SAPPHIRE Technology has just announced global availability of its exciting new HD 3870 TOXIC edition high performance graphics accelerator.The SAPPHIRE HD 3870 TOXIC version features the award winning - and SAPPHIRE exclusive -Vapor-X single slot cooler, SAPPHIRE's implementation of Vapour Chamber Technology (VCT). This advanced cooling solution provides more efficient and quieter cooling allowing the TOXIC edition to ship overclocked out of the box, and to allow enthusiasts even more scope for performance tuning. The single slot design allows the use of multiple cards in the latest CrossFireX configurations even where PCI-Express slots are sited closely together.

The SAPPHIRE HD 3870 TOXIC has 512MB of high performance GDDR4 memory, clocked at 1152MHz (2.3GHz effective) and the GPU core is pre-overclocked at 800MHz. Supporting the new CrossFireX technology, two high speed connectors on each card allow 2 (now) and 3 or even 4 graphics cards (with a future driver release) to be daisy-chained together for enhanced performance when installed in a CrossFireX mainboard.

All SAPPHIRE graphics cards in the HD 3000 series incorporate the latest ATI Avivo HD Technology for enhanced Video display and feature a built in UVD (Unified Video decoder) for the hardware accelerated decoding of Blu-ray and HD DVD content for both VC-1 and H.264 codecs, considerably reducing CPU loading. The dedicated HDMI adaptor delivers true audio and video output on a single cable for direct connection to an HDMI ready display.

SAPPHIRE HD 3000 series graphics cards are Microsoft Windows Vista Premium certified and supported by the ATI Catalyst suite of software, ensuring customers have ongoing access to software updates for performance, stability and added features. Support for DirectX10.1 provides developers with access to enhanced programming techniques and new lighting effects.