The Card

The waterblock which covers most of the card looks extremely sexy. When looking at the card from the side you can see that the card requires two slots, with plenty of space left though.


The card has two DVI outputs, in case you need an analog VGA port you can use one of the two included DVI adapters. The included HDMI adapter lets you use this card with HDMI+HDCP+Audio, perfect for your media PC. An HDMI cable to connect your TV is also included in the package.


The tubing selected is thick black rubber which can do some tight bends without kinking. A 90° joint connects the tubing to the waterblock, you can rotate the tubing around the joints freely which helps you arrange everything in your case during installation.


Sapphire has chosen not to cool the memory chips on the back of the graphics card, while the chips on the front are cooled by the water block. This means that while overclocking memory, the chips on the back will get hotter and hotter and the ones on the front stay cool, effectively limiting the memory overclock.


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 or let us post your article. I reused the pictures of the original HD 3870 X2 review, because the Sapphire card uses the exact same PCB.