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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.
