played around w/ the fan. once prices go down, ill definitely get another 4870