Basic Guide on ATI Radeon video cards of Fall/Winter 2009

[kylzer]

I can asure you that the 5770 is easily quicker than the 4870

will since 9.11s hit anyways.

 

[Bo_Fox]

I can asure you that the 5770 is easily quicker than the 4870

will since 9.11s hit anyways.

A 512MB version of 4870 beat a 1GB 5770 by 3%. If the 4870 had 1GB, it'd be slightly more, and the difference would be more pronounced at 2560x1600 in the favor of 4870 1GB. It'd also matter more with more demanding games in the future that are more memory-hungry.

I gotta check on the driver improvements of Catalyst 9.11's, but keep in mind that the 5770's bandwidth is rather low to begin with. It might improve some, but the 5770 might not exceed 4870's performance until it starts taking advantage of DX11 games.

 

[Bo_Fox]

I figure my 4850's fit somewhere between the 4890 and 5850 so I feel ok for now. Too bad they suck so much power.

Great idea OP!

The amazing thing is that a 5850 eats about as much power as a single 4850!

Also, a 5750 eats half of that! A 5770 would still eat way less than a 4850.. and it's another story when those cards are running @ idle.. almost like a compact fluorescent silicon chip versus an incandescent chip!

I'd love to get a 5850/5870 but am waiting for a 512-bit version (or at least an improved version like the 4890 over 4850/4870). My 4870 1GB still does fine for almost everything (except Crysis, of course ).. Well, for all of the games that I normally play!

 

[Bo_Fox]

That's a massive upgrade from a 6600GT, my 6800Ultra was a good 20 cards ago, I WISH I could be satisfied for that long

Yeah, you're right that a HD 4670 is a massive upgrade over a 6600GT. I'd guess that a 4670 performs similarly to an X1900XT, but with DX10.1 capabilities and a fraction of power consumption. However, I'd strongly recommend going for a 4770 over a 4670 for only $20 more or so. (That's the price difference, right?)

Considering the fact that new games cost $50.. it'd definitely be worth it to be able to enjoy those games with significantly better graphics for an extra 20 bucks, which is a fraction of the price of a new game! (That is, if you buy a few new games a year.)

according to wiki..

Who do you think will be first? Larrabee or Nvidia with the g3XX cards?

Given Nvidia's "fervor" right now against ATI, I think that Nvidia will do everything they can to have the GT300 out by February, at least. Although Intel is about to release Clarkdale 32nm CPU's with 45nm graphics, the expected availability of Larrabee still remains sketchy.

 

[Altered]

I am real happy with my 4870. Next upgrade is a CPU/Mobo then comes another GPU. Larrabee maybe when they have been around 6 months to a yr. I never have the latest/greatest hardware.

 

[DonInKansas]

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_5750_PCS/images/perfrel_1920.gif

A 512MB version of 4870 beat a 1GB 5770 by 3%. If the 4870 had 1GB, it'd be slightly more, and the difference would be more pronounced at 2560x1600 in the favor of 4870 1GB. It'd also matter more with more demanding games in the future that are more memory-hungry.

A minor overclock can fix that. Plus you're saving the 50-60W at idle and more at load. The 2-3 FPS difference isn't much worth that.

Oh yeah, my 5770 will be here Dec 2. I don't wanna wait...

 

[Bo_Fox]

A minor overclock can fix that. Plus you're saving the 50-60W at idle and more at load. The 2-3 FPS difference isn't much worth that.

Oh yeah, my 5770 will be here Dec 2. I don't wanna wait...

Yes, a 5770 is fine (excellent with power consumption). It's fine for most people's gaming needs. Dude.

 

[kurosagi01]

i am hoping to buy a 5770 in mid december,hopefully before christmas

 

[Bo_Fox]

Wow, the highest percentage of people are voting for a 5870/5890!!!

Is this for real, guys, or just a pipe dream of Santa dropping it down the chimney? Just kidding!

 

[DavAnt]

If ist' not fall/winter 2009 please delete, but there's also the HD4650 1GB DDR2 in both AGP and PCI-E

ATI havent't released top notch drivers for the AGP version and it won't run aero properly...
Won't run L4D2 correctly as a matter of fact...

 

[Bo_Fox]

If ist' not fall/winter 2009 please delete, but there's also the HD4650 1GB DDR2 in both AGP and PCI-E

ATI havent't released top notch drivers for the AGP version and it won't run aero properly...
Won't run L4D2 correctly as a matter of fact...

Hmm, hopefully ATI will fix this issue ASAP. Perhaps you could try emailing ATI about it, or just try using WinXP in the meantime? I still dual-boot with WinXP-32 and Vista 64 (will venture into Win7 when I upgrade one of my hard drives and get a DX11 card soon).

 

[DavAnt]

I could try with XP but I love windows 7 sooo much!

In the meantime I can use my old card wich worked well...

 

[Bo_Fox]

I could try with XP but I love windows 7 sooo much!

In the meantime I can use my old card wich worked well...

I'm thinking that AMD's statement below regarding Catalyst drivers newer than 9.8 also includes AGP cards:

AMD has moved a number of DX9 ATI Radeon™ graphics accelerators products to a legacy driver support structure. This change impacts Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux distributions. AMD has moved to a legacy software support structure for these graphics accelerator products in an effort to better focus development resources on future products.

Note: AMD’s DirectX 9 ATI Radeon graphics accelerators are not officially supported under Windows 7. If the user chooses to, they can install the ATI Catalyst Windows Vista graphics driver under Windows 7. Please be aware that none of the new Windows 7 graphics driver (WDDM 1.1) features are supported (as the Windows Vista level graphics driver is limited to WDDM 1.0 level support). Using the ATI Catalyst Windows Vista driver under Windows 7 is not officially supported by AMD, and as such AMD will not provide any form of customer support for users running in this configuration

So, it might work if you roll back to Catalyst 9.8?

(EDIT Ahh.. found the AGP Hotfix for 4xxx cards for Catalyst 9.11:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/CatalystAGPHotfix.aspx

Also, L4D2 had tons of problems before the first few patches.. it should finally be fixed by now after several patch upgrades via Steam. Hope this helps.

 

[shevanel]

fitty sebem sebemdy on it's way from newegg to me.. and you know I will have another on it's heals after Xmaz

 

[Bo_Fox]

fitty sebem sebemdy on it's way from newegg to me.. and you know I will have another on it's heals after Xmaz

LOL..

Wow, now 27 people voting on 5870/5970?!? I should've separated it into 2 categories (5870 and 5970)! It seems that TPU is made up of much more hardcore enthusiasts than I thought at first!

 

[DavAnt]

I'm thinking that AMD's statement below regarding Catalyst drivers newer than 9.8 also includes AGP cards:



So, it might work if you roll back to Catalyst 9.8?

(EDIT Ahh.. found the AGP Hotfix for 4xxx cards for Catalyst 9.11:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/CatalystAGPHotfix.aspx

Also, L4D2 had tons of problems before the first few patches.. it should finally be fixed by now after several patch upgrades via Steam. Hope this helps.

L4D2 worked good on my 9600... I've put it back and aero runs great, just like before, and W7 installed the drivers by itself...

even with the hotfix, manual install, etc, the XFX HD 4650 won't run aero properly...

 

[Hayder_Master]

i don't know i still confusing about taking 5890 cuz it's built in crossfire technology which is most games not support it so i have three options here
1-wait what nvidia brings
2-5870
3-wait to see if new games support crossfire or wait for new extreme card like 5890

 

[kurosagi01]

i need change my vote now lol i bought different card

 

[Error 404]

I'm sticking with my 4850 until maybe Q2 2010, when I might do a complete system upgrade.

Once I get some cooling on the VRMs I should be able to keep it at 750/1125 MHz 24/7!

 

[grunt_408]

nothing I am happy for now with my current 4890 crossfire setup.

 

[CDdude55]

Sticking with my 4870 till later on next year.

 

[wahdangun]

i think after intel drop their larrabe, it's must be deleted from the vote

 

[Bo_Fox]

i think after intel drop their larrabe, it's must be deleted from the vote

The larrabee option was a joke, man! Most people knew that it wouldn't be out in 2009 anyways, and now it's dropped, which sucks.. It'd have been fun to see Intel bring it head-on against ATI/NV.

 

[Bo_Fox]

i don't know i still confusing about taking 5890 cuz it's built in crossfire technology which is most games not support it so i have three options here
1-wait what nvidia brings
2-5870
3-wait to see if new games support crossfire or wait for new extreme card like 5890

Do you mean 5970, right? ATI's Crossfire supports most of today's "modern" games. For older games, you probably do not need CF at all. For some of the newly released games, you might have to wait 1-2 months for CF support to be implemented in the drivers.

Here's one thing I would like to share about microstuttering, in that it's still present with Dirt2. Dirt 2 is a game that was obviously developed in close ties with ATI (regarding DX11 support).

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...DX-11-Update-Radeon-HD-5970-results/Practice/

But the micro stuttering of the dual GPU card is strong and 50 frames per second on the 5970 feel about as fast as 30 fps on the 5870.

If that's the case, then I'm still happy to be a retired SLI veteran, having experienced this horrible problem with 2x 7900GTX's in SLI where Test Drive Unlimited at 40 fps felt like 23 fps. My 8800GTX chugged along at 45 fps which felt like 45fps.

PCGamesHardware is a very reputable site, and it seems that they know what they are talking about. Hopefully this microstuttering problem could be fixed ASAP.

Anyways, I'm wondering about the 5890 too.. if it would be that much better of a single-GPU card.

 

[Silverel]

If I get a nice xmas bonus, I'll be dropping it into a 5870. That'll go nicely with my system refresh in the spring. I run two 1920x1200 monitors =D