ASUS EAH 5830 DirectCU

[W1zzard]

Today we have with us the ASUS EAH 5830 DirectCu 1024 MB, a premium non-reference implementation of the Radeon HD 5830. The way its cooler is designed, and going by ASUS' choice of components, the EAH 5830 DirectCu is catered to the value performance enthusiast who can squeeze the last ounce of performance out of it by overclocking.

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[Semi-Lobster]

Wow! Great review Wizz! As for the 5830 itself, I'm also mixed on how I feel about it, ATI crippled this card a little TOO much. There was really not reason to cripple it to the point where the 4890 actually edged it out a little but at least there is an alternative between the 5770 and the 5830 and choice is always great (just like choice for all these cool custom coolers the 5830 seems to be popping out with!).

IMO there's only one 'performance' gap left which is the 5670 (to put it basically, about as good as a 9600 GT) and the 5750 (about as good as a GTS 250) but the price difference between them is soo miniscule (about $20 generally) that this is probably going to be the entire 5000 series, all neatly announced and for retail before the GTX 470/480 even launch. Good job ATI!

 

[wahdangun]

wow, i'm really speechless, what the heck AMD doing

 

[TVman]

i thought it would be like 10fps slower then 5850 but the numbers i was seeing were disappointing + it takes more juice then a 5850

 

[Kenshai]

i thought it would be like 10fps slower then 5850 but the numbers i was seeing were disappointing + it takes more juice then a 5850

Because 2 watts more on average is going to break the bank

 

[TVman]

Because 2 watts more on average is going to break the bank

im sorry but im not a rich guy like you

 

[Kenshai]

im sorry but im not a rich guy like you

Not even looking at it like that, I haven't updated my specs I sold my i7. Two watts really is miniscule, if you're looking at purchasing a card in this price range then the power consumption won't really matter too much.

 

[Arrakis9]

with a tiny overclock you can have 4890 with lower power consumption and DX11 ! sounds good to me, i set my self at a ~ $200 limit for graphics cards and this pans out quite nice, i think i found my next graphics card

 

[dir_d]

Nice review but this card just sucks for the price

 

[aj28]

GT200 != 14004M
(Unless... Fermi specs stealth release?)

 

[Imsochobo]

The price will drop fast.

atleast to 220.

 

[pantherx12]

Worse then I expected but I'm hopeful that the lack of clock binning will yield some decent results.

Sure I could get 1ghz+

How ever unless this is only 10-20 pounds more then 5770 this card will be a waste for me.

Would go for 5770 since they overclock like demons ha ha

 

[1Kurgan1]

Looks like if you want cheap speed, 5770 is still the king, with the raised clocks it kills the head room, and the performance doesnt even seem that far ahead of the basic 5770 anyways.

 

[sapetto]

AMD is just taking it easy after the 5870/5850.

 

[mastrdrver]

W1zz, what benchmark do you use for FC2? I see at the beginning making mention about setting in game to highest, but do you use a custom playback, small ranch, etc? Thanks

I like the Asus card but not so much the price of the 5830 overall. I think it will hurt sales of it a little bit.

 

[W1zzard]

i think ranch medium

 

[theorw]

unless it goes like 180EUR and OC beyond 1000Core it will be a fail.
I am sticking with my 5770 and i ll put a 2nd next week!
It ll be much better.

 

[Paintface]

looks like its not a gap filler for the 5770 - 5850 and my 4890 will last a long while longer.

Also unless its a good deal cheaper than the 5770 ill keep advising people to buy the 5770 with a custom cooler if they want a good price/quality card that is low on power usage and heat/noise

 

[rodneyhchef]

Wow, this is very disappointing. Great review as always though Wizz!

5840 with 24ROPs anyone?

 

[cbupdd]

Nice review Wizzard, as always. Mmm, compared to 5770, +65$ expensive, for only +7% performance. Performance really disappointing.. At least, it has software voltage control.

 

[Fourstaff]

I thought the 5830 is going to be the new 5770, best bang for buck, but I am very dissapointed with this product, its not powerful enough to outstrip the 5770 by a huge margin yet still quite expensive. Perhaps, we need a 5840?

 

[Initialised]

From leaked data I'd seen before I was expecting it to be nipping at the heals of the GTX285 rather than the 4890. Hopefully some overclocked cards can get there.

 

[a_ump]

WOW.....WTF!!!!! how is this supposed to bridge the gap between the HD 5770 and 5850 when it only performs 3-8% better than the 5770 at respectable resolutions? dam like someone said, ATI crippled this thing, its like they chopped off RV870's legs and gave it a rusted wheel chair.

I'm really failing to comprehend how with all better or matched specs of the HD 4890 it falls behind it so much, i figure the increased shader count would negate that 50mhz difference. Drivers? or is RV790 really that badass as we thought it was upon release.

Also could they not have done say 20ROP's or something?

 

[HalfAHertz]

To be honest I feel disappointing from the current Ati portfolio, minus the 5850 and 5870 cards. They are both overpriced and fail to deliver the performance they are aimed at. It looks to me like the entire line was just rushed to production with very little time spent on tweaking...I hope things get better with future revisions and driver releases and of course prices will fall too.

Still the 5000 series failed to continue the trend that was started with the 4000 series - revolutionizing the price/performance classification of modern high performance graphics cards and bringing excellent performance to a wider audience.

 

[pantherx12]

What are you talking about man, the original MSRP of the cards was actually very reasonable ( same prices as last gen cards)

The the retailers setting the prices to insane amounts, as they know there's no other next gen cards out they can charge what they like.