Reviews - AMD ATI Radeon HD 5870 DX11 graphics-card reviewed and rated

[Zhaoman]

I reckon they could've made a much hotter, more power hungry card but decided to cut back performance a bit to make it more 'eco friendly' (whatever that means). I reckon once you slap a giant cooler on that thing it'll fly. At least that's what I expect the 5890 to be

[kingpotnoodle]

As always launch pricing is too high and availability too low.

My monitor is 1680x1050 for all practical purposes I will see no practical benefit from average frame rates going up from 80-90 fps on my 9800GTX to 120+ on this.

Can someone please explain why (on basis that very few people has 24+ inch monitors) the 5890 range (never mind 5890x2) is actually really a step forward apart from the big power reduction. It seems to me this is a bit like the CPU wars of a few years ago when we got higher and higher power CPUs but the software to use that power lagged several years behind?

I reckon most of the people willing to spend £250 on a graphics card are also willing to spend out on a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 monitor... I know I would...

Those of us using 1680x1050 could crank up the abolsute max details, AA and AF, but I doubt it's worth it really over just buying a mid-range graphics card.

I hope we see a 5830, 5770, 5670 or whatever they call it that turns in the benchmark results of a 4870/4890 but with much lower power draw and priced <£140. That's what I want to see...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I am definitely looking forward to the sucessors to the HD4770,HD4830 and HD4850 when they come out and Nvidia's response to them.

[dangel]

I game at 2048x1152 - and i'm still using a 280GTX at stock and waiting for something to come out that makes me want to upgrade games wise.

[funke_munke]

Impressive but not £300+ impressive. I'll be waiting till the Nvidia cards drop and the prices on all these cards goes down to around £200 'till I get rid of my trusty 8800 gts!

[Terbinator]

I am definitely looking forward to the sucessors to the HD4770,HD4830 and HD4850 when they come out and Nvidia's response to them.

I was under the impression thats what the 5850 is ? But i too look forward to the 5770(?)

[FatalSaviour]

I notice that in the table, listed under connectors, the 5870 is listed as having Eyefinity.
The 5850 should also have this though should it not?
Forgive me if I've misunderstood/am just plain wrong!

[cobhc]

Again, as stated, it's a single gpu version of the 4870x2 with lower power consumption and lower temps, all for an extra £40 on top of the price. DX11 will take a while to take off, so that's not much of a bargaining point to me. And to answer a question asked earlier on, expect the 5870x2 to be the same performance as two 4870x2's in CrossfireX.

As a predominantly Nvidia fanboy, I was hoping for this Ati to blow everything Nvidia away, at a similar or lower price point, and until it does that, I'm sticking to Nvidia.

[sayer]

Again, as stated, it's a single gpu version of the 4870x2 with lower power consumption and lower temps, all for an extra £40 on top of the price. DX11 will take a while to take off, so that's not much of a bargaining point to me. And to answer a question asked earlier on, expect the 5870x2 to be the same performance as two 4870x2's in CrossfireX.

While I understand your logic, I think that a 5870x2 will scale better than two 4870x2s in crossfireX, and in theory better than two 5870s in crossfire? Correct me if I am wrong though...

Anyway, I am looking forward to the 5850 being at £150, then I will definitely buy one Got 2x4770s at the moment, which was about the same price...

[Biscuit]

While I understand your logic, I think that a 5870x2 will scale better than two 4870x2s in crossfireX, and in theory better than two 5870s in crossfire? Correct me if I am wrong though...

No thats pretty much correct.

Its the performance per watt where these cards really shine. Check out the techpowerup review.




Full review here

[mercyground]

I'm doubting NV will have anything this year. I'm also doubting it will "blow" ATI away. They have done the same misstep that intel did with the p4. hot, big and sucker of power.

Its a shame but inevitable given their treatment of consumers recently and the rebranding gimmicks.

I do like what they are doing in the mobile phone field thou. That has potential.

[Golden Dragoon]

I think that you have made a slight error in your review, you imply that the 4870x2 has 230.4gbs memory bandwidth, and also note that a 1024mb memory size for the 5870 may hold it back, from my understanding although the x2 has 2gb of memory there is in effect only 1gb available as everything in 1 gpu's memory has to be in the other gpu's memory, the same thing applies for the bandwidth, it is effectively onlt 115.4gbs, it would be more correct to put its memory and bandwidth as 1024mb, 115.2gbs x2

[Jedziah]

NV have been running on the 'Not Broke, Don't Fix It' with the G80 chips for some years now. Nobody can argue that the 8800 was an absolute king card and why shouldn't several years of success be made off of it?

ATI have thrown a spanner in the works however here. The stereotypical high power draw and high stock temperatures appear to be something that has been the forefront in developing this 5800 range. The pricing, at least on launch is attractive. To a great chunk of the gaming community, the offer of DX11 on a plate for the same price as a GTX 275 for the 5850 is quite a temptation.

I feel that NV have a lot of work to do here. Whilst the G80 chip has defined a generation, the next NV chip is going to need to do some serious work to parallel or better what ATI has to offer. Even the small calling cards of PhysX and CUDA are a very small lifeline to hang on to.

As my time for a new build is coming close, I will be intrigued to see what NV fires up as a response. Be it substantial price cuts or rolling out a new line. Both the entry 5800 cards are tempting, yet for me much like the others here, the prices are a bit high on release and the supply will limit my options.

[latrosicarius]

where is this card? why can i find it nowhere?

[Biscuit]

yeah stock levels are bad at the moment Be patient they will arrive eventually

[latrosicarius]

i wish i could wait :/ my PC needs to be built b4 thanksgiving so i had to order an XFX 4890 yesterday. Not ideal, but it will get the job done