Sapphire X1950PRO Ultimate: VF-900 for only $10 More

[perkam]

Sapphire's VF-900 Version of the X1950PRO is only $10 above the regular $200 X1950PROs and cheaper than the craptastic VF-700 Aluminum X1950PRO that Gigabyte introduced at launch.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-102-070-03.JPG

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102070

So in reality you're buying a $180 X1950PRO w/ $30 VF-900 WITH ramsinks and something the VF-900 doesn't come with: a huge copper capacitator sink :)

Perkam

[onewingedangel]

I have to say I prefer the IceQ3 or stock x1950xtx cooler, on my brothers x1900xtx the stock cooler was cooler than the vf900, but for $10 thats a nice upgrade compared to the single slot jobbie.

[p0tter]

Good find.

Card makers have found..

if you cant beat them, buy them and relabel them.

[perkam]

I'd thought I'd post it...considering many people realizing that midrange dx10 solution is 4-5 months away will be looking for a good midrange solution this holiday season and the X1950PRO with its native crossfire (and therefore ability to add another one later) is one of the better buys.

In response to those mentioning 79xx series, Nvidia screws over its midrange customers when it comes to cooling. We all know what happened with the 7900GT overheating fiasco...and though the 7900GS has a higher overclocking potential then that X1950PRO, the cooling solutions offered by Nvidia partners for its midrange cards pale in comparison to even the stock copper heatsinks for the x1950PRO, let alone the HIS and above Sapphire cooling solutions.

Perkam

[Pisu87]

About the orange heatsink: this review (http://www.hwupgrade.it/articoli/skvideo/1610/radeon-x1950pro-ultimate-sapphire-punta-su-zalman_index.html) says it's useless.

On page 2 there's written: L'elemento di colore arancione posto verso la parte terminale della scheda non raffedda alcun componente e ha pertanto solamente una funzione estetica.
Adapted to English it is roughly the orange-coloured heatsink placed on the right end of the card doesn't cool any components thus it has only an esthetical function.
No further information is given though.

The third pictures shows something between the heatsink and the components, doesn't look like a pad, maybe it is something to prevent shorts.

[Miwo]

Waste of money IMO. Zalman VF-900 isnt going to help the x1950pro, which already runs cool on stock and it will not improve overclocking due to the crappy PCB / overheating VRM.

[Omastar]

Waste of money IMO. Zalman VF-900 isnt going to help the x1950pro, which already runs cool on stock and it will not improve overclocking due to the crappy PCB / overheating VRM.

Well if they implement a stock cooling solution like that found on the X1950XTX, this is a waste of money, since it cools well and it's A LOT quieter than the old X1900XT/XTX leafblower HSFs.

[Praxis1452]

but they haven't and they sinked the VRM on this specifically the reason.

And how much do you really think the VRM is putting out? 40W? I highly doubt that. It CAN be cooled for god's sakes.

[NickS]

About the orange heatsink: this review (http://www.hwupgrade.it/articoli/skvideo/1610/radeon-x1950pro-ultimate-sapphire-punta-su-zalman_index.html) says it's useless.

On page 2 there's written: L'elemento di colore arancione posto verso la parte terminale della scheda non raffedda alcun componente e ha pertanto solamente una funzione estetica.
Adapted to English it is roughly the orange-coloured heatsink placed on the right end of the card doesn't cool any components thus it has only an esthetical function.
No further information is given though.

The third pictures shows something between the heatsink and the components, doesn't look like a pad, maybe it is something to prevent shorts.

They can't spell aesthetics right, I bet they're right about the heatsink not making contact too. :rolleyes:

[higgins]

They can't spell aesthetics right, I bet they're right about the heatsink not making contact too. :rolleyes:

That was translated by Pisu87... so your point would be?

[[XC] Lead Head]

They can't spell aesthetics right, I bet they're right about the heatsink not making contact too. :rolleyes:

I guess you didn't notice that it was roughly translated:p:

[Caparroz]

Seeing this review it becomes clear that memory speeds is by far most important than core clock on the RV570. The Sapphire Ultimate @ 648/797 is faster than the HIS @ 675/743. Hell, the regular Sapphire @ 627/796 is as fast as HIS with 50mhz more on the clock... I've saw that happening in others reviews I read.

I know frame buffer size plays a important role on the R5xx architecture but I didn't know the RAM speeds had so much impact.

I had a 1900xt 512 but it was such a louzy clocker that I didn't had the chance to test core/mem speeds impact on performance.

You guys with R580 cards can confirm the same trend that we see with RV570?