Sapphire expects their HD 4870 X2 Atomic to retail above $600.
Great performance
Overclocked out of the box
Full warranty for watercooling + overclock
Amazing presentation and accessory package
Single slot cooler
Quiet under load
CPU block included
High price
Only small performance increase over reference design
Fan speed fixed - noisy in idle
CrossFire does not work in windowed 3D
Extremely high power consumption in idle
CPU waterblock doesn't seem to be too powerful
Limited overclock despite water cooling
Complex overclocking process
Dual GPU design - depends on optimum driver support
Build quality not as good as HD 3870 X2 Atomic
New competing NVIDIA products arriving soon
Two fan power connectors required - may not be available on low end motherboards
No support for CUDA & PhysX
If you are looking for the perfect christmas present for any ATI fanboy then the Sapphire HD 4870 X2 Atomic is as good as it gets. Its a big package that will ensure proper excitement before unpacking. The presentation is outstanding, even though the build quality of the watercooling tubing leaves me wanting some real rubber tubes. The included CPU waterblock seems to be good enough for mainstream processors but I have my doubts that the radiator can handle the 4870 X2 plus an overclocked and overvolted processor. Still, for users who are not looking to do a lot of tweaking with their system and just want something that is fast and special the Sapphire 4870 X2 Atomic is definitely a cool toy. Most other users should wait until next year when NVIDIA's new GTX 295 is on the market which is a dual GPU design too that is supposed to be very fast and come at around $500.