Legit Video Card Reviews

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Video Card

Manufacturer: Sapphire
Product: 100281VXSR
Date: Tue, Nov 03, 2009 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Nathan Kirsch -
Share:

Temperature Testing

Since video card temperatures and the heat generated by next-generation cards have become an area of concern among enthusiasts and gamers, we want to take a closer look at how the Radeon HD 5800 series does at idle and under a full load.

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Idle Temperature:

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Idle Temperature Testing Results

The reference Radeon HD 5870 idles at 38C, which is impressive considering how fast this card is and that it features a reference heat sink. As you can see from the screen shot above, the idle state of the Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X drops the GPU frequency down to just 157 MHz and the memory down to 300 MHz to help conserve power and lower temperatures just like on the reference cards. The idle temperature on the Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X was found to be 32C, which is a 6C drop in temperature at idle!

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Load Temperature:

ATI Radeon HD 5870 Load Temperature Testing Results

We fired up FurMark and ran the stability test at 800x600, which was enough to put the GPU at 100% load in order to get the highest load temperature possible. This application also charted the temperature results so you can see how the temperature rises and levels off, which is very nice. The Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X maxed out at 67C, while the reference card hit a toasty 85C!  This is a decrease of 18C at full load thanks to the Vapor-X cooling technology! The fan on the Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X video card was left on auto during temperature testing. Manually increasing the fan speed in CATALYST Control Center would help lower the temperature some more if you don't mind the extra noise, but with temperatures like these you shouldn't have to!

Next Page - Power Consumption


Review Index
Page 1 - The Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X GPU
Page 2 - The Vapor-X Cooler
Page 3 - Retail Box and Bundle
Page 4 - The Test System
Page 5 - Batman: Arkham Asylum
Page 6 - Need For Speed: Shift‎
Page 7 - Resident Evil 5
Page 8 - Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Page 9 - FurMark 1.7.0
Page 10 - 3DMark Vantage
Page 11 - Unigine 'Heaven' DX11
Page 12 - Temperature Testing
Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 14 - Vapor-X Overclocking
Page 15 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions