Published in Reviews

Gainward GTX 570 Golden Sample Goes Like Hell reviewed

by on22 December 2010

Index

 


Conclusion

Gainward GTX 570 Golden Sample Goes Like Hell is a very interesting card, not least for the custom designed cooler. Another important point is the factory overclocking – GTX 570 GS GLH’s GPU runs at 800MHz for the GPU and 1000MHz (4000MHz effectively). As you may recall, reference GTX 570 cards run at 732MHz for the GPU and 900MHz for the memory.

If the overclock to 800Mz isn’t quite impressive, the overclocking headroom surely is. We managed to hit 950MHz for the GPU by upping the voltage, which is 218MHz higher than reference and in this case we can say with certainty that the card really “Goes Like Hell”.

Twin-fan Good edition cooling keeps the temperatures in check, and the card is cooler than reference. When it comes to noise, we've got a pretty strange scenario on our hands. Namely, when Gainward strapped its GTX 470 GS with its twin fan cooler, the card was significantly quieter than the reference design. This time, however Nvidia made important improvements on the GTX 570, making it really quiet, but Gainward decided to use the cooler we've seen on the GTX 470 GS, just reinforced with one more heatpipe. Gainward GTX 570 GS GLH is a nice card and while it isn’t too loud, it is louder than reference cooled cards.

As far as performance goes, Gainward GTX 570 GS GLH will keep you covered. We’re talking about a top notch card that will provide everything a gamer might crave. The card is based on the GF110 GPU which is also used on the fastest single-GPU card - GTX 580. Its current competition is GTX 480 and HD 6970, although the GTX 480 will soon be gone from the shelves when it gets replaced by the GTX 570.

Although both GF110 and GF100 are made in 40nm and both GPUs have similar performance and 3+ bilion transistor count, the GTX 570 boasts superior consumption. Namely, the GTX 570’s TDP is 219W whereas the GTX 480 has 480W TPD. Furthermore, the GTX 570 has much better thermals and much quieter cooling.

Gainward’s GTX 570 GS GLH naturally consumes more due to the factory overclock. That, coupled with making some overclocking headroom, prompted Gainward to strap the card with 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors. The reference card as you know comes with two 6-pin connectors. Note that Gainward bundles an 8-pin PCI-e power cable with the card.

All in all, Gainward GTX 570 GS GLH is a great card as it offers better performance at 800MHz GPU than most other overclocked GTX 570 cards on the market. If you want to overclock it even higher, it will be no problem as the card packs significant overclocking headroom.

Additional video connectors such as HDMI and DisplayPort complete this offer and perhaps the only downside would be the price – which currently stands at about €360. Gainward's GTX 570 card based on the reference design is set at €322, here.


« Prev Next

Last modified on 22 September 2011
Rate this item
(50 votes)

Read more about: