Sapphire has followed the footsteps of Powercolor and launched the AGP version of HD 3850 graphics card. The AGP version will feature a single slot active cooling solution and clocks that are higher than the reference PCI-Express ones. According to the press release, the core ended up clocked at 702MHz and the card comes with 512MB of GDDR3 memory that works at 846MHz.

Unlike the Powercolor's HD 3850 for AGP that features dual slot cooling solution, this one is single slot and might be even more suitable for HTPC. At the same time, it also works at higher clocks than the Powercolor's card does. The blue cooling with Sapphire logo and a girl that looks a lot like Lara Croft with a sword looks even better on top of the blue PCB.

Unlike PCI-Express, AGP doesn't deliver enough power for this GPU, so it comes with 2x4pin PCIe connector for external power. As with the entire HD 3800 series, this card also features DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support. At press time, this is the best AGP card that money can buy, if you can manage to find it. Our favorite European price search engine Geizhals.at has the Powercolor's AGP HD 3850 card listed from €200 all the way to a hefty €280,98 but it is still not available in stock.

Sapphire's AGP version shouldn't go much over €200 in price as soon as it becomes available.