Conclusions

Overall, there isn't a really a great deal that  we can say about the 1GB variant of Sapphire's Radeon HD 4870 TOXIC that we didn't already cover in our review of the 512MB model.  From a performance standpoint it simply adds a little extra gloss to the Radeon HD 4870's already excellent performance, much in line with the HIS part we looked at before Christmas, and that gloss helps it to hold its own against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 in pure framerate terms even in places where a reference board may slip behind slightly.  Our particular TOXIC sample also impressed a little more with regard to the additional overclocking of which it was capable, which again put it a little ahead of HIS' otherwise similarly specified part.

Aside from pure performance, Sapphire's Radeon HD 4870 TOXIC also looks to stand out from the crowd in terms of its cooling solution, and again this was a feature that we spoke highly of when we reviewed the 512MB variant of this board, and that general feeling hasn't diminished in the months and additional cards we've experienced since.  From looking at our results, you can see a clear choice that has to be made for the potential buyer of a Radeon HD 4870 1GB board - Do you want to shoot for the lowest possible GPU temperatures or the lowest possible noise levels?  While some of its rival boards do a better job of keeping temperatures much lower, Sapphire have clearly built the TOXIC with noise levels in mind, keeping temperatures well within acceptable levels but as quietly as possible.  It succeeds admirably at this, giving us a solution that is whisper quiet to the point of being less noticeable even than NVIDIA's impressive reference GeForce GTX 260 offering - Great news if you ask me, after a host of cooling solutions for RV770 offerings that have been a lot louder under load than we'd have liked.

As we've mentioned in previous reviews, there are plenty of arguments to consider between choosing the Radeon HD 4870 1GB and GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, from their varying levels of DirectX support through to CUDA and PhysX, so it's worth sitting down to think about which of these are important to you before making a purchase (although of course it's still nigh-on impossible to put any real weighted value on many of these features, even here at the start of 2009).  If you choose to go with the Radeon HD 4870 1GB however, and are looking for something a little bit beyond its reference specifications, then Sapphire's Radeon HD 4870 TOXIC 1GB offers a compelling blend of improved performance and a well-designed, quiet cooling solution that it makes it well worthy of consideration if either of those areas are important to you.

Product information

Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 TOXIC 1GB

- Vendor web site
- Vendor product information

Recommended retail pricing (at time of going to press): £212.75 including VAT

Many thanks to Sapphire for providing the sample for this review

If you have any comments or thoughts on this review, please feel free to leave them in our forum.