Sapphire Radeon X1600XT Ultimate Edition
We finish our examination of cards and bundles with Sapphire's Radeon X1600XT Ultimate Edition. Loyal readers will be jumping up with their hands right now, attempting to remind us that we reviewed this card. Why yes, that's right, but that doesn't stop us considering it against its competition.
So, for the sake of thoroughness, here's a recap of the card and its bundle...
A very personal touch with the heatsink stylised like Sapphire's logo. There's no extra slot required around this side of the card, which is good news. The heatsink also makes contact with the RAM too, which is sure to keep the entire card cooler, not just the GPU.
Note that there's no Rage Theater chip, so no VIVO. Also, if you were hoping for a completely silent solution, the black and red wire following those heatpipes indicate otherwise.
Indeed, there's the fan, but it's designed to be quiet. Its presence gives it a bit more insurance against a case with poor airflow, but given that it's still largely dependant on air movement, it'd still be a good idea to have decent air movement around this card. Further, an extra slot is required this side of the card because of the heatsink, so while we didn't have any space taken up around the front of the card, we have to sacrifice some around the back.
Alas, while the card does have a nifty cooling solution going for it, the lack of VIVO coupled with the single dual-link DVI output is a little disappointing. Still, for the majority of users, this might not be a concern. A video output and DSUB complete the connections at the back.
When we got our grubby mits on this product, there wasn't a software bundle. However, if you buy one retail it'll come with The Da Vinci Code, along with Sapphire's Select CD, where you get to try out four games, then decide which one you'd like to keep playing.
Once again, we have component cables, along with S-Video/composite, and the good ol' DVI-DSUB adapter.
