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Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200-8X Video Card |
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Written by Alexandru Spataru
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Wednesday, 20 June 2007 |
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Page 4 of 6
Both software titles are full, not shareware or trialware, with registration key and all. WinCinema is in fact a collection of software titles and includes WinDVD 4, a software DVD player, WinProducer, software intended to be used along with the video capture feature of the card, and WinRip, which lets you create MP3 music from AudioCD's. Serious Sam is not as useful as WinCinema, but sure is a lot of fun. All the necessary cables and connectors have also been provided by Gainward:
Sadly, the RCA cable is missing so you won't be able to use the TV-Out feature right out of the box. Maybe this only applies to the sample I tested. Now let me explain my allusion to the PowerPuff Girls cartoons. The very misleading new nVIDIA naming scheme along with the extremely long Gainward names can make a lot of people wonder what hides behind this new board.
Because the original Ultra/750 cards were based on GeForce4 Ti4600 chip, the most logical assumption would be that the Ultra/750-8X cards are based on GeForce4 Ti4800 chipset. Unfortunately (or maybe not), that assumption is wrong. The Ultra/750-8X XP Golden Sample card is based on GeForce4 Ti4200-8X chip. This is quite an interesting choice and it is obviously done for price reasons. But Gainward's Golden Sample cards are all made with pre-tested components to ensure the highest quality and overclocking potential.
A lot of silicone thermal paste was used, and I really mean a lot. It is the first time ever that I see a manufacturer actually use too much thermal compound, they usually just smudge some on the chip. So this is the chip. Now let's see what that "spice" that I was talking about is. To spice things up, Gainward deviated from the Ti4200-8X design and used BGA memory chips instead of the usual TSOP chips. BGA modules not only consume less power and heat up less, but also cost less to produce.
Besides, the BGA modules clock higher than normal TSOP, so Gainward made a very wise choice by using Samsung 3.3ns RAM on this card. A VIVO capable chip, the Philips SAA7108AE, was included on the board. This is the latest version of VIVO chips from Philips, and can capture and display images at resolutions up to 1280x1024 (!!) and it is HDTV compatible. Here are the connectors for this baby:
From right to left, D-Sub, VIVO and DVI connectors. Too bad my TV is an ordinary one and can only work at resolutions up to 800x600. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the RAM chips because I was unable to rip the heatsink off the card, and I also have no available picture of the Philips chip because the camera I used was not able of such detail (it's a small chip). As usual, Gainward used a bright red PCB which looks very nice.
The red PCB is awesome, and a red cooler with the Gainward logo on it and red memory sinks were also included to complete the "all red" look. The cooler is standard for the GeForce4 series and seems to do a rather good job cooling the chip. I had no problems overclocking the card with the stock cooling; read on and you'll see. If you look closely at the board, you'll notice the black connector in the upper part. I have absolutely no idea what that is for, but my guess it can be used for connecting the video and FireWire cards. Also, I've looked everywhere for the BIOS Flash ROM chip but I have not found it anywhere. Seems like a new type of flash EEPROM memory was used to store the BIOS in. Now for the back of the card:
Of course, red memory sinks could not have been missing; after all it is a Golden Sample card designed for overclocking.
Speaking of which, there's a little yellow/gold sticker on the back of the board that will also tell you that you just bought a Golden Sample card:
As long as the label has GS anywhere on it, rest assured, you've got the original :-) With the bright red look, this video card is anything but ordinary, because everything about it is nice. And now for the final touch, the secret ingredient. I said before that Gainward has deviated from the nVIDIA reference for Ti4200-8X, and they did so by quite a lot, not just by adding BGA memory instead of TSOP. In order to make the best GeForce4 Ti4200-8X card, Gainward engineers have developed their own PCB design, which is very different from the one nVIDIA has.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 July 2007 )
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