what are the main differance between 5850 5870 ?

[rippling]

ie are they the same gpu and memory ? why id the 5870 a longer card and if it is the same gpu memory but clocked faster why the £100 price difference?

 

[reflux]

You only have to look at the spec pages and read some reviews to find out.

The 5850 has only 1440 shaders vs. the 5870's 1600 and as you say it runs lower clocks on both the GPU and memory. It also has fewer power phases.

The price difference is more down to the fact that the 5870 is ATi's premium product and they can charge what they want for it. It's only about 15% faster than the 5850 but a lot more expensive.

 

[mmj_uk]

Slower clockspeeds and less shaders.

 

[rippling]

ah , so does the extra shaders etc. onlt help at resulutions higher than 1900x1200 or will there be a difference at that res ?

 

[arc@css]

I would have thought that the visual quality would be the same at any resolution. You'll still see excellent image quality with 5850, image quality is something that ATI does very well.

 

[b-star]

I wouldn't pay extra £100 ...

 

[LoadsaMoney]

The 5850 also has less texture units.