Sapphire informed us that its unique
Blizzard Radeon X1900 XTX video card is now shipping. The Blizzard
liquid-cooling system, designed in conjunction with Thermaltake, takes up a
single PCI slot in addition to the single PCIe slot taken up by the
all-copper-block-cooled Radeon X1900 XTX card. The package is a pre-filled and
pre-sealed system, so it's just a matter of inserting, connecting to the power
supply, and switching on.
The all-in-one Blizzard system houses a radiator (all-copper), reservoir and
pump assembly. The radiator's cooled by an 80mm fan, and the airflow generated
is pushed out to the rear of the case. The fan can be run in either quiet mode,
spinning at 2,000rpm and producing 18dBA or in high-performance mode, which
produces 25dBA at 2,500rpm.
Those
interested in Sapphire's card will have to take caution however, as the card
consumes considerable space. With standard Radeon X1900 XTX boards already
taking up two expansion bays, Sapphire's monster card takes up an additional bay
for a total of three slots.