AMD Radeon HD 5870 1 GB GDDR5

[W1zzard]

i just grabbed latest pricing from newegg for all cards and updated 58xx to use their new pricing as well, and remade the perf/$ graphs

 

[adrianx]

nice....

I wait the X2 or.... X3 version

 

[Thrackan]

Would be nice if those graphs are made again in a few months, after the initial price drops are done.

BTW those performance per dollar/watt graphs are based on the average of all your benchmarks, correct?

 

[W1zzard]

BTW those performance per dollar/watt graphs are based on the average of all your benchmarks, correct?

yes

 

[Animalpak]

Great review, as always on TPU

Very nice card, but I expected more in terms of performance...

When we talked about 40nm at the beginning of the year everyone thought to a dramatic increase in performance that one GPU would be enough for any game and that the solutions with dual GPU on a single card would become extinct.

But it is not the double GPU's card are still the spearhead of performance.

Is to appreciate they work on consumption and temperatures of these new graphics cards all to the delight of environmentalists, but certainly not for enthusiasts who do not care for consumption, but more about 'temperatures.

Well done ATI ... Now we will see what will make the green team, predict earthquakes he he...

 

[cool_recep]

W1z, I tought you would use Windows 7 64 Bit as AMD did while testing the card.

Why use Windows Vista 32-bit SP2 with 6 GB RAM?

 

[qubit]

I'm disappointed with the performance. I expected the 5870 to beat the dual GPU cards. Looks like the low memory bandwidth (less than the duals) is what crippled it. Looking at the benchies, I don't think it would have been all that hard to equal or better them with a few tweaks here and there.

I'm gonna wait to see what nvidia offers before I make a buying decision. Mind you, it's sorta made up for me, if I want to keep using my 3D Vision glasses.

Oh, great review as ever, W!zz.

 

[gumpty]

Cheers for the review.

Bit underwhelmed though, unfortunately. I was hoping it'd be a clear winner over the 4870X2. Sadly not. Mind you, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out with more mature drivers etc.

Now the wait begins for Nvidia's GT300 and the inevitable price wars.

Come on Nvidia ... your turn.

 

[tzitzibp]

W1z, I tought you would use Windows 7 64 Bit as AMD did while testing the card.

Why use Windows Vista 32-bit SP2 with 6 GB RAM?

I also have the same question....

Nevertheless, Great review, as always, man!

 

[wahdangun]

great review wizzz now i can sleep well

 

[Thrackan]

Conclusions of a casual gamer

I am a rather casual gamer. I want performance when I need it, and I want to have a quiet, low power and low temp card. Quiet being more important when I'm not gaming, when I'm gaming I don't mind a little fan noise. I'm aiming for a 5850 in the near future.

Based on this review I can say at least the following:

1. Power consumption / temps
Load temps under 80C for a high end card are, imo, to be classified as good.
An idle power consumption of 27w is very nice since I spend much more time on desktop (2D clocks) than I do in-game.
A power draw of around 150w in-game, even at the most intense games on the market today, is something I can very well deal with. Extreme benchmarks drawing over 200w might be a little over the top but that's 5870 results whereas I'm aiming for a 5850. A review on a "real" 5850 will be able to provide me with this intel and I want to see that before I buy one.

2. Performance
Per dollar, performance is still a bit less than expected. I take note that the initial sales price will go down in a couple of months though. When the 5850 hits the $200 mark, I expect it to be one of the best in bang-for-buck.

Per watt, as I said above about power consumption, I am impressed. Very impressed. The figures for the 5850 are bound to be even a little more positive.

The pure performance level is right up my alley. The 58XX family is right in the league of yesterday's high-end cards, and the simulated 5850 performance is actually better than I expected, being relatively close to the 5870. Performing up and around a GTX285, but with bearable power consumption and heat output, the 5850 looks like the new mid-end blockbuster to me.

3. Sound
Sound figures are a little disappointing on the 5870, and I'll have to wait for a 5850 review to see if the reference cards rock my socks even in that department. Of course, fitting a custom cooler is not a big deal as far as I'm concerned, but I'd love to once again see a stock cooler I am actually happy with.

4. Overclocking
The thing that hit me most was the overclocking portion of this review. Whereas core clocks can obviously still be increased the same way as usual, tuning the memory clocks by constantly running FPS benchmarks sounds a little awkward to me. Then again, I am a little lazy for an overclocker

Conclusion
The review gives quite a good impression of what to expect from a 5870. I'll be waiting on a review of an actual 5850 to confirm my expectations and I'll be waiting for a price drop before I buy a 5850.

If my GFX would break today, I'd still get a second hand card for cheap and wait until the price and information levels are more pleasing. On the other hand, if I would be planning to get a GFX for the holiday season, chances are very high I will get one of these babies.

 

[SirJangly]

Why the move to DX11? Was DX10 used to its maximum potential yet?

 

[W1zzard]

W1z, I tought you would use Windows 7 64 Bit as AMD did while testing the card.

Why use Windows Vista 32-bit SP2 with 6 GB RAM?

i think you are referring to the thread we had a while ago in comments & feedback where i inquired about a possible future vga testing platform. after the w7 launch, some time in november probably i'll rebench all cards on w7 64

 

[Tatty_Two]

Nice improvement over the HD4890 in performance terms, I am too old to get caught up in hype so I never thought (unlike many) that we would see what some were estimating at 100% improvements, in fact in relative terms if you look at the overall performance table, the improvement HD4890 > HD5870 is just about the exact same as the performance improvements we saw going from the 9800GTX > GTX280 (in fact to be precise 1% less improvement for the HD5870) so apart from the die shrink and obvious low idle power consumption..... is this that innovative? we are not getting any more in performance terms than NVidia has given us in the past with it's new architecture....... having said all that, i will buy one!

 

[R_1]

Great review. Although it supported mine mixed feeling about new rv870 generation. Did they worth this premium price, that ATI is asking?

 

[Easo]

Ownage. Its all i can say.
And dont forget final drivers too!!!

 

[ShinyG]

Why are all video card reviews on techpowerup containing "No support for CUDA / PhysX" as a con for ATi/AMD cards?
Have these nVidia solutions become industry standards? No
Are they at least popular enough to influence people away from ATi? Don't thinks so
Why not add "No support for AMD Stream" in every nVidia video card review? (rethorical)
Reading my complaint please ingore the fact that my PC is 100% AMD and only judge my statements. Please refrain from invoking any ad hominem arguments such as "you're an AMD fanboi"!
Getting back to this card: seems like the usual hop from one generation to another. I hope nVidia brings something competitive to the table, so we can have high end DX11 cards for under $250 before Xmas
Thank you

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

there really is fps scaling on these things eh... just look at the graph.. and the trend.. I knew it was going to be something like that.. they really are milking the fps cow

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

There are two sites I've seen that used 64 bit Windows 7 and the latest drivers, in one case not yet released drivers. Seemed less impressive in those tests. Dailytech just added a round up of the sites reviewing it. http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16315

It seems the latest drivers for nvidia added 10 FPS, and the latest from ati add just 5 FPS. So ati actually lost ground...

 

[Thrackan]

First prices popped up in the Netherlands, it seems they actually converted $ to € this time:

HIS 5870: €329
Sapphire 5870: €317
Sapphire 5850: €218

...this might come into desired price range sooner than I expected

 

[tzitzibp]

First prices popped up in the Netherlands, it seems they actually converted $ to € this time:

HIS 5870: €329
Sapphire 5870: €317
Sapphire 5850: €218

...this might come into desired price range sooner than I expected

LOL...this is a first!

 

[Thrackan]

LOL...this is a first!

Yeah I was quite amazed Finally someone learned to convert currency!

 

[$ReaPeR$]

these are both great cards the 4850 is within my price range but i will wait for a price drop once Nvidia has released their new gpus

 

[$ReaPeR$]

Yeah I was quite amazed Finally someone learned to convert currency!

+1 to that

 

[Tatty_Two]

Listed as pre-order items now in some UK etailers............................... £300 equates to around $490 US