Introduction

Sapphire's HD 3870 Toxic is very similar to the HD 3870 Atomic Edition that we reviewed here. It comes however without all the included bling like metal case and CCFL and the clocks are also slightly lower with 800/1152 vs. 825/1200 on the Atomic. This moves allows a bigger audience to benefit from the Vapor-X cooling technology because not everybody wants to spend an extra 100 bucks for the Atomic Edition.

Packaging & Contents

The Sapphire package can be instantly recognized as a Sapphire design when you see it on store shelf. The front promotes the major features while the back goes into more detail about the product.



You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Instruction Manual + Driver CD + PowerDVD + 3DMark full version
• DVI Adapter + HDMI Adapter
• CrossFire bridge
• HDMI cable (may not be included with all cards, then the card is cheaper)
• TV Out cable
• PCI-E power cable

The Card

A major feature of the Sapphire HD 3870 Toxic is that it can handle the heat with just a single slot cooler. I find the "Toxic" print on the cooler a bit plain, something more complex like the usual Sapphire designs would be better.


The card features two DVI outputs which can be used with digital flat panels for resolutions up to 2560x1600. In case you still have an old analog display you can use the included DVI adapter. HDMI+HDCP+Audio is also supported by the card directly by the integrated sound device in the ATI GPU. Sapphire also includes an HDMI cable with their package, which means once you buy this card you are ready to go.


Here are the front and the back of the card, high-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods etc, please include a link back to this site.