4850X2 review from Firingsquad

[thilanliyan]

http://www.firingsquad.com/har..._x2_review/default.asp

It does pretty well in those games....extremely loud though apparently....but fanspeed could be controlled through CCC.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: thilan29
http://www.firingsquad.com/har..._x2_review/default.asp

It does pretty well in those games....extremely loud though apparently....but fanspeed could be controlled through CCC.

Looks like a good enthusiast card to me, return of the dustbuster or not.

 

[toyota]

11.25 inches long. :Q

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: toyota
11.25 inches long. :Q

bigger than my wang!

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: thilan29
http://www.firingsquad.com/har..._x2_review/default.asp

It does pretty well in those games....extremely loud though apparently....but fanspeed could be controlled through CCC.

Looks like a good enthusiast card to me, return of the dustbuster or not.

Performance is good and I was considering one but the sheer size (I'm on a Lian Li A05 which is small) and noise (my comp is nearly silent due to watercooling...loudest thing is the vid card cooler) have turned me off that. I seriously wish I could use Maze4 GPU waterblock on the 2XX series cause the price of a 260-216 went down to $240 CAD the other day but I wanna watercool the vid card so I can't get any of the 2XX series.

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: toyota
11.25 inches long. :Q

Yea, Not sure why but another review I read about this card states it is even longer than the 4870X2. Maybe its just the cooler thats longer ? Hard to believe it could be the PCB. But I guess anything is possible.

 

[WelshBloke]

And the noise issue is easily fixable via software in the form of a working fan slider in either CCC or a third-party app like RivaTuner

Sounds like a nice card if you like dual GPU cards.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: JPB

Originally posted by: toyota
11.25 inches long. :Q

Yea, Not sure why but another review I read about this card states it is even longer than the 4870X2. Maybe its just the cooler thats longer ? Hard to believe it could be the PCB. But I guess anything is possible.

there are plenty of pics right there in the review and some show the 4850x2 having a longer pcb than the 4870x2.

 

[Creig]

Nice! It's consistently faster than a GTX280, usually much faster. And current Newegg pricing shows it to be $40 cheaper as well. $315 AR for a GTX280 vs $275 AR for a 4850X2. And that's for the 2GB model (1GB effective).

The length of the card could present problems for some people while fan noise could be bothersome to others. From the review, however, it appears as if Sapphire did the exact opposite of the initial 4850 launch and set their fan speeds too high. Their 4850X2 idles at 40 degrees C with load temps at 61. That's awfully low. I'd say there's a lot of room to drop those fan speeds and still maintain good temps.

 

[Spike]

Seems like an interesting card. I'm still not sold on the dual GPU or SLI/xfire setups in general, I'm a hardcore single card fan. That size is insane though, these cards keep getting bigger and more power hungry.

Any word on what kind of power draw this has? I did not see it in the article but I just skimmed the conclusion so I could have missed it. I have a friend looking for a dual gpu card but does not want to go for a pricey psu.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Creig
Nice! It's consistently faster than a GTX280, usually much faster. And current Newegg pricing shows it to be $40 cheaper as well. $315 AR for a GTX280 vs $275 AR for a 4850X2. And that's for the 2GB model (1GB effective).

The length of the card could present problems for some people while fan noise could be bothersome to others. From the review, however, it appears as if Sapphire did the exact opposite of the initial 4850 launch and set their fan speeds too high. Their 4850X2 idles at 40 degrees C with load temps at 61. That's awfully low. I'd say there's a lot of room to drop those fan speeds and still maintain good temps.

When it works sure, but there's scaling issues, & some driver issues still to be worked out with the x2 cards(see guru3d).

I don't understand what market this intends to fill either. It now puts their 4870x2 card in a price segment that does not make it worth looking at unless you do nothing but benchmark.

I'm also wondering how this card differs in performance from 2x 4850s in CF.

 

[Leyawiin]

It sounded perfect until he mentioned the noise. I have a case with open mesh panels (Cooler Master Stacker Evolution 830), a 120MM Xigmatek CPU heatsink/fan and Scythe 120MM case fans. I can't hear my GTX 260 over that very low CPU or case fan noise ever - even with the mesh panels. For a gaming PC on air I have a really quiet system. I don't want to listen to a GPU roar.

It sounds awesome otherwise. Guess there always has to be a downside. Maybe another vendor will make a similar model with quieter fans (although this is totally Sapphire's baby - ATI didn't design it).

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: JPB

Originally posted by: toyota
11.25 inches long. :Q

Yea, Not sure why but another review I read about this card states it is even longer than the 4870X2. Maybe its just the cooler thats longer ? Hard to believe it could be the PCB. But I guess anything is possible.

there are plenty of pics right there in the review and some show the 4850x2 having a longer pcb than the 4870x2.

If the PCB is longer than the 4870X2, there is a chance they went with a fewer layer PCB for the 4850X2 to save costs. Could be why the PCB would be longer.