A slightly different futuristic robot image on the Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC box, but it is very effective artwork.
The bundle includes a quality HDMI cable, some power converters, literature, and a software disc. It is always best snagging the latest drivers from AMD's website however.
The Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC is a beast of a card, and is very heavy. Part of the weight it due to the metal backplate fitted to the PCB, shown above. Three 90mm fans are spaced across the full length of the PCB. We love the sporty blue accents.
The ‘Sapphire' badge on the side of the cooler, glows when the card is active.
The Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC demands power from two eight pin power connectors.
There is a bios switch here which offers UEFI support. AMD's R9 290 offers bridgeless Crossfire support, meaning it doesn't need a physical connector between the cards.
A single link, and dual link DVI connector are present, alongside a full sized HDMI (1.4a) and DisplayPort (1.2) connector. Eyefinity is fully supported and no active adapter is required.
In the middle of the card, on the back is an ‘on/off' switch. Sapphire has added a new feature to this card which Sapphire are calling ‘Intelligent Fan Control (IFC)'. With this feature enabled only one of the three fans (center) will spin with lower loads. When the GPU temperature rises then all three fans will kick in. In theory this should reduce noise emissions under most situations.
Gamers and overclockers can turn this off, so the three fans spin all the time.
This is a very impressive looking cooler. The R9 290 Vapor-X card uses Digital Power Control and a new Aero6 VRM section to deliver 6 phase power with high power Direct-FET technology to the GPU, memory and control circuitry.
The power design on this card uses Sapphire Black Diamond chokes – featuring a black ferrite cooler for better efficiency. Sapphire are using high grade electrolyte capacitors throughout the design.
If you have been paying attention you may have seen the white strip running along the top of the card, close to the two 8 pin power connectors. Sapphire's engineering team have left one of the copper layers exposed. An additional heatsink mounted direct to the copper layer means that heat can be absorbed into the PCB from the GPU, then transferred out. Sapphire claim a reduction in overall temperature by ‘several degrees'.
The Tri-X cooler is mounted on top, utilising a monster 10mm heatpipe, with two 8mm pipes and two 6mm pipes spreading across the full length of the PCB.