Sapphire HD6850 Vapor X Edition Graphics Card Review

AMD's HD6850 is a high value for money graphics card, retailing in the United Kingdom for around £115 inc vat. The Sapphire HD6850 Vapor X Edition is a significantly improved version which ships with a proprietary PCB and fantastic custom cooler design.

Thanks to the VaporX cooler Sapphire are able to increase the ‘out of the box' performance, while actually lowering noise emissions and reducing temperatures. This card is much quieter than the reference design and is actually quiet enough to be useful as a discrete solution for a performance oriented media center.

Sapphire have opted to enhance the card with a slight core clock increase from 775mhz to 800mhz however our review sample had massive headroom, overclocking to almost 950mhz with minimal effort. We can't verify that all cards from this particular range will overclock this well, but there is clearly some potential on tap.

The bundle is also a strong point, as Sapphire have included adapters and converters, alongside a quality HDMI cable. The cherry on the top is the inclusion of Dirt 3, an excellent racing game that is well worth looking at.

Sapphire's Vapor X cards are normally very good value, and while we don't have a confirmed UK price yet, we would expect it to cost £10-£15 more than the reference design. At this price it is well worth the minimal overhead.

Pros:

• quiet
• overclocks like hell
• runs cooler than reference design
• strong bundle

Cons:

• Nothing really.

Kitguru says: An excellent discrete solution, and perfect for a mid range system or performance media center.

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