The Basics:
Before you get to the card itself, you have to unwrap it from an anti-static padded bag. Sapphire has taken this opportunity to remind you that cards like this require extra power and they will not function properly without it. While forgetting without a big "STOP" sign in your face just before installation may be possible, if you do it now it is all your own fault.
We finally get a look at the card provided for review in the images below. It is made to look a bit different than a reference design thanks to the blue PCB, custom GPU cooler, and a separate heatsink located on the two far memory chips. The cooler is very compact and keeps the whole thing in a one slot configuration. Taking a look to the right of the fan reveals some copper from heatpipes that help keep things cool, quiet, and compact. As I saw on Sapphire's Toxic Radeon HD3870, this type of design proved to be very effective.
 
The back of the card is a bit more typical, and nothing really stands out except for the blue PCB. What we can see in the above right image are things like two tabs for CrossFire X and a variety of screw heads which hold the cooler on the other side.
An end view of the card is shown above (and below), where a pair of DVI connections flank a TV-out port. The opposite end of the card is shown in the below right image, and here we see the 6-pin power connection that Sapphire has done their best to remind you to connect. The aluminum heatsink on the two memory chips may not be connected to the main cooler, as is found on many cards, but the air from the fan blows in its direction and it should be kept about as cool as the rest of the chips onboard.
 
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