It's been a long time since AMD released new products. But that's no surprise, because company's lineup is complete, supporting DirectX 11 and whatnot. We have already examined most solutions in the RADEON HD 5xxx series and now we review interesting products rolled out while the market has been recovering from the economic depression.

Most likely, you're already familiar with Sapphire's Vapor-X graphics card series featuring custom coolers. Today, we'll review a solution with a Vapor-X cooler that belongs to the Toxic series, meaning that it's also overclocked and intended for enthusiasts: Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5.

Design

Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5

GPU: RADEON HD 5850 (Cypress) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 765/765 MHz (725/725 MHz nominal) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1125 (4500) MHz (1000 (4000) MHz nominal) Bus width: 256-bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 1440 Texture processors: 72 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Size: 260x100x33 mm PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), Display Port, HDMI VIVO: - TV Out: - Multi-GPU: Hardware CrossFire

Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5
1024MB GDDR5 SDRAM in 8 Samsung memory chips on the front side of the PCB. Peak clock rate 1250 (5000) MHz.

Comparison with the reference design, front view
Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5	Reference ATI Radeon HD 5850

Comparison with the reference design, rear view
Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5	Reference ATI Radeon HD 5850

While based on the reference design, this Radeon HD 5850 modification has been customised enough by the manufacturer. Take a look at the power supply unit, for example.

Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 features an audio codec, so nothing else it required to transmit audio to HDMI.

Note that the graphics card has two 6-pin connectors for external power supply.

Another important feature is that Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 can work with 3 monitors simultaneously. To use this feature you must have at least one monitor with a DisplayPort interface (or, say, a DisplayPort-HDMI adapter).

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz maximum refresh rate
• 2048 x 1536 x 32bit @ 85Hz max. via analog interface
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz max. via digital interface (Dual-Link DVI/HDMI)

As for the HDTV support, a review is available here.

Write a comment below. No registration needed!