Configuration:

A system with the following components was used to test the Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD4850 512MB graphics card:

» ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution X48 ATX motherboard
» Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 dual core processor (at 3.2GHz)
» G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1600 Pi Series dual channel memory kit (at 1600MHz and 7-7-7-18)
» Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» TSST Super WriteMaster optical drive
» Nesteq EECS 700 Watt ultra quiet power supply

All tests were conducted in the 32-Bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium SP1, and Catalyst 9.1 was used (which happens to be the version provided on the CD).

The screenshot below provides details regarding the Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD4850 512MB as provided by the Catalyst Control Center Overdrive tab and by Techpowerup.com's GPU-Z.



No surprises there, and the two applications confirm the published specifications.

Testing:

For comparison purposes, the Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD4850 512MB graphics card was tested against the following five other cards:

» Sparkle 512MB GeForce 9800 GTX+
» Sapphire 512MB Ultimate Radeon HD4670
» Sapphire 512MB Radeon HD4830
» Leadtek 896MB Limited WinFast GTX260 EXTREME+
» Sapphire Toxic 512MB Radeon HD4850

What we have is a handful of "middle of the road" cards that might offer decent competition for this new breed of Radeon HD4850.

The tests to be executed include one synthetic benchmark, five benchmarks included with DirectX 10 capable 3D games, some power consumption testing, and thermal testing. Each card was run through the following tests, and the system was rebooted between each run.

» FutureMark 3DMark Vantage
» Company of Heroes - Opposing Fronts
» Devil May Cry
» World in Conflict
» PT Boats - Knights of the Sea
» Call of Juarez
» Power Consumption Testing
» Thermal Testing