Page 2: Parts
Parts:
Hey you! STOP. I would love to see a card not include this warning. Let people fend for themselves and save the cent that the sticker costs. Then see how many can follow directions. Yeah, I don't read the manual either...
The product includes a smattering of software for Windows and nothing for Linux. There is no driver for Linux on the CD! Aside from the software from Windows, you get the all important manual.
You'll notice something interesting in this image. There are two power conversion cables. Wait and see why... You also get the USB sampler (2GB), TV out cables, the HDMI dongle (7.1 audio), a VGA adapter, Crossfire connection.
The Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 is a dual slot cooling design. The reason for this is due to the card's core and memory speeds. At 160 Watts, the core pumps out heat and you'll burn your finger if you touch the back side of the card with it. The cooler itself spins very loudly on first boot and then spins down. I have yet to hear it be very loud when in use since my system is well ventilated (Armor full size case).
The dual slot cooler is painful if you have a small case, but since this card is targeted at the enthusiast community, it probably won't matter to the target market. Even so, you can put a staggering four of these into Crossfire which is pretty insane (and expensive).
The Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 gives you two DVI connectors that can be converted to HDMI using the included dongle. It does support the latest rights stealing technology including HDCP and includes support for 7.1 audio done by the card itself. I'll start testing HDMI soon enough.
Like any first release product using ATI graphics, this card is red and black but features Sapphire's own logos along with those from ATI and AMD. There is a metal bar painted red to provide strength to the hefty card when installed in a case. The Crossfire connections are see in the picture above.
Standard on all graphics cards built in this series is the PCI Express 2.0 x16 connection. I would be very interested to actually see if graphics card require the bandwidth. I wonder how 1x slots hold up with graphics. This shot also shows the dual PCIe power connections. Dual, that means two. You need to have two graphics power plugs to use this beast of a card. If you have a quality power supply, you should be fine.
The back of the card is brimming with components and you can see the heatsink support bracket which gets extremely hot during use. The card is RoHS for that green feeling.
Compared to the 4850, the 4870 is bigger and badder. It is slightly longer than the 4850 and the cooler is twice as large. I expect later versions of the cards to move to a single slot cooler as was seen in the 3870 series.
Hey you! STOP. I would love to see a card not include this warning. Let people fend for themselves and save the cent that the sticker costs. Then see how many can follow directions. Yeah, I don't read the manual either...
The product includes a smattering of software for Windows and nothing for Linux. There is no driver for Linux on the CD! Aside from the software from Windows, you get the all important manual.
You'll notice something interesting in this image. There are two power conversion cables. Wait and see why... You also get the USB sampler (2GB), TV out cables, the HDMI dongle (7.1 audio), a VGA adapter, Crossfire connection.
The Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 is a dual slot cooling design. The reason for this is due to the card's core and memory speeds. At 160 Watts, the core pumps out heat and you'll burn your finger if you touch the back side of the card with it. The cooler itself spins very loudly on first boot and then spins down. I have yet to hear it be very loud when in use since my system is well ventilated (Armor full size case).
The dual slot cooler is painful if you have a small case, but since this card is targeted at the enthusiast community, it probably won't matter to the target market. Even so, you can put a staggering four of these into Crossfire which is pretty insane (and expensive).
The Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 gives you two DVI connectors that can be converted to HDMI using the included dongle. It does support the latest rights stealing technology including HDCP and includes support for 7.1 audio done by the card itself. I'll start testing HDMI soon enough.
Like any first release product using ATI graphics, this card is red and black but features Sapphire's own logos along with those from ATI and AMD. There is a metal bar painted red to provide strength to the hefty card when installed in a case. The Crossfire connections are see in the picture above.
Standard on all graphics cards built in this series is the PCI Express 2.0 x16 connection. I would be very interested to actually see if graphics card require the bandwidth. I wonder how 1x slots hold up with graphics. This shot also shows the dual PCIe power connections. Dual, that means two. You need to have two graphics power plugs to use this beast of a card. If you have a quality power supply, you should be fine.
The back of the card is brimming with components and you can see the heatsink support bracket which gets extremely hot during use. The card is RoHS for that green feeling.
Compared to the 4850, the 4870 is bigger and badder. It is slightly longer than the 4850 and the cooler is twice as large. I expect later versions of the cards to move to a single slot cooler as was seen in the 3870 series.