Final thoughts, and rating
Sapphire's new Radeon HD 4850 Vapor-X 512MB is released just before the launch of a revised number of mid-range GPUs from ATI. The Vapor-X version uses Sapphire's in-house-designed cooler that works, and works well, beating the pants off the reference design in noise, power and thermal performance, albeit at the spatial cost of a second expansion slot, thanks to the double-height cooler.Exhibiting the same out-of-the-box graphics performance as a reference-clocked Radeon HD 4850, the Vapor-X, shipping with an SRP of £139.99, is up against some serious competition in the custom-cooled Radeon HD 4850 space, which includes the ASUS Radeon HD 4850 Matrix 512MB and Sapphire's very own Zalman-cooled TOXIC.
Most people take a cursory glimpse at 3D benchmark results and pass judgement. Sapphire know that it won't win any speed awards with this card and the value proposition looks decidedly shaky appreciating the ~£30 premium over reference cards, but the Vapor-X is aimed at a different market - one that values a lack of noise and good thermals to be equally as important as pure frame-rate throughput.
A niche product for a certain type of customer, the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Vapor-X 512MB's appeal is obvious but limited. Most others would spend the money on the cheaper but better-performing XFX Radeon HD 4850 XXX or dole out the same cash for the faster Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB. Bringing the Vapor-X range to market, Sapphire does one thing very well: giving the consumer choice.
Pros
Much better cooling and aural performance than on the reference card
Should provide excellent gaming with 1,680x1,050 TFT panels
Integrated HDMI is a bonus
Better-than-average power-consumption figures
Cons
Double-height cooler may cause some issues if folks want to position it in a SFF box
XFX, ASUS, et al, all have compelling solutions at a matching price-point
HEXUS Rating
HEXUS.net scores products out of 100%, taking into account technology, implementation, stability, performance, value, customer care and desirability. A score for an average-rated product is a meaningful ‘50%’, and not ‘90%’, which is common practice for a great many other publications.
We consider any product score above '50%' as a safe buy. The higher the score, the higher the recommendation from HEXUS to buy. Simple, straightforward buying advice.
The rating is given in relation to the category the component competes in, therefore the card is evaluated with respect to our 'mid-range components' criteria.
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Vapor-X 512MB
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