Sapphire’s HD 6850 Toxic comes factory overclocked – the GPU runs at 820MHz with memory at 1100MHz (4400MHz effectively). As you can see from the picture below, Toxic is longer than Sapphire’s reference HD 6850. Factory overclocked Toxic cards use the HD 6870’s PCB.
Sapphire HD 6850 Toxic measures 9.5 inches in length (24.2cm), which is similar to HD 6870 or HD 5850 cards. Sapphire HD 6850 on the other hand is 8.5 inches in length (21.7cm). We’re talking about wide, dual slot cards that will fit in almost any smaller case.
Since HD 6870’s PCB is used, Toxic also uses two 6-pin power connectors, unlike the HD 6850 which has only one. Despite consumption being similar to that of the HD 6850, you’ll have to connect the second 6-pin connector. The reason is that the second connector is for the extra demands caused by the overclock.
The fan blows most of heated air outside of the computer case through the rear of the video card shroud. Fan speed regulation can be performed via the Catalyst Overdrive or any other tool you may prefer. Sapphire's TriXXX tool will allow for GPU voltage changes. You can download it here, provided you register your card.
Sapphire HD 6850 Toxic's heatsink uses three heatpipes to draw heat from the GPU core.
The HD 6850 sports 256-bit memory bus like the HD 5800 series rather than 128-bit on the HD 5770. Sapphire HD 6850 Toxic card is equipped with 1024MB GDDR5 memory. The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Hynix (model number H5GQ1H24AFR-T2C). They are specified to run at 1250 MHz (effective 5000 MHz).
The I/O panel features two DisplayPort 1.2 connectors, one HDMI 1.4a and two DVI connectors (one of them is single-link with maximum resolution of 1920x1200).
Within the box (made of recycled paper), you’ll find the standard stuff, Crossfire Interconnect Cable, a DVI to VGA Adapter, two four pin to six pin power cables, as well as an HDMI 1.4a cable (1.8m) and a mini-DP to DP Adapter.
