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Sapphire Tech Toxic X700 Pro Video Card |
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Intro
One of the reasons that Sapphire impresses me a bit more than most other video card manufactureres is the fact that they are willing to try new ideas and offer products that are out of the ordinary... in a good way. When I met with Stephen (from Blue-Alien) at last years E3 he told me about this product coming up 6 months or so down the road which sounded pretty impressive. The line of products was going to be called "Toxic" and the cards would come packaged with an overclocking utility which would overclock your video card automatically to max factory determined speeds as well as include an eye-catching, high-performance GPU cooler. Well, about 8 months later I had the Toxic X700 Pro in my hands for testing. I will be comparing this Toxic X700 Pro with a number of other cards I have tested recently to see how it performs. I expect this card to run pretty on-par with the X700 Pro I previously reviewed.
Since this card is so very close to the regular Sapphire X700 Pro (aside from the change in cooler and the preconfigured OC application and having 128MB of RAM vs 256MB on the regular X700 Pro) I won't be rehashing much of what I covered in the review of that card. You may want to check that review out to get a good idea of the cards usual performance. Other than those mentioned differences the specs for the cards are the same.
Package
Sapphire's packaging concept hasn't changed... Flashy metallic-ish box with a crazy rendered character and a window for viewing the card.
Package contents include the video card , RCA and S-Video cable, RCA to S-Video adapter, DVI to Standard VGA adapter, manual, a Sapphire sticker, and software including Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell , PowerDVD 5, Redline OC Utility Install and the driver disk. The software package is the same as that of the X600, X700 & X800 I previously reviewed. I was pleased with it then and I still am. Both of the included games are top notch and this card should also easily run them. What is different about this package is the inclusion of the pci slot grill cover for the larger GPU cooler and a nice 6" UV cold cathode to light that large UV reactive GPU cooler up. It's a nice 6" cold cathode kit, too. Kudos to you Sapphire.
Specs
Here is where I pilfer the specs from the Sapphire website. :)
(ATI RADEON™ X700 Pro Chipset)
Where Imagination Meets Innovation, Hybrid X700 PRO TOXIC Series!
Enjoy the inTOXICating performance of the hardware hybrid with the mainstream incarnation of the industry acclaimed TOXIC series! Built upon the cutting edge of today's technology with the X700 PRO cores eight parallel pixel pipelines and support of the latest X16 Lane PCI Express interface, the TOXIC X700 PRO is planted on a sound foundation while maintaining creative flexibility.
Features:
- A.P.E . Extends memory operating frequency to pre-tested levels that far surpass the competition
- Lethal Cooling provides the definitive cooling solution for the overclocker while remaining quiet
- 128MB of GDDR3 memory accelerates the latest cutting edge 3D applications
- 128-bit GDDR3 memory interface
- 8 parallel pixel pipelines
- Supports the latest X16 Lane PCI Express technology
- Six programmable vertex shader pipelines
- Full support for DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality
- New SMARTSHADER™ HD technology allows for support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 programmable vertex and pixel shaders in hardware as well as OpenGL® via extensions.
- SMOOTHVISION™ HD technology provides enhanced image quality by removing jagged edges and bringing out fine texture detail, without compromising performance
- 3Dc™ High quality 4:1 Normal Map Compression delivers beautiful scenes without the performance hit.
- Unique VIDEOSHADER™ HD engine uses programmable pixel shaders to accelerate video processing and provide better-looking visuals
- HYPER Z™ HD is optimized for performance at high display resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions.
