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Sapphire VAPOR-X HD 4890 OC Edition 1GB GDDR5 (100269VXL) Review
Special Thanks to Sapphire Technology for supplying this sample to review!
With the recent release of ATI's much anticipated 5000 series graphics cards, and all the glory and rave they have brought to light, I thought it would be useful to take a look back on the 48xx series cards as they still have very much to offer to gamers and non-gamers alike. Not everyone who is on the lookout for a new card may be able to afford the high end or even a mid-range 5000 series card, and have no plans to look into the lower end of the bracket, so that may leave some looking at the older generation cards for some time to come.
With those thoughts in mind, you may be one of the many users looking to see what the 4000 series still has to offer, so let's take a look at Sapphire's 4890 OC Edition Vapor-X 1GB GDDR5. The HD 4890 is built on the 55nm RV790 Core with 956 million transistors, 800 stream processors, and is utilizing 1GB of GDDR5 through a 256-bit memory bus. It has pixel fillrate of 13.9 GPixel/s and a texture fillrate of 34.8 GTexel/s with a memory bandwidth of 134.4 GB/s. The card carries a multitude of connection possibilities including standard VGA, DVI, Dual DVI Via bundled HDMI to DVI Adapter, HMDI, and Display Port connect-ability.
This review will be covering the following Sapphire 4890 OC Vapor-X model:
SAPPHIRE - SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E OC
This particular model has already won 8 noted awards, which you may read about here:
SAPPHIRE - SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E OC Awards
Sapphire's overview offers these comments on the cards power and features:
Tear through the latest games with seamless frame rates and go beyond HD with the power of the ATI Radeon™HD 4890 graphics processing unit (GPU). Building on the strength of the ATI Radeon™ 4800 series award-winning architecture, this GPU stands out from the rest with massive graphics processing muscle. Take ultimate control over your game and crank it up with scalable performance. Go ahead, max out the settings and put the ATI Radeon HD 4890 through its paces.
The SAPPHIRE HD 4890 Vapor-X model is a new SAPPHIRE original design. It has SAPPHIRE’s Vapor-X cooling module on the GPU together with a heatsink and profiled fan venting heat out of the case. It is quieter and significantly faster than the standard reference model, with core clock speed of 870MHz and 1GB of DDR5 memory clocked at 1050MHz. Any two of the four output options can be used simultaneously, giving maximum flexibility for connection to different display types. An HDMI to DVI adaptor is also included for those who wish to use a pair of DVI monitors.
The SAPPHIRE HD 4890 Vapor-X model is a new SAPPHIRE original design. It has SAPPHIRE’s Vapor-X cooling module on the GPU together with a heatsink and profiled fan venting heat out of the case. It is quieter and significantly faster than the standard reference model, with core clock speed of 870MHz and 1GB of DDR5 memory clocked at 1050MHz. Any two of the four output options can be used simultaneously, giving maximum flexibility for connection to different display types. An HDMI to DVI adaptor is also included for those who wish to use a pair of DVI monitors.
Features and Specifications:
- Award winning Vapor-X Cooler with heatpipe, silent and powerful
- Sapphire patent pending Black Diamond Choke
- 4 I/O Display outputs: DP+HDMI+DL-DVI+VGA
- Factory overclocked at Core at 870 MHz
- 1GB/256-bit GDDR5 memory interface
- Memory Clock: 1050 MHz, 4.2 Gbps
- 800 stream processing units
- Full solid capacitor design
- Dual Slot Silent and Powerful Dual Slot Vapor-X Vapor-Chamber Cooler, Under 20 dbA in 2D Operation, under 30 dbA in 3D Operation before 85 degree ℃.
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- Microsoft DX10.1 support
- HDMI compliant via dongle
- PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface
- Dynamic geometry acceleration
- Game physics processing capability
- Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x1080
- On chip HDCP support
- 7.1 Audio Channel Support
- Shader Model 4.1 support
- ATI Avivo™ HD video
- Dynamic power management with ATI PowerPlay™ technology
- Quad mode ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU support for highly scalable performance
Vapor-X Technology & how it works:
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Technology: At the heart of quiet efficient cooling for performance graphics.
SAPPHIRE Technology was the first company to implement cooling for PC graphics cards based on Vapor Chamber Technology and has now implemented it in several successful product series.
Vapor Chamber Technology was previously used in Aerospace Industry and High-End Server applications to provide more efficient yet compact cooling. SAPPHIRE’s Vapor-X cooler was introduced in 2007 with its HD 3870 ATOMIC Edition graphics card and then rolled out to the global market with the successful HD 3870 and HD 4870 TOXIC Editions and the Vapor-X series.
Most recently Vapor-X cooling has been used on the stunning SAPPHIRE HD 4890 ATOMIC Edition – the first graphics card on the market to deliver a 1GHz engine speed, as well as the new HD 4890 TOXIC Edition and Vapor-X models for the global market.
Vapor Chamber Technology is based on the same principles as heatpipe technology. A liquid coolant is vaporized at a hot surface, the resulting vapor is condensed at a cold surface then the liquid is returned to the hot surface. The recirculation process is controlled by a wick system.
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X flattens the whole system into a slim chamber - which in the graphics application is mounted in contact with the surface of the graphics chip.
Actually, the coolant is water – but because the chamber is evacuated to a very low pressure, the vaporization process occurs at a much lower temperature than normal boiling point. The complex wick arrangement inside the module controls the flow of water and water vapour so that the system can be used in any orientation.
SAPPHIRE Technology was the first company to implement cooling for PC graphics cards based on Vapor Chamber Technology and has now implemented it in several successful product series.
Vapor Chamber Technology was previously used in Aerospace Industry and High-End Server applications to provide more efficient yet compact cooling. SAPPHIRE’s Vapor-X cooler was introduced in 2007 with its HD 3870 ATOMIC Edition graphics card and then rolled out to the global market with the successful HD 3870 and HD 4870 TOXIC Editions and the Vapor-X series.
Most recently Vapor-X cooling has been used on the stunning SAPPHIRE HD 4890 ATOMIC Edition – the first graphics card on the market to deliver a 1GHz engine speed, as well as the new HD 4890 TOXIC Edition and Vapor-X models for the global market.
Vapor Chamber Technology is based on the same principles as heatpipe technology. A liquid coolant is vaporized at a hot surface, the resulting vapor is condensed at a cold surface then the liquid is returned to the hot surface. The recirculation process is controlled by a wick system.
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X flattens the whole system into a slim chamber - which in the graphics application is mounted in contact with the surface of the graphics chip.
Actually, the coolant is water – but because the chamber is evacuated to a very low pressure, the vaporization process occurs at a much lower temperature than normal boiling point. The complex wick arrangement inside the module controls the flow of water and water vapour so that the system can be used in any orientation.
Universal directions
Unlike unidirectional devices such as heat-pipes
Lower thermal resistancesHigher heat conductivity
2 times faster than Cu’s
Most suitable thermal diathermanous devices for highly
concentrated heat sources
How does Vapor Chamber Technology work?
Heat sources keep on heating Vaporization Wicks.
Liquid, like pure water, inside Vacuum Chamber is very easily vaporized under air pressure < 10-4 Tor or less.
The saturated vaporized liquid, like water vapor, condenses at surfaces of Condensation Wicks and transforms back to its original liquid state.
The liquid is transported and absorbed together by Transportation Wicks via capillary actions.
The recycled liquid is reheated and re-vaporized by Vaporization Wicks and these processes repeat.
Structure and Profile of Vacuum Vapor Chamber:
- Sealed Chamber
- Vacuum Vapor Space
- Compound Mesh Wicks
- Vaporization Wicks
- Vaporization Wicks
- Transportation Wicks
- Working fluid
Advantages of Vacuum Vapor Chamber
Heat-sink with Vacuum Vapor Chamber technology provides much faster heat propagation speed and can be used to highly increase efficiency of heat exchange.
So in the SAPPHIRE graphics application, the heat source is the graphics chip. The Vapor-X module is mounted in contact with the surface of the chip. The Vapor-X module is much more efficient than a copper heatsink at carrying away the heat because the whole area effectively transfers heat at the same rate.
Low noise is generally sought after in modern PC systems, so SAPPHIRE has already introduced a special family of graphics products using Vapor-X technology, known as the Vapor-X Series. This family is aimed at the discerning user who wants low noise and high reliability, but does not want to pay the premium for the specialist faster memory and overclocking capability of the ATOMIC and TOXIC models targeted at the enthusiast user..
The Vapor-X Series also incorporates several SAPPHIRE developments that contribute to better efficiency and high reliability, such as the use of solid electrolyte capacitors and the (patent pending) SAPPHIRE Black Diamond choke. The high-polymer aluminum capacitors used have characteristics superior to regular aluminum capacitors for longer product life. The choke is an important component of the power regulation on a graphics card, and the SAPPHIRE Black Diamond choke with integral heatsink runs 10% cooler and with 25% more power efficiency than a normal choke.
Low noise is generally sought after in modern PC systems, so SAPPHIRE has already introduced a special family of graphics products using Vapor-X technology, known as the Vapor-X Series. This family is aimed at the discerning user who wants low noise and high reliability, but does not want to pay the premium for the specialist faster memory and overclocking capability of the ATOMIC and TOXIC models targeted at the enthusiast user..
The Vapor-X Series also incorporates several SAPPHIRE developments that contribute to better efficiency and high reliability, such as the use of solid electrolyte capacitors and the (patent pending) SAPPHIRE Black Diamond choke. The high-polymer aluminum capacitors used have characteristics superior to regular aluminum capacitors for longer product life. The choke is an important component of the power regulation on a graphics card, and the SAPPHIRE Black Diamond choke with integral heatsink runs 10% cooler and with 25% more power efficiency than a normal choke.
Short Video Presentation About Vapor-X Technology
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You can read more about the Vapor-X process here at Sapphire's website:
SAPPHIRE- Vapor-X
So if you do not agree with any of my testing methods please kindly let me know what would work better for you, or things I might change, and I will keep any and all comments in mind for future reviews. Thank you for leaving only constructive comments, please.
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