Sapphire HD4870 512mb DDR5
Test Setup & Overclocking
Published: 1st August 2008 | Source: Sapphire | Price: £103.49 |
Test Setup
A common mistake made when benchmarking graphics cards is that the rest of the PC system isn't sufficient enough to test the GPU to its limits. This results in a bottleneck situation, where the system can only run at the speed of its slowest component. For this reason, the test configuration chosen below has been specially selected to give each of the graphics cards on test the headroom they require in order to produce the best results.
A selection of games and benchmark suites has also been chosen to test each of the cards with several game engines. Each of the cards will be run at both low and high resolutions with varying levels of texture filtering to represent the use of the card with both small and large screen sizes.
3DMark05
1024x768 / 0xAA / 0xAF (Default)
1920x1200 / 4xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / 4xAA / 0xAF
3DMark 06
1280x1024 / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / 4xAA / 0xAF
3DMark Vantage
1280x1024 / Performance Mode
1900x1200 / Extreme Mode
1280x1024 / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / 4xAA / 0xAF
3DMark Vantage
1280x1024 / Performance Mode
1900x1200 / Extreme Mode
Quake4
1280x1024 / Ultra / 4xAA / 4xAF
1920x1200 / Ultra / 4xAA / 4xAF
1920x1200 / Ultra / 4xAA / 4xAF
Unreal Tournament III
1280x1024 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
Call of Duty 4
1280x1024 / Max / 4xAA / 4xAF
1920x1200 / Max / 4xAA / 4xAF
1920x1200 / Max / 4xAA / 4xAF
F.E.A.R
1280x1024 / Max / 4xAA / 4xAF
1920x1200 / Max / 4xAA / 0xAF
1280x1024 / Max / 4xAA / 4xAF
1920x1200 / Max / 4xAA / 0xAF
BIOSHOCK
1280x1024 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1280x1024 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
Crysis
1280x1024 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
1920x1200 / DX10 / High / 0xAA / 0xAF
During the benchmarking phase, we will be using the following prices extracted from aria.co.uk on 30/07/08 to produce our CPF graphs. Please remember that these graphs are static and only represent a snapshot of the market at the time of this review.
MSI GTX280 - £317.19
ASUS 4850 - £123.90
ASUS GTX260 - £199.69
PowerColor HD4870 - £174.97
Sapphire HD4870 - £183.07
Overclocking
The Powercolour version of the same card we have here manage to max out the ATI Overdrive tool in our previous review so lets see how the Sapphire fairs :
True to form the Sapphire HD4870 also maxes out the ATI overdrive tool. I am in no doubt that this card can be pushed much further but cooling could become an issue as at idle the card is reading 77c. Load temps will no doubt be a limiting factor in any overclocking adventure but it is nice to know that the card is capable should you find the means to keep it cool.
Most Recent Comments
Good review, seems like a good card, nice to see it still performing well at high res and AA, as you said in the review it didn't cripple as the 3870 did. 
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Originally Posted by name='Hassan'
Did u review that? Coz it was damn good!
However I thought that the 4870 was meant to outperform the gtx280 |
Nice review once again, Looks like a damn nice card.Quote
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='Hassan'
Did u review that? Coz it was damn good!
However I thought that the 4870 was meant to outperform the gtx280 |
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Originally Posted by name='Brooksie'
Good review, seems like a good card, nice to see it still performing well at high res and AA, as you said in the review it didn't cripple as the 3870 did.
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Originally Posted by name='teknokid'
Webbo's been reviewing for a while
Nice review once again, Looks like a damn nice card. |
CSS Valid
However I thought that the 4870 was meant to outperform the gtx280Quote