Having already looked at this Radeon HD 5970, we know what to expect when it comes to performance of these models. And if you want a fast graphics card, the chances are you are trying to get hold of a Radeon HD 5800 series graphics card from ATI. We spoke recently about our theory behind the lack of supply, but it is beginning to look better now as word came through the other day that partners have received their design kit. Today we will be looking at Gigabyte's Radeon HD 5970 and straight off the bat we are going to say that with the stock cooler and clocks there's not going to be much of a surprise when it comes to the out of the box numbers and be compared against its CrossFire counterpart. - TweakTown

Gigabyte Radeon HD 5970 2GB Cool Graphics Review

Now having a look at this graphics card, you can see that there's nothing that we haven't seen before. As we mentioned in the past, the Radeon HD 5970 cooler is essentially a larger version of their Radeon HD 5870 one with the same overall design on the cooler being seen. That doesn't mean that Gigabyte haven't done anything. As usual we can see they have added their own sticker to the cooler which lets us know the model and brand. Hopefully the fact that the design kits have gone out to ATI partners recently means we'll begin to see companies mix up the model in the near future with new coolers and big overclocks.

Doing a quick spin around the card, we can see our two power connectors that sit up the top towards the back. We have a single 6-pin connector along with an 8-pin one. Staying across the top but moving closer to the front, we can see our single CrossFire connector that lets us run a second one of these video cards together. As we mentioned, the card we're looking at today from Gigabyte carries with it those stock Radeon HD 5970 clock speeds. What this means is that the core comes in at 725MHz and the 2GB of GDDR5 carries with it a clock speed of 4000MHz effective and has certainly some room for overclocking.

At $625 over at Newegg, the Gigabyte Radeon HD 5970 falls in line with most of the other Radeon HD 5970's listed. If anything, it sits on the cheaper side. Stock of the model is only getting better and it seems that more stock was shipped from suppliers in the final week of November which is great news if you want one of these boards. While the bundle might be a bit lacking when it comes to extra games, there's everything that you really need to get the card up and running. The chances are you already have some games in mind to play anyway and that will surely take advantage of the power en features made available.

The performance is just awesome, you really can't find yourself disappointed with the model. The good news is it only gets better if you take the time to try the new Overvolt utility and get stuck in Overdrive which is included with the Catalyst suite. What you might find is that while you don't need the extra power today, come six months time and some new game releases, with a tweak of the core and memory clock you can continue to play those brand new intensive games just as well, if not better than the games you're playing today. At the moment it's a bit of you will take what you can get when it comes to the Radeon HD 5970.

Supply is only going to get better and it seems that recently it's beginning to get more and more positive. There's no denying that to make the best of the card you have to overclock, but don't let this scare you off. The whole process is pretty easy and on a whole fairly quick. If you're getting some time off over the holidays and you're in need of a new graphics card, the Radeon HD 5970 from Gigabyte is no doubt going to bring a smile to your face. Though the hardest thing about the purchase of this card is trying to explain it to the other half or your accountant.