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VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB Redux
Introduction
To my surprise and chagrin, my first grope of an HD 4870 X2 was perilous. I came away from it a better person, maybe stronger, but scarred. I was uncertain about reencountering the double-edged machine, and rightfully so. It's dangerous. An HD 4870 X2 consumes a commensurate amount of power and can withstand tremendous heat, but in the right, trained hands, it is absolutely a force. Forged of the blackest PCB, this VisionTek HD 4870 X2 is capable of bringing the fiercest games to reckoning. And only after being bested by it could I ever hope to wield it's… Oh screw it, it's just a video card. I mean, it's one of the best video cards and all, and definitely not for everybody. Actually, as you'll see, it's not really intended for mainstream gaming. You need a damn big display to really see this card make frames. If you're looking to spend serious dollars for the best gaming experience, you're set. If you want a video card that will no doubt last years, here you go. But if you're reading this on anything less than a 24-inch display, an HD 4870 X2 is probably overkill. The Card & Bundle Once you go black, baby. It's good to see that ATI is willing to use the fastest color in the PCB spectrum. (Black is up to 14% faster than identical hardware using green PCB, you see.) Really, ATI didn't have much choice in the palette-swap, since color is the only thing differentiating the 4870 X2 from the 3870 X2. Otherwise, they're the same card on the outside.    There are two CF tabs at the top for CrossFire and CFX, and the 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors point up from the face of the card--considerate because of the card's length. If the power connectors pointed out from the front, it could prevent the card's fitting it some cases, being that the card is 10.5" long. The bundle is on the austere side, but if you're buying a $400+ video card, you're probably not interested in a non-Enhanced Edition of The Witcher. Wait, no I take it back, they just didn't give me all the stuff: on top of the D-Sub adapter, an HDMI adapter, two power cable adapters, one composite and one component video adapter, a CrossFire bridge, a manual, and a driver disk, the retail version comes with a Prince of Persia game (The Two Thrones) a copy of Guild Wars (I can't tell from the photo which expansion) and Ruby ROM, a collection of ATI utilities. Actually, as far as bundles go, that's not half bad. Specifications and Setup In this review, we'll be comparing the VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 to: A Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 X2 A Diamond Radeon HD 4870 512MB A ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 1GB AMP A PowerColor Radeon HD 4850 512MB A ZOTAC GeForce 9800 GT 512MB AMP Test Computer Specifications  Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz Asus Rampage Formula (Sponsored by Asus) 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 800 @ 4-4-4-12 (Sponsored by Crucial) Thermaltake Toughpower 1000 (Sponsored by Thermaltake) Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (Sponsored by Microsoft)
Page 1: Introduction, The Card & Bundle, Specifications and Setup
Page 2: DirectX 10 Titles Page 3: DX9, OpenGL, and Synthetics Page 4: Video, Power, and Overclocking Page 5: Conclusion 
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