Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 DiRT 3 Edition Review - PAGE 2

The Sapphire HD 6870 is packaged in a sleek box that uses a black and blue color scheme and lists all the main features on the front. The largest icon found on the box of course advertises the free copy of DiRT 3 that comes with the package, but just as noticeable are the labels indictating this graphics card as an overclocked version, the total memory capacity, and the fact that it comes with a free 1.8 meter HDMI cable.

The back of the packaging maintains the DiRT 3 theme, and better describes the main features and technologies of the graphics card. Also along the bottom of the back panel is a list of reviewer awards Sapphire has accumulated throughout the years. If you look hard enough, you will notice Neoseeker's recommended award is included as a mark of pride. This is not too surprising, as Sapphire has taken home Neoseeker's recommended award more than a few times in the past.

The accessories and graphics card are packaged in the same manner as the high-end HD 6950 DiRT 3 edition graphics card, and Sapphire has even managed to include the same accessories. So, what do you get ? More than enough, considering this is a mid-range graphics card that already comes equipped with a free copy of DiRT 3. In all the bundle includes a CrossFire Bridge interconnect cable, D-Sub adapter, Mini-DP to DP cable, dual 6-pin to 4-pin power cables, a 1.8 meter HDMI 1.4a high-speed cable and the DiRT 3 download code which unlock a free copy of the game from Valve's Steam online gaming platform.

The Sapphire HD 6870 DiRT 3 Edition comes with a slight frequency bump in comparison to the reference model. Sapphire has set the GPU clock speed to 920MHz, which is a small increase over 800MHz default clock, but any boost helps and it should yield some additional performance in the lower resolutions.

By this point the Barts XT graphics processor is well known for both its processing abilities and low cost. Essentially the Barts XT GPU uses the same internal architecture as the standard HD 6870, meaning this card is built on a 40nm process and has a 255mm² die size. Additionally, the GPU packs 1120 Stream processors, 1.7 billion transistors, 32 ROPs and 56 Texture Units, giving the HD 6870 strong performance for its respective price point. The HD 6870 also includes a 1GB frame buffer of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1050MHz (4200MHz effective) and runs on a 256-bit bus.

The DiRT 3 Edition graphics card also includes a dual fan thermal solution that utilizes dual 80mm intake fans to direct heat through a large heatsink that is attached directly to the GPU. The heatsink is different from the solutions seen from Sapphire before as it uses only two heatpipes, but each pipe has a larger diameter than than those traditionally found on graphics cards using more. From the top, the thermal solution also resembles the robot Johnny Five from the 80's classic (well, classic to some people) Short Circuit movies. This really adds to the visuals of the graphics card, especially if you're a tech geek with a soft spot for 80's nostalgia.

The back of the PCB uses the standard design for a Barts based graphics card, and shares a lot in common with other mid-range boards recently released by Sapphire. Not only do they share a similar layout, but they also include a CHL8228G voltage controller from the CHiL Semiconductor Corporation. The CHL8228G is a dual-loop digital multi-phase controller that can drive up to 8 phase units, and features Input Voltage Management to allow up to 3 input voltages to be monitored. This will ensure the card is adequately powered, and improves the overall power efficiency. Additionally, the HD 6850 includes a single CrossFire bridge that will support CrossFire in a 2-way configuration, and the graphics card utilizes a PCI-Express 2.1 interface.

While this SKU uses an overclocked Barts XT graphics processor, the total voltage requirements are not going to be dramatically different. The board has a power consumption rating of just 19W when idle and 151W while under full load. Dual 6-pin power connectors will be used to provide up to 75W of power to the 6870, which along with the PCIe lane adds up to 225 watts of available power. The recommended power supply capacity for this graphics card is 500 watts for a single card, and around 650 watts when it is paired with another card in a CrossFire configuration.

The video options on the Sapphire HD 6870 DiRT 3 edition graphics card consist of two Mini-DisplayPorts, an HDMI 1.4a port and and two digital DVI ports. The Mini-DP ports port uses the new 1.2 standard which allows them to support up to three monitors per connection, and also includes support for AMD's HD3D technology. There are are also two DVI ports on the HD 6870, which due to bandwidth limitations uses a different connection standard. Of the two, the topmost is a DL-DVI port which supports 30" monitors with resolutions up to 2560x1600, while the other DVI port uses the single-link connection type which supports resolutions up to 1920x1200.