14 DAY TRIAL // While NVIDIA's partners are launching toned down versions of the GeForce GTX 460, suppliers of AMD-based graphics cards are showing off new HD 6800 series adapters, and Sapphire has just added one such video card.
As end-users may or may not know, AMD's HD 6800 series of graphics cards was released not too long ago.
Currently composed of the HD 6870 and HD 6850, the line is meant to address the higher level of the mainstream market.
Now, Sapphire has released a new version of the HD 6850 card, one which features factory-overclocked GPU, and memory.
To be more specific, the graphics processing unit operates at 820 MHz instead of the stock model's 775 MHz, while the 1 GB of GDDR5 VRAM works at 4,400 MHz instead of 4,000 MHz.
There are also the 960 Stream processors that all other HD 6850 card have, as well as a memory interface of 256 bits.
Not only that, but there exists support for the CrossFireX technology, which allows multiple cards bearing the same chip to be set up in multi-GPU configurations.
This, of course, comes in addition to Microsoft DirectX 11 and DirectCompute 11, plus an enhanced tessellation unit and dedicated HDR texture compression.
In terms of cooling, Sapphire used a dual-slot system with three heatpipes, so as to successfully manage the heat generated by the extra MHz.
Finally, when it comes to connectivity with a variety of displays, and to enable support for Eyefinity triple-display scenarios, the adapter boasts dual-DVI, HDMI 1.4 and dual mini DisplayPort 1.2 connectors.
As for power consumption, Sapphire's HD 6850 Toxic Edition uses enough to warrant a pair of 6-pin PCI Express power connectors.
The official product page of the newcomer can be found here, but no pricing details were given in the press release, which means that consumers will have to wait for actual listings.