Krpano Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) Well guys, ill try to give you my personnal overview of the Gainward 4870x2. ATI Radeon HD4870X2 - 750 MHz GPU - 2 GB GDDR5 @ 3.6Gbps (512-bit) - 2 x DVI-I The card itself is huge. As you can see compared to my Diamond. The card installed. I had to remove the second HD bay from my old Chieftec medium tower. Mobo close up. The 4870x2 covered the first 2 SATA connections on my Asus P5QC. 2 PCI slots. As most of the powerfull cards, it will take 2 slot. Installation: Easy, just unbox and plug it in. Had to remove my second HD bay, and the card has covered the first 2 SATA connectors on ym Asus P5QC. I think i stll can fit a "L" connector head there. Oh, and i forgot, the GC requires one 6x PCIe and one 8x PCIe power cable. (as mentioned by Anaron at post #5) Noise: - Iddle Cant hear it, quiet as my 4 low speed case coolers. - Under gaming Sound like an airplane reactor. Is very noisy, not a problem to me i always game with headphones. Temperatures and Cooler Speeds - Default config. The default cooler speed at iddle is 27% and the temp. stays high at around 70?C. The cooler will only kicks in when gaming. I didnt check the temps and speeds at the default configs. Not happy with the iddle temps at default configs i did a fast search with google and found this[/b]> Just increasing the cooler speed from 27% to 34%, i lowered the iddle temp to around 55?C ,which is acceptable. Gaming:b> Can play CoD4, World in Conflict, Grid, Spore, Bioshock, R6Vegas2 and Assassins Creed at max settings and with excellent frame rate. I wont go testing all the games and post the exact FPSs because i dont have time to and its not the objective of my review. Crysis Warhead can be played at Enthusiast settings with 8x AA and max Blur with 20 to 40 FPSs. I normally reduce the details to Gamer because of course there is some fight scenes where there is huge framedrops, anyway most of the time i dont even notice the background details to worth the FPS drop by using high details.Price:b> It costed me CHF 650.- (around USD 557.-) Its the cheapest 4870x2 i found here in Geneva.My System Specs:b(just in case)i> - Asus P5QC - Intel E8400 @ 400 Mhz FSB and 9x multiplier 3.6Ghz - Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2 800Mhz 4 GB Kit @ 4-4-4-12 - Gainward 4870x2 - WD Caviar Black 1.0 TB - 32 MB - 7200 RPM - 8.4 ms - SATA II - StableTrac™ - PMR (no Raid for me) - Logitech G15 rev.2 keyboard - Logitech G5 mouse - Monitor Asus MK241H 24" TFT LCD - 1920x1200 - 3000:1 - 450 cd/m? - 2 ms - VGA/DVI-D/HDMI (HDCP) - Webcam 1.3 Mpixel - PSU Thermaltake ToughPower - 750W CF certifieMy Opinion:/b> The card is amazing, awesome performance and decent price. The noise at high speed can be a draw back for some, you still can invest on some watercooling when its out. I might do it. I didnt have any issues with drivers, im using the latest from ATI website. 8.9 version , if im correct. The tweaks for the cooler is a must, you should really do it. Just beware, you can damage you card if you dont do it correct(im not responsible if you bust your card)/u>. I havent played seriously anything for about 3 years and restart with this GC is amazing. I couldnt be happierQuestions:/b> If you have some, let me know and ill do my best to answer itSorry for my bad english. /i> PS. Im uploading to Youtube one video i did. Its from Crysis WH gameplay at full settings. I post the link here once its done. Its a huge file and it will take a while. I did one video with the cooler speeds changed on the fly to show how noisy it becomes. Ill post later. Thanks for reading. Edited October 17, 2008 by Krpano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krpano Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 Damnit, Ive uploaded the wonrg video to youtube and deleted the good one. Silly me. I have 4 days of hard work ahead, after ill have time to record some videos and upload them. Ill try to run some benchmarks too. I hope this infos will be usefull for some of you. Of course its not a proffesional review, but ill give you my end user feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ci7 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 nice review ahh if you just give us some performance numbers what res. you are gaming under ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krpano Posted October 17, 2008 Author Share Posted October 17, 2008 Im gaming at the mobnitor's native resolution, all games. 1920x1200 All the games i said over there can run at maximum details, full AA and AS. Assassins Creed DX10 - over 100 FPSs Word in Conflict - the benchmark test gave average 40 (there is some drops under heavy explosions) Grid - tops 60 FPS (seems there is some limit) The other games i cant remember now, im not at home and cant check it out. Ill be able to complete the review with more details in 2 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted October 17, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 17, 2008 It's a decent review. I planned on buying the HD 4870 X2 after selling my HD 2900 XT and HD 4850, but I changed my mind. It turns out my PSU only has two 6x PCIe power cables and the HD 4870 X2 requires one 6x PCIe power cable as well as one 8x PCIe power cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krpano Posted October 17, 2008 Author Share Posted October 17, 2008 True, it turns out its more complicated than i thought to review a GC. :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CY:G Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 hmmmm, a 4870x2 cant run Crysis Warhead on Enthusiast with 8X AA @ 1920*1200, not at a playable framerate anyways... These are the highest playable settings: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html...W50aHVzaWFzdA== I can confirm it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qdave Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 nice review. i do need to change my current radeon 9800 :D btw you've go the same case as me :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtber Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Good Review but could use some Benchmarks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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