ATI Radeon HD 5870: DirectX 11, Eyefinity, And Serious Speed

[sidel]

Will the 5870 and 5850 use physics ?

 

[enewmen]

[citation][nom]jezza333[/nom]Once again it shows that AMD can produce a seriously killer card...Crysis 2 on an x2 of this is exactly what I'm waiting for.[/citation]
I don't think there will be a "Crysis 2" until 2012. The CryEngine 3 that just came out is for consoles. Until then (2012), there will be small improvements in visuals, big imporvements in physics, AI, etc. The killer 5870 will still be needed for future DX11 games. I will want 5870x2 CF if I thought it can cut down the transcoding time using DirectComputing or OpenCL.
My 2 cents..

 

[rkelly1]

i still wonder how big of a card would a 5870x2 be since one 5870 is slightly bigger than a 4870x2

 

[aungee]

Excellent card from AMD/ATI. The fastest single chip GPU (for now) with extra goodies that Nvidia will find hard to beat such as multi monitor support, low power consumption, DX11 etc. Nvidia might match or beat the performance with it's GT300 but they'll do it with a cost with a higher TDP rating and manufacturing cost. well done AMD/ATI great kick-ass product at a good price and released at a good time (with win7 launch on the radar).

 

[majortom]

This is a kick ass card for sure. Now i'm looking forward to the hd5850 reviews, i'm so curious about that! Hey, it's just me or does anyone think the gta4 test were severely bottlenecked by the cpu? All the fastest cards got stucked at 65 fps! Or was that just a coincidence?

 

[peanutsrevenge]

Pretty good review.
having four of these would be seriously cool. However, powering the system would be an issue.
With a few drives in a Raid 0 (if you've that much compute power you need to deliver the data pretty quick) and 4 5870s in Xfire, you're looking at just over 1000w (including PSU inefficienices).
Best not have too many USB 3.0 devices attached too I guess 😀

 

[peanutsrevenge]

Sorry, well over 1000w as Furmark barely touches the CPU and an OC'd i7 will use in excess of 100w more under load than idle.

 

[doomsdaydave11]

It will be hard not to upgrade next year with this stuff out.

 

[need4speeds]

I wonder when if the 5670 will be a 800 shader 80watt, quietly cooled killer htpc card for under $100? currently my htpc has always received my main gaming computers old parts, currently my htpc has a 3870@830, with a 4400+ 939 x2 @2.38ghz,2mb cache, it gets a break cause its monitor is a massive 36"crt at 1024x768. when it dies it will take up a big section of landfill, so i will try and use it as long as i can. i got it free someone threw it out cause the sound is shot, it works fine with the stereo. the hd 3870 forces it to have a crystal clear picture at 1024x768, upconverts standard def 800x600 and 640x480 into 1024x768, hdtv at 1024x768, that old crt tv never looked so good. games like pro street, ut3 and fear 2 look awesome,
now they have 47" 1080p's on sale for $849, but i doubt a 320 shader card can push 1080p, my other computer that has a 4870 it's a hot running card the fan is too noisy for a htpc, and it seems to be perfect match with my 6000+@3.16, i had to bios mod the fan profile to run the fan target temp at 61c instead of baking at 81c, sometimes in ut3 it would lock up before, i noticed they have this new card the 5870 has a similar fan profile as the 4870, Why run it so hot?
in testing they said it had artifacts once, and throttled, sounds like the same trouble as the early 4870's had, why would ati make the same mistake twice?. bios modding is a risky thing to have to do to a card, i didnt want to but had no choice cause my card was broken and off warranty. you have to have a old pci card or onboard cause if your flash doesn't work you have to go back to the old one. don't do that unless you really have to its still risky.
I hope they put the fan target temp adjustment in the new catalyst.
sounds like a good card if they fix the fan temp target or let you adjust it down, the manual fan adjustment is not a good idea since you cant see the temps while playing a game if u have it set to a fixed 50% how hot does it get? what about later with a bit of dust? you need the auto temp control on the fan. If the 5670 comes out with 800 shaders and a 1000mhz clock it will be faster than the 4870, u cant complain about that, the budget cards that will follow will be awesome too. cant complain about a 40nm 400 shader 5550 either with something like a 800 clock, wonder when the onboard 300 shader one will be out too the 5200? this whole series sounds really good. I'm not sure I'm just assuming it will follow like the 4000,3000,2000,1000,800,9500-9800,92xx,8000 and even the 7000 series did. the same thing since the rage pro, the fast card comes out then lesser cards based on flawed silicon and laptop versions and a onboard chip. unless they suddenly break with tradition.
I wonder when the 40nm 800 shader laptop chips will be out? a 4850 in a laptop? that would be cool, or even a 300 shader 5200 in a laptop?
im sure nvidia will come out with a 360/380 soon, and maybe a 395. wonder if the new 360 will be a 432 shader card with a budget 300 shader one? just my guess...

 

[JeanLuc]

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]The Nvidia card(s) were clocked DOWN to reference levels to ensure a fair comparison. Also, the 4890 was clocked down to reference speeds as well (ATI sent out a lot of cards running at 900 MHz rather than 850 MHz). Don't worry Jean, I'm keeping it kosher![/citation]

You have a good eye detail which is very much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Dont care what benchmarks say AMD & ATI are loosers, nVidia & Intel FTW!

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

5870 gives me techno-wood.

 

[saint19]

I think that is time to change my old GTX260, the nVidia empire is coming down, but also remember that the GTX300 series isn't coming out yet. Which will be the response from nVidia for the HD5800 series from ATI?...just wait that untill nVidia launch the GTX300 series and we can see the performance comparation...

 

[ebattleon]

Interesting, but we will have to see what Nvidia does next.

 

[ebattleon]

Interesting, but we will have to see what Nvidia does next.

 

[back_by_demand]

I don't think anyone is disputing that nVidia will respond with the GTX300 series, so ATI will respond in kind with the HD6000 in time, then nVidia with the GTX400 and ATI with the HD7000 then nVidia with the GTX500 and so on and so on and so on.....

I think what this article shows is that the competition between GPUs is strong and working tooth and nail. We, the consumer, ultimately win.

Although this is so much more powerful than the HD4000, on a price point I could only really recommend to those who have been running a HD2000, the simply massive differance would make the cost easier to bear, same as I could only really recommend an nVidia user to go GTX300 from an 8800. The market is a lot larger and the benefits more pronounced, but dont let recent adopters of GTX200 or HD4000 be put off, it's your money and if you want the best it just landed, if you can truely afford to buy the nest card every time a new one comes out then you should be bunnyhopping between nVidia and ATI every few months.

 

[Guest]

How about a triple monitor shootout? How does Eyefinity compare to SofTH using a second video card (like the one you just replaced with the 5870)? Can it handle different monitor resolutions for the flanking monitors? Does multi card and monitor use make Bloomfields a significantly better choice than Lynnfield processors? Help out your fellow multi-monitor minority, as there are ZERO tests/articles addressing this and none of us can afford to buy multiple video cards, motherboards, and CPUs to really test it out. All we have is word of mouth from the multi monitor forums.

 

[underapew]

yes please! *nough said

 

[thomaseron]

And the drivers just came out. maybe C9.10 drivers will give performance a little boost? 😀

 

[overhaulnetwork]

So can this card send sound also? I got confused reading that part of the review. If so how?

 

[overhaulnetwork]

So can this card send sound also? I got confused reading that part of the review. If so how?

 

[kelfen]

I think I gonna have to wait till nvidia realease there cards so that compitition will drive prices down a little bit; Win win win!

 

[sirkillalot]

wow for $379 ya cant go wrong, good stuff

 

[l@ndo]

I just keep wondering why there is no bechmark in any of the monthly graphics article om how 2 ATI Radeon 4890 in corssfire perform again the rest. Am I wrong?

 

[kyosho]

Funny how 379 seems so much too me now. I guess I'm just not the gamer I used to be. I threw down 400 for a 6800gt back in the day and didn't bat an eye. lol. I too am interested in the 5850. One now and another in a few months when my bankroll has recovered.