Radeon HD 5770 And 5750 Review: Gentlemen, Start Your HTPCs

[cangelini]

In the last month, we've seen ATI take the performance crown with its Radeon HD 5870 and an enthusiast value position with its Radeon HD 5850. Now the company is rounding out the mid-range with its Radeon HD 5770 and 5750, both capable DirectX 11 cards.

Radeon HD 5770 And 5750 Review: Gentlemen, Start Your HTPCs : Read more

 

[Summer Leigh Castle]

Can we BOLD or change the color of the card that's being reviewed?

 

[masterjaw]

Nice one, but the charts are a bit cluttered without giving emphasis on the featured cards (bold fonts, etc). A media card that could do games pretty good.

I'm quite agree with the nvidia's G92 still hanging around but looking at their newly released cards (gt220, 210), I don't know what to say anymore. Hopefully, they're making the right choices at the right time.

 

[megamanx00]

Looks to me like the 5770 really needs faster memory speeds, though that would defeat trying to make it cheaper, and perhaps a higher core clock. Perhaps we'll see some factory overclocked cards with memory that can reach a significantly higher speed.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Power consumption, temperature, and noise levels are very encouraging. I just finished reading other reviews where the 5700 cards are described as mid-level and mainstream cards.

 

[buzznut]

If I was building today (htpc), I would still go with a HD4670. Who knows six months from now...
Those other features are compelling. If I could afford 2 more monitors that is.

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]Summer Leigh Castle[/nom]Can we BOLD or change the color of the card that's being reviewed?[/citation]

For sure--I've looked into this and would be happy to implement, but haven't had much luck. Any Excel gurus able to get only certain axis labels bolded without changing the entire series?

 

[noob2222]

and bitstreaming HD audio in an HTPC (a reason to buy a second card for the living room).

Personally I use my main computer as my HTPC, after all, I can't play games and watch movies from 2 different rooms at the same time, and all it takes is the HDMI cable (at least until they make it wireless.)

 

[cangelini]

That works as well. But for someone with a triple-head setup *and* an HTPC, I can justify both usage models.

 

[lashabane]

I'm looking to upgrade from my dated 3850 and was thinking that these would really impress me for the price. I'm thinking I'll just spend the bit extra and get the 5850 when the prices come down.

Of course, I wouldn't have been able to make such an informed decision so early if it weren't for TH and columnists such as yourself.

Thanks for another great article Chris.

 

[ambientmf]

What's the benefit of DirectX 11 capabilities if the cards are worse performing than last gen cards in DX9/10 games? I'd rather get a 4800 series card, being a gamer myself, for slightly better framerates.
I can see the other benefits for the hardcore HTPC crowd though.

 

[greglouganis]

Question... Why are the power consumption values in comparison to the GTS 250 in this review so different from the ones posted here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gts-250,2172-10.html ? This 5770 review lists the system at load with GTS 250 within a handful of watts of the system with an HD 4870 or GTX 260, while the older review (and many other sources of information) seem to suggest at least 20-30 Watt gap.

I'm running a GTS 250 1 GB on my PC just fine at the moment (but cutting it close), and I was under the impression that I would need to upgrade my power supply as well if I changed to anything more powerful than it/hd 4850... The main reason I was so interested in this article was to see if a 5770 would be worthwhile upgrade (I don't intend to replace PSU anytime soon), but this data here seems to suggest that I would fine jumping up to a 5850!

 

[DjEaZy]

... if it's ATi, give some credit to AMD and do a AMD based machine too... pretty please?

 

[deadlockedworld]

I would add a third group of potential buyers: people looking for low power consumption, or seeking to maximize performance on a 400-450w psu?

I would have liked to see the old 4850 in here too, even though its similar to the 4770..

 

[CoryInJapan]

I got my 4870 OC'd to 4890 specs almost a month ago.I dont feel smug at all because I got it for 112 bucks open box brand spankin new and out performs the 5750 and 70 so Im cool. .....for now...

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]greglouganis[/nom]Question... Why are the power consumption values in comparison to the GTS 250 in this review so different from the ones posted here: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 72-10.html ? This 5770 review lists the system at load with GTS 250 within a handful of watts of the system with an HD 4870 or GTX 260, while the older review (and many other sources of information) seem to suggest at least 20-30 Watt gap.I'm running a GTS 250 1 GB on my PC just fine at the moment (but cutting it close), and I was under the impression that I would need to upgrade my power supply as well if I changed to anything more powerful than it/hd 4850... The main reason I was so interested in this article was to see if a 5770 would be worthwhile upgrade (I don't intend to replace PSU anytime soon), but this data here seems to suggest that I would fine jumping up to a 5850![/citation]

Greg, we switched testing methodology for power consumption earlier in the year--I suspect this is where the gap comes from.

The GTS 250 has a maximum board power of 150W. Given the 5850's revised board power of 151W, I suspect you'd be in great shape if you upgraded to that one at some point without a power supply problem (so long as you have something in the 450W range?)

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]lashabane[/nom]I'm looking to upgrade from my dated 3850 and was thinking that these would really impress me for the price. I'm thinking I'll just spend the bit extra and get the 5850 when the prices come down.Of course, I wouldn't have been able to make such an informed decision so early if it weren't for TH and columnists such as yourself.Thanks for another great article Chris.[/citation]

Thanks Lash--glad you enjoyed the story!

 

[Proximon]

I continue to be in awe of your conclusion writing skills, Chris. You always observe something interesting and useful.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned... can you double up Eyefinity with two cards, for 6 monitors? We get traders on the forums regularly looking for ways to get 5 or 6 monitors on a budget.

 

[cangelini]

Thanks much Prox

 

[Sihastru]

[citation][nom]Proximon[/nom]One thing I haven't seen mentioned... can you double up Eyefinity with two cards, for 6 monitors? We get traders on the forums regularly looking for ways to get 5 or 6 monitors on a budget.[/citation]No, and not even in CFX, at least not in a way to combine the resolution... you could run 3 of them independently of the other 3, but where's the fun in that? I think they are doing it on purpose to protect their upcoming 6 mini display port card that should have a nice price premium for that software "functionality".

 

[randomizer]

This is the only review I've seen which shows Batman with PhysX enabled (HardOCP was the only other site I found that used Batman in their review but without PhysX). That ~15FPS cap is very interesting. How did you go about enabling PhysX in this? Did you use the "hack" to run it on the CPU?

 

[scook9]

now these new ATI cards got me wondering where I am going to dig up a 3rd 24" and a pair of 5870s......

you are trouble Chris. Great article again!

 

[homice]

my problem is I don't have a display-port monitor... so will a display-port to DVI adapter work to get 3 monitors (one HDMI and two DVI monitors)?

 

[belardo]

The 5700s are a bit of a disappointment compared to the 5800s. But there is an important factor in that AMD's 5000 series cards are still using NEW drivers. Notice over time how cards get faster. When the 4670 first came out, it was always between the 3850/3870 cards in benchmarks, after a year - its usually faster than the 3870.

The 5770 at $160 is a bit too expensive... its like the GT2200 in a sense. The 5750 does better near $100 as its performance levels is about the same as the 4770.

The 5770 needs to easily replace the $140 4870 card and to do that, it'll need to sell for $125~140. The 5750 needs to be $80/$100 (512mb/1GB) as well... Also, cheaper versions without the Eyeinfinity feature (just 2 DVI or 1 DVI/1HDMI port) will help a lot.

ATI also needs to have something of a $200 part. Which should be easy... a 5830...

I want low noise, good performance. But the 5850 is about as quiet and cool as the 5770... but $260 is a bit too much to chew. At $160 - the 5770 needs to almost meet the 4890 to make it worth while.

Not bad cards, just needs pricing adjustment, which may come in a month or so since the GPUs are so cheap.

Hah... I spent $185 on my GF 7600GT.... so these are all cheap in comparison.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]homice[/nom]my problem is I don't have a display-port monitor... so will a display-port to DVI adapter work to get 3 monitors (one HDMI and two DVI monitors)?[/citation]
You need to use the DisplayPort for a triple monitor solution.
For DP to DVI you also need an active adaptor. A normal $5 adaptor won't work sadly enough. Active adaptors can be picked up pretty cheap from eBay (mainly Dell and Apple).
Then it will work.