14 DAY TRIAL // Without a single trace of doubt, AMD's channel partners are going through what can only be deemed a terrific period, and they all have the release of the company's latest HD 4000-series of graphics cards to thank for. Just recently, most of them have announced the availability of various models, developed on just two GPUs, the HD 4850 and the HD 4870, with each model providing something different. After all, these are currently among the best selling cards on the market, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise.
On that note, PowerColor, one of AMD's board partners, is rumored to be preparing a new HD 4850-based graphics card that, from what is being said in the industry, will feature a rather interesting design. The release of card isn't yet official, but even so, the product has already been spotted in a number of photos hosted by the PCPop website. As already noted, because PowerColor has not yet gone official with the card, no one can actually say what its technical specifications list includes. However, despite the lack of technical details, we still have something to go by - and they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words.
Based on a red-colored PCB, the card in question combines a dual-slot custom cooler and multiple connections options, including DVI, HDMI and a DisplayPort. The custom cooler mentioned before has been provided by Zerotherm, and is basically the company's GX810 high-end VGA cooler. This is said to provide a maximum airflow of 9.3CFM, with the help of the 70mm fan that can spin at a maximum speed of 2500RPM.
There's not much to say on the card's performance level but, considering its cooling solution, it could actually come prepared for some serious overclocking. Other than that, the card looks pretty standard, so it will probably pack the same 55nm RV770 chip you've heard so much about, and provide the 800 Stream processors meant for high graphics performance. The card will also enable you with CrossFireX support, which means you can easily upgrade your system's graphics performance by using two of these cards in a CrossFire setup.