Tuesday, October 27th 2009

Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X Detailed Further

by
btarunr
 Discuss (39 Comments)
First spotted soon after AMD's release of its flagship ATI Radeon HD 5870 accelerator, Sapphire's HD 5870 Vapor-X has finally taken shape. From the looks of it, the final iteration seems to be slightly different from the CGI drawing that made for the older report. Sapphire's design methodology seems to be revolving around giving AMD's reference PCB better cooling than AMD's own cooler. Perhaps owing to lavish use of high-grade digital-PWM circuitry, there is very little room for improvement, leaving room only for cost-cutting, which surprisingly, doesn't form part of Sapphire's new card.

Unlike an older prototype in which the cooler shroud doesn't seem to be fully covering the PCB, the redesigned shroud fits the PCB like a glove, enhancing its aesthetics. The Vapor-X cooler uses a vapor-chamber design, that accumulates and distributes heat to the cooler better. Aluminum fin blocks on either sides of the GPU block disperse heat under the fan's air-flow. The AMD Cypress GPU that powers it is DirectX 11 compliant, which features 1600 stream processors, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface to connect to the 1 GB of memory onboard. Sapphire uses overclocked parameters, 870 MHz core (vs. 850 MHz reference), and 1250 MHz / effective 5.00 GHz memory (vs. 1200 MHz / 4.8 GHz reference). Sapphire's HD 5870 Vapor-X should be out in time for X-Mas.
Source: Legit Reviews

Related News

Add your own comment

39 Comments on Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X Detailed Further

#26
kylzer
Both 5850 and 5770 i have

been no buzzing or cap sounds so far.
Posted on Reply
#27
tkpenalty
Any improvements in terms of cooling will probably only be due to the vapor-x cooler having a more open air shroud and a better air intake source (centred 92mm, versus horrendous squirrel cage fan), but I bet that the heatsink itself would be almost identical, doesnt the reference cooler use a vapor chamber for the main heatspreader?

Probably costs sapphire less to produce a vapor-x versus the reference cards.
Posted on Reply
#28
my_name_is_earl
Some one quickly, kick me :nutkick:. I just bought an Asus and this news came up.
Posted on Reply
#29
tkpenalty
my_name_is_earlSome one quickly, kick me :nutkick:. I just bought an Asus and this news came up.
-kicks steals and runs-
Posted on Reply
#30
mtosev
still only 1GB of RAM. when are the 2GB versions coming
Posted on Reply
#31
grunt_408
Soylent JoeI thought that the Vapor-X cards were really problematic...
The 4890's had big trouble. 100 percent fan and no display. an intermittent problem that are getting replaced as people send them back.
Posted on Reply
#32
Tatty_Two
Gone Fishing
MKmodsthese looks like the silly toxic coolers with Vapor X written on them.

The 4870s Vapor X coolers were MUCH better than the toxic ones, its gonna be interesting to see if they improved these coolers or if they use the same smashed closed heatpipes as the earlier ones.

If anyone finds a pict of the insides it would be really nice to see.
I agree, but with the advent of the 4890 it's the other way round, the Atomic and Toxic versions have an upgraded VaporX cooler with additional heatpipes (actually not sure if the VaporX had ANY heatpipes), the VaporX model is the poor cousin both in performance and cooling terms.
Posted on Reply
#33
wolf
Better Than Native
Come to think of it 870mhz core overclock is downright pitiful, I'm willing to wager just about any 5870 will do 900mhz out of the box, especially with better cooling, Mine and I'm sure a few others do 950mhz on stock voltage, which is at least a measurable boost, I think you'd be lucky to see 3% more performance with this card.

nice cooler, disappointing clocks.
Posted on Reply
#34
mikek75
The problem I found with my non reference Sapphire 4870 with this centrally mounted fan is that when using the lower pcie slot (in crossfire) my pci soundcard covers the fan with only about 2mm clearance, severly restricting the air intake. Not the case with reference designs with the fan at the end. This issue resulted in my lower card idling 10c hotter than without the soundcard.
Posted on Reply
#35
MKmods
Case Mod Guru
Tatty_OneI agree, but with the advent of the 4890 it's the other way round, the Atomic and Toxic versions have an upgraded VaporX cooler with additional heatpipes (actually not sure if the VaporX had ANY heatpipes), the VaporX model is the poor cousin both in performance and cooling terms.
From what I saw the 4890 Toxic cooler was the same as the 4870 one. (If you see a pict thats different please let me know other than the tubes were nickel plated instead of copper)

The 5870 cooler looks a bit different, same fan but the heat tubes are quite a bit lower profile.

The Vapor X had a small heat tube inside the unit. The main heatsink of the Vapor X was steel with a copper plate for GPU contact (the Toxic cooler was similar)
Posted on Reply
#37
Tatty_Two
Gone Fishing
wolfCome to think of it 870mhz core overclock is downright pitiful, I'm willing to wager just about any 5870 will do 900mhz out of the box, especially with better cooling, Mine and I'm sure a few others do 950mhz on stock voltage, which is at least a measurable boost, I think you'd be lucky to see 3% more performance with this card.

nice cooler, disappointing clocks.
Yeah, basically it's the improved cooling you are paying for, problem being that this release makes it likely that Sapphire will probably also release a Toxic and perhaps eventually even an Atomic version and therefore they have to set their reference clocks according to the 3 overclocked models, lets suppose the very best binned chips manage 1000mhz, the Atomic with a safety margin would come in at around 980mhz, the Toxic at say 930 mhz leaving this little baby, I suppose the problem is, if you have an overclock margin of 150mhz then trying to fit 3 OC models in there makes it tight.
Posted on Reply
#38
Tatty_Two
Gone Fishing
MKmodsFrom what I saw the 4890 Toxic cooler was the same as the 4870 one. (If you see a pict thats different please let me know other than the tubes were nickel plated instead of copper)

The 5870 cooler looks a bit different, same fan but the heat tubes are quite a bit lower profile.

The Vapor X had a small heat tube inside the unit. The main heatsink of the Vapor X was steel with a copper plate for GPU contact (the Toxic cooler was similar)
Not sure about the looks, but there are reviews out there of the 4890 Toxic and Atomic versions which clearly state they have an "improved" and more efficient version of the VaporX models cooling system which was what i was getting at.
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Jan 28th, 2025 08:44 EST change timezone

Latest GPU Drivers

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts