Sapphire Toxic Radeon X700 Pro 128
Introduction and Specifications
When shopping for a new video card, naturally, we all want the fastest card available performance wise. However, many simply can't justify the price that some high-end cards currently command. With many premium models now selling for more than $500, gamers on a budget often need to focus their efforts on finding a good, mid-range 3D graphics solution.
When we look at the mid-range graphics card market, ATI's Radeon X700 is a popular model that fits the needs of many gamers quite well. It's got a good feature set, and it won't break the bank. Today, we are going to take a look at the latest X700 based PCI Express video card to hit our test bench, with a review of Sapphire's Toxic Radeon X700 Pro 128. This is a promising mid-range card boasting 128MB of GDDR3 RAM and an oversized cooler that aims to control heat while keeping noise to a minimum. We've seen similar offerings like this crop up as of late, so we're going to take a closer look and see if Sapphire brings anything new to the fray with their Toxic Radeon X700 Pro 128.
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| Chip/Clock Speed ATI RADEON X700 PRO / 425MHz Memory Configuration 860MHz 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 Connectors 1 x VGA(D-Sub) 1 x TV-Out (S-Video/Composite Out) 1 x DVI Bus PCI-Express x16 Max Resolution 2048x1536@85Hz Accessories S-Video Cable Composite Cable Power Cable S-Video to RCA adapter DVI to VGA adapter Game and Software Manual Driver CD System requirements Intel Pentium 4, AMD or compatible CPUs 128 MB system memory or more PCI-Express compliant motherboard supporting PCI-Express x16 |
3D Acceleration Features Up to 8 Full Precision DX9 Pipelines 6 Parallel Geometry Pipelines Pixel Fill-rate 3.4 Gpixel/Sec DirectX 9.0 Architecture Industry's fully DX9 playable DX9 Architecture ATI SMARTSHADER HD provides improved programmability and performance ATI CATALYST™ unified software suit deliver rock-solid compatibility with software drivers ATI 3Dc image enhancement & acceleration technology 4:1 normal map compression/decompression Reduced memory footprint Accelerated surface detail emulates high polygon characters and scenes ATI SMOOTHVISION HD Offers the fastest, highest quality, and most flexible anti-aliasing implementation Improved AA and AF performance for HD resolutions 12x effective Temporal MSAA ATI HyperZ HD Reaches the unprecedented levels of rendering performance Double the Z compression (8:1) Enhanced Hi-Z buffer for improved performance at HD resolutions ATI VIDEOSHADER HD A seamless integration of pixel shaders with video FULLSTREAM for DivX, Windows Media 9, and Real Media MPEG 1/2/4 decode and encode acceleration New Video algorithms that use pixel shaders for 3:2 Pulldown, Interlacing, and Deblocking Added support for high-end HD resolutions Operating Systems Support Windows 2000/XP |
Sapphire included several decent games such as Prince of Persia –The Sands of Time and Splinter Cell – Pandora Tomorrow with their Toxic Radeon X700 Pro. A full version of Power DVD 5 was also included, although it was the 2-channel version, not the full 5.1 edition. The package came with a basic multi-lingual User's Manual that covered the bare essentials of installation and a drivers CD provided the necessary software to complete the installation process. Sapphire also included their A.P.E. software (Automated Performance Enhancement) that allows for automatic adjustment of clock speeds to pre-specified levels, overclocking the card while staying within the limits set forth in the warranty.
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The package included a few pieces of extra hardware as well, including a VGA-to-DVI adapter and two video cables, one S-Video and one Composite. There was also a perforated PCI knock-out to accommodate the second PCI slot occupied by the Toxic Radeon's oversized "Lethal Cooling" assembly. Rounding out the package was a complete black light kit which included a 10cm black light, On/Off switch, inverter, Velcro strips for mounting and a circular template for drilling and mounting the power switch in a computer case.
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All-in-all, the Sapphire Toxic Radeon X700 Pro 128 came with a bundle that offered a bit more than usual for a card of this caliber. The software complement was better than average and a black light kit is not typical equipment included with a video card.
