News - Sapphire says: Radeon HD 4850 X2 is now faster, quieter and cheaper, too

[HEXUS]

Sapphire has sent us a gentle reminder stating that its exclusive Radeon HD 4850 X2 is better than ever, but is it?

Read more.

[scaryjim]

You, know what with Sapphire's AM3 marketing ploy, the hexus.tv "tell us why your 4850X2 is so good" show, and now this, I'm starting to wonder if Hexus is as independant as we're lead to believe...

[matty-hodgson]

You, know what with Sapphire's AM3 marketing ploy, the hexus.tv "tell us why your 4850X2 is so good" show, and now this, I'm starting to wonder if Hexus is as independant as we're lead to believe...

how dare you?

[kalniel]

You, know what with Sapphire's AM3 marketing ploy, the hexus.tv "tell us why your 4850X2 is so good" show, and now this, I'm starting to wonder if Hexus is as independant as we're lead to believe...

They've just reported what's effectively a press release - I don't see anything from Hexus selling the card - if anything they berate the release for it's inaccuracy wrt. pricing.

On the other hand, I'd like to make it known to Sapphiretech that they can send me a free card and I'll be sure to give it a very thorough and *cough*positive*cough* write-up

[scaryjim]

They've just reported what's effectively a press release - I don't see anything from Hexus selling the card

I know; tongue was firmly in cheek - I assume Sapphire's PR juggernaut is simply out-press-releasing everyone else. It just feels like it must be a slow month if the only things to write about are Sapphire's latest rehashes of their existing products! I want something *new* dammit!

[dfour]

Shame they wont let Gainward make one. Can you imagine the Golden sample GLH version?? Also competition would also drive the price down. Having one partner 'exclusive' isnt good fro the market or the consumer.

[kalniel]

Shame they wont let Gainward make one.

I expect they're quite welcome to try, but Sapphire did all the engineering on this one, and as the main engineering partner to ATI they've had years of experience to draw from.

[scaryjim]

Shame they wont let Gainward make one.

I think the real shame is that they didn't make a 4830 X2 priced at around £200 - although I suppose that would risk taking sales away from the 4870...

And perhaps a 4670 X2 would've been interesting - although I think pricewise that'd roll in close to £150 nowadays and not be so competitive against the 4850s...

In fact, pretty much any HD4000-series GPU would probably make a nice X2 card...

[Lozza81]

I think this would be the perfect graphics card for me in my new Core i7 build if Sapphire did a version with only 2 DVI ports (how many people need or will use 4?) and then it could exit the heat also out of the back of the card (like the more expensive HD4870 2GB does) instead of dumping the heat into the case through the non-reference 2 fans and heatsink unit.

I am still weighing up whether to buy this unique card from Sapphire; or a Sapphire or Gigabyte HD4870x2 (if I can get one for less than £300); or a single HD4870 1GB for @ £220 and then buy another to crossfire in say 6-months time.

My other concern is if I bought this HD4850x2 now and wanted to buy another and crossfire in 6-months time, 2 of these cards dumping heat into my case doesn't sound ideal.

Does anyone have any experience with this HD4850x2 vs HD4870 or HD4870x2 in terms of frame rates and temperatures?
Finally my PSU will be an Enermax Revolution 1050W so I should be safe no matter which GPU I go for.
Cheers
Loz

[SpencerOakman]

Cheaper, yes. But quieter? Certainly not. My new, thriftier 4850 x2 2GB is always loud. Neither Catalyst nor RivaTuner can control the RPM. The outlook for this Sapphire card is grim: the only thing I really like are the 2 extra DVI ports.

I am also skeptical about Sapphire's warranty. I just had to RMA my defective Evga 8800 GTX after about 2 years and Evga readily replaced my card with a NIB 9800 GTX+ 1GB. In a analogous situation, a one year warranty would have left me dry.

[l33t-krew]

interseting, but im a nvidia fanboy.


wait what

[badass]

I think the real shame is that they didn't make a 4830 X2 priced at around £200 - although I suppose that would risk taking sales away from the 4870...

And perhaps a 4670 X2 would've been interesting - although I think pricewise that'd roll in close to £150 nowadays and not be so competitive against the 4850s...

In fact, pretty much any HD4000-series GPU would probably make a nice X2 card...

A 4670 GPU is half a 4830.

Making a 4670 X2 nothing more than a 4830 that wastes half of its RAM and with half the effective memory bandwidth