What is "gainward"

prep. (context obsolete English) toward; facing; over against.

Gainward is a computer hardware company which produces video cards. Taiwan-based TNC Industrial sold the company to Palit Microsystems in 2005, acquiring the Gainward brand and branch Gainward Europe GmbH for $1 million. Their graphic cards used to be exclusively based on Nvidia chipsets; however, the company also announced ATI-based graphics solutions after the successful launch of ATI 4800-series hardware, although Gainward does not currently produce any cards from the ATI Radeon range. Gainward products are famous for their overclockability. The company has also released cards that deviate from the reference specifications set forth by Nvidia.

Gainward is well known for their Golden Sample range of graphics cards. These cards are overclocked past their stock speeds and tested before they are sold, to ensure quality for customers. Current examples of Golden Sample cards are; Nvidia GTS 450, GTX 460 and GTX 470. At one stage Golden Sample cards came with a game voucher that let the customer choose one game as an online download. Current cards come prepackaged with a game.

There was a gap in which the company did not produce any new products, but resumed manufacturing with the Nvidia 8800 GTS series which brought them back up to date with other companies such as Gigabyte and PNY Technologies.

Gainward have had success with their "Phantom" series of high end graphics, featuring an industry first "removable fan design" has put the company in a good competitive position. The non-reference design cards are designed to be cooler and quieter than reference boards and run much faster due to factory overclocking. A game voucher is also present, with an option to download a single game as opposed to the prepackaged hard copy.