| Sapphire Radeon HD3870 X2 1GB Graphics Card
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The Basics:
The first set of images taken of the Sapphire HD3870 X2 show it sealed in an anti-static bag just to show the warning labels provided. The first reminds you to connect both power connections to the card before starting the system, and the other suggests that you update to your system's latest BIOS before installing the card. Perhaps the inaccurate sketch of this card having two 6-pin connectors is why the accessories are bundled the way they are.
 
An overview of the card is provided below, and what can not be appreciated is just how big and heavy this thing is. My initial concern is that the weight could pull it right off the motherboard in a tower case. Be sure to tighten both screws on the expansion slot brackets, and if you have a flimsy tool-less system look into modifying it!
 
The top of the card features a graphic of the warrior princess found on the cover of the box, and you get a good look at the larger blower at the far end. The back side of the card features a substantial metal plate that anchors the heatsinks and cooler on the other side, while also providing rigidity to the card. There are two cut outs in the plate where brackets behind each GPU can be seen. A single Crossfire tab is visible in the distance, too.
The back of the card features two DVI connections and an s-video connection. As we will see with the bundle of accessories, you can adapt these connections to work with just about any display, and thanks to HDMI you can send audio and video out to your home theater with one cable.
 
The above right image shows an edge view of the card where the plate on the back can be seen wrapping around the edge of the card. Instead of the typical arrangement of the power connectors being located near the end of the card and oriented parallel to it, these are perpendicular to the card with one near the end and the other a few inches away. This isn't a big deal, but could make cable management an issue. You will have two thick power cables coming off the card and aiming down, which might not look so nice and they will have to be kept away from other cards / components in the area. Two cards in Crossfire is one example where I could see this cable arrangement being tricky, or at least messy.
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