The Card and Connectors
The GIGABYTE GV-R489-1GH-B Radeon HD 4890 video card follows ATI’s reference design for the card extremely closely. It features a dual slot cooling solution that uses a variable speed fan, ensuring quiet cooling when the computer isn’t being fully used and abused. GIGABYTE does add their own little graphic to the top of the cooler, but otherwise the card is ATI reference through and through.
The card is powered by two 6-pin PCIe connectors, plugged into port on the rear edge of the card. The length of this card combined with the position of these ports may cause some problems for those with smaller cases, or cases with a unique configuration. Power stability is handled by the use of solid state Japanese capacitors. This should also help with getting the extra voltage needed for a stable overclock, should you dabble in that dark art.
Plugged In Ports
The ports on the rear of the GIGABYTE HD 4890 card are the same as what you would typically find on any other video card. Two DVI ports are present, as well as an analogue video output. Directly above them is the exhaust vent for the fan and cooling apparatus. GIGABYTE did one unique thing with these ports by applying plastic covers to each of them. Though this doesn’t seem like much, it does protect unused ports from any dust or debris that may turn them into non-working ports.
This idea of dust covers for the ports continues to the Crossfire connectors on the leading edge of the video card. Though these are a nice touch, they only serve to be aesthetically pleasing. It’s nice to block the ports your are using, but the covers you remove from the ports you are using will inevitably get lost. As for the backside of the card, GIGABYTE has decided not to put any heat generated components on it. This makes rear cooling of the card unnecessary, and makes the main cooler easily removable should you want to install some after market cooling.