New Sapphire Vapor-X cards

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:21 am

Vapor-X Cooling

Vapor Chamber Technology is based on the same principles as heatpipe technology. A liquid coolant is vaporised at a hot surface, the resulting vapor is condensed at a cold surface then the liquid is returned to the hot surface. The recirculation process is controlled by a patented wick system. SAPPHIRE Vapor-X flattens the whole system into a slim chamber - which in the graphics application is mounted in contact with the surface of the graphics chip.

One of the new video cards with the new Vapor-X cooler (it is different from the Vapor-X cooler of the "Toxic" edition cards): http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products ... =295&grp=3

Does anybody know if this is "quiet" or not? Any review (with dBA measurement)? Opinions?

Thank you very much.

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:50 am

I've found these

Source: http://www.hwupgrade.it/articoli/skvide ... 800_6.html (Italian language)

Notice there are only 1-2 dBA of difference between idle and load with the Vapor-X cooler.

But I don't know if they are SPCR-quality measurements.

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:53 am

Quick someone donate a sample so we get true measurements, NO WAY a card is going up 55dB! What, did they measure 1mm away?

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:00 am

LodeHacker wrote:Quick someone donate a sample so we get true measurements,

Ehehehe... Santa Klaus are you there?

NO WAY a card is going up 55dB! What, did they measure 1mm away?

I think they tested the whole system with the video card inside.

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:02 am

ekerazha wrote:
LodeHacker wrote:Quick someone donate a sample so we get true measurements,
Ehehehe... Santa Klaus are you there?

NO WAY a card is going up 55dB! What, did they measure 1mm away?
I think it's the whole system with the video card inside.

Well then it completely is a bad measurement. Do they have an old Pentium 4 probably overclocked to 5GHz which needs that f**king loud 5000RPM fan?

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:04 am

LodeHacker wrote:Well then it completely is a bad measurement. Do they have an old Pentium 4 probably overclocked to 5GHz which needs that f**king loud 5000RPM fan?

This is what they say about the test config:

* Processore: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme
* memoria RAM: 3x2 Gbytes Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D
* Hard disk: Western Digital WD7500AAKS
* Scheda madre: MSI Eclipse (chipset Intel X58)
* Sistema operativo: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit, con Service Pack 1
* Driver video NVIDIA: Forceware 181.20
* Driver video ATI: Catayst 9.2

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:01 am

Another review (from fudzilla.com): http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=40 (this is the version with 2 GB of memory).

There isn't any dBA measurement, just an opinion:

Sapphire Vapor-X HD4870 2GB is the quietest HD4870 weâ€™ve seen/heard so far. Vapor-X technology is truly a gem as it provides dead silence in 2D and not-so-dead but still silent 3D mode.

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:51 am

Well here certainly is a contradiction, when someone says quietest it can pretty safely be assumed that it is under 20dB(A). Those italians measured nearly 55dB which is ear-raping and not quiet!

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:47 pm

LodeHacker wrote:Well here certainly is a contradiction, when someone says quietest it can pretty safely be assumed that it is under 20dB(A). Those italians measured nearly 55dB which is ear-raping and not quiet!

ekerazha wrote: I think they tested the whole system with the video card inside.

So I think you should look at it in a relative way (dB difference), not absolute.

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:12 am

Another review: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews ... 0_vapor_x/

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:27 am

I do understand what you're saying, they measured the whole system and not only the card so in a relative point of view the vapor-X seems to be fairly quiet. You italians are at times so strange no wonder you're known for your Mafia and plumbers (Mario / Luigi)

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:31 am

LodeHacker wrote:I do understand what you're saying, they measured the whole system and not only the card so in a relative point of view the vapor-X seems to be fairly quiet.

You need a working PC to make it work

Yeah... maybe they could use a fanless PC instead.

You italians are at times so strange no wonder you're known for your Mafia and plumbers (Mario / Luigi)

Nice to hear this from a reindeer-hunter salmon-eater Finnish

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:45 am

ekerazha wrote:
LodeHacker wrote:I do understand what you're saying, they measured the whole system and not only the card so in a relative point of view the vapor-X seems to be fairly quiet.
You need a working PC to make it work Yeah... maybe they could use a fanless PC instead.

You italians are at times so strange no wonder you're known for your Mafia and plumbers (Mario / Luigi)
Nice to hear this from a reindeer-hunter salmon-eater Finnish

And who says peoples and countries can't get along?

P.S. we also eat reindeers and horses too ^^

CyberDog · Post by **CyberDog** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:10 am

whats wrong in salmon? I just eat some.

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:37 am

thejamppa wrote: and horses too ^^

OT: We too in north-east of Italy. And donkeys too

And deers.

However...

... what about this video card? I'm very wavered between GTX 260 and this HD 4870 1 GB Vapor-X, it's a shame SPCR didn't review it

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:33 am

I wouldn't say it's a shame... if I've understood correctly SPCR is non-commercial but gets supported by many companies (and of course the SPCR community via donations). So it's actually a matter if you italians (either via Mafia connections or plumber Mario) provide a sample for SPCR. Look, we here up north in Finland eat salmon, lots of salmon. To get salmon we need to go fishing. We hunt reindeer so that already takes most of our part-time. We can't provide a sample because we live from what the nature gives and last time I checked, graphics cards didn't grow in trees or ground

ekerazha · Post by **ekerazha** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:23 pm

LodeHacker wrote:I wouldn't say it's a shame

I mean "what a pity": obviously someone should provide a sample