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

ASUS today launched the new ASUS EAH5870/2DIS/1GD5 and EAH5850/2DIS/1GD5. The first in the world to utilize Voltage Tweak technology, these graphics cards enable users to boost GPU voltages via the SmartDoctor application to enjoy up to a 38% improvement in performance.
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If you've been browsing through retailers today looking at the Radeon HD 5000-series cards on offer, you may not have noticed that ASUS' cards are a little more unique than most of the competition as they're equipped with what the Taiwanese manufacturer calls Voltage Tweak Technology.

Voltage Tweak Technology, controlled by ASUS' own SmartDoctor software, allows users to increase a card's GPU voltage, leading to a boost in GPU and memory frequencies.

We've yet to test it for ourselves on AMD's latest cards, but the figures we're being quoted are impressive. According to ASUS, its Radeon HD 5870 can have its voltage raised from 1,15V to 1,35V, resulting in a GPU clock speed bump from 850MHz to 1,035MHz and a rise in memory speed from 4,800MHz to 5,200MHz. That's essentially the fastest single-GPU graphics card made faster, and we reckon those figures may give an indication of Radeon HD 5890 performance.

For those wanting to save a few pennies, ASUS' Voltage Tweak-packing Radeon HD 5850 can raise voltage from 1.088V to 1.4V. That'll increase GPU clock speed from 725MHz to 1,050MHz and memory clock speed from 4,000MHz to 5,200MHz.

We'll have to take ASUS' word for it, but those are impressive figures - and we're told the Voltage Tweak'd Radeon HD 5870 provides a 38 per cent boost in 3DMark Vantage.

As with most other Radeon HD 5000-series cards, ASUS' offerings will ship with a coupon for Colin McRae: DiRT 2. That coupon should prove to be useful when the PC version of the game launches sometime later this year
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You know what I mean. The OC software package is included with one and not the other. It hard to tell if the card will be speed binned in any way.
 
It would seem the Asus ones have unlocked voltage regulators. I haven't seen any conformation the other reference design cards have the same regulation control. It maybe all cards are as easily controlled with the usual bus commands or something as simple as flashing with the Asus bios.
 
I know one member has been having a go at you all for being excited over the release of this graphic card, sounds like sour grapes to me. I won't be buying one of these or any card near that price range but I've read all 21 pages this evening and enjoyed seeing how excited your all getting.

Best of luck to all that have ordered, hope they arrive safe and sound early tomorrow and you all have a great time setting them up. I'm sure the cards will meet or exceed your expectations, have fun guys. :D
 
fornowagain said:
It would seem the Asus ones have unlocked voltage regulators. I haven't seen any conformation the other reference design cards have the same regulation control. It maybe all cards are as easily controlled with the usual bus commands or something as simple as flashing with the Asus bios.
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All cards currently out have voltage regulation controll volltera ic chips.
they will all work, hell if you flash the 5870 with a asus 5870 bios you will be able to use there tweak controll program.

its the same as it was for the 4890s.

so dont worry about that :)
 
djohn said:
I know one member has been having a go at you all for being excited over the release of this graphic card, sounds like sour grapes to me. I won't be buying one of these or any card near that price range but I've read all 21 pages this evening and enjoyed seeing how excited your all getting.

Best of luck to all that have ordered, hope they arrive safe and sound early tomorrow and you all have a great time setting them up. I'm sure the cards will meet or exceed your expectations, have fun guys. :D
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Best post of thread, cheers dude :)
 
ViRuS2k said:
All cards currently out have voltage regulation controll volltera ic chips.
they will all work, hell if you flash the 5870 with a asus 5870 bios you will be able to use there tweak controll program.

its the same as it was for the 4890s.

so dont worry about that :)
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I'm well aware of the regulators used. I was one of the first to start using bus control. I also found voltage limits imposed that could not be overcome with register values. > http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17969338. As I said probably controllable as per usual via the bus or the Asus bios and app. But I have yet to see conformation.

I would like to know how you know the Asus is exactly the same as the rest?
 
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ghost101 said:
ajkx82.png
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What does 'Fur' mean ?
 
Could be Furmark, dunno.

Looks like ill have to get a 5850 as the 70 won't fit in my case by looks of it (and ive only had it about a week and half), but still, thats only £200, and it still smashes me 4870 by about 50fps or so at my res (which will be 1680x1050 as new monitor getting delivered tom :D), and can only get better once the drivers improve. :)
 
When will we be getting 5850 reviews and stock? If the 5870 is on average 20-30% faster at 1920 x 1200, I'll bite the bullet and get one. Any less and I'll stick with the 5850.
 
i,m not going to knock the performance as it quite clearly shows they have made some headway vs the nvidia cards,my only problem is that to get the better performace out of the card you have really got to go to 2560 x 1600 i,m not sure but i think thats a 30inch monitor you need and they are not cheap.
 
Hopefully not posted before.

AMD respond to NVIDIA's tough Radeon HD 5800 questions
Why is AMD focusing so much on DX11 when most games are on DX9 console ports?

Today and over the life of the Radeon HD 5000 series, dozens of triple A titles will leverage DirectX11 features. If NV was able to produce a DirectX11 card today, they'd be delivering a much different narrative on DirectX 11 to the press. If NV really believes that DirectX11 doesn't matter, then we challenge them to say that publically, on the record.


Aren't they punishing PC gamers by pushing out the schedule of PC titles such as Dirt 2 in order to support DX11?

Proprietary standards punish gamers, not industry standards like DirectX11. Why is NVIDIA punishing gamers by putting in proprietary and closed standards like PhysX in games?


When are GPU-accelerated Havoc titles going to be shipped? Do they have a list of games that will support Havoc?

PhysX has been around for years and years, but today, GPU-accelerated PhysX titles are still in the single digits. The physics experiences that many of those titles delivered have disappointed gamers and were widely panned by the press worldwide. GPU accelerated game physics will only be accepted in the marketplace when industry standards are embraced.
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Check out the minimum frame rates in the apples to apples comparison on hardocp.

Tells a very interesting story on the 5870

In 3/4 tests whilst the 5870 easily beats the 285 and 4890 on average frame rates, as you would expect, it absolutely destroys them on the most important minimum frame rate.

Arma II - 5870/285/4890
Average - 33/25/28
Minimum - 20/6/9

Firing squad also reports minimum frame rates, not quite so good for the 5870 as the hardocp review.
 
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