Konklusion
Så er vi ved vejs ende, og skal til at drage en konklusion over oplevelsen med kortet. Og sikke en oplevelse! Gainward formår i dén grad, at holde den dekadente balance, med et særdeles voldsomt grafikkort, med en overdimensioneret men utroligt effektiv køleløsning. Kortet er meget støjsvagt i brug, og man kan endda gøre det så godt som lydløst, hvis man manuelt sætter blæserhastigheden i Gainwards ExperTool.
Ydelsesmæssigt er kortet også i verdensklasse, og tilbyder den langt bedste ydelse, vi på HwT endnu har set. Alt i alt kan man forvente en merydelse i omegnen af 40%, over et GeForceGTX280.
Innovation/Teknologi - 4
RV770, som er chippen kortet benytter sig af, er uden tvivl det bedste, der er sket for AMD i flere år. Trods en fysisk lille størrelse, der også betyder små produktionsomkostninger, har vi set, at den kan give GTX280 krig på kniven - og vi kan lide det! Firmaet har fortsat med en produktionsteknologi med 55 nanometers transistortæthed, som vi så med RV670(HD3850/3870), og den virker stadigvæk rørende godt. Derudover har chippen de teknologier, som vi efterhånden kender AMD så godt for; herunder den nyeste API-understøttelse med DirectX 10.1, Unified Video Decoder og indbygget lyd.
HD4870X2 som et produkt heraf, er naturligvis ganske imponerende. Princippet er det samme, som vi kender det med HD3870X2, men med en bro-chip til CrossFire, der understøtter PCI-E 2.0, samt implementering af en slags "Sideports", som vi dog stadig mangler af se effekten af, grundet manglende driverunderstøttelse.
Strømforbruget er dog ret højt, set i forhold til GTX280 - men ydelsen er også derefter. CrossFire-skaleringen vi oplevede, var i grunden også ganske acceptabel.
Bundle/Tilbehør - 3
Tilbehørsmæssigt, plejer Gainward faktisk at udmærke sig. Men lige her, leverer Gainward en ret standard omgang. Der medfølger manual, CD med driver og software, et program til afspilning af DVD, HDMI->DVI adapter, CrossFirebro, samt en 6pin->8pin PCI-Express adapter. Man må altså sige, at der bestemt medfølger, hvad man skal bruge. Og det er rigtig rart med HDMI-adapteren, samt 8-pins strømadapteren. Men der er ikke noget ekstraordinært, såsom et spil, eller en fuld version af 3Dmark.
Design/Layout - 5
Designet - kortets ultimative force. Normalt siger Radeon HD4870X2 en del under load, men kortets køler her er utrolig støjsvagt, under 2D såvel som under fuld belastning. Det er uden sidestykke, det fedeste HD4870X2 jeg overhovedet har set - og hørt - dét skal Gainward have credit for. Piller man endvidere ved blæserhastigheden, enten i RivaTuner eller Gainwards eget ExperTool, kan man få blæserne ned på blot 800 o/m, hvor kortet er så godt som uhørbart. Her er kortet fortsat klippestabilt i 3D.
Bagsiden af medaljen er naturligvis, at køleren fylder; trippleslot kølere, er ikke noget man ser hver dag. Dette betyder, at det kan spærre for eventuelle indstikskort, hvis man har mange af disse. Specielt hvis man har et MicroATX bundkort, hvor der kun er få af disse, eller kører i CrossFireX, så alle slots vil være optagede. Men da køleren er så overvælende cool, og da de færreste reelt set kører CrossFire eller kører med mange indstikskort, får kortet en topkarakter.
Software/BIOS - 4
Gainwards ExperTool, tilbyder nogle gode funktionaliteter, herunder blæserstyring og overclocking. Beklageligvis virker overclockingen ikke; noget Gainward forhåbentlig får løst i næste version af programmet. Blæserstyringen fungerer derimod ganske fortrinligt.
ATi Catalyst Control Center fungerer ganske glimrende, og er pænt og overskueligt opbygget. Endvidere er det fedt, at man som bekendt kan overclocke i driveren med AMD/ATi OverDrive, samt man kan se blæserhastighed og temperaturer.
Ydelse - 5
Gainward får sctur 5-tal af mig, som en hyldest til Etta Cameron. Ydelsen er sindssygt god på kortet, der er fabriksoverclocket. I forhold til et GTX280, ser vi en ydelsesforbedring, på helt op til 66%, i 3Dmark2006. Og de gode takter fortsætter i 3Dmark Vantage, og diverse spil, hvor kortet gennemsnitligt tilbyder en merydelse på 40% ift. GTX280. "Goes Like Hell"-betegnelsen er ikke for sjov - kortet her rykker!
Det bliver spændende at se, hvordan det nye GeForce GTX295 klarer sig mod kortet her, når det rammer testmaskinen; det er uden tvivl hurtigt, men der er virkelig noget, at leve op til.
Pris - 2
"Træerne vokser ikke ind i himlen", sagde en klog mand engang. Og det er så sandt, som det er sagt. For selvom kortet ganske enkelt er fantastisk, er det heller ikke billigt, at erhverve sig. DKK 3995,- siger den billigste pris, hvilket jo også er en slags penge. Man får ikke en Lamborghini til spotpris, og heller ej et Rampage700 GS GLH fra Gainward. Standardversionen af HD4870X2 kan fås næsten DKK 1000,- billigere - men så skal man også leve med et lidt langsommere kort, der bestemt ikke er lydløst. GTX295 kan endvidere fås for et par hundrede kroner mindre.
DKK 3995,- er bestemt mange penge; men det bliver altså heller ikke ret meget vildere end det her!
UK summary
So, now we're at the end, and are going to draw a conclusion to the experience with the card. And what an experience! Gainward manage so much, to balance the decadency, with an extremely fast graphics card, with an oversized but incredibly efficient cooling solution. The card is very quiet in use, and you can even make it almost dead silent, if you manually set the fan speed in Gainwards ExperTool.
Performance wise the card is also in world class, and offers the best performance by far, we at HwT yet have seen. Overall, you can expect a gain in performance in the vicinity of 40% over a GeForce GTX280.
Innovation / Technology - 4
The RV770, the chip this card uses, is the best that has happened to AMD in several years. Despite a small physical size that also lowers the production expenses, we've seen that it can give the GTX280 a battle to the edge - and we like it! The company has continued using proces technology with only 55nm transistor density as we saw with the RV670(HD3850/3870), and it still works very well. Besides that, the chip has the technologies we've all been praising AMD for; DirectX 10.1, Unified Video Decoder and built-in sound. The HD4870X2 as a product of this sort, is naturally quite impressive. The principle remains the same as the HD3870X2, but with a bridge-chip for Crossfire that also supports PCI-E 2.0, aswell as an implementation of a sort of "Sideports", of which we - due to lacking drivers - have yet to see the effects.
Power consumption is nevertheless quite high relative to the GTX280 - but the benefit in performance is also great. The CrossFireX scaling we saw, was really quite acceptable.
Bundle / Accessories - 3
When it comes på bundles, Gainward usually are pretty good. But right here, they provide a fairly standard bundle. This includes a manual, CD with driver and software, a program for playing DVDs, HDMI> DVI adapter, CrossFire bridge, and a 6pin-> 8pin PCI-Express power adapter. We must say that it certainly includes what you need. And it's really nice with a HDMI adapter and a 8-pin power adapter. But there is nothing extraordinary, like a game or a full version of 3Dmark.
Design / Layout - 5
The design - the ultimate force of this card. Normally the Radeon HD4870X2 is making a bit of noise under load, but the card's cooler here is incredibly quiet, in 2D as well as under full load. It is without comparision the coolest HD4870X2 I have ever seen - and listened to - that, Gainward must get some credit for. If you manually sets the fan speed, either in RivaTuner or Gainwards own ExperTool, you can get the fans to run at just 800 rpm, where the card is as good as un-hearable. Here the card remains stable as a rock in 3D - amazing.
The bad side of the design is, of course, that the cooler is very large. Trippleslot coolers, is not something you see every day. This means that it can block the access for any PCI/PCI-E port you might need. Especially if you have a MicroATX motherboard, where there are few of these. Or in CrossFireX, where all slots will be blocked by the cards. But since the cooler is so overwhelming cool, and since really few actually will run CrossFireX, nor use a lot os PCI/PCI-Ex1 cards, the card achieves the top score.
Software / BIOS - 4
Gainwards ExperTool, offers some good features, including fan control and overclocking. Regrettably, the overclocking part does not work, something Gainward hopefully get resolved in the next version of the program. The fan controller works great, on the other hand.
ATi Catalyst Control Center works quite excellent, and is neatly organized and manageable. Furthermore, it's great that you can overclock in the driver with AMD / ATi Overdrive, and you can see the fan speed and temperature.
Performance - 5
Gainward gets an high-five by me. The performance is really great, on this factory overclocked card. Compared to a GTX280, we see a performance improvement by up to 66% in 3Dmark2006. And the success continues in 3Dmark Vantage, and various games where the card offers an average gain in performance by 40% compared to the GTX280. I guess the "Goes Like Hell"-name is not for fun - this card rocks!
It will be interesting to see how the new GeForce GTX295 performs against the card here, when it hits the test machine. It is certainly fast, but there is really something to live up to, with the Rampage700.
Price - 2
"The trees does not grow into the sky," a wise man once said. And that is so true. Even when the card is simply amazing, it's not exactly cheap to acquire. DKK 3995,- is the cheapest price, which is also a kind of money. You do not get a Lamborghini to spot price, nor a Rampage700 GS GLH from Gainward. A standard edition of Radeon HD4870X2 can be obtained almost DKK 1000,- cheaper - but then you have to live with a slightly slower card that is certainly not silent. GTX295 is also available for a few hundred kroner less.
DKK 3995,- is a lot of money, but you can't get anything much wilder than this!
Test: Gainward Rampage700 Golden Sample 'Goes Like Hell'
Innovation / Teknologi | 4 |
Bundle - Tilbehør | 3 |
Design - Layout | 5 |
Software - BIOS | 4 |
Ydelse | 5 |
Pris | 2 |
| |
Samlet | 76% |
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