Sapphire Radeon X850 XT Graphics Card

Uhh-mazing

Strengths: Handles BF2 with all High settings, CSS with all high settings, made my computer fly, has HDTV and easy set up for TV

Weakness: Noise, takes up two slots and no Avivo, but for its price, you can't beat that, oh, and the overclock software sucks, but not a huge deal

I'm running custom ECS mobo w/ATI onboard, in case that makes it run better or not, P4 640 3.2ghz, w/1GB of RAM and now this bad boy of a video card. If you don't want Avivo, or don't care about it, then this is the best card to have for its price and performance. Sure, the PE x850xt is faster, but not by much. You could simply overclock this a smidge and its the PE. Overall, this video card...
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I'm running custom ECS mobo w/ATI onboard, in case that makes it run better or not, P4 640 3.2ghz, w/1GB of RAM and now this bad boy of a video card. If you don't want Avivo, or don't care about it, then this is the best card to have for its price and performance. Sure, the PE x850xt is faster, but not by much. You could simply overclock this a smidge and its the PE. Overall, this video card blows all the others out of the water and shows as a real side of what a single based card can perform

By mcnaryxc - May 4, 2006

Radeon X850 XT Video Card (256MB, PCI-Express x16, 2D/3D w/ TV-Out)

Strengths: Awesome performance! Graphics are amazing! Included with several different cables and adapters.

Weakness: Price is still a bit on the high end imo. Size - takes up 2 rear slots.

This is definitely the best video card I have owned! I've been extremely impressed with the amount of detail and smoothness the X850 XT is capable of reproducing, and have yet to tweak with the settings. Definitely a major step up from my other system with a humble 9600XT. Installation wasn't all that bad, a very tight squeeze. Just keep in mind that this is not a small card since you will need...
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This is definitely the best video card I have owned! I've been extremely impressed with the amount of detail and smoothness the X850 XT is capable of reproducing, and have yet to tweak with the settings. Definitely a major step up from my other system with a humble 9600XT. Installation wasn't all that bad, a very tight squeeze. Just keep in mind that this is not a small card since you will need to give up 2 rear slots. Overall, I am very happy with this purchase and highly recommend the X850 XT to serious and casual gamers alike.

By djhendo - Mar 27, 2006

Sapphire x850 xt 256MB PCI-Express Graphics Card

Strengths: This card handles all of the latest games with no problems.

Weakness: None.

Some people say this card is too loud, but I have a well ventilated case and it runs the fan on the lowest speeds with the ATI drivers even when running full load benchmarking software. Sapphire makes great graphics cards. I have owned 5 of them and I have never had an issue with a single one of them. Buy this card while they last!

By Nexgen LLC - Mar 6, 2006

Not as noisy as many said

Strengths: it's lightning quick. I owned an x800 before this one but this one is a mile ahead. Overclocking is awesome.

Weakness: I read some reviews before I bought it and many complained about the noise of the fan. It's not that noisy. And it hasn't run hot on me.

With the release of 7900 series, for those who can't afford 500-700 cards, buy this. For the price, it's one of the best out there in the marcket. I recommend that buyers should get the newest driver from its website and don't use the one on the CD. If you are bothered by the noise of the fan, get a Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 5 Rev. 2 VGA Cooler. Also, make sure you download the ATI Tool to...
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With the release of 7900 series, for those who can't afford 500-700 cards, buy this. For the price, it's one of the best out there in the marcket. I recommend that buyers should get the newest driver from its website and don't use the one on the CD. If you are bothered by the noise of the fan, get a Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 5 Rev. 2 VGA Cooler. Also, make sure you download the ATI Tool to control the fan and temp.

By wisemensurvive - Mar 8, 2006

Blazingly Fast ... but puts a rather large dent in the wallet !!!

Strengths: Blazingly Fast, runs newest games at their highest settings, quality product

Weakness: Runs very hot, fan can be very loud, takes up 2 rear slots.

The Sapphire X850XT is an extremely well built card, so if you usually have have reservations about buying Radeon cards that aren't built by ATI, you shouldn't with Sapphire! The card has not been a disappointment at anything I've recently thrown at it, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Battlefield 2, Battlefield Vietnam etc, all run fantastic and look awesome with all the settings turned up high. Running in...
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The Sapphire X850XT is an extremely well built card, so if you usually have have reservations about buying Radeon cards that aren't built by ATI, you shouldn't with Sapphire!

The card has not been a disappointment at anything I've recently thrown at it, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Battlefield 2, Battlefield Vietnam etc, all run fantastic and look awesome with all the settings turned up high. Running in resolutions of 1920x1080 on my 37" Westinghouse LCD is a breathtaking experience!

So, as far as performance has been concerned, there are no concerns, it performs great.
If the price was lower I would recommend this card to anyone that was looking for a top performer, however, with the price of the X800XL series, and the X800XT All-In-Wonder cards dropping to extremely affordable levels, I would be more apt to recommend those cards, as their performance is very good without dropping a bundle of cash.

The only drawbacks to this high end card, besides the high price, is that it takes up 2 rear access openings, so depending on your mainboard's design, it may also render one of your other PCI slots useless as well, and when it starts getting very hot, the fan kicks in with a thunderous noise!

The good thing is that the fan isn't too noisy under normal operating conditions, so all in all I was happy with the purchase of this Sapphire X850XT, and I'm sure you would be as well.

By Darkonus - Jul 30, 2005