From before the release of the HD 5870, telltale images of Sapphire’s Vapor-X version have been making their way through the internet. Today we have some additional information about this eagerly anticipated product from the world’s largest ATI board partner.

The information we now have points to the Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X being loosely based around the reference PCB but it will sport a slightly modified layout while maintaining the usual 11” length. It seems like the core clock gets a minor bump of 20Mhz while the memory moves up from 4.8Gbps to 5Gbps or from 1200Mhz to 1250Mhz. This should result in a claimed 1.1x increase in performance over a stock-clocked HD 5870.

The star of the show however is the massive, full length Vapor-X cooler which adorns this card. It is still a dual slot heatsink but it packs a silent fan which looks to be much more efficient than the one on a reference-based HD 5870 1GB. According to Sapphire’s numbers, their setup will result in an 8.4dBA decrease in noise while the card is under load along with a good 13°C drop in temperatures. Those are some serious claims but judging from our past experiences with Vapor-X technology, it is well within the realm of possibility.

This being the first custom cooled HD 5870 on the market; people are understandably excited for its impending release. Our review will be up in the coming days.

If you wanted to read more about Vapor-X technology, Click here