Board analysis

The Sapphire X850 XT

Back of the card

Traditionally Sapphire’s retail cards haven’t varied very far from ATI’s reference design, after all, in many cases, ATI has farmed out production of their boards to Sapphire, therefore it was no surprise to us to see that Sapphire’s RADEON X850 XT was so similar to the X850 XT reference board. Additionally, in the past ATI has also imposed pretty strict restrictions on their board partners at the $400+ price point, resulting in little variation from board to board, regardless of manufacturer. Board manufacturers are typically in a race to be first to market as well, complicating the need to stick with ATI’s reference design.

After all, the time needed to procure additional parts (such as better cooling), manufacture, and properly test a modified board could cost the board manufacturer weeks, if not longer. Instead board manufacturers will save these extras for their second-generation cards; latter GeForce4 Ti 4200 cards in particular saw a number of improvements that never would have been considered for a first generation card.

DVI/VGA configuration, hot air exits here as well

DVI transmitter goes here

Where is dual DVI?

One aspect of Sapphire’s X850 XT board that did surprise us however was the lack of dual DVI connections. If you recall our original X800 XL Performance Preview article from last year, dual DVI was one feature that ATI claimed they would provide on their retail X850 XT and X850 XT Platinum Edition cards. Now granted, ATI and Sapphire are two different companies, but we expected board partners to fall in line with ATI’s reference specifications. Apparently those specs have changed since December however, as a quick look at X850 XT cards from MSI, PowerColor, and even ATI’s own X850 XT retail card reveals that Sapphire isn’t the only X850 XT board manufacturer to rely on the more traditional DVI/VGA combination we’ve grown so accustomed to seeing over the years.

It’s a shame ATI and their board partners couldn’t integrate dual DVI on their X850 XT boards, as NVIDIA has provided this feature for some time on GeForce 6800 Ultra. The board is clearly silk-screened for the Silicon Image DVI transmitter. Another feature ATI told us they would provide, VIVO, is also exclusive to the X850 XT Platinum Edition.

Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean Sapphire and other board manufacturers won’t provide features like VIVO and dual DVI on their X850 XT cards at some point in the future, only the cards that are out on the market now don’t have them. We just felt it was important for you to know this in case you recalled the specs on X850 XT we were given by ATI back in December before the final retail cards were finalized.

PCI Express interface

A closer look at the cooling

Copper heatsink looks good

The rest of the Sapphire RADEON X850 XT card is fairly standard. As we said before, the card borrows the same dual-slot cooler from the X850 XT Platinum Edition. The cooler is unlike anything we’ve seen in an ATI card to date, with a large copper heatsink sitting directly above the card’s R480 VPU, while an aluminum plate is responsible for keeping the board’s GDDR3 memory modules cool. The cooling system features a ducted design, with the card’s fan drawing in air from within your system, blowing it across the copper heatsink’s fins, before it exits out the side of your system case.

Like previous ATI cards, the X850 XT’s fan runs dynamically, with the RPMs varying based on temperature. During operation we’ve found that the card runs very quietly, even when the card is running under load and overclocked.

Bundle

Unlike some of Sapphire’s previous cards, which have come with a copy of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, the RADEON X850 XT ships without a game bundle. Instead the board ships with just a copy of PowerDVD and Redline, Sapphire’s overclocking utility which is based on Rage3D Tweak. Hardware accessories include an S-Video cable, HDTV cable, power cable, DVI adapter, and composite cable.