ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB: The World's Fastest Graphics Card

[mman74]

US$600 to put down on a card is too much for me right now. Paying US$300 allows me to get one card now and then save up and also wait for the games to actually demand that level of performance before getting another one. By that time hopefully they will have come down in price anyway.

 

[pakardbell486dx2]

Just when you guys think that a dual core gpu will come out instead of having two separate gpus on a single pcb? Now that would be something to look forward to.

 

[mr_tuel]

I have the right case and CPU, all I need is a 1kW PSU and $$$$

 

[timbo]

That's why I always ride behind the curve.

 

[shubham1401]

Um, they aren't targeted at the same people and thus not in competition to begin with. The GT 240 is sub $100, this card is $600+

I was just kidding...

 

[noob2222]

Power, Noise, And Heat

.... where? got the power and noise ... where is the ... oh there.. Seemingly not a fan of our FurMark test, the board quickly spiked to 99 degrees Celsius and then froze.

This card has the best cooling option available as stock and you get one sentence in about how it overheated when overclocked at full load?

Check this out. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=16

Moving on, the vapor chamber cooler makes itself felt in our temperature testing. The 5970 is the coolest high-end card we’ve tested (yes, you’ve read that right), coming in at 38C, below even the GTS 250. This is in stark opposition to previous dual-GPU cards, which have inhabited the top of the chart. Even the 5850 isn’t quite as cool as a 5970 at idle.

At load, we see a similar but slightly different story. It’s no longer the coolest card, losing out to the likes of the 5850 and GTX 285, but at 85C it hangs with the GTX 275, and below other single and dual-GPU cards such as the 5870 and GTX 295. This is a combination of the vapor cooler, and the fact that AMD slapped an oversized cooler on this card for overclocking purposes. Although Anand’s card failed at OCCT when overclocked, my own card hit 93C here, so assume that this cool advantage erodes under overclocking

OC seems to be a bit sporatic atm, Guru 3d hit 900MHZ core clock.

Good article otherwise, lots of titles to look through on benches.

 

[noob2222]

P.S. I thik this thing just did a driveby on the gtx 295, I see lots of bullet holes in it.

 

[jeffredo]

Whether you like Nvidia or not you better hope they pull a rabbit out of their hat soon or "price creep" is going to get these new graphics cards less and less affordable. Competition is what let us all upgrade for cheap this past year.

 

[Guest]

Why do all these reviews bash the $599 price tag? When the 8800 GTX debut, it was higher. Then 295 had a MUCH higer price tag. What you are getting with the 5970 is essentially 2x 5870 if your PSU can handle it, as ATI built these things to run at 5870 speeds. So don't scoff at the price, being that 2x 5870 is $800. Similarly, the 295 is $500. It beats the 5870 in some games and gets beaten by it in others, yet its $100 more. The way the 5970 kills the 295, being $100 more is dirt cheap.

Secondly, enthusiast or anyone who opts for CF/SLI options, at $599, this card is pure win as that's similar to 2x 5850 which cannot be OC much, and $200 less than 2x 5870, which given how well this card OC to 5870 speeds, its a no brainer. There's no point in getting 2x 5870 imo now if your PSU can handle the load over 2 rails.

 

[crosko42]

Wooo can't wait for my fantasy football winnings...going towards this and a 1k watt PSU. Can't wait to see scaling on 2 of these....can anyone say 45+ fps on Very High 8x AA on crysis at 2560x1600?

 

[brisingamen]

i think im going to wait until april and snipe 3 5850's on the cheap in triple cfx mode with a 720BE.

huge cards are cool and amazing when you pull them out of the box they came in, now try putting it into a case and living with it, ugh. i think they should have just went with dual pcb and made this silly thing way shorter.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]Chris Angelini[/nom]That last part is a bit ironic; anyone willing to spend $600 on graphics should be looking to an overclocked Core i7 to help balance it out.[/citation]
Chris, I ask you to stay neutral in your reviews. Toms is a reputable news and reviews source, unlike FOX, and it would be best if it stayed that way. I understand you provided proof, but it's the way you said it.

I must ask, did you use a passive or active DP to DVI adaptor for the third display (because an active is needed for a third display on current 5870 cards)?

How many of these games run out of memory at 3x1920x1200 16xAF/AA at the lousy 1GB? I want a 2GB per gpu (or shared memory version with 1,200MHz GDDR5 with twice the bit bus depth). Crossfiring the 6xmDP 2GB card will likely be quite expensive.

Though you have to be fair in one sense. Furmark stresses the card way more than any game will, thus a hell of a lot more heat. Were you also running the fan at 100%?

Call up somebody to machine you a custom waterblock for this baby and put it in a 140.3/120.4 rad, independent of the CPU (the biggest that I could fit on my case I believe). That or dual 120.2/140.2 rads (one for each GPU). Then up the voltage until this baby starts smoking. =D

My 4870 already forces me to empty one of the 3.5" drives bays, this thing would occupy two slots and would force me to cut some metal (and put a HDD in a 5.25" bay). Size is an issue, but I guess it's nothing power tools can't fix.

Seems I may be able to run this on my measly 500W PSU (assuming no overclocking, remove 3 of 5 fans and remove 4 of 5 of my HDDs), though I guess I have a legitimate reason to consider a 1000 watt PSU.

I think $600 is more than a reasonable price for this. Now only if Samsung wold give us some 25", LED, 2560x1600, 120/240Hz, 10,000:1 (static) bezeless display port monitors at less than $2,000 each.


Great article as always Chris, thank you for wasting your time for us again. You have convinced a guy trying to save to go back to school to empty his wallet (again... thanks a lot, I could have boughten a cheap car by now if it weren't for you Chris).



Why'd I get a -1?

 

[dirtmountain]

Out of Stock
Out of Stock
Out of Stock

 

[JeanLuc]

A fast card if you have the means to fund one!

The GTX295 is a real disappointmeant look at the amount of games it can't run at 2560x1600 due to it's low amount of VRAM.

 

[jj463rd]

It's time to put this card on the top tier of Tom's Hardware graphics hierarchy chart
and knock down the nVidia GTX 295 on the lower 2nd tier where it belongs (in 2nd place).Plus now that AMD has got $1.25 billion U.S. for their settlement from Intel they need to get these 5800 series cards out in mass.Having a short supply of them is bad because they will sell well and make more profit for AMD.
Great job ATI on the new card and thanks for the article Chris

 

[Maddog5]

Does anyone know when this 5970 board is to be released?

 

[B-Unit]

"1) Take two top-end GPUs. In Nvidia’s case, it was the GT200 with 240 stream processors. In ATI’s, it’s the 1,600-shader Cypress found in its Radeon HD 5870.
2) Drop clock rates a bit in order to keep power and thermals under control.
3) ???
4) Profit"

Heheh, priceless Chris

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Hardcore gamers into serious overclocking about to go on a suicide mission to save the planet from alien invaders are going to love it but are they willing to pay the price?

 

[nforce4max]

This thing just screams v-mods. If I had the money.

 

[backin5]

I'm looking forward towards the rumored 5890 due January 2010. According to Wikipedia it's supposed to consume just 121w! Though it could be just a typo I suppose... 🙁

 

[jj463rd]

Here is more about the product especially in the specifications and the requirements.
It says that it has 3D stereoscopic display/glasses support

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5970/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5970-overview.aspx

 

[jennyh]

What about ATI versus Nvidia? The Radeon HD 5970 is faster than the GeForce GTX 295, but it’s also $100 more expensive. Take a look at the benchmarks, judge whether the extra performance/DirectX 11/Eyefinity outweigh $100 savings/PhysX/GeForce 3D Vision, and make your decision accordingly.

Think you got something a little bit mixed up there Chris? Or did you just run out of excuses for the 295?

Don't even try to justify the 295 in this company, please.

 

[1898]

Hmm.. I've seen other benchmarks where the 5970 performs much better at Crysis 2560x1600 for example. Generally, there's a lot of disparity among all of them. On Techpowerup the card delivers an additional 20fps.
Am I missing something?

 

[Lavacon]

[citation][nom]zingam[/nom] I need a new DX11 notebook NOW!Does this mean Intel + NVIDIA for me again? Perhaps! Dammit![/citation]

Mobile parts will be out in full force in January. You will be lucky to buy anything with a DX 11 Nvidia card in it before march if not April.

Just what do you plan on doing with your DX 11 notebook NOW anyways? Staring at it wishing you had a DX 11 game?

 

[cknobman]

How many f'ing times do readers have to ask you guys to put the two cards your directly comparing each other against next to each other on the damn charts. Having the 5970 at the very top and the 295 at the very bottom in F'ING STUPID AND MAKES IT HARD TO COMPARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1