Today we shall review a high-end graphics card from Gainward famous for its "Golden Sample" series among other things. The today's solution has a custom cooler and is factory-overclocked.

Design

Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell

GPU: GeForce GTX 570 (GF110) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU clock rate (ROPs/shaders): 825/1650 MHz (the standard is 732/1464 MHz) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1100 (4400) MHz (the standard is 1000 (4000) MHz) Bus: 320-bit Stream processors: 480 TMUs: 60 (BLF/TLF/ANIS) ROPs: 40 Size: 270x100x33 mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link), HDMI, DisplayPort Multi-GPU mode: hardware SLI

Comparison with the reference design, front view
Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell	Reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

Comparison with the reference design, rear view
Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell	Reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

It seems that Gainward engineers developed a universal custom PCB suitable for both GTX 570 and GTX 580. It has 8-pin and 6-pin supplementary power connectors as well as a 384-bit bus, both suitable for GTX 580. It's just that GTX 570 lacks 2 memory chips and has the bus reduced to 320-bit. The aforementioned 8-pin power connector promises a certain overclocking stability reserve. However, the layout in general is based on the reference one.

GeForce GTX 580/570 cards require supplementary power: reference GTX 570 has two 6-pin connectors, while GTX 580 — and Gainward's GTX 570 — has one 8-pin and one 6-pin connector.

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz maximum refresh rate
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz max. digital resolution
• 2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz max. VGA resolution

Cooling

Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell

The cooler features a heatsink and a cover with two fans. The former cools down both the core and memory chips and is reinforced with heatpipes. The fans are slow, so the cooler is nearly noiseless. Although NVIDIA created a very efficient vaporizing chamber-based cooler that uses a cylindrical fan at one end of the cooler, Gainward prefers the good-old heatpipe-based design. Let's see how it performs.

Traditionally, we monitored temperatures using EVGA Precision (based on RivaTuner).

Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell

71°C after 8 hours of continuous testing is simply an excellent result. Gainward did a really great job.

Bundle

A basic bundle should include a user manual, a software CD, and adapters where applicable. Now let's see what other accessories are bundled with each card.

Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell
This is a basic bundle with a power splitter and a DVI-to-VGA adapter.

Box

Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "Golden Sample" Goes Like Hell
A thick cardboard box marked with the "GOOD" label (Gainward Own Optimized Design). The bundle is stowed into polyurethane foam compartments. The card is fixed securely to avoid transportation issues.

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