The Radeon HD 4850 X2 is one of those really weird releases. The original word was that the card would launch alongside the Radeon HD 4870 X2, and clearly it didn't. Word came through that the card was delayed for a week or two, but after that time was up the talk of the card faded. Move forward to November and we finally have the release of the card. What's interesting about the Radeon HD 4850 X2 is that the decision to build the card is completely up to the partner who has to make it themselves. For that reason, the only company to currently have a Radeon HD 4850 X2 floating around on the world wide interweb is from Sapphire. So with that said, let's have a look at the package from Sapphire. - TweakTown

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB CrossFireX Review

Just after we received our sample, Sapphire let us know that they had decided to change the box design. While the original box followed the black design we saw in the Radeon HD 4870 series of cards, the new box follows a brighter blue one. Across the top of the box we can see some logos which include four times display support, dual GPU power along with some ATI ones. Across the bottom we have the model name along with some of the main features including DirectX 10.1, PCI Express 2.0, dual GPU technology and more. In the middle of the box we have mention of how much memory the card comes with and also the model.

With the package out of the way, it's time to have a look at the card itself. Since there is no reference design, Sapphire has been able to do what they want with the cooler. Pulling the card out of the box, it's nice to see a dual fan design. We all know that as great as the Radeon HD 4850 is, the biggest problem with it is the huge amount of heat coming off the back of the card with the single slot cooler. We can see to the right of the cooler we have the model again along with the Sapphire logo. Looking around the card, there isn't anything too unexpected. Like any high-end card, we have two power connectors located at the back.

Towards the front of the card also features a single CrossFire connector, this gives us the ability to place two of these cards together like the Radeon HD 4870 X2 to give us a maximum of four Radeon HD 4850 cores. It doesn't come as any surprise that the card is dual slot, but what's interesting is the fact that Sapphire has not only decided to have two DVI connectors on the card, but include an additional two. As far as specifications go, there isn't anything we didn't expect to see. The Radeon HD 4850 X2 is literally two Radeon HD 4850's on a single PCB, clocks are the same between the single and dual GPU graphics cards.

We have the same 256-bit memory interface, but the card is doubled with it, being advertised as 512-bit. The Radeon HD 4850 X2 from Sapphire is going to be available in two versions, a 1GB model and the 2GB model we have with us today. It doesn't come as any real surprise that the Radeon HD 4850 X2 is a winner. The whole Radeon HD 4800 series from ATI has been impressive and we didn't think this card was going to be any different. It's great to see that Sapphire has jumped straight onto the Radeon HD 4850 X2 bandwagon, but what's going to be interesting now is which other companies will release such a card.

The other thing we have to wonder is what Sapphire is going to do now. Will we see a Toxic version, something with higher clocks or maybe water cooling? No doubt Sapphire has something up their sleeve, but at the moment we haven't heard anything. While it will be interesting to see what's coming, at the moment we have to concentrate on getting the card we have here onto the market. Unlike most graphics card releases these days, the Radeon HD 4850 X2 isn't really available. Hopefully we will see stock show up in the next few weeks. With only one partner at the moment, it might take a little longer to hit the market.

Having a closer look at performance, it doesn't come as any real surprise that adding a second card into the mix doesn't bring the largest performance gains. While we've seen good improvements over the past few months with a four GPU configuration, it doesn't offer the same value as going from one GPU to two. The Radeon HD 4850 X2 helps add another price bracket into the market, but what's going to be so interesting now is how NVIDIA will respond. They have been quiet since AMD released the Radeon HD 4870 X2, which took the performance crown. Sapphire has done a good job with the card today.