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Gigabyte is by no means a new comer when it comes to producing quality PC components for the enthusiasts. As far as new technologies and new ideas and are concerned, they are among the most innovative manufacturers in recent times. Their DES (Dynamic Energy Saver) was a big hit among users wishing to be a little more energy efficient, while their Ultra Durable technology allowed better longevity and more stability on their motherboards. However, for most hardcore enthusiasts Gigabyte isn't usually regarded their first choice. But things are about to change ... and over the past 6 months, Gigabyte have been pushed their boundries a little, and we've seen a lot of exciting products that might change the mind set of most enthusiasts. Take for example their new enthusiast range of motherboards such as the P45-Extreme, and now included in their VGA range ... more higher-end graphic cards such as the Radeon HD 4870x2.

We all know that most of the Radeon cards released by board partners are pretty much all based on ATI's reference designs with standard stock coolers. However, you might get the odd manufacturer such as Asus or Sapphire, that might overclock the graphics card and taget the product at the hardcore enthusiast gamer. Whatever the marketing blurb ... one fact remains the same, and that is ... it uses ATI's R700/RV770 GPUs, which is based on 55nm technology, featuring 2x800 stream processors and supporting DX10.1, CrossfireX, as well as a massive 2Gb of GDDR5 ram.

For the past several months during Q2 and Q3 of 2008, AMD/ATI have really made a strong comeback in the GPU market. Their Radeon HD 48xx series have really made impact amongst gamers ... and in a recent survey conducted by a large hardware website, a large majority of users chose ATI over Nvidia. Can this be true? ... So far, we've seen how good both the HD 4850 and the HD 4870 cards really are. In fact, we've already reviewed the ATI's flagship graphics card in the form of the Sapphire HD 4870x2 and the Asus EAH4870x2 TOP. Both cards offered exceptional performance.

In this review we'll be taking a look at the Gigabyte GV-R487X2-2GH-B graphics card. Like the other HD 4870x2 cards we reviewed earlier, it features dual R700 GPUs on a single PCB board, with the GPU cores at 750Mhz each. It's accompanied by 2Gb of GDDR5 memory running at 1.8Ghz (2x900Mhz). The whole card is longer than most standard graphics card, and is very similar in shape and size to its predecessor the HD3870x2. For cooling, the card has a huge stock cooler, with the heatsink running across the entire length of the card. Because of the large heatsink and cooler, the card itself weighs in at a massive 1.5Kgs. And to power this beast, the card needs two PCIe power connectors ... one 6-pin and one 8-pin. So a power supply of at least 700W is recommended, one that has both 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

We expect the Gigabyte GV-R487X2-2GH-B to perform with the same outstanding performance as the other HD 4870x2 cards. But will it be the gamer's choice? What will Gigabyte offer, that others don't ... brand name loyality? I can let you in on a little secret ... the price could very well be deciding factor.

In our tests we'll be benchmarking the Gigabyte GV-R487X2-2GH-B with several GPU intensive DX10 games ... with both 4xAA and 16xAF options enabled, as well as your usual 3D Mark 2005, 2006 and Vantage tests. Our test rig includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ default 2.4Ghz, Gigabyte X48-DQ6 (X48) motherboard, Kingston DDR2 PC2-9200 2Gb Kit, PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 860W PSU and a 24" Samsung SyncMaster 245B LCD monitor. All-in-all, it's a decently spec'd system for DX10 gaming.

OK, lets not waste any more time and take a look a closer look at the Gigabyte GV-R487X2-2GH-B ....