Wednesday, September 23rd 2009

AMD Changes the Game with ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series, Harnessing the Most Powerful GPU

AMD today launched the most powerful processor ever created, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, and the world's first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products. AMD will initially release two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate the competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX 11, making it a "must-have" consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

"With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cars driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, AMD is changing the game, both in terms of performance and the experience," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. "As the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, an unmatched experience made possible with ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream technology harnessing open standards designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, I can say with confidence that AMD is the undisputed leader in graphics once more."
Dominate your competition with Microsoft DirectX 11 support
With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, gamers will enjoy gaming supremacy and the ultimate advantage, realizing incredible HD gaming performance and the most engaging experience possible with DirectX 11 gaming done right:
  • Designed and built for purpose: Modeled on the full DirectX 11 specifications, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards delivers up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power in a single card, translating to superior performance in the latest DirectX 11 games, as well as in DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL titles in single card configurations or multi-card configurations using ATI CrossFireX technology. When measured in terms of game performance experienced in some of today's most popular games, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series is up to twice as fast as the closest competing product in its class.5 allowing gamers to enjoy incredible new DirectX 11 games - including the forthcoming DiRT 2 from Codemasters, and Aliens vs. Predator from Rebellion, and updated version of The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online Eberron Unlimited from Turbine - all in stunning detail with incredible frame rates.
  • Generations ahead of the competition: Building on the success of the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series products, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards is two generations ahead of DirectX 10.0 support, and features 6th generation evolved AMD tessellation technology, 3rd generation evolved GDDR5 support, 2nd generation evolved 40nm process technology, and a feature-rich compute shader, all geared towards delivering the best gaming experience money can buy.
  • The ultimate in game compatibility: The DirectX 11 API was developed on AMD graphics hardware and represents the cornerstone of DirectX 11 gaming. All initial DirectX 11 games were developed and/or continue to be developed on AMD's DirectX 11 hardware. With more than 20 DirectX 11 games currently in development, this innate optimization for ATI Radeon graphics cards, in combination with monthly ATI Catalyst driver releases, help ensure a stable, reliable and high-performance experience for the latest games.
Accelerate with ATI Stream technology
With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics card, PC users can unleash Windows 7 and realize the potential of a better computing experience to help do more with their PC:
  • Harness the home supercomputer: One ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card would have been one of the top 10 supercomputers in the world just six years ago - today that same processing power can be found in your home PC, working with high-performance CPUs to deliver a superior experience.
  • Windows 7 done right: Windows 7 is the first compute-capable operating system and the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards with ATI Stream technology accelerate it like nothing else, being the first and only card to support DirectCompute 11.
  • Create and do more, faster than ever before with ATI Stream technology: Enjoy new features, functionality and improved performance in top media, entertainment and productivity applications made possible by ATI Stream technology.
  • Most expansive support of industry standards: The ATI Radeon HD 5800 of graphics cards fully support both DirectX 11 and OpenCL, ensuring broad application support now and the future.
Expand the PC experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology
Enjoy multi-monitor computing with seamless enablement of the biggest game environments ever seen:
  • The ultimate in seamless flexibility: Arrange one to three displays using the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and ATI Radeon HD 5850 graphics cards, or up to six displays using the forthcoming ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 graphics card, in a variety of configurations - any mix of portrait, or landscape.
  • See them before they see you: Unlock the potential of multi-monitor gaming at up to 12 x full HD resolution, the largest game environments ever displayed.10 Experience more visual detail and expanded battlefields that your gaming competitors may lack.
  • Enjoy visual computing in eye-definition: Virtually obsolete scrolling by taking advantage of vast desktop real estate to put more information at your fingertips. Enjoy the best of today's latest visually-enhanced online applications - social networking, video conferencing, video entertainment, and satellite imagery - all in stunning detail.
Ecosystem support
The ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies, including ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), MSI, Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology, VisionTek and XFX.

Supporting Quotes
"By incorporating the ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics processor's revolutionary DirectX 11 and ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor capabilities into the Alienware desktop gaming system, Dell Gaming continues to lead the industry in delivering performance, immersion and visual experience levels that shatter all previous limitations," said Arthur Lewis, head of Dell gaming group.

"I had high expectations of AMD's new DirectX 11 GPUs, but nothing really prepared me for the breathtaking experience that I'm now enjoying," said Dirk Ringe, vice president, EA Phenomic. "Frame rates are so silky-smooth at ultra high-resolutions, even with all effects turned to max, that the new hardware makes previous hardware look like a quaint antique! The quality of the rendering in BattleForge is something that I used to dream about only a year ago - and the flexibility and power of DirectCompute 11 opens our eyes to a multitude of new possibilities. We applaud AMD's and Microsoft's vision in creating the DirectX 11 API and this amazing new hardware and we can say without hesitation that it represents the future of gaming."

"We were simply astonished by the performance of the DirectCompute 11 hardware in AMD's DirectX 11 GPUs," said Ruslan Didenko, project lead, GSC Gameworld. "By meeting the full DirectX 11 hardware spec AMD has created a beast of a GPU that is light years ahead of its DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 10 predecessors. We strongly recommend a full-on DirectX 11 GPU from AMD as very simply the best way to experience our stunning new game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. A vision of loveliness, in every gut-wrenching detail!"

"Trinigy remains committed to supporting the game development industry with top-notch game engine technology that combines efficiency, creative freedom and performance," said Dag Frommhold, managing director at Trinigy. "We're extremely excited to be working with AMD to support their DirectX 11 graphics processors. AMD's quality drivers and hardware complement our commitment to game developers perfectly by empowering them to produce higher-level in-game graphics than ever before.
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40 Comments on AMD Changes the Game with ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series, Harnessing the Most Powerful GPU

#27
Valdez
FreedomEclipsemedia.bestofmicro.com/0/Z/224243/original/Left%204%20Dead%20No%20AA.png


& the 5870 crossfire gets beaten back by a single 4870X2 (BuRn!!!!!!!!) :laugh::laugh::laugh: though im sure its just a driver issue - 5xxx series drivers havent had time to mature yet
This benchmark is cpu limited, don't you see?
You have to stress those cards severely (highres, high aa) to get correct outcome, or you'll get cpu limit.
Posted on Reply
#29
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
Fastest single GPU card ever, about damn time they got back to form. Very awesome in the review too. Cannot wait for prices to come down as I will gladly sell my 4870 to get one of these. Second that for jizzing in the pants :D
Posted on Reply
#30
imperialreign
mdm-adphYou guys are really putting too much faith in the things you read at TomsHardware. :laugh:

I go there for information every now and then, but when they're doing their testing and reviews, it's apparent that often they don't know what the hell they're doing.
I kinda agree on Tom's . . . for the most part, until I see numbers posted here at TPU, I'm always skeptical :p


Either way, from the reviews I've seen - it's looking round abouts that one 5870 is on par with one 4870x2 (which is pretty insane, IMHO) . . . and throwing in the AA/AF and this new monster takes the lead over everything else . . .

Y'know, I really didn't believe ATI could pull off such an impressive feat two series in a row - nearly doubling the performance versus the now displaced models - and I'm getting the feeling nVidia will have been caught with their pants down (I guess we'll see once the new 300 is out). It's just simply impressive to see ATI tip that crown again, and be able to stout being the first to market with DX11 support (not surprising, considering they're the first to embrace all new goodness).

Alrighty, then . . . putting aside lootage for a pair of 5870x2s once they're to market! :toast:
Posted on Reply
#31
DaedalusHelios
imperialreignAlrighty, then . . . putting aside lootage for a pair of 5870x2s once they're to market! :toast:
An i7 upgrade plus a single 5870x2 would be a better idea. ;)
Posted on Reply
#32
imperialreign
DaedalusHeliosAn i7 upgrade plus a single 5870x2 would be a better idea. ;)
Naw - not until I'm run this 9650 into the ground. Besides, as far as what I do is concerned, and how hard I currently push everything, I won't see much of any real benefit from an i7 setup.
Posted on Reply
#33
DaedalusHelios
imperialreignNaw - not until I'm run this 9650 into the ground. Besides, as far as what I do is concerned, and how hard I currently push everything, I won't see much of any real benefit from an i7 setup.
Multi-GPU scaling is CPU hungry from my experience.

Even your 4870X2's would see a serious difference in frames with an i7 920 at 4Ghz.

i7 is not that expensive if you buy used too. :cool:

Your parts sold that would be replaced by i7 parts would maybe be a $100 difference in price. But its your choice, I would think it would be a good management of funds.
Posted on Reply
#34
Hayder_Master
FreedomEclipsemedia.bestofmicro.com/0/Z/224243/original/Left%204%20Dead%20No%20AA.png


& the 5870 crossfire gets beaten back by a single 4870X2 (BuRn!!!!!!!!) :laugh::laugh::laugh: though im sure its just a driver issue - 5xxx series drivers havent had time to mature yet
FreedomEclipse& Also to correct myself......:shadedshu:shadedshu:shadedshu

media.bestofmicro.com/0/Y/224242/original/Left%204%20Dead%208x%20AA.png

where AA & AF are involved...
why you pick left4dead test did you thing this game even worth 4850 to run it , wht about real games crysis warhead , stalker clear sky
Posted on Reply
#36
imperialreign
DaedalusHeliosMulti-GPU scaling is CPU hungry from my experience.

Even your 4870X2's would see a serious difference in frames with an i7 920 at 4Ghz.

i7 is not that expensive if you buy used too. :cool:

Your parts sold that would be replaced by i7 parts would maybe be a $100 difference in price. But its your choice, I would think it would be a good management of funds.
I completely understand what you're saying, although, with my own testing, the real system bottleneck for GPUs is the BUS - and past a certain point, the performance increase becomes rather marginal (at least on my setup) . . . can't remember if it was a BUS of 450 or 475 . . .

Anyhow, it might be completely different with the 5000 series . . .

Asides, I don't use many programs that would greatly benefit from the i7, perhaps Sound Forge, but everything is already pretty blazing fast with my current CPU and clock speeds . . .

Perhaps into next year, as I've given it some thought, as I'm planning on building a second rig . . .
Posted on Reply
#37
PP Mguire
The i7s are faster clock for clock though so at 4ghz it would be able to feed your gpu more information.
Posted on Reply
#38
imperialreign
PP MguireThe i7s are faster clock for clock though so at 4ghz it would be able to feed your gpu more information.
Unless I'm mistaken, it's not so much the CPU that holds up the GPU(s), but the BUS - sure, CPU clock speed does factor in, but so does your DRAM clock speeds, and your BUS speeds more-so.


Let's also not forget this interesting article that was written a little over a year ago: www.guru3d.com/article/cpu-scaling-in-games-with-quad-core-processors/1


Not saying any of y'all are wrong, as the CPU/mobo combo does factor in, but past a certain point, it truly doesn't matter what CPU you're packing - the higher the resolution you're running, the more you're bound to your GPUs limitations.

That being said, I don't see much of a point (ATM in time) to upgrade to an i7 setup . . . I'm already pushing a C2Q at heretical 24/7 speeds, not to mention how hard I push my system overall (y'all know how I like to slaughter my DRAM :p ). Perhaps in the next year I'll make that jump, as I start building up a secondary system with all these spare parts I have laying around . . . but ATM, I don't feel I'd see much benefit (aside from the upgraded e-peen and bragging rights).
Posted on Reply
#39
Meizuman
Would definitely be nice to see some benchmarks with lower end CPU's... Thing I would like to see is how the old 9950 handles games with these beasts and how much boost there would be from going 4850 -> 5850. At least on TPU's simulated single 5850 give almost 100% boost compared to 4850. But that was with i7 920, IIRC. I want to see how much there would be CPU bottlenecking... It really wouldn't matter much if minimum FPS doesn't drop to unplayable numbers... (that with high res and high AA/AF). One thing I would want to do with 5800 series is enable the Global illumination on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Posted on Reply
#40
DaedalusHelios
I had a stock E2160 with 4GB of ram and a GTX 280. On CODWAW it dropped to 20FPS on medium settings 1600x1200 with a bunch of zombies on screen... It basically took a dump.
Posted on Reply
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