***The Official ATI Radeon HD 5850 / 5870 Reviews and Discussion Thread***

[antipacker]

A bit random... Do you have one of these cards already or something?

I suspect it's hard to be disappointed going from an x1900 to one of these beasts!

going from a x1900 to a 8800gt would be an improvement

 

[antipacker]

paying £300 for something thats not as good as a 4870x2 is mad.

ok it has some of the latest things like dx11 ( which no game uses ) so by the time all these new features are out there will be another card out.

buy a 4870x2 for less than £200 still the top ati card.

thats my view anyways

 

[Things change I've changed]

What sort of PSU would you need to run a 5870 ?, I have Enermax 620w, wanted to upgrade to the GTX295 but didn't want to pay out for a new PSU as well so I'm wondering if the 5870 would be the better option.

 

[RavenXXX2]

5870's in XFIRE spanking the 295 silly.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870_CrossFire/

 

[Nocky24]

Not long now will have to save up if i want the 5870 though, just out my price range. They do look very good though.

 

[Arachnae]

I WANT THAT ONE!

I WANT THAT ONE TOO!

 

[Raikiri]

paying £300 for something thats not as good as a 4870x2 is mad.

ok it has some of the latest things like dx11 ( which no game uses ) so by the time all these new features are out there will be another card out.

buy a 4870x2 for less than £200 still the top ati card.

thats my view anyways

They aren't less than £200 though, they are at least £250 from what I can find. Use more power, have less features, more of a pain to set up, more heat etc.

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

one site had the prices as much as £40 more than ocuk at first then i saw them drop twice until going out of stock..

found another place which had them at the same price as everyone else though so had to order there, not waiting for weeks to get one

so got a sapphire on the way

 

[antipacker]

They aren't less than £200 though, they are at least £250 from what I can find. Use more power, have less features, more of a pain to set up, more heat etc.

use more power (who cares ) less features maybe (but will anyone notice any diff ) very easy to setup same as any other card.

look on e**y people are going mad selling there gtx285 , 4870x2 gtx295, just to get a 5870.

some bargains to be had.

 

[StevenRaith]

paying £300 for something thats not as good as a 4870x2 is mad.

ok it has some of the latest things like dx11 ( which no game uses ) so by the time all these new features are out there will be another card out.

buy a 4870x2 for less than £200 still the top ati card.

thats my view anyways

Yes, and your computer gets turned into a space heater, draws an extra 120w when it's idling - 5850 only draws 25w idle - and you get all the lovely issues with games that don't support Crossfire properly [or at all] having bugs and glitches.

I have no idea why you are evangalising the 4870x2, it's end of life, and now officially obselete seeing as the 5870 does almost everything it does with none of the fuss and having a nice, futureproof DX11 chipset, and 5850 appears to be not far behind it at all in terms of raw pace.

Admittadly, given the speculative performance of the 5850, I'd give the 5870 a miss for the moment myself, but I wouldn't turn it down for a 4870 just for a few FPS, especially considering the other, aforementioned downsides the 4870 now has in comparison to the 58xx series.

 

[Doppleganger]

Same here, I have a 8800GT and it still plays my games maxed out at 1900 x 1200. (I mostly just play The Witcher and occassionally TF2 and HL2 EP1), so there's no reason for me to upgrade now. I do wonder what you other lot are thinking upgrading from newer cards than mine! The only game I can think of that needs any more power is Crysis, and I doubt you play that every day

When I played Fallout 3 at 1920x1280 with everything on full my trusty ole 8800 GTX started to struggle, for the first time ever. I've had the card for 3 years and it's hands down the best graphics card I've ever bought (and I've bought a fair few). It's taken 3 years but the old girl is starting to struggle - if I had stayed at 1650 x 1080 I reckon she would have lasted me another 2-3 years.

HD5870 on it's way now. RIP ole girl.

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

if these things arent too loud maybe if tri fire is any good i may end up with a 5870x2 + 5870

now that would be sweet

 

[antipacker]

Yes, and your computer gets turned into a space heater, draws an extra 120w when it's idling - 5850 only draws 25w idle - and you get all the lovely issues with games that don't support Crossfire properly [or at all] having bugs and glitches.

I have no idea why you are evangalising the 4870x2, it's end of life, and now officially obselete seeing as the 5870 does almost everything it does with none of the fuss and having a nice, futureproof DX11 chipset, and 5850 appears to be not far behind it at all in terms of raw pace.

Admittadly, given the speculative performance of the 5850, I'd give the 5870 a miss for the moment myself, but I wouldn't turn it down for a 4870 just for a few FPS, especially considering the other, aforementioned downsides the 4870 now has in comparison to the 58xx series.

im just saying the 5870 should have been a lot better in performance than a 4870x2 not just in a few benchmarks.

does not justify £100 more than a 4870x2.

by the time dx11 is out there will be another card out then that you will want.

 

[Yurihyuga]

I want to get a DX11 card to upgrade from my GTX 260 however I am going to wait for the Nvidia GT300 cards to come out to get a good comparision. A single GPU dx11 vs a single GPU dx10 isn't really a fair comparison, however no one can say the GT300 cards will actually beat the 5800 series either until benchmarks come and prove it.

Not to mention if Nvidia do actually beat them but only by a small margin and start charging high premiums for it, might then just go for the 5870 not to mention in 3-6 months time might start seeing 2GB versions of the 5870 or maybe a 5890 or 5870X2.

I think buying now is just too much of a rush and you just might not be getting the most out of your money.

However if needing a card now the 5850 is a good buy, beats the previous single GPU king the GTX 285(which even now is more expensive than the 5850 which to me is a joke)

 

[D13]

if these things arent too loud maybe if tri fire is any good i may end up with a 5870x2 + 5870

now that would be sweet

according to some reviews its as loud as a 4870x2....... thats loud

im just saying the 5870 should have been a lot better in performance than a 4870x2 not just in a few benchmarks.

does not justify £100 more than a 4870x2.

by the time dx11 is out there will be another card out then that you will want.

I agree with what you are saying antipacker but you have to remember that these are launch prices, they should hopefully drop off 15-30 quid by the end of the year, also they come with a free game.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

get ready for a big dissapointment

Why, are they sending me a 4890 instead?

You got a chip on your shoulder with this GPU release?

 

[LeJosh]

im just saying the 5870 should have been a lot better in performance than a 4870x2 not just in a few benchmarks.

does not justify £100 more than a 4870x2.

by the time dx11 is out there will be another card out then that you will want.

It is a lot better in most games I saw... considering the X2 uses 2 GPU's and the 5870 uses one! Which I know you know but having 1 gpu better than 2 is exceptional to me.

Edit - Don't listen to him tom you're going to love it!

 

[D13]

I want to get a DX11 card to upgrade from my GTX 260 however I am going to wait for the Nvidia GT300 cards to come out to get a good comparision. A single GPU dx11 vs a single GPU dx10 isn't really a fair comparison, however no one can say the GT300 cards will actually beat the 5800 series either until benchmarks come and prove it.

Not to mention if Nvidia do actually beat them but only by a small margin and start charging high premiums for it, might then just go for the 5870 not to mention in 3-6 months time might start seeing 2GB versions of the 5870 or maybe a 5890 or 5870X2.

I think buying now is just too much of a rush and you just might not be getting the most out of your money.

However if needing a card now the 5850 is a good buy, beats the previous single GPU king the GTX 285(which even now is more expensive than the 5850 which to me is a joke)

the 5850 has not been reviewed yet by anyone.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

A single GPU dx11 vs a single GPU dx10 isn't really a fair comparison

Why on earth not, most games shown infact no all were benched with DX10 and DX9 pathway games. So what isn't fair

Seriously

 

[Yurihyuga]

im just saying the 5870 should have been a lot better in performance than a 4870x2 not just in a few benchmarks.

does not justify £100 more than a 4870x2.

by the time dx11 is out there will be another card out then that you will want.

At the moment its the hype and because ATI beat Nvidia to the punch there charging a higher premium than they would normally do, hopefully Nvidia comes and actually tries to be competing in price then we will be seeing price drops.

I expect to see the 5870 to be dropping to around 200-250 dont see it ever dropping below 200 for a while when Nvidia starts releasing there DX11 cards if they ever do.