Sapphire is back again with another specialty graphics card based on a high-end ATI Radeon GPU version. The newly released Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB graphics card incorporates a pair of Radeon HD 4850 graphics processors and 2GB of GDDR3 memory on a custom PCB to create one serious looking piece of equipment. The core and memory clock speeds are both set to the reference Radeon HD 4850 settings, but the most obviously appeal is that you have the horsepower of two cards on a single PCB. Each graphics processor has 1GB of memory to work with, and the theoretical bandwidth is double what you would get with just one graphics card, which is a damn nice feature. - BigBruin

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 Graphics Board Review

While this Radeon HD 4850 X2 offers high-end features and specifications, it is not the top of the line since there are Radeon HD 4870 X2 cards available from Sapphire and a few other manufacturers. The Radeon HD 4850 X2 costs a good deal less than its big brother, meaning roughly $400 versus $550, and is intended to compete with NVIDIA based cards in terms of performance and price. This Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB graphics card arrived in the black box. The front and back panels provide information regarding the card, while the graphics provide a new twist of the warrior princess to help sell video cards.

The Sapphire website indicates that you might expect the card to be sold in a slightly different package. Inside the box, thick black pieces of foam are used to keep the card safe. Removing the top panel of foam reveals the Radeon HD 4850 X2 wrapped in an anti-static bag, and with Sapphire's typical stop sign message reminding you to connect the board to the appropriate power connectors before completing the installation. Removing the video card and all of the foam around it reveals a smaller cardboard box full of accessories and goodies. The Sapphire website indicates that at a minimum a 650W power supply is required.

And it is a big graphics card, with a look that is definitely out of the ordinary. The large aluminum shroud which runs the length of the dual slot cooler, and just a sliver of the blue PCB can be seen behind it. There are two cooling fans onboard, one located just above each GPU. Turning the card we mostly get a look at a large expanse of blue PCB. At one end we see we see a black heatsink which runs about the width of the card. We would have expected to see vents on the second half of the expansion slot cover to let some of the hot air out, but instead this card is ready to be used in one serious multiple display configuration.

Taking a look between the expansion slot bracket and the cooler shroud we see a single CrossFire tab. This card can be coupled with another X2 card to harness the power of four GPU's, or it can be coupled with a single GPU card for 3-way CrossFire. Overclocking an ATI card can be rather easy if you are only interested in using the options available on the Catalyst drivers, and that means just the Overdrive option. These sliders allowed for a maximum of 700MHz on the core and a maximum of 2400MHz on the memory. Which are the settings we have used, but really we do suspect this can be taken even higher.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 graphics card is an exciting new entry into the market of high performance, high resolution gaming solutions. It is able to crank out some serious frame rates in modern 3D games, and you can do so with the settings turned up, way up. During testing the Radeon HD 4850 X2 showed up some other high-end cards, and the margin of victory got even larger as the resolution and other settings were increased. And if you want to get even crazier with your system's performance, there is just a single CrossFire tab available to make the Radeon HD 4850 X2 work in conjunction with another video card.

The key negative item is that it was never quiet. The noise level didn't seem to vary all that much from idle to load, and it was always noticeable. Other than that, people should be aware that this is a big, thick card. The Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 video card may not be widely available yet, but when it does appear, the price is expected to be about $400. This is definitely a big chunk of change, but compared to other high-end graphics cards it is not outrageous. The Radeon HD 4850 X2 offers high end graphics performance at a price that is much more competitive with NVIDIA's top offering, and that makes it very appealing.