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In the Forums... |
Posted: July 25, 2003 Written By: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy Manufacturer: Sapphire  Introduction Whether you're a gamer building a new system from scratch or you're just an enthusiast looking for an upgrade, you'll have to consider which video card to purchase for your PC. The most commonly updated components for gamers are arguably the CPU and video card, as they offer the best 'bang-for-the-buck' when you use frame rates and visual quality as a basis for justifying an upgrade. When I heard of Sapphire's new 9800 Pro Atlantis Ultimate Edition, I immediately recalled my first memories of upgrading video cards. I remembered spending somewhere around $200 for a Viper v330 (Riva 128 based card) to settle my 2D and 3D needs. I recalled later spending something like $400 on a pair of Voodoo2 cards to run in SLI mode. Long gone are the days of standalone 3D video accelerators, but the basic question still remains: how much power do I need? The Package and Bundle  Can't you tell from the box that this card is badass? Sapphire's Atlantis Ultimate Edition is powered by the same ATI 9800 Pro chip found on other cards. The biggest difference between this card and others is its Zalman "heat pipe cooling sink" and seemingly excessive RAM sinks. For this test, we were supplied with the 128 MB 256-bit DDR model.  Ooh, goodies. We love extra goodies! Included with the Ulimate Edition is a bundle of goodies that lives up to the standards one should expect from Sapphire. Two full retail games are included, along with DVD software, and all the cables and adapters one could ever need. Included in Package |
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