Video cards

Introduction

Sapphire is certainly a well-known brand name in the performance video card market, and their line of ATI-based products is a very popular option for gamers. Their Radeon 9800 and 9600-based video cards are excellent values and have placed high in our product reviews. Sapphire is also the largest ATI 3rd party manufacturer, and their products have an extremely high shelf presence, especially with online vendors.

Of course, Sapphire isn't a company to rest on their laurels and just follow the pack, and their Radeon 9700 Pro Ultimate was a testament to this fact. This card took an innovative design route, and incorporated a hefty Zalman heatsink for totally silent operation. This move catered to the growing segment of gamers who operate water-cooled or near-fanless systems, and wanted that final piece of the puzzle for the ultimate in quiet system configurations.

The popularity of the Radeon 9700 Pro Ultimate just begged for a return engagement, but this time out, Sapphire has taken the latest ATI-based video technology and given it the "Ultimate" treatment. The Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Ultimate is a natural progression, and simply moves the design to the next level. A bit more surprising is the Radeon 9600 Pro Ultimate, and the decision to meld this "silent cooling" technology onto a mid-range product. Both of these cards are impressive pieces of hardware, and each offers benefits to a distinct market segment.

The Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro and 9600 Pro Ultimate Cards

The Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro and 9600 Pro Ultimate video cards both sport innovative cooling solutions, but due to their individual thermal requirements, the hardware is quite different. The 9800 Pro Ultimate features the same 380 MHz R350 core, so it naturally has a large Zalman heatsink covering both sides of the card. This two-sided design is connected via a heatpipe, and while similar to the previous Radeon 9700 Pro Ultimate design, this time Sapphire has used a slightly smaller heatsink that doesn't extend as far down to the AGP connector. The backplate is standard, and includes VGA, DVI-I and S-Video ports, and the card requires external power through a 4-pin Molex connector. The memory modules run at 340 MHz (640 MHz DDR) and are also covered by silver heatsinks, giving the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Ultimate its final touch.

Of course, the large heatsink means you'll lose out on the usage of the first PCI slot, though there are motherboards (built for the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra) and incorporate a space between the AGP and PCI slots. Here is a diagram showing a side view of the card, along with dimensions for the heatsink.

The Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro Ultimate also sticks to the standard ATI reference design, and runs at 400 MHz core and 300 MHz (600 MHz DDR) memory speeds. The RV350 core is a 0.13-micron design, and as such, allows for a much less obtrusive cooling solution. Sapphire has gone with a similar dual-plane/heatpipe heatsink for their Radeon 9600 Pro Ultimate, but it is much smaller than in the 9800 Pro Ultimate. This translates into standard dimensions for a 3D video card, and easy access to the first PCI slot. The memory modules are also free of heatsinks and are the same 2.8 ns chips found on the standard Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro card. The card's backplate includes VGA, DVI-I and S-Video ports, and as in the reference design, no external power is required.

The bundled software end is usually a place where Sapphire shines, and in the case of the Ultimate cards, this trend continues. There is a standard driver CD, a Redline Overclocking Util CD, and a copy of PowerDVD. As of August 1, 2003, Sapphire has also been bundling Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness with their line of Radeon 9X00 cards. This is a great move, but if this game is a requirement for purchase, then we recommend confirming this before ordering, as some vendors still display the Soldier of Fortune II/Return to Castle Wolfenstein bundle.