In the picture below of the card you can see the reference cooler with it's fancy design sticker attached to the black PCB of the card. From the comparison shot you can see that it is a significantly shorter card than the GTX 260, with the PCB exposed rather than a full sheath reference cooler like the GTX 260 card. I haven't really noticed any real shining benefit to either design. Both do an adequate job of cooling, but more on that later.
Taking a look more closely we can see that the 4890 has two power connections. To the right is a single 6pin PCIexpress power connector, and just to the left is a 6+2pin PCI express power connector. As a note to those looking at the 4890, you cannot plug in a 6pin PCIexpress power connector into a 6+2pin PCI express power connector. It is also not recommended that an adapter is used. For most people shopping for a card in this price bracket this shouldn't be an issue, but for some it can come as a bit of a shock if not prepared. This was the case with me, as my older OCZ GameXtreme power supply only has 6 pin PCIexpress power connectors. It's a shame because this GameXtreme is more than capable as a supply to power the card, but is not able to hook up physically. I swapped it out for the Corsair TX750, and 'good to go'. As a note, not all 4890 cards have the 6+2pin connector. Do your research before purchasing.
The cooling fan located at the end of the cooler near the power connectors blows air across the metal fins of the cooler itself, and exhausts out the rear of the case. This design allows warmer air to be sent outside the case rather than accumulating inside the case. Effectively limiting higher ambient temperatures in the case. The only real complaint about the stock cooler is the noise. Anything above the 65-70% fan speed is simply too loud for almost anyone to tolerate. At 75-80% fan speed the GTX 260 created about the same noise level as the 4890 at 50%. However, the card itself seems to run much cooler overall. Under regular stress, and stock fan speed settings the card rarely breached the 35% mark, and ran below 70C. This temperature is acceptable, and at that fan speed there is little to no noise. Through testing I set the fan speed at a solid 45%, which keeps the card around 60C under full load. The fan speed on the GTX 260 would require a fan speed of 70% or more to accomplish the same task in my case.
On the back of the card we can see the retention back plate and the layout of the board itself. Looking at the second image we see the two connections for crossfire. This will allow for crossfire configurations.
