My Mini Review of Gainward 4870 512MB GDDR5 Golden Sample!!

[Gibbo]

Hi there


Well these cards have intrigued so I decided to give one a test today:-


Intel Core i7 CPU @ 3.60GHz
Intel X58 Mainboard
3072MB of Cellshock DDR3 @ 1800MHz 8-8-8-16 Timings
Seagate 160GB HDD
Gainward 4870 GS @ standard, Turbo and overclocked speeds
Vista 64-Bit Ultimate
Catalyst 8.8 Drivers
All testing carried out on open bench in ambient temperature of 20c


Here are some pictures of the card:-

First of all some points about this card:-
1. Twin Fan Heatpipe Cooling solution and it has low noise.
2. Dual DVI with HDCP
3. Display Port
4. Dual BIOS (Normal & Turbo)


With the switch on the back set to normal clock speeds are 750MHz core and 3800MHz memory. Here are some benchmark results with the card set too normal:-
3D Mark 2006 = 16,399 Points (Maximum GPU Temp 57c)
3D Mark Vantage = 9507 / 8312 / 16719 (Maximum GPU Temp 57c)
Crysis, DX9, Very High 1680x1050 = 44fps
Crysis, DX10, Very High 1680x1050 = 22fps


Here are results with switch on the back of the card set to Turbo, now bare in mind flicking the switch at the back has to be done with the machine off and a reboot is required as the cores are re-detected:-
3D Mark 2006 = 16,884 (Maximum GPU Temp 58c)
3D Mark Vantage = 9815 / 8616 / 16850 (Maximum GPU Temp 59c)
Crysis, DX9, Very High 1680x1050 = 47fps
Crysis, DX10, Very High 1680x1050 = 24fps


For the final overclock I used ATI tool to scan the card for artifacts and at Turbo speeds no artifacts were detected. The card was artifact free upto 785MHz Core and 4300MHz memory so not one of the best overclocks but this is with no voltage mods. The card actually ran fine in 3D Mark at 810MHz and 4400MHz memory but at these speeds ATI Tool had yellow dots. Here are the results from 785MHz Core and 4300MHz Memory:-
3D Mark 2006 = 17,168 (Maximum GPU Temp 59c)
3D Mark Vantage = 9941 / 8743 / 16879 (Maximum GPU Temp 59c)
Crysis, DX9, Very High 1680x1050 = 48fps
Crysis, DX10, Very High 1680x1050 = 25fps



All in all I am very impressed with the card and the cooler keeps the whole card cool including the VRM's and believe it or not you can put your hands anywhere on the card, even the back off it and you won't get burnt, it just remains warm to the touch so the cooler is clearly doing a great job.

Noise wise well the second smaller fan on the card is audible but only just, I reckon in a closed case you would be very pressed to hear the card at all, even under load. Also there are no all of a sudden loud dust blowing spin ups with this card like you see with reference models.

I just wished Gainward had increased voltages in the Turbo mode BIOS as the cooler is good for it as its a good 15-20c better over the stock cooler without the noise. If you don't mind noise then yes the stock cooler is still king with fan speed at 100%. At idle the Gainward card hovered around 43-45c.

I definetely rate it as the best 4870 on the market, its a got a superb cooler thats quiet, overclocked out of the box and one of the very few cards to have Display Port.




Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Golden Sample" 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

The ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series GPUs bring the power of graphics ‘supercomputing’ to gamers, setting a new standard for visual computing. Redefine the way you play and take HD gaming to the extreme with best-in-class performance. The new TeraScale graphics engine delivers an immersive, cinematic gaming experience. Add this GPU to your PC and watch Blu-ray movies and play HD content with incredible visual fidelity. Do it all with break-through efficiency that doesn’t compromise performance.

- ATI Radeon HD 4870 GPU @ 775MHz (Turbo Mode)
- Twin Fan Silent Heatpipe Cooling Solution
- 512MB GDDR5 Memory @ 4000MHz (Turbo Mode)
- Dual BIOS Design (Turbo switch on blanking plate)
- Two DVI Connections
- One Display Port Connection
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- PCI Express 2.0 support
- ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
- Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support
- Shader Model 4.1
- ATI Avivo HD video and display technology
- Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD Video
- Built-in HDMI with 5.1 surround sound support
- On-chip HDCP


Price: £173.99+VAT (£204.44 inc VAT)


BUY NOW!

 

[Gibbo]

Damn you Gibbo I was about to buy the Gainward 280 ARRR

Can't do me a favour and swap it with the 280 on this week only

Hi there

The Gainward GTX 280 is also on weekly Special at about £50 cheaper than our competitors.

 

[Gibbo]

gj gibbo, nice idea to review the sought after products as they arrive but i'm damn jealous of u having a nehalem setup to play with

Interesting that the crysis fps drops by 50% in dx10 mode! driver issue or are the gfx that much better in Very High?

HI there

Yes Crysis preferres NVIDIA hardware, still to try a GTX 280 in the i7 setup yet. FOr most games ATI has the upper hand and still wins on value for money.

 

[Gibbo]

Would this run ok @ 1920x1200 would it run better than the 280 at that res

Hi there

A GTX 280 is the most powerful single GPU graphics card there is.

We have the Gainward on special offer at just £247 Inc. VAT for This Week Only.

At 1920x1200 the GTX 280 will be faster yes, I could afford to spend £250 then I would get the GTX 280, but the ATI will not dissapoint at that those resolutions either.

 

[Gibbo]

I have my credit card ready just busy getting my post count up. But the 280 is in my basket ready to go. You just threw me a curve ball posting this

HI there

You now seem to have 250 or more post.

 

[Gibbo]

As there is no DX9 very high for Crysis, I think you are looking at DX9 High. This is running the benchmark tool, right? If that is the case, then it defaults to high when running DX9

Hi there

Yep using the benchmark tool, also all the test were done in 64-bit mode.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi Gibbo, thanks for the great review!

Quick question, what were the overall system temps were like? The coolers vent air into the case not out the back right? Did this have any significant impact on heat buildup?

Thanks

Hi there

It was tested on an open bench. So heat is not exhausted out of the case. If you have a case with poor ventilation then expect to see a rise of upto 5c in case temps, if you have good airflow then it may have little to no effect.

 

[Gibbo]

Just got a word from a user who bought this and hes saying the cooler is very noisy. I would wait for second review.

HI there

Very noisy I associate with noise levels similar to a hoover or hair dryer, the card I tested never even got close to such noise levels.

The second smaller fan on the card was audible in our office environment, but only just but it was tested on an open desk. In a case on the floor I can't imagine the cooler been audible and the other guys in the office found it quiet too.