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

[superbad]

nukemaster, yes i know the 5 series sucked, but that was the only one, if i remember. nvidia dudes were bad tempered and microsoft did what they do best
I say that in desperation to make a good impress in these benchmarks on different websites, the ati dudes, cut corners with quality they render. for some reason ati cards have a weackness at shadows and blending colors. for example, if you play a game that has a lot of grass, with many colors, the ati cards show less nuances of the same colors. same with explosions and other effects, the color pallete of ati cards seem narrower and they shouldn't do that, really.
i know that making an impression with fps on these forums and websites, will sell more cards, but affecting the quality and gaming experience ..!? for what we need a fast card, if it shows us just a part of the fun in high frames ? lets do black and white cards then, i bet those will do 500 frames in all games .
For now, the image quality of ati cards is good enough, where nvidia is the best.
I guess that both are good and can be somewhat equal, IF ati will stop cutting quality for the sake of few FPS. Looks like nvidia is making less compromises in this matter. Ati is fast, nvidia is fast, but is fast showing some more details.. and aren't those details the reason for what we pay for a better card ?

 

[nukemaster]

I respectfully disagree. ATI takes no more or no less shortcuts then NVidia. There are many image quality(iq) test on the net that show they are generally the same and in some cases ati or NV pull ahead. There is no corner cutting on the gpu, its all in the drivers. Both companies are doing it.

I end up buying many cards from both companies. so I can say they are both very similar. Nvidia DID add "ambient occlusion" to there drivers. That would make grass look nicer on some games, but it DOES cut the fps allot at high rez. I personally play for the best balance.

I will say one thing, My Geforce 4 TI 4200+ looked great, but that is because it used the old render larger then scale(re-sample a large image to fit your screen) back technique for AA. That was abandoned by both companies shortly after(cuts performance bad). but guess what? ATI has it on the 5870.

 

[cangelini]

On your GTA IV benchmark, it says very high settings. Were you guys able to actually put all of the graphic settings at maximum? I own GTA IV and would love to be able to put it at max. I've got an 8800 GTX, but am unable to max it out because I don't have enough RAM. Since this card only has 1GB, I wasn't sure if I would be able to have GTA at full graphic settings.

Yes, it simply requires adjusting that first slider up and down once you've maxed out all of the other settings. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll ever be possible to max out and slide that one up to 100

 

[lofas]

"Processor: Intel Core i7-975 Extreme (Bloomfield) Overclocked to 4 GHz (25 * 160 MHz)"

Have you ever wondered who your readers are and what they are looking for in new hardware reviews? I would assume they want to know how it would be running on their system, not with a CPU that they will be using by the time the next generation GPU is released. Don't you think so?

 

[lgmtk]

WOW.
definitly an awesome card and an awesome article.
Angelini is for sure the bestwriter in Tom's.
cheers and tnx

 

[Guest]

I'm building a new rig and ATI 5870 won a place in it!!!

CF next year..

 

[Guest]

Just to let you know this card is an epic FAIL! I just brought one and the only way to get it to work is to by a $200 active DP to DVI converters.

Great idea, but implementation really sux

 

[americanbrian]

I am guessing you have three DVI only monitors then? It clearly says you need one displayport in the mix if you want three outputs.

READ THE ARTICLE

 

[americanbrian]

oh and I can see the adaptor on google shopping for ~$20 or £10 if you are UK

 

[Guest]

this card can not do 120 hz, 60 real-world fps max

 

[kimyu92]

can be waiting to get this card
super nice ^^

 

[Guest]

30 FPS is perfectly smooth for me. I don't a have any problem with frame rates above 25FPS. I don't know why people think that the FPS has to be at like 50 or 60.

 

[jbakerlent]

Too bad they're too large for some micro-atx cases (like one of mine) - keep in mind micro-atx motherboards only measures 9.6" and this card is 10.5".

 

[silicondoc]

Not to be picky, except the rumor about the 5870 being 10.5" is just about everywhere.
It's actually 11.1", not ten five.
There are even reviewers who claim it's 10.5 after they have the cards in their hands and compare them with pics. (at the evil competition site)
I guess it's part of some odd some ND contract, to tell the lie or something. (or you know what it really is).
Ok, one or two more things - if DX11 doesn't blow the crap out of PhysX, I don't want to hear about it, after hearing for a year + how PhysX is totally worthless. Ditto for ambient occlusion/SSAO.
This card doesn't beat the 4870x2 and the GTX295 whomps it, so it's classic epic fail.
If you're scratching for pennies, go for it.

 

[trooper1947]

Myself .. I'm thinking of 2/dual 5850's instead ... about the same price as a 5870 and more performance . My buddy bought that lame nvidia 280 and was going to run duals ... now they are history ... another rip off by nvidia ... as well as nvidia's dual gpu having severe problems ... will some never learn ?

 

[trooper1947]

The gtx295 is an overpriced antique and surely does NOT WOMP a 5870 ... plus yes win7 IS DIRECTX 11 ... and as far as those banners on games for nvidia ... they'll put any banner on a game for enough cash kickbacks ! Outdated components as usual with nvidia .... always 2 years behind ... LOL ! But the fools keep on buying them ... instead of that overpriced gtx295 ... run 3 5850's ... near the same expense ... you want to see some womping silicondoc ??? LOL

 

[Guest]

This is great but ATI should also focus on improving driver support, ease of installation, and darkness adjustments.

 

[Guest]

5870 rocks! I can max out every game at 1920x1080! I can only imagine crossfire performance! Cant wait for the price to drop... (and for proper drivers 😛)

 

[phelt54]

There is something I would like to point out. I believe ATI cards of recent have been better than NVIDIA cards. NVIDIA may have won comparison tests based on frame rates, but ATI cards run DirectX 10.1 while NVIDIA cards run DirectX 10 only. DirectX 10.1 forces all the anti alaising and special features even if the game doesn't require it. With an ATI card we are getting better detail in our games. ATI cards appear to be better hardware from the specifications, so if ATI cards only ran DirectX 10, it's likely they would've come out on top in frame rates.

 

[nukemaster]

There is something I would like to point out. I believe ATI cards of recent have been better than NVIDIA cards. NVIDIA may have won comparison tests based on frame rates, but ATI cards run DirectX 10.1 while NVIDIA cards run DirectX 10 only. DirectX 10.1 forces all the anti alaising and special features even if the game doesn't require it. With an ATI card we are getting better detail in our games. ATI cards appear to be better hardware from the specifications, so if ATI cards only ran DirectX 10, it's likely they would've come out on top in frame rates.

Not quite, DX 10.1 games, maybe. all games? no. Since NV is big enough, most companies did not even bother with 10.1 hell NV even had Assassins Creed's 10.1 removed since it was a Nvidia game. It only takes one to ruin it for all.

 

[Beastxxx]

hey was wondering wats the go with the 4000 series is it the 4870 better than the 5770 or other way around i try and get a comparison side by side but i cant find any where .... and also should i get a gtx 260 or ati 5570 or a 4890 ?? thanks

 

[Beastxxx]

hey was wondering wats the go with the 4000 series is it the 4870 better than the 5770 or other way around i try and get a comparison side by side but i cant find any where .... and also should i get a gtx 260 or ati 5570 or a 4890 ?? thanks

 

[hannibal]

4870 and 5770 are close each other. When DX11 aplications come to market big time, the 5770 should be better. Now it depends on what program you use.

 

[Beastxxx]

4870 and 5770 are close each other. When DX11 aplications come to market big time, the 5770 should be better. Now it depends on what program you use.

umm well im a heavy gamer so i play call of duty far cry 2 crysis and games like that i occasionally play some mmors .... but im looking for the best card outa them or a card thats better around that price thanks =)

 

[pathasse]

Ill take 2.