ATI 5870 released and reviewed

[Pradeep]

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5870_17.html

Delivers performance generally greater than the 4870 X2, with less noise and power consumption. The X2 version yet to be released will target the high end.

[Pradeep]

The 6 output version is also inbound - review model had three.

[Mercutio]

$300 for a top end part isn't that bad, either, but what am I doing with this thing that I need that horsepower?

[Pradeep]

Didn't you buy a 4870 X2?

I believe it's $300 for the 5570 and $400 for the 5870. It's basically doubled the performance of the 4870.

The nice thing is there will be lower priced parts to replace the 4770/4650 series class in the mainstream/value segments.

We'll have to see what some real DX 11 games look like, but for a single GPU solution it looks hard to beat right now. The nv 295GTX still has the very top end but not for long it seems.

I expect to see more nvidia renaming of cards. Apparently some of the 2xx series are going to be renamed to the 3xx series. Polishing turds in the hardware arena.

[Pradeep]

Oops, pricing is $379 for the 5870 and $259 for the 5850 (80% of the 5870 performance).

Not bad at all.

[Mercutio]

Didn't you buy a 4870 X2?


Sort of. I have a 4870 X2. Someone else bought it. ;)

And I really have no use for it. It doesn't make a subjective difference in any of the games I play compared to the 8800GTX I had in my game machine before it.

[Pradeep]

Bitstreaming support for TrueHD/DTS-HD MA

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3643&p=10

[Mercutio]

Unless it does DTS Live as well I'm still going to buy another Auzentech card.

[Handruin]

Oops, pricing is $379 for the 5870 and $259 for the 5850 (80% of the 5870 performance).

Not bad at all.

xBit is claiming $399 on their page for the 5870. Still, for a single GPU that's good performance compared to the rest. I wouldn't mind trying Crysis with this card at 1920x1200. I tried the demo last night and my 8800GT barely cuts it.

[ddrueding]

Got NFS:Shift last night. My GTX295 can't do it on max...

[udaman]

xBit is claiming $399 on their page for the 5870. Still, for a single GPU that's good performance compared to the rest. I wouldn't mind trying Crysis with this card at 1920x1200. I tried the demo last night and my 8800GT barely cuts it.

pre-prod/beta drivers:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/09/23/ait-radeon-hd-5870-1gb-review/9


Crysis remains the de-facto gauntlet for GPUs. The HD 5870 doesn’t have what it takes to run the game at 2,560 x 1,600 with the best playable resolution proving to be 1,920 x 1,200. Even then we had to turn off the AA to see a smooth minimum frame rate of 28fps as 4x AA was too much for the card. Crysis has a loving relationship with the GTX 295 though and at 1,920 x 1,200 the Nvidia card was a considerable 10fps faster than the HD 5870, however in terms of a single GPU product the HD 5870 is still clearly faster than the GeForce GTX 285 and Radeon HD 4890 on average, but just marginally so in minimums.


....
If you have a Radeon HD 4870 512MB or even Radeon HD 4890 then an HD 5870 would be a more worthy successor for the role of frame rate churning in your gaming rig but only really if you have a 1,920 x 1,200 monitor. For now, 1,680 x 1,050 users should be fine to wait out upcoming products and future game demands.

Quite honestly, after 18 months between the last and this generation it's not really a large enough jump in performance to make us very impressed by the performance for a £300 product. It's looking like ATI have made a GPU to fill the big shoes left by its RV770-based cards, which is no mean feat, and given the quantum leap in performance the HD 4000 series was over the HD 3000, it hasn't achieved it again in raw FPS this time around. That's not to say it's at all slow though: it's still the fastest single GPU product and if you want the fastest, most future proof product available we'd recommend it, however it's not an "I must upgrade now" product. We'd wait that one out.