Sapphire’s Atomic HD 4870 X2 Water-Cools both GPU and CPU

As has been evident by recent announcements, ATI is in a fantastic position right now. Their products are great performers, well-priced, and look good. But, if there’s a lingering problem, it would be that the cards can get hot, and that’s an understatement, since by hot, I mean ~75°C idle for the X2. The good thing is that the cards operate just fine under such hot temps, but for those looking to cool things down a little, while still receiving incredible performance, Sapphire has you covered.

Their new Atomic edition HD 4870 X2 card, simply put, comes pre-equipped with a water-cooling loop. This has been done before by other companies, but the result here looks fantastic, and the best part? It cuts down the huge double-slot card to just a single-slot, so it’s a win/win all-around.

But it gets better. The pump also doubles as a CPU water-block, so with this one product, you not only cool the GPU, but the CPU as well. According to initial reviews, the solution is effective overall. With the CPU block being used, the Atomic manages to cool the HD 4870 X2 just as well as a stock card with its fan at 100%. Not bad, given that at 100%, the fan generates more whine than a vineyard.

The Atomic once it hits retail will sell for around $700, so it’s not exactly cheap. It’s not exactly a huge premium though, either, given that for the extra $200, you’re getting a water-cooled CPU and GPU, and also an array of other goodies.

Liquid coolant in the SAPPHIRE HD 4870 X2 ATOMIC is circulated through the graphics card cooler and a chassis mounted radiator by a pump assembly which fixes onto the standard system CPU mountings (both AMD and Intel mounts supplied). The graphics cooler, CPU cooler and radiator are connected in a closed loop by high quality flexible yet tough Teflon tubing and attached to each module with interference fit barbed joints that are sealed for life.