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The Sapphire HD5770 Vapor X is supplied in rather bland box which is meant to signify the cooling prowess of the card.
The icy scene sets the tone for the focus of the card, the Vapor Cooler.
The bundle includes Colin McRae Dirt 2, a driver CD, guide, as well as as a copy of Arcsoft Sim HD. There is also a Crossfire connector and a DVI to VGA converter supplied. A previous reviewer has been a little light fingered with our sample as there is a molex to six pin PCI Express adapter missing. You know who you are, hang your head in shame.
The card in all its glory, even though it only has a 10mhz core clock increase when compared to the reference design the Vapor X coolers are known to be the best in the industry, we have high hopes that this card will be a class leader when we test the performance later.
A close up of the nine blade fan that Sapphire use, notice the heatsink under. The fan incidentally is larger than the reference design, so its off immediately to a good start. Only downside we can mention is that the card will vent hot air inside the chassis, rather than out the back.
At the rear we can see four of the cards GDDR5 memory chips.
If you have bought two, or fancy upgrading at a later date, there is full support for Crossfire X.
A single six pin PCI Express power connector which is easier to access thanks to the cooler changes. On a reference board, these are rather fiddly to get at. Either that or I have fat fingers.
At the rear we are greeted with two dual link DVI outputs as well as an HDMI and Displayport connector. Sapphire have kept the vent system on the rear, although due to the cooler design, the majority of the hot air will not vent from here.
Another card angle, which shows the rather nicely sculpted curves.
I have seen a few reviews of this card since it was released months ago, it really looks to be pretty much top of the pile.
Sapphire make such quality products. Vapor cooling rocks. I have an ordinary HD5770.
Its nice to get refreshers on kitguru sometimes of the best products in the last six months, I almost forgot about this card but remember liking it when I saw the reviews in January. Nice review, and the price is competitive, but I think they need to drop the HD5770 range by £20 overall. Shame nvidia arent more competitive. AMD are having a field day with pricing.
It is a problem overall, AMD pricing is a bit higher than it should be in this sector as they have no competition. GTX465 didnt drop the price of the HD5850 either, as the 5850 is the better card and its already £20 less !
I dont know, 4 years ago £150 for a card giving performance like this, even up to 1920×1200 would have been much higher. even relatively.
Was surprised the load temperatures werent better but I think this card has been released with noise in mind and therefore the fan is bigger and is spinning much slower. have you got RPMs of teh fan speeds? im curious
I have two of these 🙂 they are awesome in CF, even if the drivers dont always work right 🙁
Zardon, I have concerns Sapphire fund KitGuru, there are ads everywhere and you always give their products 5/5 or close. Are you sure you are being 100% subjective?
@ Brockferst – all advertisers ‘fund’ a site, but on KG there is a line drawn between revenue streams and editorials. Sapphire don’t fund our reviews in the least, if you feel after reading this article that I was wrong about anything, or that im misquoting, please let me know. The situation is this, Sapphire take already strong products in the current 5 series and make them better. Even the reference designs are fantastic, so its hard to score them low.
We also review Nvidia products too, such as the GTX465 and GTX480 which both scored well.
Thanks for the reply, perhaps I sounded a little confrontational. I just notice all Sapphire products score well. Incidentally the GTX465 and GTX480 didnt get 5/5 they got 4/5, so you clearly are a little biased 🙂
You think? I thought our scores for the GTX465 and GTX480 were really positive. The GTX465 right now is a great card but its competiting against the HD5850 which is not only cheaper, but its faster and runs cooler. When reviewing that board I took all the positives and all the negatives and put them into a pile and worked through them. At the end of the day, the GTX465 is ideal for an Nvidia fan who is in the market for a new card in this price range. But for the general user the HD5850 presents a better overall package. Hence the extra point. Its also worth noting that if the GTX465 drops in price by about £40 then it would be in a stronger position. Something I noted in the review.
GTX480, is too hot and power hungry to score 5/5, It was the same situation with the X2 cards from ATI in the last range. I made the mistake of listening to them when they told me the temps were ‘fine’, which they weren’t as the failure rate was very high. In 6 months time I am positive a similar situation will occur with the GTX480. Otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing all the makers like EVGA releasing such powerful cooling solutions.
GTX480 is the fastest single core card on the market right now, but there are factors weighing against it which we mentioned in the review.
Ok, I stand corrected, thanks for taking the time to clear that up.
very good reading, thanks. I would probably aim higher for the 5850 in my next purchase, but I can never seem to get the money up for it. perhaps a 5770 now and another later when I get more money? advise?
5770’s scale well in Crossfire and I was actually using a 5770 CF setup for a while myself in a personal machine. I really thought it was fantastic. if funds are tight, a single 5770 now then another later is a great option. 5770s in CF outperform a 5850 too, which is an added bonus (well when the driver supports the game obviously)
I am afraid my next card will be another 5850 to run in CFx!
Nice review.
I have 2 of these, but in seperate PCs. They’re really a relief to the ear, especially compared to the 4870×2 I used to have. Now I’d go with silence over performance any day.
Apparently these cards scale beautifully in CF too. I should try that one day. I heard the results rival with the 5870!
PS, nice site Zardon.
Good review of a great card 🙂
Excellent review, as always Zardon. great boards these, seem to have sold well over the months. nice to be reminded !
Christ this was good timing, I was just going to order a 5850 and I decided as I only game at 1680 anyway that this would be fine. Then in 6 months time if its struggling, I can get another. Cheaper option right now and a little futureproofing for later. Thanks.
I have a small dilemma and I hope someone here can help me make a decision. I was considering buying 2 of the Vapor-X HD 5770’s in CF or a single HD5870. I cannot decide between the two. Any advice or considerations?
Yes, if you have the funds go for the 5870, its faster, even than two 5770’s. Also need tro remember that if the game doesnt have a CF profile you are only using one 5770. a 5870 will be ‘full speed’ all the time.
This is a rough approximation.
5770
5850
5770 CFx
5870
5850 CFx
5870 CFx
@ Rob, thanks for that info, helped me make a decision.