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Sapphire PURE Innovation - ATI's Chipset for the AMD Enthusiast

 by Wesley Fink on July 29, 2005 12:05 AM EST
52 Comments | Add A Comment
52 Comments

Sapphire PURE Innovation

Sapphire will release the first in their new PURE motherboard series around August 5th. The top enthusiast board, based on the Grouper Reference Board, will be the PURE Innovation. This is based on the discrete video version of the Radeon Xpress 200 chipset for AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939. There will also be another version based on the RS480 integrated graphics version of the same chipset.

Sapphire and ATI have done an outstanding job of making the PURE ATI board stand out. This starts with silver foil Sapphire packaging...

...to the board window behind the outside flap...

...to the standout white motherboard with red lettering.


Click to enlarge.

A white board in a window case with UV lighting should have the attention of those who like to show off their computer guts in a window case. This is certainly the first white motherboard that we have seen, and it is just another example of how Sapphire and ATI are out to get the attention of the AMD enthusiast. There is a lot to like that stands out in the appearance of the Sapphire, but most will be even more interested in the options available and how the board actually performs.

ATI Reference Boards Basic Features: Sapphire PURE Innovation
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  • RobFDB - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    Guess you missed where i said "(with the exception of MSI)". Learn to read mate before you go posting.

  • RobFDB - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    ATI and Sapphire should be congratulated for bringing the AC880 to AMD users. We had it good with Soundstorm but since then onboard audio as gone back several steps (with the exception of MSI). Its good that AMD users are being given the option to have quality onboard audio.

  • bob661 - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    This what impresses me the most about these boards is this codec support. I still won't buy an ATI chipset until the third or fourth version comes out (you guys can test it for me) but impressive features and performance nonetheless.

  • jab98 - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    *codec

  • erwos - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    "[AMD] Enthusiast" is written with a capital E in the article, and it should not be, since it's not a proper noun. Please fix this error, because it looks grossly unprofessional to anyone with a reasonable command of the written word.

  • RobFDB - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    Really though, get over it. It doesnt matter in the slightest if we're being honest here. Anyway back to more important matters.

    I'm really happy that ATI have managed to bring a top performing board aimed at enthusiasts to market. I was also extremely impressed to see Sapphire implement 4v for the RAM. One issue that i'd like to see investigated is wether the cold boot issue that affects DFI NF4 boards using OCZ VX mem @ high voltages affects the Sapphire board too. Aside from that this is a very impressive showing from ATI. One last thing. I have a x850XT PE and i'm not sure if that can be used as a slave card when ATI bring out the R520. If so that would make a very attractive upgrade.

  • rjm55 - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    The X850XT PE works fine as a slave with the X850 Master Card. In demos at Computex, ATI was showing an X850 Master with an X850XT PE slave.

  • Jojo7 - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    This isn't exactly true. Ati distributed a special driver that SIMULATED crossfire. The actual cards were really just 2 identical x850xtpe's. Though, one probably had an altered bios to simulate a master card.

    Read it for yourself: http://anandtech.com/weblog/default.aspx?bid=231">http://anandtech.com/weblog/default.aspx?bid=231

  • dlamblin - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    Did I miss the mention in the article? Is this an ATX or an mATX board. I'm guessing the former, but it wouldn't be out of place to list the fact along side the rest.

  • erwos - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    It's ATX. If it has more than four slots, it's too big to fit the mATX standard.
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