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We review some great video cards at KitGuru, and in the past we have been impressed with several HD6870 models from manufacturers such as PowerColor and HIS. Without question the Sapphire HD6870 Toxic Edition absolutely annihilates the competition, meaning that this card is easily the best HD6870 we have tested in our labs.
First impressions are positive, the bundle is extremely comprehensive and it is always a bonus to find a high quality HDMI cable supplied amongst the goodies. I think many people can end up with a free game they already bought months ago.
The Vapor X cooler is easily the best on the market, we have tested many overclocked cards in this specific series and often they would peak at around 85c when under Furmark load. This is a staggering 11c higher than the results we achieved with Sapphire's cooler design, and we can put some of the success down the excellent 11 blade fan design which they have incorporated into the final product.
In regards to noise emissions, the Toxic Edition is 6 dBa quieter than the reference card, and generally is inaudible inside a performance gaming system. Only when pushed hard with Furmark can it be heard, but it never becomes intrusive.
Out of the box, the clock speeds are the highest we have seen – 970mhz on the core is a figure which has yet to be matched by any other manufacturer. This in itself is impressive enough, but Sapphire have created a custom software tool to allow users to overvolt the hardware. By maxing this we found the cutoff point to be 1060mhz, which is 160mhz higher than the reference design.
The Sapphire HD6870 Toxic Edition is not yet available for sale, but we have been informed that the price should be around £20 higher than the reference card – therefore around £205-210 including vat. Considering the HDMI cable alone would set you back £10, this seems pretty much like a no brainer deal to us.
KitGuru says: Sapphire have pushed AMD HD6870 performance levels into a whole new zone.
That is one seriously awesome mid range board. Sapphire do it again !
Great work man, covered all the bases. amazing temps, my 5770 runs hotter.
This is a damn good indication of why sapphire are still the leaders for AMD products.
My friend just read this review and wants the card. waiting patiently in the UK for it now 😉
excellent, the price is very good, although the 6950 isn’t much more really…..
That fan is a very unusual design, is it tapered at the edges? most fans at this size have 9 blades. very clever.
Very nice indeed and im not sure what the guy earlier was smoking, the HD6950 is £240 in the UK, thats £30-35 more. quite significant in this sector.
Nice one, any ideas when the USA gets this baby?
Where can you get the trixx tool? I dont see it online anywhere. does it work with any card?
Im impressed and thats hard to do now with the over saturation of cards on the market from so many companies. This stands out enough to get major sales for sapphire.
I dont like AMD hardware, but the temperatures on this card are incredible, very impressive engineering from Sapphire.
fucking hell, thats a crazy core clock speed.
great review again. do you ever sleep?
Excellent, would like to see this head to head with 560.
I bought sapphire 6870 last year because I couldn’t wait for the toxic edition. The temp for furmark was 89C in just 1minute not to mention how loud the fan was. So I bought the AC TTP, now peak at 63C for 15mins, I’m very happy.
@Ethan: Running cards around 90 is not always a problem, as we’ve seen from the GTX480. But it is always a pain when the cooling solution is screaming at you 🙁 Glad you found a better solution! Just out of interest, when you bought it, how much was the AC TTP ?
I checked ur original HD6870 review, and it seems that despite being 70Mhz higher clocked, this TOXIC edition card consumes only 3W higher than reference card. This is nothing short of amazing.
Considering you are getting higher than HD5870 performance by a 250$ card whereas only last year HD5870 was selling for 400$