Sapphire Radeon Hd 4850 512 Mb By JJC1001 on Aug 08, 2009 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

The ATI Radeon HD 4850 was suggested to me by several online colleagues who had greater experience than me with the subject (I had previously bought only 2 other video cards). The consensus was that the 4850 was a balance between performance and price. Taking their advice, I bought a Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 in late November 2008 for $129.99 ($154.99 with a mail-in rebate). The card had problems when I first activated my new computer. To clarify, I have installed video cards before in other computers, so I do have some experience; I did not make any errors installing it. When I turned on the monitor, I could tell that something was wrong. There were multicolored lines (artifacts) in certain sections of the screen, which is generally a sign of failing hardware. I tested the monitor and card separately on another computer to determine which was the faulty hardware. The graphics card seemed to be the problem, so I contacted customer service to return it.

One of the major criticisms that I've heard from online forums is that Sapphire is known to charge a $15.00 fee to people who wish to return their cards. That fee is not for shipping of the card, which you also have to pay (I paid around $7.00 for shipping); it is an additional fee they charge you. They told me that the fee would be negated if the card was found to be defective in less than 3 months from the date of purchase. I was within that timeframe, so I was not charged. I consider the $15.00 payment, however, to be a potentially negative aspect of buying a product from Sapphire. I have never heard of charging a customer money for repairing a defective product that is under warranty.

They sent me a refurbished HD 4850 about 3-4 weeks after they received my damaged card, and I received it around late January 2009. I installed it and turned on my computer.

The card plays my games smoothly and without any problems. I play Left 4 Dead (2008) without any slowdown and do not hear the card fan working at full capacity like I did with my previous Nvidia 7600GT. I also play a number of older games without any problems either. I can run high graphics settings in games like CounterStrike Source (2004) quite nicely.

I cannot comment on how Blu-ray or HD films look on my computer since I do not have an appropriate monitor for viewing, nor do I have a Blu-ray player installed. I can view HD videos that are posted on YouTube though, and it shows the details of those videos very well.

On a side note, while I received my mail-in rebate check, the amount of work necessary to get it can be confusing. Most rebates require a person to fill out a form and send it to the rebate handlers with a copy of receipt and a UPC label. Sapphire required this as well, but they also needed me to register on a website with a username and everything. I also had to write down 2 specific codes on the envelope that I was sending my materials in. The time to redeem the rebate was also shorter than most, giving me only 3 weeks from the date of purchase to send my request. I would not recommend engaging in this process if you do not have the patience for it.

In conclusion, the 4850 is a satisfactory card, although my experience with it does affect the overall score a little. If you are looking for a good graphics card though, the 4850s have dropped in price quite a bit since I bought mine; I have seen deals on them for as low as $80.00 to $100.00. Sapphire did not evade my attempt to return the card and were actually understanding, but I still am wary of buying future products from them due to the mail-in rebate process and the $15.00 fee for returns. I am sure they are a fine company, but I will be researching online reviews thoroughly should I choose to buy another ATI card.