Sapphire vs ASUS 4870

[gamergrrrl]

I'm buying an HD 4870 before midnight tonight. I haven't quite decided which brand to go with...
The ASUS comes with a game--Stalker--for free and after a MIR is the same price as the Sapphire... so perks-wise, the Asus is the clear choice. However, I'm not sure which card runs the coolest and most quiet (cooler temp being more important to me). The Asus also has a higher % negative newegg reviews than the Sapphire--but several of them do not really apply to me ("won't play/do blah-de-blah" that I don't care about).
I'm putting it on an ASUS P6T mobo... don't know if same brand will help with performance or not...?

I'm leaning heavily toward the ASUS HD 4870... opinions?

Please don't reply if you're going to tell me to get Nvidia, lol!

Thanks!

 

[error8]

It depends on what models are you talking about. If it's the custom cooled Sapphire, then that would be my choice. If they're both stock, then I'd get the Asus since it has that game.

 

[o3srt4me]

Originally posted by: gamergrrrl
I'm buying an HD 4870 before midnight tonight. I haven't quite decided which brand to go with...
The ASUS comes with a game--Stalker--for free and after a MIR is the same price as the Sapphire... so perks-wise, the Asus is the clear choice. However, I'm not sure which card runs the coolest and most quiet (cooler temp being more important to me). The Asus also has a higher % negative newegg reviews than the Sapphire--but several of them do not really apply to me ("won't play/do blah-de-blah" that I don't care about).
I'm putting it on an ASUS P6T mobo... don't know if same brand will help with performance or not...?

I'm leaning heavily toward the ASUS HD 4870... opinions?

Please don't reply if you're going to tell me to get Nvidia, lol!

Thanks!

Not to say Sapphire is a bad company becasue one guy on here said he has an un-overclockable Asus 4870

but I bought the center fan model Sapphire 4870 and 3 days later it is dead, the card had some faulty cooling issues and burned itself to death at stock clock....

Sooo keep that in mind.

 

[JaBro999]

For what it's worth, I've had the Sapphire 4870 for a month now and it's run fine for me (never tried overclocking).

The Newegg sale price + MIR is what sold me on it - I haven't had any previous experience w/ Sapphire cards.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Can you show what two cards you are looking at in particular? Both make a few 4870's from reference on up to overclocked with custom coolers.

I have a Sapphire Toxic edition card, I am absolutely thrilled with the performance of this cooler. I'm overclocked to 820/4650 and at full load have yet to see temps above the mid 50C range. As I type this I'm idling at 45C. This cooler is keeping my GPU a good 20-30C lower then reference coolers without any fan tweaking, and doing so at a much higher core and memory clock.

 

[gamergrrrl]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Can you show what two cards you are looking at in particular? Both make a few 4870's from reference on up to overclocked with custom coolers.

I have a Sapphire Toxic edition card, I am absolutely thrilled with the performance of this cooler. I'm overclocked to 820/4650 and at full load have yet to see temps above the mid 50C range. As I type this I'm idling at 45C. This cooler is keeping my GPU a good 20-30C lower then reference coolers without any fan tweaking, and doing so at a much higher core and memory clock.

Sapphire HD 4870 1GB

ASUS HD 4870 1GB

I think I found something on the toxic early in my research... can you link me an info page? How big is it compared to the standard cards?

 

[nOOky]

I have the Sapphire card. No problems after 2 months, runs fairly cool, and it's overclocked to 800/1000. I had to warranty an older Sapphire card once, an X1950XT. No problems there either. All things being equal, I'd get the Asus simply for the free game. I'd say you can't go wrong with either card, Asus is a great brand also. You may want to check out the warranty on each brand, and use that as a factor.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: gamergrrrl

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Can you show what two cards you are looking at in particular? Both make a few 4870's from reference on up to overclocked with custom coolers.

I have a Sapphire Toxic edition card, I am absolutely thrilled with the performance of this cooler. I'm overclocked to 820/4650 and at full load have yet to see temps above the mid 50C range. As I type this I'm idling at 45C. This cooler is keeping my GPU a good 20-30C lower then reference coolers without any fan tweaking, and doing so at a much higher core and memory clock.

Sapphire HD 4870 1GB

ASUS HD 4870 1GB

I think I found something on the toxic early in my research... can you link me an info page? How big is it compared to the standard cards?

I have the same sapphire card you listed there in my tri-fire setup, works great and runs nice and cool.

If it was be choosing I would still go with the Asus, just to get the free game. Sapphire does charge a fee to do RMA's too.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: gamergrrrl

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Can you show what two cards you are looking at in particular? Both make a few 4870's from reference on up to overclocked with custom coolers.

I have a Sapphire Toxic edition card, I am absolutely thrilled with the performance of this cooler. I'm overclocked to 820/4650 and at full load have yet to see temps above the mid 50C range. As I type this I'm idling at 45C. This cooler is keeping my GPU a good 20-30C lower then reference coolers without any fan tweaking, and doing so at a much higher core and memory clock.

Sapphire HD 4870 1GB

ASUS HD 4870 1GB

I think I found something on the toxic early in my research... can you link me an info page? How big is it compared to the standard cards?

http://www.overclockersclub.co.../sapphire_hd4870toxic/

Special for the weekend (perfect if you're buying before midnight today): http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-487TX1G It's $214 there, it's $270 on Newegg.

It's no bigger then a reference design 4870... if the reference card will fit in your case, this card will fit in your case. The shroud might be a bit bigger, but it still a double slot cooler and takes the same footprint. The length was identical to my Radeon 2900 Pro before it.

For the record I'm not too familiar with that Asus card, it could be very good too. Not trying to push you one way or another, but just giving you the first hand info I have on the card I have. I'm sure both are great cards and you can't go wrong either way.

 

[sgrinavi]

I have that ASUS card, it does run VERY cool. GPU stays around 40 at idle and jumps up to the mid 50's when running the FUR bench tool. It is, by far, the coolest running 48xx card I have had (and that includes aftermarket coolers)

Hard to beat that Toxic deal on the wiz site tho..

 

[dust]

Originally posted by: sgrinavi
I have that ASUS card, it does run VERY cool. GPU stays around 40 at idle and jumps up to the mid 50's when running the FUR bench tool. It is, by far, the coolest running 48xx card I have had (and that includes aftermarket coolers)

Hard to beat that Toxic deal on the wiz site tho..

What's your fan speed?

 

[error8]

The reviews on the egg about that Asus card are very bad. I would not touch it, since it may have some serious problems.

 

[gamergrrrl]

I bought the Sapphire Toxic HD 4870 1GB off of ewiz. I had to pay extra for 3 day ups but it was still $35 less than the same card on the egg and only like $10 more than the regular version. I'm a little nervous buying from a store I'm not familiar with, but it was the best price that I found. Thank you SlowSpyder for the recommendation and thanks all for your input. I'm hoping to start putting everything together this Thursday at the latest. It's my first build. So excited!

 

[nemesismk2]

Good choice Gamergrrrl, the Sapphire Toxic 4870 is a very good video card. Wish I had one

 

[*kjm]

Originally posted by: error8
The reviews on the egg about that Asus card are very bad. I would not touch it, since it may have some serious problems.

If you read the bad reviews it sounds like the users may have some serious problems And from what I see Asus cares because they replied to them on newegg.