14 DAY TRIAL // Last week AMD finally rolled out their new graphics cards based on the RV770 graphics processor unit. As a result, enthusiast users can now order the new cards from a number of AMD partners. A new member has been recently added to this list of partners, Gainward, which up until now offered graphics cards based only on NVIDIA's GPU architecture.
The graphics card manufacturer has announced, for the very fist time, two new cards based on the latest Radeon GPUs. The Gainward HD4870 and HD4850 are now available on the market for any user who wants to upgrade his/her desktop system with ATI's new graphics processors.
Performance wise, the HD4870 (RV770 XT) is designed with 512MB of high speed GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit memory interface. The card supports PCI-Express 2.0 interface and provides a core clock speed of 750MHz, while the memory clock is tuned to work at 3600MHz. As you have already figured it out, the new cards are based on the standard ATI models, providing the same specification list and cooling systems.
The Gainward HD 4850 has been designed with a single slot cooler and can provide users with a GPU clock running at 600MHz. The card also supports a PCI-Express 2.0 interface and comes with 512MB of GDDR3 memory running at 1986MHz on a 256-bit memory bandwidth.
Both cards come to support ATI's latest technologies, including: ATI CrossFireX, ATI AVIVO HD, UVD 2 (Unified Video Decoder) and ATI PowerPlay. The cards also come with one of Gainward's own technologies, namely the EXPERTool. This is basically a control software app that allows users to monitor the GPU temperature and fan speed. The same application can allow technology enthusiasts to squeeze more power out their cards by tuning the GPU, Shader and Memory clock speeds. Unfortunately, at this point there are no details concerning the prices of the cards.
