Sapphire HD 4670 Ultimate 512MB Passive Video Card Review

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Passive Cooling in an Extreme Environment

Passive Cooling in an Extreme Environment

Some of you may be wondering: what is extremely passive cooling? Well, for these tests we put the card in a closed case with very little internal airflow.

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The case is a GMC Toast which has horrible airflow characteristics to begin with but we kicked things up a notch by installing a pair of Zalman 80mm rear exhaust fans with resistors attached which means they are running at a mere 800RPMs. In addition, there is no front intake fan. We then let the CPU (an AMD 5200+) and GPU work at full load (Prime 95 for the CPU and 3DMark Batch Size Test for the GPU) for an hour with the side panel closed and hope to God nothing fries itself.

To Sapphire’s credit, we received a whole reviewer’s kit explaining the proper enclosure environment needed to test this card’s passive cooling features but for our test here, it proved pointless. I really wanted to install the Ultimate into an enclosure that highlighted a worst case scenario and my girlfriend’s compact ATX case provided the perfect opportinity. Indeed, whether Sapphire likes it or not, the majority of HTPC cases their HD 4670 Ultimate will be installed into will have absolutely horrid internal airflow which can spell a quick death for any passively cooled GPU.

Personally, I thought that this test would be the straw that broke the camel’s back considering the ambient room temperature was pegged at 25 degrees Celsius but I was wrong. Even though the delta between the open test bench temperatures and these results was extreme for the passively cooled Ultimate, it still managed to edge out the reference card. This result is absolutely incredible and shows how well the diminutive heatsink on this card works in a low airflow environment. Great job Sapphire.

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

Before this conclusion really gets itself going, I really have to go off on a merry crusade for a second. In my opinion, the HD 4670 is one of the most underappreciated graphics cards on the market today. It offers solid performance at a downright incredible price point and many manufacturers such as Sapphire have decided to make it highly appealing to users who game on their TVs through the inclusion of a native HDMI connector. Indeed, even though it was released nearly half a year ago, in the HD 4670 ATI created a card perfectly suited for today’s economic climate.

It is interesting to see that Sapphire is pretty much alone among ATI’s board partners (other than HIS from what we can see) when it comes to releasing a passively cooled HD 4670. From where I stand the HD 4670 Ultimate just oozes appeal for HTPC users who want the ability to play games at 720P without any of the accompanying fan noise that high loads usually induce in modern cards. Let’s be honest here for a second; if you are solely looking for a card with high definition video decoding capabilities, a HD 4670 will be complete overkill for you. However, if the thought of gaming on your HTPC has fleetingly passed through your mind, a card like the HD 4670 would be perfect without breaking the bank.

Sapphire really has hit the nail on the head with the HD 4670 Ultimate in so many ways. At first we were apprehensive about installing it into a case with next to no active airflow due to what looked like a completely inadequate aluminium heatsink. To my shock, it passed this torture test with flying colors and after an hour of usage, its temperatures beat the reference card. This proves that with this card, all you really need is a modicum of air movement and you are good to go. Power consumption was also extremely good when compared to the competition and ever so slightly lower than a reference HD 4670. However this slight increase in efficiency is most likely the result in the lower-than-reference memory clock speeds rather than any kind of overt engineering wizardry on Sapphire’s part.

Hold on, lower than stock memory speeds? You got that right but it seems like the memory clock speeds for the HD 4670 series are all over the map these days. While the Sapphire Ultimate’s memory operates at 1.74Ghz DDR, other cards have memory running anywhere from 1.74Ghz to 2.0Ghz. Since our reference card uses 2.0Ghz modules, its performance is naturally better than that of the Sapphire card but when you think about it, the difference in memory speeds makes very little difference in the grand scheme of things.

All in all, the Sapphire HD 4670 Ultimate is a great card with an awesome amount of potential for those of you who appreciate silence. You just have to be aware that issues will arise if you don’t clearly understand that airflow over the heatsink fins is a must. However, with a current retail price of under $120, more than passable gaming performance and a built-in HDMI connector it wins our Dam Good Award. If Sapphire keeps on making cards like this, they may just win us over one of these days…



Pros:

- Passive heatsink which works excellently
- Great price / performance ratio versus the competition
- Good bundle
- Native HDMI connector

Cons

- Somewhat hard to find
- 2-year warranty

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