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Sapphire Ultimate HD4670
Passive cooling all the way!
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Overclocking and Temperatures
My expectations really were not that high when I started overclocking this card, as
passive cards rarely post awesome overclocks. The GPU really didn't shine, as when the
frequency was pushed beyond 759 MHz, we could start seeing some corruption. The memory on the
other hand did fairly nicely, as it stretched all the way to 995 MHz from the stock 873 MHz.
This overclock gave a fairly nice ~7.5% improvement on the 3DMark06 score (7726 ->8291).
The heatsink of the card really surprised me positively, as it kept the card nice and cool
while idle, and the temperatures never really climbed over 63 celsius even when loaded.
However, the temperatures are completely at the mercy of the airflow in the case. In this
case the card was in an open test-bench, so the temperatures really can't be compared to a
situation where the card is in a small and cramped case. For example, the idle temps varied
between 42 and 52 centigrade, depending on where I placed the fan that I have on the
test-bench. Good airflow is key, when using any passively cooled components.
Conclusion
PROS 
Passive cooling
Low power-consumption
No need for additional power connector
Small size
Decent performance
Low price (most HD4670s are below 100€)
CONS 
The passive heatsink blocks one slot
Not fast enough for high resolutions
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Gold Award for Great Value!
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It's great to see that not every graphics card that is on the market needs huge fans. This
elegant card uses a great looking heatsink to do the job, and the best part is that it does
so completely silently. This mid-range card really does do its job nicely, as it can throw
some nice FPS to the screens even in the newer games, if the user is willing to cut down on
the resolution and some settings. I myself am seriously considering this card to my HTPC, as
the HDMI combined with passive cooling would make a great combination in a HTPC.
This is a card for a person that appreciate silence, and really doesn't need to play games
at the highest settings. Its actually extremely hard to decide which award to give to this
card, as it has a lot of things going for it, but I can't help thinking that this is one of
those cards that will be too slow too soon. The card is great value though, and like I said,
if your not a gamer, this might be card for you.
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