As more and more GPU's find their ways out of the factories and on the shelves, we feel the need to show you the performance of yet another video card in ATI's lineup. Sapphire's Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X version seems very promising from it's rather crafty box art, to its sinister yet hovercraft appearance out of the box. Of course the box isn't just important though is one attraction point that can't be neglected whereas the actual hardware and performance will actually make the difference. However before jumping to conclusions, is picking one of these latest and greatest GPU's really the best choice? Many can be deterred just by price alone. And yet does the GPU perform as well as one would like? - TechwareLabs

Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X Cool Style Review

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X edition box has an artic theme. It comes in a just blue, white and grey box displaying a penguin on ice with the specs and features on almost all its sides. The video card itself is packaged in a very nicely padded bubble wrap anti-static bag. Out of the anti-static bag the design of the card has a very sleek black glossy hovercraft like look. Their new Vapor-X cooling solution contributes to the overall look and design. One of the many key features of this GPU is the combination of display outputs, which include just all possible and as such being a rather unique combination that will please many.

After a series of benchmarks we found the board to be a stable GPU that runs cool, stays silent and handles quite a load graphics wise. The frame rate in the majority of games came out excellent. The card didn't hit temperatures too far over 50°C, even while gaming and the added silence of the fan at 50% was nice. At full speed their video card's fan sounded like a mini pocket fan, if not quieter. So with a price tag of about $200-225 there should be no reason to think twice about purchasing this graphics card, especially if you are in need of an upgrade. In that case you go with the flow and get one of these cards while you can.

Because this board performed so well, and especially because of how silent and cool it remained even while under stress, this Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X version definitely deserves our recommendation. So if you are on the market for a new graphics card, just think about the Vapor-X edition which should just please most persons looking for improved gaming performance.