Sapphire's ITX Compact R9 285: Good Things In Small Packages

[cleeve]

Sapphire provides a compact ITX graphics card for gamers who value small and portable gaming rigs. We put this little graphics card to the test and see if it can stand toe-to-toe with its full-sized contemporaries.

Sapphire's ITX Compact R9 285: Good Things In Small Packages : Read more

 

[Nuckles_56]

Very nice card and for such a small size; a very impressive cooler

 

[StarBound]

Now I would love to see Gigabytes gtx 970 itx to compare it to.

 

[jjb8675309]

Some real game benchmarks would have been nice.

 

[SirTrollsALot]

Thats great! Can you do ITX power supply review next please!

 

[CaptainTom]

Personally I wish all graphics cards had the same connection options as this one (2xDP, HDMI, DVI). It is perfect and allows any type of connection combination you could want. Plus, the use of mini display port allows room for a bigger output of air = better cooling.

 

[Amdlova]

looks nice and shine this graphic. Bring Now The 290x Itx... I want hell on earth.

 

[rohitbaran]

@above
Considering the power draw of R9 290x, it will unfortunately be hell in your ITX rig rather than on earth lol.

 

[Musaab]

Toooooooooooooo late I will go with GTX 970 and I am sure we will see shot GTX970 and even 980 sooner

 

[bloc97]

r3 3xx cards will again, be cheaper, and more performant than its nvidia counterpart.

 

[huilun02]

I hope they also make a mini 290X, so that together with the mini GTX 970 we can hammer down an extra nail in the coffin for the cancerous consoles.

I know the 290X may require a power plant to run and ignite the atmosphere, but can't a man dream?

 

[craul87]

Don't know why but after reading this I felt I traveled back to the 90's... what a warm feeling

 

[jrgreed]

Can someone point out some of the ITX cases that would work with a shorter card like this?

From what I have seen on the market, most ITX cases are either low-profile or can house larger cards... I wouldnt assume there is a huge market for the shorter cards.

I ask because I would really like to see them use this new GPU in a low-profile 260 or 270, something to compete closer to the 750ti than the r7-250 does. I would assume that the low-profile market would be larger, as it applies to ITX and even many MATX cases for HTPCs or offices.

 

[TechyInAZ]

To jrgreed,

You are right on almost everything. Mini itx graphics cards are designed basically designed so you get a %100 guaranteed fit in a mini itx case (except the ultra slim ones obviously).

However, just like you said lots of mini itx cases like the 250D, and even the raven can house far larger cards. So it is really for those select few who either don't know the length the mini itx case and want to be safe with a short card, or for those who truely can't fit a standard graphics card.

 

[rishiswaz]

I hope they also make a mini 290X, so that together with the mini GTX 970 we can hammer down an extra nail in the coffin for the cancerous consoles.

I know the 290X may require a power plant to run and ignite the atmosphere, but can't a man dream?

I know this is obviously a joke/dream/wishlist for most of us, but there are a few ways it could actually work. They would have to put RAM on the back and had a 295x2 like cooling solution with a backplate too, or go Titan Z route and triple slot cooler. Either one of those solutions will break compatibility with MOST mini-ITX cases. When you decided to go Mini-ITX you knew there were going to be performance trade offs so when you see something like this it is like an unexpected gift. A 285 will be fine to kill consoles because consoles can't even hit 60 fps at 1080p so the 285 already blows it out of the water.

 

[veryoldfart]

Always appreciate mini-itx info like this. Thanks.

 

[dudewitbow]

@jrgreed, typical consumer level cases tend to be able to fit full or near full gpus yes, but there are specialty cases out there that sometimes cannot do them. A handful of them are created by LianLi. One is the LianLi PC-05 (05 is the itx version). Its a beautaful m-ITX case with a full tempered glass side that will not fit a full gpu at all.

 

[jrgreed]

oh wow, nice case. I cant find one ANYWHERE Any idea where I could pick one up to check out?

 

[jrgreed]

oh wow, nice case. I cant find one ANYWHERE Any idea where I could pick one up to check out?

 

[gopher1369]

Can someone point out some of the ITX cases that would work with a shorter card like this?

Coolermaster Elite 110 would be the obvious one.

 

[vertexx]

Nice review. This card (and the upcoming ITX GTX 970) are intriguing. The main question I have is whether the "short" ITX cases on the market have enough cooling capability to remove the heat from this card.

Most ITX cases built with enough cooling capacity for gaming can already fit a full-sized card. This card is meant for the likes of:

Cooler Master Elite 110
The shorter ITX models of the Rosewill Legacy series
Lian-Li PC-Q01

The big question is whether these cases can take the heat dumped by this card.

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

Can someone point out some of the ITX cases that would work with a shorter card like this?

I really like Silverstone's Sugo series. The models with the 450W SFX power supply are very easy to use & install. Fractal Design's Node 304 is also a nice mini-ITX case that can easily house this card.

 

[gel214th]

Did I miss the actual game benchmarks to find out how this card performs against its larger compatriots?

 

[bmdc]

Sapphire is pretty much the king of AMD gpu cooling. This itx card proves the point a bit more.

 

[gopher1369]

I really like Silverstone's Sugo series. The models with the 450W SFX power supply are very easy to use & install.

Agreed, I used to own a Sugo SG05, great little case. They've also recently released a 600 Watt SFX power supply: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=524