Sapphire's HD 4850 PCB is shorter

[wolf2009]

Games Convention 08: Poses for the camera

We had a chance to talk to one of the guys from Sapphire who showed us their non-reference designed Sapphire HD 4850 card. We compared it to Sapphire's HD 4850 Toxic edition which has a non-reference cooling but despite its color it is still based on ATI's reference design.

The own PCB design gives Sapphire a chance to make a much shorter card. As you can see from the picture below, the card is a lot shorter than the reference one due to the location of the VRM part. According to guys from Sapphire, a good heatsink on the VRM part is a must, as it tends to heat up a lot. Sapphire also told us that they are using high quality capacitors and parts for their own design, unlike some partners that they did not wish to name during our chat.

We also had a chance to take a look at Sapphire's empty PCB, or to be precise two of them. We are talking about a PCB that has no soldered parts so if you are wondering how does it look, you can check out the picture below,

Fud

Now thats a short PCB , IMHO all cards should be short like that. Long cards like GTX;s and 9800gtx cause a lot of problems in the case .

 

[Ketxxx]

I've been ranting and raving about this for years. About bloody time PCB lengths started to come back into check. I won't even bother going into lots of details but just list one damn good reason to keep PCB lengths in check, WARPING!

I have to say I do like the look of the cooling Sapphire is using. Actually looks like it'll do a half decent job for a change. More than can be said for 99% of Sapphires choice in coolers in the past. That said all the effort put in making the new PCB look nice, you would of thought the HS's would of been copper, or at least andionized blue.

 

[red268]

Too bloody right Ket!!
My 3870 is already and I haven't had it that long. Also, it's not even one of the logest cards out there!!

 

[wolf2009]

The PCB length is the reason why i wouldn't buy 9800GTX or GTX cards of ATI's HD 4xxx cards .

 

[Ketxxx]

Until now you just had to fashion a way to hold the back of a card up to prevent it from warping. With some creative thinking you can even do it by just using your HDD as like a "prop" and the PCI-E cable.

 

[wolf2009]

^^ I didn't get what you mean Ket .

 

[Ketxxx]

Get your creative thinking cap on, you soon will Hard to describe without a pic, an right now my digicam is somewhere in another room an I can't be bothered to go find it

 

[Widjaja]

PCB length is the reason why I did not go for a 9800GTX when I had the chance and opted for the HD4850.

The shortened HD4850 appears to be the same length as my old 8800GT but I think it was a revised PCB.

 

[largon]

PCB length is the reason why I did not go for a 9800GTX when I had the chance and opted for the HD4850.

One would think the huge performance difference would favor the Radeon.

 

[wolf2009]

One would think the huge performance difference would favor the Radeon.

its not huge ,they trade blows

 

[Widjaja]

One would think the huge performance difference would favor the Radeon.

I was offered the 9800GTX as a replacement for my 8800GT but it didn't fit in my case and saw the HD4850 was the same size as my X1950pro.
All I knew at the time was the performance of the HD4850 is better than the 8800GT.

 

[btarunr]

That's a cost-effective PCB, obviously it's going to be short. Count the number of vGPU phases, you'll know.

 

[largon]

its not huge ,they trade blows

Hehe, be it any component, I always talk about OC'ed performance. Once both are OC'ed to the max HD4850 has no competition...

 

[Paintface]

anyone know if this custom PCB allows for better OC or stability? or is it just cheaper.

Also how good is this cooling? and i mean mainly noise, was thinking about toxic series since zalman cooling never disappointed me, but if this custom pcb is better for cooling/power usage/OCing then ill go for it.

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

I cant fit any nv card after 8800gt

 

[wolf2009]

Hehe, be it any component, I always talk about OC'ed performance. Once both are OC'ed to the max HD4850 has no competition...

nobody has seen HD4850's max OC potential because all reference cards are hampered by the cooler and heat .

you want to see OC capability of a HD4850 with a Zalman cooler ?

read this

We managed to crank the core and shaders to a Radeon HD 4870-matching 750MHz, up from the 675MHz pre-applied to the card. Even better, the memory was stable at a lofty 2,600MHz. Compare this with the 685MHz/685MHz/2,060MHz we managed from the reference card and you'll appreciate just how potent the TOXIC is.

I doubt 9800gtx will be able to compete at that clocks .

EDIT : I think got your point wrong , didn't I ? But still shows how much hd4850 can overclock .