On the downside there wasn’t much in the way of air circulation as the CPU and graphics fans were barely turning so the innards of the system got rather hot. However, it was all within limits and perfectly acceptable.
The worst thing we can say about this card is that it has a stupid blue LED built in
You’ll be glad to hear that there was an aspect of the HD 4890 Vapor-X that caused us some mild upset and that was the blue LED inside the Sapphire logo on the top edge of the card. It’s unnecessary and a bit tacky. Trivial though it is, it's really the only criticism that we can make about this graphics card.
Sapphire charges a modest premium of less than £20 for the Vapor-X cooler. We think it's money well spent, but there is a question about the wisdom of buying a DirectX 10.1 graphics card when DirectX 11 and Windows 7 are imminent.
AMD will launch its DX11 HD 5870 in a few weeks’ time but right now its performance and price are unknown. Added to that, we are confident that it will take a good few months before we see the first DirectX 11 games, so if you’re in the market for a top-notch gaming graphics card to play straight away, the HD 4890 Vapor-X is worth some serious consideration.
Verdict
We are deeply impressed by the Sapphire Vapor-X cooling system as it combines silent running with top gaming power and a fair price. ®
More Graphics Card Reviews...
AMD ATI Radeon HD 4770 |
Zotac GeForce GTX 275 AMP! |
Sapphire Vapor-X HD 4850 |
AMD ATI Radeon HD 4890 |
Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X 1GB
COMMENTS
I like it.
i have this card, i've had it for a month (the 2gb version)
i like it, pretty decent, not arsed about DX11 (look at the DX10 debacle!)
you can make it sound like a hoover if you go into catalyst and set the manual fan to high.
Oh and the blue LED goes bye bye with a pair of tin snips, however, since my case lights are green, a soldering iron and a green LED were a better idea.
@AC
Yep, ATI drivers still crash Vista when aero is running, it has to be disabled to avoid crashes.
It's the only way, I've had this issue, tried every new driver release and it still isn't fixed.
The Return of Captain Obvious
Hmmmm. Nvidia 275 has higher performance and less power and CUDA/PhysX. Takes two cards in crossfire to beat this - but could add a 2nd Nvidia ard that will once again beat this card hands down with less power.
Captain Obvious has returned.
what about the 4850X2?
CONSISTENTLY being named as THE card to get?
quieter cooling is definitly to be appluaded tho..
some cards/pc's sound like hoovers!
cheers,
bill (eupeople.net/forum)
Looks pretty useless to me
Nice technology, but overpriced. Heating up the interior of the case is not encouraging - the point is to expel the air out of the case.
With the 5850/5870 you'd have to be an idiot to buy a card now. 4870s are going from 100 quid inc VAT too..
Now, if they can produce a Vapor X 5870 with Eyefinity, then I'm seriously interested..
