The Gainward Radeon HD 4870 Golden Sample is one of more interesting cards to be launched lately. We're glad to see Gainward expanding their offer to ATI graphics cards and introducing Golden Sample models, which were so far exclusive to NVIDIA graphics cards. The Golden Sample cards are traditionally Gainward's crème of the crop and they pack a serious punch. Shortly after announcing Golden Sample version of the Radeon HD 4870 512MB, Gainward launched a new model based on the same graphics chip. Basically it's the same model with double the amount of memory, all sorts of new connectors and an improved cooler compared to the 512MB model. - FudZilla

Gainward Radeon HD 4870 DisplayPort Board Review

The RV770 graphics processor dethroned NVIDIA and gave AMD the edge, whereas the Radeon HD 4870 undoubtedly became one of the most popular and desired cards around. Massive demand resulted in many companies offering non reference Radeon HD 4870 models. The non reference cooler with two fans is featured on both Golden Sample models, keeping the temperatures on enviably low levels. While cooling efficiency is very good in both cases, the first version on 512MB version was a bit too loud for our taste. Luckily, Gainward realized that and replaced the small fan that was responsible for the noise.

Many partners introduced their non reference coolers, and we saw some water cooled cards too, but both Golden Sample cards are unique for their dual BIOS on the graphics card. Of course, the card will run in the BIOS mode of your choosing. At first glance, both Radeon HD 4870 Golden Sample cards look much alike. The large dual slot cooler covers the graphics cards and it features two fans. Although the fans seem identical, Gainward ended up using different fans capable of higher speeds. The larger fan is located above the graphics core, whereas the smaller one is at the end of the card cooling the power components.

The card's two BIOS's enable simple overclocking and downclocking. You have turbo and normal operation at your disposal. Activating the turbo will increase core and memory speeds to 775/4000MHz whereas the slower BIOS will clock them to 750/3800MHz. In this respect the two Radeon HD 4870 Golden Sample cards are just identical, as they both feature the same clocks on both BIOS's. Activating the desired BIOS is simple, the output panel features a switch for those purposes. Unfortunately, the card has to be inactive, meaning you'll have to restart in order for the changes to take effect and as such enjoy these.

We can't say we were surprise by Gainward's Radeon HD 4870 Golden Sample with this 1GB of high speed GDDR5 memory, as we expected it ever since the 512MB version hit the shelves. At the time, we weren't to happy with the loud cooler, but one thing was for sure, the card just runs great. The new version remedied that problem, and more efficient fans were used. Let us recap, this is a non reference Radeon HD 4870 graphics card based on the RV770 core with 800 shaders. It's DirectX 10.1 compatible and naturally backwards compatible with all the previous versions and as such you can enjou all the latest games.

The card comes with two BIOS's that make overclocking the memory and the GPU a breeze. Beside the two BIOS's, this is the first Radeon HD 4870 card with DisplayPort. And despite much better cooling, the turbo mode is not significantly faster than the standard mode. In turbo mode, the GPU runs at 775MHz. The memory is overclocked in both instances, and in this faster mode it runs at 4000MHz. The price premium over the 512MB model is about $50. Combining these two cards in CrossFire will of course, double the available video buffer to 2GB and will be equal to the frame buffer of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 video card.

Although this card might not be affordable to end users, those who can make use of 1GB of fast GDDR5 memory and a bunch of outputs should definitely consider it. One thing is for sure, this is one of the best cards currently on the market and is really a step in the right direction.