As much as we like the giant-killing 4870 graphics cards from AMD, they have been around for quite a while now. It’s past time when more needs to be done than tape two together and call it “X2.” Luckily, they’ve had the successor to the 4870 in the pipe for a while now, and someone’s just gotten their dirty hands on one.

I’m afraid one of CrunchGear’s shortcomings is a severe lack of contact with disgruntled Taiwanese manufactory workers. That leaves it to places like DailyTech, who thrive on such connections, to get hold of such precious booty. It’s obviously not a final version (my god, look at the case), but the components appear to be final. A new core clocked to 850MHz (capable of more), a gig of GDDR5, and some “tweaks and modifications” that are under investigation, likely to be changes aimed at the chinks in the 4870′s armor.

Expect more in the coming weeks.