Sapphire HD 4850 X2 – Dual GPU Graphics Card
Released last November as one of ATI’s intermediary graphic cards between the HD 4870 and HD 4870 X2, the HD 4850 X2 is a product designed as a great mid-ranged card. Boasting two GPU’s with 800 stream process units, 256-bit memory each, and a combined total of 2GB on-board memory the HD 4850 X2 is not a card to be taken lightly. If you think the HD 4870 is a bit slow while the HD 4870 X2 is overkill, then this may be the exact card you are looking for.
In a series of benchmark tests conducted by Neo Seeker, the HD 4850 X2 consistently beat one of its major competitors, the GTX 280 which is only a single-gpu card. Among other cards tested for comparison were the BFG GTX 295, Palit HD4870X2, VisionTek HD 4870, VisionTek HD3870X2 OC, VisionTek HD 4850, and the HD 4850+ HD 3870. Along with the benchmark tests, several games were run in order to compare frame rates and performance including Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Furmark, World in Conflict, Far Cry 2, X3: Terran Conflict, Devil May Cry 4, Bioshock, and Unreal Tournament 3.
Click here for the benchmarking results of the Sapphire HD 4850 X2. The testing rig is as follows:
- CPU: Intel Core i7 at 3.0 GHz
- Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe
- Memory: 3 gigabytes of Quimonda DDR3-1066 triple channel
- Power Supply: Enermax Galaxy DXX 1000W
- Hard Drive: 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA, w/16 MB cache
- CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U 12
- OS: Vista-64,SP1
The Sapphire HD 4850 X2 is currently being sold for $299 at many major online retailers and has dropped by $100 since its November release and has become a very affordable card. However, one major consideration you should take is the amount of power required to run this card. The card itself takes one 6 pin and one 8 pin PCIe power connector and it is recommended that you use a 650 watt power supply. Regardless, if you are in the market for a high-end card capable of supporting high resolutions but are looking to save some money, consider the 4850 X2. It is a very capable card as seen by the test results from Neo Seeker.
3 comments so far
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I would take two GTX 285 OCX’s
I run three of them and they are like silk.
try harder *****
the nvidia gtx 280 is NOT a dual gpu card.
and the nvidia gtx 280 beats all amd radeon single gpu cards since its launch until today.
ati have to use dual gpu in order to be almost equal to the nvidia geforce 280 gtx, yes it still fails on some tests even at dual gpu.
but yes im impressed that amd opted to make a midrange dual gpu single board card, this will definitely be for those pc gaming enthusiasts with tight budget.
I`m building my own gaming pc on a budget of under £400, i think i have the best system for the budget i have, you can follow my progress at the squidoo lens.