Sapphire HD 5750 Vapor-X 1GB Video Card Review

Product Number: 11164-04-50R
manufacturer’s Product Page: Click Here
Price: $160USD /
Warranty: 2-years



I know I am probably sounding like a broken record already but by now it should go without saying that ATI is making one hell of a run at nearly every single price point in the GPU market. In the past weeks we have seen the release of their high-end HD 5870, the surprisingly affordable HD 5850 and the mid-range market leaders: the HD 5750 and HD 5770. Luckily, the lower end cards of the DX11 generation haven’t been met with the abysmal availability of the HD 5800-series but that could be the result of much lower popularity as well.

To anyone watching the graphics card market right now, it really does seem like NVIDIA is indeed pulling back from the high end segment in preparation for the debut of their upcoming Fermi architecture. However, the HD 5750 was released into a market is swimming in options for the budget conscious buyers among you which means it is competing against both older ATI cards and current NVIDIA products as well. In this kind of situation, every dollar of saving counts so when Sapphire approached me with their HD 5750 1GB Vapor-X, I was understandably a bit confused as to why they decided to give the coolest-running, most efficient 5000-series card a heatsink makeover.

As I already mentioned, the HD 5750 1GB was launched into a highly competitive market segment and believe it or not, Sapphire isn’t asking for too much of a premium for their Vapor-X version. However, we noticed some interesting goings on as of late with the price of this card in relation to its reference-based brethren. It seems like many sites south of the border are currently selling it for about the same price as a bone stock HD 5750 which makes it a surprisingly good value. Here in Canada though, we are looking at a price premium of around $20 which does tend to indicate that equal pricing at US retailers is only temporary. Granted, the addition of a custom heatsink and the fact that Sapphire’s Vapor-X also sports some minor overclocks should go a ways to alleviating any buyer’s remorse here in Canada but it is still like to see our pricing structure mirroring that of the US.

Even though the HD 5800-series has been experiencing some serious availability issues as of late, HD 5700-series cards have been in stock since day one. Whether this is due to a lack of popularity or simply more cards being available is anyone’s guess but what we do know is that the HD 5750 Vapor-X is widely available here in North America and in other areas of the world as well.

All in all, the Sapphire HD 5750 Vapor-X could be exactly what the doctor ordered for those of you looking for an efficient, quiet and well-priced card. Let’s hope it lives up to our expectations.