October 13th, 2006
Sapphire ships liquid cooled TOXIC X1950XTX and X1950 CrossFire Edition cards
Let's put DRM, WGA and SPP behind us for a little while and look at some cool new gear that's getting ready to hit the streets. And it doesn't get much cooler than the liquid cooled TOXIC X1950XTX and the limited edition X1950 CrossFire Edition graphics cards by Sapphire Sapphire: "The fastest add-in board on the planet"Technology. If you want power, Sapphire claim that these cards are the "fastest add-in board on the planet". and they are aimed squarely at enthusiasts who want power without noise.
The TOXIC X1950XTX and TOXIC X1950 CrossFire Editions are shipped overclocked direct from the factory. Instead of running at ATI’s stock core clock speed of 650 MHz, Sapphire has used A.P.E. (Automatic Performance Enhancer) to boost the core clock to 695 MHz. Both boards ship with 512MB of GDDR 4 memory. Both cards are HDCP compliant and support HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
Sapphire have replaced the standard ATI blower with a Thermaltake TideWater water cooling system which consists of a copper GPU water block, a copper radiator. Water is circulated using a variable speed 12V pump which has two running modes - high efficiency and quiet mode. In high-efficiency mode the fan spins at 2000RPM 2500RPM and generates 26dBA of noise. In quiet mode the fan reduces to 2000RPM and produces 18dBA of noise. The RAM modules are cooled using passive heatsinks (which is more than adequate for GDDR4).
Each card takes up two slots - one for the card and one for the cooler, not three as has been reported elsewhere.
Pricing for the TOXIC X1950XTX and TOXIC X1950 CrossFire Editions cards is expected to be around $549. Both these cards should be available in a couple of weeks but if you want a TOXIC X1950 CrossFire Edition card will have limited availability.
Sapphire is also giving you a chance to win a Sapphire PURE CrossFire 3200 motherboard, TOXIC X1950XTX and TOXIC X1950 CrossFire Edition graphics cards in their Halloween contest.
Specification
| Sapphire TOXIC X1950XTX | Sapphire TOXIC X1950 CrossFire | |
| Core clock | 650 MHz (695MHz using A.P.E.) |
650 MHz (695MHz using A.P.E.) |
| Shader units | 48 | 48 |
| Memory type | GDDR4 | GDDR4 |
| Memory support | 512MB | 512MB |
| Bus interface | PCI Express x16 | PCI Express x16 |
| Display outputs | DVI / DVI / VIVO | DVI / CF interface |
| Max 3D res | 2560×1600 (DVI) 1024×768 (TV) |
2560×1600 (DVI) |
| Hardware features | DirectX® 9 ShaderModel 3.0 |
DirectX® 9 ShaderModel 3.0 |
| Software features | Avivo | Avivo |
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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