Thankyou for taking the time to size them together like that largon, very helpful =) I wasn't mentioning the 4870 though, I meant the array of 4850's available from Palit, Xpertvision and Gainward, and I was referencing them in terms of the 4850's that were first available to us and what eidairaman1 said about manufacturers only selling reference designs at first and then their own designs later.
This 4850 from Xpertvision/Palit that is shorter than a reference 4850 must be their own design. After looking over the sites of Palit, Xpertvision and Gainward, I have concluded that only Palit and Gainward manufactured reference cards for the launch of the 4850. Over here ( http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1060329&p=-1#bottom ) Romanov says:
"Xpertvision = Palit = Gainward"
Assuming that's correct, Xpertvision would have no need to make reference 4850's for launch sale. And assuming Palit is the parent company of Xpertvision and Gainward (Palit displays cards on their website that are also on Xpertvision's and Gainward's) - and to be getting back to your question I quoted: "So how does PALiT "cash in" if cutting PCBs increases cost?" - Palit could be cashing in by having themselves and Gainward cut reference PCBs for the launch whilst having Xpertvision cut their own designs and take the time to perfect them.
Of course, I'm assuming a lot, which I do - a lot. I'm very interested to know the true connection between Palit, Xpertvision and Gainward: who are parent companies, who are sub-companies, maybe they're all subsidiaries of another company? I've no idea; but I like hypothesising, so I just ran with it =)
Over at the other forum ( http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1060329&p=-1#bottom ) Weltschmerz gave some information about this card, of which he has two in crossfire:
This 4850 from Xpertvision/Palit that is shorter than a reference 4850 must be their own design. After looking over the sites of Palit, Xpertvision and Gainward, I have concluded that only Palit and Gainward manufactured reference cards for the launch of the 4850. Over here ( http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1060329&p=-1#bottom ) Romanov says:
"Xpertvision = Palit = Gainward"
Assuming that's correct, Xpertvision would have no need to make reference 4850's for launch sale. And assuming Palit is the parent company of Xpertvision and Gainward (Palit displays cards on their website that are also on Xpertvision's and Gainward's) - and to be getting back to your question I quoted: "So how does PALiT "cash in" if cutting PCBs increases cost?" - Palit could be cashing in by having themselves and Gainward cut reference PCBs for the launch whilst having Xpertvision cut their own designs and take the time to perfect them.
Of course, I'm assuming a lot, which I do - a lot. I'm very interested to know the true connection between Palit, Xpertvision and Gainward: who are parent companies, who are sub-companies, maybe they're all subsidiaries of another company? I've no idea; but I like hypothesising, so I just ran with it =)
Over at the other forum ( http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1060329&p=-1#bottom ) Weltschmerz gave some information about this card, of which he has two in crossfire:
Hi Henrah,
That's the same card I have. In as far as stock performance, it seems to perform pretty well (although I don't have any other cards to compare them to). I've OC'd it to the maximum that Catalyst allows me to and that's at 675/1050 (core/memory) with seemingly no problems with most games and applications and causing crashes in others (probably a driver issue). I'm presently at 665/1000 (on XP, stable for everything) and 640/1000 (on Vista64, since it crashes ETQW beyond those settings.)
Before I report on temps, I have to first qualify that I've got a 120mm Fan blowing perpendicularly to both cards with a mesh and foam filter directly behind it (the side panel). On an ambient temp of 23C deg, I'm getting 40C idle (click here for an image - I assume the reduced clock speeds are a result of PowerPlay? -Henrah) and about 55C when on load. I once turned off half the fans in my case (including the side fan) and temps soared (ambient 30C, cards were at about 52C idle and about 69C load after playing a game for 5 mins. Speedfan reported system temps at about 54C!)
I've had these cards for a month now and couldn't be any happier with them. When I ordered them in, I didn't expect them to have non-ref coolers so I purchased some slot blowers to exhaust heat directly from the edge of the card outside. I hope this helps you in your decision to purchase.