Is this hd4850 different?

Probably due to the dual-slot cooler design and the fact that Sapphire claims to have "fine-tuned" the PCB design. It would probably run cooler than other HD 4850s, but that's about it.

I wouldn't bother about the fan on the card. All the cards come with a default fan speed that is very low. Google the fix to crank it up and it will run pretty cool.
 
So in terms of performance, specs and technology there is no difference?

by the way, it is also the cheapest, $170, the next cheapest is a regular diamond one $180.
 
Since it's the cheapest, then it's not a bad deal.

As far as a better fan, it's not actually necessary. The heat issue of the 4800 series (idle at 80c, load at 90c) may be scary, but you need to remember that it was designed for this. Although, you may or may not really WANT to heat things up that much, so setting the fan manually is pretty simple. My 4850 runs at about 56c idle and 60 under load, a huge improvement just by setting the fan to 50% speed (a bit noisy, but life goes on).

The default fan speed is "Auto", and it rarely goes above 20% unless under load, that's why it runs so hot.

Err, now back to the actual issue at hand: As far as ATi cards, I've always had the best experience with Diamond, and I know I had big problems with a Sapphire 9800Pro back in the day. For $10 more, I'd get the Diamond (I actually use the Diamond 4850 right now, no problems at all)
 

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