Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2 Video Card Review

Introduction (Cont’d)

Atomic HD 3870 X2 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 – i.e. this is a “maintenance free” system.

The memory chips located on the back of the card, however, aren’t cooled by the water cooling system, which is the only negative point we saw on this video card.

click to enlarge
Figure 5: Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2.

click to enlarge
Figure 6: Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2, back view.

On Figures 7 and 8 you can see the radiator. It uses one 120-mm brushless fan, which spins very slowly, producing no noise. Talking about noise, the water cooling system is somewhat noisy when you first turn on the computer, but the noise level drops after a while, when the water is flowing at a constant rate.

click to enlarge
Figure 7: Radiator from the water cooling system.

click to enlarge
Figure 8: Radiator from the water cooling system.

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.

Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2 Video Card Review
By Gabriel Torres on June 18, 2008	Page 2 of 11
Introduction (Cont’d) Atomic HD 3870 X2 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 – i.e. this is a “maintenance free” system. The memory chips located on the back of the card, however, aren’t cooled by the water cooling system, which is the only negative point we saw on this video card. click to enlarge Figure 5: Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2. click to enlarge Figure 6: Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 X2, back view. On Figures 7 and 8 you can see the radiator. It uses one 120-mm brushless fan, which spins very slowly, producing no noise. Talking about noise, the water cooling system is somewhat noisy when you first turn on the computer, but the noise level drops after a while, when the water is flowing at a constant rate. click to enlarge Figure 7: Radiator from the water cooling system. click to enlarge Figure 8: Radiator from the water cooling system. 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.
Originally at http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/571/2	Pages (11): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 » ... Last »
© 2004-9, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Total or partial reproduction of the contents of this site, as well as that of the texts available for downloading, be this in the electronic media, in print, or any other form of distribution, is expressly forbidden. Those who do not comply with these copyright laws will be indicted and punished according to the International Copyrights Law. We do not take responsibility for material damage of any kind caused by the use of information contained in Hardware Secrets.