14 DAY TRIAL // Palit has just released the latest addition to its Radeon lineup of graphics cards, the new Radeon HD 4870 1GB Sonic Dual Edition. Aside from the long name and all that, the new card is essentially a factory-overclocked version of AMD's most recent single-chip flagship graphics card, equipped with a dual-fan custom cooling solution, for better overall performance.
You might believe that the “dual” in the card's branding refers directly to the dual-slot, dual-fan cooler you can also see in the official pictures. However, although this is the case, the term there could also stand for the card's dual BIOS, which allows it to boot in either “sonic” or “turbo” mode. Aside from that, as with all the other Sonic cards designed by Palit, the new Radeon has been set to deliver a boost of graphics performance required mostly by high-end desktop gaming rigs.
As far as numbers are concerned, the card boasts the impressive 55nm-based RV770 GPU, which runs at a core speed of 750MH and boasts 1GB of GDDR5 RAM memory at a speed of 3800MHz. However, whenever you need that little extra something, the “Turbo” mode will deliver a GPU speed of 775MHz, while the memory can be clocked all the way up to 4000MHz. That should make the $270 you’ll spend on this card a real investment, that is, if you are looking to fully enjoy the performance level delivered by one of the latest GPUs coming from the current leading high-performance graphics manufacturer.
However, if you are not really into specs and technical details - and only that –, then you should know that reviews of this card are already available on the Internet, and you will be able to find one of them over at HardwareZone. This one rated the card with 4.5 out of 5 stars, but you should take into account that the review model used was equipped with only 512MB of GDDR5 memory. The additional 512MB that come with the new model should really make all the difference with those high-end graphics demanding games.