VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB

Examination:

With the Radeon HD 4870 X2 using two RV770 graphics cores, this graphics card is quite long (about 27cm) and the cooler itself is quite large. There is a single (but quite powerful) fan that pulls air through this very large copper heatsink and is then pushed out the back of the second slot on this graphics card. Due to this large heatsink, the graphics card is quite heavy as well.

For the Radeon HD 4870 X2, VisionTek follows AMD's reference design with this cooler. On the front of the cooler is VisionTek's logo along with listing it is a Radeon HD 4870 X2 and has 2GB of GDDR5 memory. The fan is controlled using a 4-pin PWM interface so that this graphics card will operate slower (and more quietly) when these GPUs aren't being stressed, but will speed up when needed. The reference core clock for each of the GPUs is 750MHz while the memory frequency is 900MHz.

The Radeon HD 4850 requires one 6-pin PCI-E connector, the Radeon HD 4870 requires two 6-pin PCI-E connectors, and the Radeon HD 4870 X2 requires one 6-pin PCI-E and one 8-pin PCI-E connectors. As the graphics card cooler takes up most of the PCB, the two power connectors are positioned perpendicular to the PCB rather than being placed along the edge for an easy connection. Under full load this graphics card will pull over 200 Watts.