The Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2 version is a limited edition water cooled video card from Sapphire. In this article we will take an in-depth look on this card and compare its performance to the performance of its main competitors today like the GeForce 9800 GX2 and the GeForce 9800 GTX and also to the standard Radeon HD 3870 version. Since this is in fact a Radeon HD 3870, although in double vision it should be able to delivered some decent gaming performance and experience. This means you get two of the same in a single package, and as such the game play could become twice the fun. Of course that is the theory, in practise it doesn't end up as such. - Hardware Secrets

Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2 Graphics Edition Review

Being a special edition, the Atomic HD 3870 X2 board comes in a fancy metallic suitcase. Inside the suitcase the video card and its water cooling system are surrounded by gray foam, just like gun cases in secret agent movies. The Atomic water cooling system comes pre-assembled, so no assembly is required by the user. The water pump and the water tank comes attached to the radiator and the system is sealed, coming already with coolant installed. Meaning that this is a maintenance free system. The memory chips located on the back of the card, aren't cooled by the water cooling system, which is the only negative point.

The video card requires two auxiliary power cables, one using a 6-pin connector and the other using a 8-pin connector. The water cooling system requires one standard peripheral power connector. The official core clock for Radeon HD 3870 X2 card is 825MHz, while its official memory clock is 1800MHz. The Atomic version comes factory overclocked, with its two GPU's running at 857MHz and its memory running at 1854MHz. This is far from being a big overclocking. Since we hadn't any other Radeon HD 3870 X2 available we couldn't see how fast this overclocking made this card to be compared to the standard version.

Yeah, we liked this video card a lot. Not only because this particular model from Sapphire comes with a liquid cooling solution pre-assembled, but also because of its good performance for its price point. After we prepared this article we got the word that this video card won't reach the US retail market, as only 300 pieces were manufactured. But we decided to publish this anyway because we think most readers wanted to see a comparison between the Radeon HD 3870 X2 and its main competitors from NVIDIA and the regular Radeon HD 3870 version. And of course we do remind you that the X2 is a dual GPU edition.

If you are looking for a high-end video card and don't want to sell a kidney to buy the new GeForce GTX 280 card, then the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is a great option, especially when you think it is cheaper than the GeForce 9800 GX2 and that it could beat this card from NVIDIA on several scenarios. Against the GeForce 9800 GTX the Sapphire card is a no-brainer, even though it costs more. But, of course, if you have money to buy either the GeForce 9800 GX2 or GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, go for it.