We think it's worth everyone's wait for Toxic. As far as brandings go anyway. But Sapphire puts so much effort into general improvements over the stock designs, where they have some hand in, that we have to wonder if they hold back just to make certain that their Toxic will be that much better. Maybe we're giving too much away for an intro. Let's get back to boring stuff, like how the Radeon HD 4800 changed every possible standard for pricing, and slammed into NVIDIA's market share so hard that they knocked stock out of 'em. People walking past their offices in California were picking it up on the streets as souvenirs. It uses a lot of power, and makes a lot of noise. - TechLounge

Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB Toxic Style Review

Now we don't expect the efficiency to change, but we and silence enthusiasts everywhere, have been rubbing their hands in wait for Sapphire to throw in their characteristic blue into the equation. We wish we were saying that the wait was over, but we can't find these for sale anywhere. But when they're released, no doubt with an analogous price bump, that they will have been worth the wait. Sapphire's been fairly consistent with their Toxic bundle. Not having a game in there isn't terrific, but it's not big loss, either. We're guessing that the card will run for about $300, and that is quite okay even without any game included.

And nobody gets a Toxic because it's got that free copy of Neverwinter Nights. But they get it for the heatsink. Previous innovations, vapor chambers aside, it doesn't matter how the heatsink is constructed, just that it is both cooler and quieter than whatever reference cooling system no doubt holds back the hardware. This one, with its enclosed, curved black enclosure sports a thick looking 80mm fan, three heatpipes and a wide vapor chamber that spans a third of the card. The accessories are the default, if not complete with a CrossFire bridge and love. The card is overclocked, sans flip switch, at 780/2000MHz.

Not to be content with the defaults, this card has added overhead in Catalyst overclocking page compared to regular Radeon HD 4870's. The card hit the GPU utility ceiling of 820MHz, and we suspect there are 20-30MHz more under the hood with RivaTuner. The memory hit 2300MHz which was just awesome. When the first Radeon HD 4870's came out, we said their only real competition was other Radeon HD4870's. And this is somewhat less true today, as NVIDIA has effectively countered this series by dropping prices on their GeForce GTX 200 series. But there's still very little differentiation among these high-end Radeons.

If you're interested in ATI's best single GPU video card, and want a quiet Radeon HD 4870, without heat issues or overclocking limits, really now you know what your choice has got to be. However, without pricing set or availability, there're some variables we can't account for. The GeForce GTX 260 option does lurk, and the question of value will remain until this card hits the mainstream. For everyone's sake, we hope that it's soon. The bundle has the bases covered, the looks of the card are stellar, and almost every other aspect is improved over the initially released model. Now if only Sapphire would release a 1GB Toxic edition.