TechSpot: ATI Radeon HD 5870 Review

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Following a successful run with the codenamed R700 family of GPUs, which was originally released back in June 2008 as the Radeon HD 4000 series, AMD is launching the highly anticipated R800. Debuting to no one's surprise as the ATI Radeon HD 5000, the new series is said deliver around 2x more performance than previous generation Radeon cards, and brings DirectX 11 support to desktops for the first time.

On TechSpot's test bed today they have a reference HD 5870 graphics card packing some 2150 million transistors and produced on a 40nm process. With an introductory MSRP of $380, the Radeon HD 5870 is roughly $120 cheaper than today's undisputable performance champ, the GeForce GTX 295. It is also almost twice as costly as the Radeon HD 4890, however, which begs the question: is the Radeon HD 5870 really that much faster?

Today we finally get to find out, as we will be comparing AMD's latest and greatest against every single high-end graphics card released over the past year.

If you're interested in purchasing the HD 5870, NewEgg are offering the card for $380.

View: ATI Radeon HD 5870 Review

These articles are brought to you in partnership with TechSpot

#1 Se7enVII on 23 Sep 2009 - 08:35

The card is amazing. I can't wait til the prices drop on these bad boys.

#2 master2k27 on 23 Sep 2009 - 08:47

omg omg cant wait !

(1 reply) #3 FoxieFoxie on 23 Sep 2009 - 09:03

More detailed review, if anyone cares:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5870-review-test/

#3.1 master2k27 on 23 Sep 2009 - 09:53

that's much better

(1 reply) #4 BrainDedd on 23 Sep 2009 - 09:05

Noise levels are too high for me, but performance is definitely top notch.

#4.1 GP007 on 23 Sep 2009 - 09:10

I have a HD4650 right now, and it works good, if you don't really need or care about going at max res and detail settings (I'm fine with 1280x720), then you can wait for the future low-end 5000 series cards that won't have noise problems and still have enough power to play your games just fine.

#5 Morisato on 23 Sep 2009 - 10:17

I can already see Nvidia pulling out something secret with a DX11 line-up. Seeing how they're always on top in terms of performance and ATi for technological advances or atleast the ability to support higher versions of DX. In this case 10.1 which only HAWX uses and i've yet to see another as of yet

#6 ahhell on 23 Sep 2009 - 10:59

If they make it any bigger, it's going to need its own case.

#7 bob_c_b on 23 Sep 2009 - 11:16

Nice to see ATI/AMD staying competitive.

#8 Bero on 23 Sep 2009 - 13:40

hell yeah

(1 reply) #9 Mega Goatlord on 23 Sep 2009 - 14:57

Can someone explain the need for these things to be so friggin' gigantic?

#9.1 GreyWolfSC on 23 Sep 2009 - 15:13

Mega Goatlord said,

Look at the review photos. There's a lot of cooling in it and I'm assuming the shell is to protect the components and channel air better.

#10 redfox2200 on 23 Sep 2009 - 15:11

why is it only 1GB?

will they release an X2 version?

(1 reply) #11 TC17 on 23 Sep 2009 - 16:44

I'd much rather have the XFX version when it comes out, which has a lifetime warranty.

#11.1 +Chsoriano on 23 Sep 2009 - 18:19

or Visiontek

#12 FrozenEclipse on 23 Sep 2009 - 18:30

That fan doesn't look like it'll keep things very cool. :\

#13 Izlude on 24 Sep 2009 - 03:44

how does a card like this compare to those 800 dollar cards? is it worth it?

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