SAPPHIRE SHOWS STRENGTHS IN CeBit 2009

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SAPPHIRE Technology, the leading manufacturer and worldwide supplier of AMD/ATI based PC solutions is set to show its strengths in a broad portfolio of products including some new innovations on booth C45 E6 in Hall 20 at CeBit 2009 from March 3rd-8th 2009.

New Vapor-X Series Graphics
SAPPHIRE was the first company to introduce Vapor Chamber Technology to its cooling solutions with its Vapor-X cooler first seen on the HD 3870 ATOMIC and TOXIC editions last year and now in volume production on the HD 4870 512MB and 1GB TOXIC Editions.

Now SAPPHIRE will bring a new Vapor-X Series of graphics cards to market with new versions of the HD 4870 and HD 4850. Built on SAPPHIRE original design PCBs these new models will bring the benefits of Vapor-X cooling - quieter and more efficient cooling – without the cost premium associated with the existing overclocked TOXIC Editions.

Two versions of the SAPPHIRE HD 4870 Vapor-X Edition will offer 2GB or 1GB of DDR5 with clock speeds of 750 MHz core and 900 MHz memory and the SAPPHIRE HD 4850 Vapor-X will have 512MB of GDDR3 and clocks of 625 MHZ core and 993 MHz memory. Both models will feature HDMI connector on the rear bracket, as well as DVI and VGA.

SAPPHIRE Exclusive HD 4850 X2 Gets Better !
For the gaming enthusiast, SAPPHIRE has just announced that the innovative SAPPHIRE HD 4850 X2 is now in volume production, enabling the company to reduce prices for both the 2GB and 1GB models making this product the best value graphics solution in the high performance segment. Responding to initial feedback in early reviews, production units now have an improved fan speed profile, keeping noise to a low level when in idle or 2D graphics mode. Driver support has further increased performance, and a fully WHQL driver is now available for download from AMD.

Only available from SAPPHIRE, the HD 4850 X2 comprises two complete HD 4850 graphics systems on a single PCI-Express card connected by an on-board PCI Express Gen 2 bridge chip. Each GPU has 800 stream process units and a 256-bit memory interface driving 1GB or 512MB of GDDR3 memory, making a total of 2GB or 1GB of on-board memory.

Four Dual Link DVI outputs are provided on the back plate as well as TV-Out. This provides a choice of Multi-monitor operation or CrossFire mode in which 3D applications such as games use both GPU’s together to deliver a single accelerated output. In this mode the HD 4850 X2 delivers stunning levels of performance and high frame rates in games even at high resolutions with graphics features enabled.

GDDR4 Adds Punch to Midrange
For gamers on a budget, the new SAPPHIRE HD 4670 GDDR4 has been production engineered to bring new levels of performance to the mainstream previously associated only with high end cards. With its 320 stream processors and carrying 512MB of GDDR4 memory the SAPPHIRE HD 4670 GDDR4 is now the best product in its class. Clock speeds are 750MHz for the core and 1100MHz (2.2GHz effective) for the memory making this the fastest HD 4670 card available. The card is cooled by a new large diameter fan based cooler which keeps noise levels to the minimum (<20dBA). Outputs are HDMI, VGA and DVI supporting a wide range of monitors and TV display options.

Silence is Golden
SAPPHIRE is also shipping the SAPPHIRE HD 4670 ULTIMATE Edition which uses heatpipe technology to bring a totally silent solution to this graphics family. As it uses no fan it must be installed in a case with good system ventilation. With its 320 stream processors and carrying 512MB of GDDR3 memory the SAPPHIRE HD 4670 ULTIMATE is ideal for HTPC or general purpose computers that are required to run quietly but can also used for gaming. Clock speeds are 750MHz for the core and 873MHz (1.746GHz effective) for the memory. Again HDMI is delivered on the rear bracket together with DVI and VGA out.

All SAPPHIRE HD 4000 series graphics cards are Microsoft Windows Vista™ Premium certified and supported by the ATI Catalyst® suite of software, ensuring customers have ongoing access to software updates for performance, stability and added features. Like the previous generation, these cards support DirectX10.1 for enhanced rendering performance and lighting effects.

Enter the Dragon !
SAPPHIRE Technology has just released a new feature packed mainboard supporting the full range of AMD Athlon, Phenom and Phenom ll processor families with Hybrid graphics or full CrossFire X graphics solutions. Together with SAPPHIRE HD 4800 series graphics products this forms the basis of the platform codenamed Dragon.

The SAPPHIRE PURE CrossFire 790GX is a fully featured ATX mainboard combining the powerful AMD 790GX Chipset and AMD SB750 south bridge. Four DIMM slots support up to 16GB of Dual Channel DDR2 1066/800 memory and there is an integrated 128MBit DDR2 sideport memory. The integrated high speed 3GB/s SATA hard drive interface caters for up to 6 devices with optional RAID functions, and there is also an Ultra DMA IDE connector. On board features include GigaBit LAN and 8-channel HD Audio as well as support for up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 devices.

Quality is at a premium with this mainboard, which uses high-polymer solid electrolyte aluminium capacitors with extended operating temperature range for high reliability. The advanced power control on this mainboard uses a special 6+1 PWM design and provides stable operation for all the latest AMD processor families. For the enthusiast a special section in the BIOS allows for CPU and memory clocks, timings and voltages to be tuned for extra performance (overclocking).

More Mainboards
The PURE CrossFire 790GX joins the existing SAPPHIRE range of AMD compatible mainboards which include the successful PURE Crossfire 770, the Hybrid CrossFire 780G with onboard graphics and the PURE Element 690G and 690V models for the budget conscious.

Put Fire in your Dragon with SAPPHIRE FirePSU
SAPPHIRE is now shipping the first in a new line of Power Supplies for the PC and workstation market - the SAPPHIRE FirePSU 625W. Workstation users are concerned about the stability and reliability of their systems to make their design work effective and efficient, whilst even gamers demand high reliability with their systems under continuous load.  With FirePSU SAPPHIRE is now introducing a family of power supplies that is designed to provide the Quality and Stability needed by even the most intensive users. 

Naturally the FirePSU provides support for multiple graphics systems (CrossFireX) with its four PCI-Express 6/8 pin connectors.  It has 80Plus certification and European approvals. Most importantly it has more extensive protection modes than competing products, resulting in high reliability and safety. SAPPHIRE plans to introduce 1050W and 1250W models as its FirePSU Gaming Editions soon.

Get in the Frame  !
SAPPHIRE Technology is now selling a new model in its range of Digital Photo Frames (DPF), the first in a second generation of these products incorporating several new features.

The SAPPHIRE DPF-T10 is a digital photo frame with a screen size of 10.2 inches and a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. This gives a picture ratio of 16:9 suitable for displaying still photographs or video. Its high brightness 350cd/m2 TFT-LCD gives a bright, clear display under a wide range of operating conditions. It also has a built in amplifier and speaker.

This new model has built-in 256MB memory holding a large number of images or sound files, which can be loaded from a PC via the USB interface or from memory cards. Multiple memory card slots allow the use of most types of memory cards including SD, XD and MMC types to display or transfer files. File formats supported include jpg, bmp, avi video and MP3 audio files.

On screen menus and touch sensitive controls make the DPF-T10 very simple to use whether displaying photographs or videos. It can also be turned on or off by clapping hands twice. The on-screen display supports five languages – English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The unit also has clock and calendar functions and supports ISP - In System Programming.

The SAPPHIRE DPF-T10 joins the existing range of SAPPHIRE DPF products based on digital TFT LCD technology and available in two formats. The DPF-080 is an 8 inch model in 4:3 ratio with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and the DPF-101 is a 10.2 inch model in 16:9 ratio with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels and built-in memory of 128MB. Both these models have a brightness of 250cd/m2, bringing brighter, clearer image display than analogue types.

More details on all the products covered here can be found at  www.sapphiretech.com