Sapphire HD4870 512mb DDR5

Features
 
Normally we at OC3D don’t write about the ‘features’ of a graphics cards unless the card warrants it by a leap in technology. This is one such occasion.

 
Perhaps the biggest departure from the R600 series core is the introduction of what AMD likes to call One Tera or ‘TeraScale GPU engine’.
As the name suggest the card is theoretically capable of over 1 trillion FPO’s per second i.e 1 teraflop all the while utilising effiency and affordability in its transition allowing the consumer to benefit from lower costs. The 55nm process employed by AMD should in theory, make the GPU more effieicient, so not only will it run cooler but it will be cheaper to produce. This is an achievement in iteslf but the advances don’t stop there. Without going to far into the specifics of the Terascale engine, it has been re-designed from the ground up making better use of the GDDR5’s higher bandwidth available by granting each of the memory controller hubs its own cache, so while it may have a physical 256-bit memory interface, the increase in badwidth is actually on a par with a 512-bit interface. This, ATI calim, has enabled the 4000 series of cards to perform much better when AA is applied in comparison to the 3000 series cards.
 
  • TeraScale Graphics Engine
    The powerful new TeraScale graphics engine features deliver high resolutions and fast frame rates.
  • Enhanced Anti-Aliasing & Anisotropic Filtering
    High performance anisotropic filtering and 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) smooth jagged edges and create true-to-life graphics, for everything from grass to facial features.
  • DirectX 10.1
    Play today while preparing for tomorrow with state-of-the-art DirectX 10.1 graphics capabilities.
  • ATI CrossFireXâ„¢ Technology
    ATI CrossFireXâ„¢ technology with up to quad GPU support offers superior scalability so your system is ready to level up when you are.
  • PCI Express 2.0
    Support for PCI Express 2.0 will prepare you for bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications.
  • Power to Spare
    This GPU has the brute processing power needed for physics, artificial intelligence, stream computing and ray tracing calculations.
  • Unified Video Decoder 2
    Unified Video Decoder 2 frees up your CPU for other tasks so you get The Ultimate Visual Experienceâ„¢ for even the most processing-intensive content, including VC-1, H.264 and now MPEG-2. Also, take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with dual-stream, picture in picture (PIP) capabilities.
  • Upscale Beyond 1080p
    Watch the hottest Blu-ray movies or other HD content at full 1080p display resolution and beyond.
  • On-chip HDCP
    On-chip HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) makes life easier by allowing you to playback HDCP protected content.**
  • HDMI
    Enjoy the latest audio technologies using HDMI with 7.1 digital surround sound support. Also, xvYCC support allows the user to enjoy a wider range of color when connected to a capable HDTV.
  • ATI PowerPlayâ„¢ Technology
    ATI PowerPlayâ„¢ Technology delivers high performance when needed and conserves power when the demand on the graphics processor is low.
  • Energy Efficient Manufacturing Process
    Second generation 55nm chip uses the industry‟s most energy efficient manufacturing process.
 
 
Power Requirements
 
As graphics cards are getting faster and faster we are seeing the introduction of more and more power connectors to feed the required power to the cards. Long gone are the days when a PCI slot could power a card, we are now seeing upto 14 PCIe (6+8) pins being used for the high end cards and you can double that should you wish to go with SLI/Crossfire, or if you have Chernobyl tucked away under your desk you may want to go for TRI or even quadfire!  The 4870 fortunately makes do with 2x 6pin PCIe power connectors requiring 75w each and as such Sapphire recommend a 500W PSU for a single card, with a 600w minimum requirement for Crossfire based setups. So the power requirements are not too drastic as any gamer worth his salt should have a 500w+ PSU.
 
Obviously, depending on your setup you would be wise to opt for a bigger PSU as it’s always better to have that little extra available, especially if you like to dabble in the dark art of overclocking.