Sapphire Makes 4870 Toxic with 1 GB RAM

CUSTOM VERSIONS OF ATI'S HD4870 are pouring out from the likes of Asus and Sapphire - better cooling for faster GPU ops, and more memory for all the textures and effects being the order of the day. Does it help? We check Sapphire's brand new HD4870 TOXIC 1 GB card to find the answers - using our friendly, supposedly Nvidia-centric 3Dmark Vantage.

The TOXIC card not only doubles the video memory to a gigabyte, but also speeds up the GPU slightly to 780 MHz, and the memory to 4000 MHz.  So, what are the benefits? Take a look yourself:

Umm OK, a little more than the proportional jump in the Performance mode at 1280x1024, and, well, quite a bit more increase in the Extreme mode at 1920x1200 resolution with all the bells & whistles enabled, nearing up to 30 per cent. That's where the extra memory comes in.

Now, if you shop around, the TOXIC HD4870 can be found for $210, a bit more than the $195 for the standard HD4870 512 MB reference design. Is it a worthy extra spending? Well, if you're happy with a single HD4870, this config should give you a nice performance buffer for a while if you start running high resolutions and effects. And yes, at noticeably less heat than the reference design too - so, surely quite a better deal then the standard version.

The Good
Extra performance with less heat
The Bad
The extra expense
The Ugly
We wish there was a single-slot version

Bartenders' Verdict
9 out of 10