Review: Sapphire PI-A9RX480 Motherboard

GlitterKill · 15-November-05, 05:19 PM

BigAkita has a new review up on a new ATI chipset motherboard from our friends at Sapphire. This Pure Innovation board has to be one of the prettiest motherboards I have ever seen.

Check it out here.

Sparky · 15-November-05, 05:41 PM

Wow thats unfortunate that the mobo died on ya BA. I would like to see ATI come out with a product that competes well with the NF4 chipset......from the looks of this im not too sure though. ILL keep my DFI NF4 handy for now.

Cpt.Planet · 15-November-05, 05:45 PM

Great review like always BA. I really would have like to seen what kind of FSB this thing can do though.

FeRaL · 15-November-05, 07:11 PM

Nice review BA. Hopefully when you get the RMA done, they send you a newer (if they have one out) version to do more testing on.

beachbum86 · 15-November-05, 07:29 PM

great review BA, as usuall

so, is this just a revision of the board with the custome DD water bolcks on it ?
if so, then where would this one be located, or was it just a beta?

Bionic · 15-November-05, 08:12 PM

Nice thorough review BA. It's a little unnerving that the board died so quickly though. You mentioned that it looked OK after shipping, but can you be sure that this thing isn't a delayed victim of the FedEx meat grinder?

BigAkita · 15-November-05, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachbum86


	great review BA, as usuall so, is this just a revision of the board with the custome DD water bolcks on it ? if so, then where would this one be located, or was it just a beta?

That looks like the ATI reference board. Basically, a blueprint for manufacturers to use while designing their own individual boards.

Foe · 16-November-05, 07:20 AM

Another thorough review that covers everything. I especially love the technical jargon BA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigAkita


	it broke.

One thing is for sure, the mobo looks sexy!

BigAkita · 16-November-05, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FeRaL


	Nice review BA. Hopefully when you get the RMA done, they send you a newer (if they have one out) version to do more testing on.

Thanks, Feral. Unfortunately we usually don't get to RMA or replace items unless it breaks in the middle of the review. Even then, we discuss whether or not to go back to the manufacturer for a new item, fix, or explanation, or just report what happened. Every circumstance is different.

I could have lied and told Sapphire that I was halfway through the review and they would have shipped a replacement out ASAP, but I was already done with testing and was just wrapping up the write-up. It wouldn't have been right.

SpikeShot · 16-November-05, 01:27 PM

Well I read over it, was not impressed with the hardware and the score is right on! Although its says you awarded it a 6 out of 10 in the conclusion but there are 6.5 pimp hats...

Also....

Quote:


	Heat could be an issue for you guys who like to feed your OCZ Platinum PC4800 memory 3.5 volts or more.

PC-4800 is based off of TCCD ram for its ability to scale high. TCCD will not run over 3.2 volts, and will not run stable for the most part over 3.1 volts. just saying a better example would be OCZ-4000 Gold (BH-5) or PC-4000 VX (CH-5)

Either way BA, nice job. I still can't agree that ATI has come second (once again, GPUs...) and they are laging behind. If you come out with something second, it sould be supieror to the "old" hardware, right?

Crazy_J · 17-November-05, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigAkita


	I could have lied and told Sapphire that I was halfway through the review and they would have shipped a replacement out ASAP, but I was already done with testing and was just wrapping up the write-up. It wouldn't have been right.

Maybe you should start a reliability test by running F@H on mobos for 120 hours straight. If the board breaks within that time frame, give it a thumb down till a replacement proves the first one was a dud.

I also wonder if the defect in the mobo would have caused the benchmark to score lower than to what it should had been. You should have been given a new motherboard so you could run the tests again.

godling · 18-November-05, 12:59 PM

I'm curious about something ... would the specs have been better with an ATi graphics card? It would seem natural, to me, for a company that makes both mobos and graphic cards to tweak the performance capability of the mobo/card combination in favor of their products.

This stems, ultimately, from my habits "back in the day" when I would only buy Asus graphics cards because I used Asus mobos, and found that using non-Asus cards had occaisional incompatability issues or performance hits.

-godling

BigAkita · 18-November-05, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by godling


	I'm curious about something ... would the specs have been better with an ATi graphics card? It would seem natural, to me, for a company that makes both mobos and graphic cards to tweak the performance capability of the mobo/card combination in favor of their products. This stems, ultimately, from my habits "back in the day" when I would only buy Asus graphics cards because I used Asus mobos, and found that using non-Asus cards had occaisional incompatability issues or performance hits. -godling

That was a practice done back in the day, but if you look at more modern conventional boards you will see that is no longer true. It depends upon the application being run. Some work better with NVIDIA, some with ATI. Any manufacturer who developed hardware to work with specific hardware would find themselves very quickly with only a small slice of the market. No mainstream manufacturer except Apple builds motherboards that are not cross-compatible, and even Apple finally realized it was time to go mainstream. Remember I said conventional; I realize there are niche boards.

HemiCuda1970 · 28-November-05, 02:31 PM

Its a shame it died on ya...That has to be the best looking Motherboard I have ever seen!

gangaman · 01-December-05, 03:24 PM

Hey BA just read your article and thought youd be the guy to ask!

I'm thinking of getting on of these boards, but i'm not sure if a Zalman CNPS9500 would fit, the two heatsinks next to the CPU socket look pretty close!

thanks

15-November-05, 05:19 PM		#1 (permalink)
GlitterKill Pimp-of-all-Pimps	Sapphire PI-A9RX480 Motherboard BigAkita has a new review up on a new ATI chipset motherboard from our friends at Sapphire. This Pure Innovation board has to be one of the prettiest motherboards I have ever seen. Check it out here.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Affilliated Review: SAPPHIRE Pure Innovation HDMI PI-AM2RS690MHD Motherboard	ranger1033	PC Apex Web News	0	25-April-07 06:14 PM
SAPPHIRE Motherboard Help	THRASHER2	Hardware Advice Corner	5	10-August-06 05:21 PM
The Register // Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-A9RX480 mobo	Gizmo	The Register RSS	0	07-September-05 03:44 AM
Anandtech // Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 - ATI's Chipset for the AMD Enthusiast	Gizmo	Anandtech RSS	0	04-August-05 03:34 PM
Anandtech // Sapphire PURE PI-A9RX480 - ATI's Chipset for the AMD Enthusiast	Gizmo	Anandtech RSS	0	29-July-05 03:31 PM

15-November-05, 05:41 PM		#2 (permalink)
Sparky Apex Tech God	Wow thats unfortunate that the mobo died on ya BA. I would like to see ATI come out with a product that competes well with the NF4 chipset......from the looks of this im not too sure though. ILL keep my DFI NF4 handy for now.

15-November-05, 05:45 PM		#3 (permalink)
Cpt.Planet That's Mr. Freeze to you!	Great review like always BA. I really would have like to seen what kind of FSB this thing can do though.

15-November-05, 07:11 PM		#4 (permalink)
FeRaL Mutant Moderator	Nice review BA. Hopefully when you get the RMA done, they send you a newer (if they have one out) version to do more testing on.

15-November-05, 07:29 PM		#5 (permalink)
beachbum86 Apex Tech God	great review BA, as usuall so, is this just a revision of the board with the custome DD water bolcks on it ? if so, then where would this one be located, or was it just a beta?

15-November-05, 08:12 PM		#6 (permalink)
Bionic Apex Tech Maniac	Nice thorough review BA. It's a little unnerving that the board died so quickly though. You mentioned that it looked OK after shipping, but can you be sure that this thing isn't a delayed victim of the FedEx meat grinder?

18-November-05, 12:59 PM		#12 (permalink)
godling Apex Tech Maniac Supreme	I'm curious about something ... would the specs have been better with an ATi graphics card? It would seem natural, to me, for a company that makes both mobos and graphic cards to tweak the performance capability of the mobo/card combination in favor of their products. This stems, ultimately, from my habits "back in the day" when I would only buy Asus graphics cards because I used Asus mobos, and found that using non-Asus cards had occaisional incompatability issues or performance hits. -godling

28-November-05, 02:31 PM		#14 (permalink)
HemiCuda1970 Apex Tech Maniac	Its a shame it died on ya...That has to be the best looking Motherboard I have ever seen!

01-December-05, 03:24 PM		#15 (permalink)
gangaman Apex Techie Wannabe	Hey BA just read your article and thought youd be the guy to ask! I'm thinking of getting on of these boards, but i'm not sure if a Zalman CNPS9500 would fit, the two heatsinks next to the CPU socket look pretty close! thanks