14 DAY TRIAL // Not too long ago, just right after the release of AMD's latest Radeon HD 4000-series of graphics cards, a rather surprising announcement was made by the graphics firm Gainward. The company, which up to that moment had been one of NVIDIA's best board partners, decided to roll out a couple of new ATI Radeon-based graphics cards, featuring the latest HD 4850 and 4870 graphics processors.
Well, since that was almost two months ago, it's highly probable that the company's relations with AMD have strengthened in the meantime, thus enabling Gainward to prepare a custom design for one of AMD's high-end GPUs, the HD 4870.
First of all, bear in mind that non-reference graphics cards are designed to boost graphics performance and provide computer gaming enthusiasts with the latest gear for high-end gaming. The Gainward HD 4870-based graphics card, which is yet to be officially unveiled, should make no exception from that rule, especially since it is equipped with a custom dual-slot, dual-fan cooler to effectively lower the GPU temperatures. Leaked images, as well as several of the card's technical specifications, have already been posted on the Expreview website.
This isn't the company's first non-reference Radeon-based graphics card, but it is the first to incorporate a HD 4870 GPU and a high-performance custom cooler. According to the details posted on the aforementioned website, the card has been clocked at a GPU speed of 775MHz, while the 512MB of GDDR5 memory have been clocked at 1000MHz. The card will have an additional BIOS setting that will provide the card with reference clock rates, namely 750MHz and 950MHz for the core and memory, respectively.
Regarding the custom dual-fan cooler, it seems that Gainward decided to equip the card with an 80mm fan and a second, smaller 70mm fan, in order to keep those high GPU speeds at cool temperatures. Although no details on the pricing are yet available, it is believed that the card will drop in stores in early September.