Sapphire HD3870 question

While gearing up for my new budget computer, it seems like the best choice for a video card is the 3870, so I had my eye on
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102713

However, that item now says it's deactivated; alternatively, there is the
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102719

which to my untrained eyes looks exactly the same except for the uglier color and the serial number. Is there a difference worth noting? Am I correct in assuming that the higher serial number (on the latter card) means it's the more advanced card?

Secondly, this may not be answerable by most, but I want to put this into an X-QPACK2 and I've heard that this card may be too long for some cases. Does anyone know if it fits, or if there's a way I can find out for myself?

Thanks much!

Well the second card has a single-slot cooler, which from what the picture shows, doesn't look nearly as efficient and the old cooler. Plus, I just really hate coolers that recycle hot air into the case. It's a pretty long card for sure, but most cases should be able to fit them.

On second look, I think the L at the end of the SKU stands for "Light Edition", because there doesn't seem to be anything included besides the card itself, so you'd have to buy the HDMI adapter separately if you wanted to use that feature.

Personally, I'd go with this 3870 instead, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161218

Yeah I know, it's $15 dollars more, but the cooler is sooo much better. If you look at the sale price, it's marked down by $50 dollars, which is quite a lot. I'd go with it for sure.

Personally i'd drop the HD 3870 and go for the dirt cheap 8800GS

$150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150275

I have one and i must say its quite the bargin bin card, it plays all games on high and OC to insane speeds!

i was able to OC mine using Rivatuner to 720/1800/2000memory! STABLE! just using the stock cooler

3dmark05 scores were 21444 using a OCed E 8400
3dmark06 score was 12014 using the same config

COD4 plays excellent as well as CoH.
Save yourself 50 bucks and get near to same performance as the HD3870 and alot better performance in games as nvidia has great driver support for video games.

I think you just did your self a big favour the his cards are always better than the standard card.
Mactronix

Get the Asus 3870. It has a better warrenty.

Well, personal experience is that I just had to RMA the sapphire hd3870 card I had. It was the single slot blue version, I kinda wish they still had the atomic version up on Newegg.

Apparently they still do, must of had to change the name on it for some reason...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102732

The dirt cheap 8800GS is a step backwards ...... I would'nt waste almost $200.00 on it .