Testbed:

Motherboard:
EVGA 790i SLI FTW, (Provided by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel quad core QX9770 3.2GH, (Provided by Intel)



Futuremark



Vantage shows reports the 1024MB GDDR5 version having almost no performance benefit over the Golden Sample 512MB GDDR5 version. Geforce GTX 280 is better than one HD 4870 card, and in order to beat it you should have two HD 4870 or one HD 4870 X2 graphics card.

Gaming







In gaming tests, only the highest resolution managed to utilize additional memory on Golden Sample 1024MB card. Crysis at max resolution is a proof that memory will give some additional frames, but it’s not enough as the GPU can’t give more.

Conclusion 

We can’t say we were surprise by Gainward’s HD 4870 Golden Sample 1024MB GDDR5 card, as we expected it ever since the 512MB version hit the shelves. At the time, we weren’t happy with the loud cooler, but one thing was fore sure – the card just runs great. The new card remedied that problem, and more efficient fans were used.

Let us recap – this is a non-reference HD 4870 graphics card based on RV770 core with 800 Shaders. It’s DX 10.1 compatible, if that means anything to you and, naturally, backwards compatible with all the previous DX versions. The card comes with two BIOSs that make overclocking the memory and the GPU a breeze. HD 4870 Golden Sample runs in “Normal” BIOS by default, but you can switch to “Turbo” in order to squeeze out some additional juice.

Beside the two BIOSs, this is the first 4870 card with DisplayPort.

Despite much better cooling, Turbo mode is not significantly faster than standard Normal mode. In Turbo mode, the GPU runs at 775MHz whereas Normal runs in reference 750MHz. The memory is overclocked in both cases, and in the faster mode it runs at 4000MHz. In order to switch from one BIOS to another you’ll have to restart your computer in order for changes to take effect.

The card packs 1024MB of GDDR5 memory, which turns out to be too much as it’s unusable if you’re not gaming at 1920x1200 and potentially higher. However, multimedia and other demanding tasks definitely won’t mind the extra memory.

The price premium over the 512MB model is about €50.

This card comes with a plethora of outs – DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI and VGA, which is quite unusual to see on ATI’s cards.

Although this card might not be affordable to end users, those who can make use of 1024MB of fast GDDR5 memory and a bunch of outs should definitely consider it. One thing is for sure – this is one of the best cards currently on the market.