Related Articles

I had found with our Sapphire PC-AM2RD580 that there were some attractive notables. The white PCB is is probably the most obvious to start. Too bad I can't find any white graphics cards out there. Hint, hint Sapphire. The bundle is adequate, but could have been better. Some other things with this board? The board is a very viable choice for the casual enthusiasts and those looking for a performance board on a budget.

As I had indicated earlier, there is the Sapphire PC-AM2RD580 Advantage. This board is most likely the same PCB as the Sapphire we tested, but with those extra little goodies and higher performance parts. If given the chance, I would quite like to review the Sapphire Advantage version. Maybe pit it head to head against the Sapphire Pure version. I'd run every bench mark we've got and whip up some comparison of dollars versus FSB speeds. Could be interesting.

But as for our Sapphire Pure CrossFire 3200, I can't really suggest it to anyone looking for the be all and end all of performance boards. This is a "budget" performance board, with a price tag 20-25% lower than that of high end performance boards.  Performance wise, it can't really compare with the other higher priced boards we tested. There might be some possibility of slight performance increase with yet another BIOS update, but this wouldn't make the difference look like night and day.

Though, if one were looking for a budget board, this would be a good choice. Certainly, there are other, better AM2 mother boards to be had. But most every AM2 board comes with a pricing premium. The PC-AM2RD580, should ring the till at about $150 USD, far less than the $200 plus boards we tested against.


Match the Sapphire Pure CrossFire board with a couple of the Sapphire X1650 Pro graphics cards I'd reviewed recently, and you've got the starts to a very affordable computer. I'm sorry though to say that extreme overclockers need not apply. At least not until Sapphire releases another BIOS update. But there is the Advantage version which may prove to play more to the overclocker's market.  Overall a good board for "the rest of us".

send article   hardware newsletter   article comments (1)   print

Submit our article to: Digg this! del.icio.us