Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 Toxic Vapor-X

The ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card arrived back in June with same-day Linux support through the Catalyst driver and there was even open-source mode-setting support. We have been very pleased with the level of Linux support for the Radeon HD 4000 series and it continues with features such as UVD2 and XvMC out on the horizon. With a few months having passed since the release of the Radeon HD 4870, we are starting to see more innovative RV770 products from ATI's partners. In August we looked at the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Toxic, which was a factory-overclocked Radeon HD 4850. Today we are looking at the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 Toxic, which takes the original Radeon HD 4870 to the next level with heightened frequencies and an exclusive Vapor-X cooling solution.

Features:

- Exclusive Vapor-X Cooler with Vapor Chamber Technology
- Factory Overclocked
- GDDR5 Memory / 256-bit Memory Interface
- ATI CrossFireX Support
- PCI Express 2.0 Support
- ATI Avivo HD / Unified Video Decoder 2
- ATI PowerPlay
- 7.1 Channel HDMI Audio
- 780MHz Core Clock / 1000MHz Memory Clock

Contents:

The packaging for the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 Toxic is similar to the other Sapphire Technology graphics cards we have reviewed. Advertised on the box was Sapphire's Vapor-X cooler, its factory overclock, HDMI support, 512MB of GDDR5 memory, and the inclusion of Ruby ROM and other pieces of software. Included with the PCI Express graphics card was two 4-pin molex to 6-pin PCI-E power adapters, one DVI to HDMI adapter, one DVI to VGA adapter, one component video adapter, one CrossFire bridge, one video output adapter, Sapphire's user manual, Sapphire driver CD, 3DMark Vantage, Cyberlink PowerDVD, Cyberlink DVD Suite, and Ruby ROM Volume II. Unfortunately, all of the software included with this graphics card is Windows-only, which makes it a waste for Linux users. The Radeon HD 4870 Toxic was encased within a Styrofoam to protect it during shipping.