The HD48xx series have been a user-favorite, medium-high end product and Gainward's improvements in the reference design such as the additional 512MB of GDDR5 memory was very promising when we starting playing around with the sample.

We tried to compare the ATI HD4870 series with the Nvidia 260GTX and see which product is faster. Our findings showed that the Gainward HD4870 1024MB was slower than the XFX 260GTX XXX series in the majority of the tests. The differences vary among the benchmarks and especially among the tested game titles. In fact, the HD4870 was five FPS slower at least, with the difference to be even bigger in some cases (10FPS). Of course, this difference will not affect the basic playability of your game, at least with average quality settings enabled. But if you have to push the game's visuals at the limits, the Nvidia's solution could give you the extra power you need.

Compared to the Gainward HD4850 1GB we tested some time ago, the new HD4870 1GB seems to be already stressed enough to accept further overclocking. In terms of performance, the HD4870 is kind of faster.

Pricewise and as it currently stands, the Gainward HD4870 1024MB GS costs around €230 Euro, which is almost €60 less than the XFX 260GTX XXX. If you can afford this extra spending, you should go with Nvidia's solution.

On the other hand, our sample's little brother (HD4850) is more affordable and it is sold at around €160 (1GB version). We cannot say that this extra spending (€70) will give you a much better performance.

As a last word, we may say the Gainward HD4870 1024MB graphics solution will not let you down, unless you are seeking for the absolute benchmark numbers. In that case, you may choose a higher-priced product. On the other hand, Gainward's solution comes equipped with plenty of outputs such as an HDMI and DisplayPort, which could be used for conveniently connecting your PC to your HD display or even TV set.