Hardware AMD ATI Radeon HD 5770 Review

This doesn't look like a bad choice for me. I'm looking for an inexpensive upgrade to my 8800GT (and damn do these latest benchmarks make my 8800 look like a dinosaur). This thing blows the 8800 GT out of the water in every test. Another kicker for me is the inclusion of an HDMI port. With no idea when nVidia can compete with AMD at this price range any time soon, and not wanting to spend 3x as much on the next step up from AMD, and my desire for HDMI so I can use it on my TV, this seems like the choice for me.

I just can't look at VGA. It's awful. I've tried with this card, and the image quality is crap. If someone can find me a 216 or something comparable price wise with an HDMI port maybe I'll think about passing over the 5770. Actually while I'm on the topic, has anyone tried one of those DVI to HDMI converters? If so, how did it look?

 

I feel AMD has hit a walk off home run with their new 5000 line up. I'm looking at the performance gains and energy and heat loses and this is so amazing to me. More power using less energy at load and idle all the while producing less heat. Amazing!

$379 for a card that kills a $500 card
$259 for a card that kills a $360 card
ok too expensive well pop in a 5770 now.... save up some more money and pop in another 5770 later.

I'm foaming at the mouth to see these (5770) in crossfire. I don't understand how Bit-tech doesn't see AMD strategy with this new release. Or giving these cards a (6) for that matter. Just like 4770 the 5770 will sell in two's right off the shelves.

My only concern is how well these cards perform once a well developed Directx 11 game hits shelves. And why is this forum so concentrated on price and not power to energy usage, or the lack of heat these cards are given off?

Nvidia is taking way too long and I'm trying to save on my electric bill right now. Way to go AMD/ATI and bit-tech for this review.

 

That's a good point. The power to energy consumption, size of the card, low heat production, and price/performance all seem very good. I think the 7 rating for performance is fair. I'd like to see how it OC's.

 

Actually Krayzie has a point, these cards have such low power consumption that a crossfire setup seems like a good idea. At any rate though, the bus is the biggest limiter.

Anyone want to bet that they'll shoot out a HD5830 or a 5780 with a 192-bit bus?

 

I do see AMD's strategy, but the 5770 is far too expensive in the UK. We're being asked to pay more than what we paid a year ago for the 4850, while not getting a great deal more in terms of performance. Power consumption and heat are all well and good, but this card should really be performing close to the 4890 at its current price... then you'd actually start saving a decent amount of money on energy over the expected 1 to 2 year lifespan. Price/performance, energy consumption and heat are all important, but for gamers I believe it's in the order I've listed (at least, that's how we, as gamers ourselves, consider a graphics card).

The 4770 was a great card because it hit a crucial price point - the problem was nobody could buy it because of the yield issues. AMD also released a reference card that was quite different to the cards being sold at retail, which misled customers a little due to the reviews being completed with cards using a more robust design. It was about £80 in the UK when it launched. This card is another 30-40% more than that - it's in a different price league. It's in the same one that the 4850 was a year ago.

 

Um, HD5850 for £200....?

 

Perhaps Tim or another informed individual can help me out in picking a card...

I have a 7800GT and it's really starting to show it's age in the newest crop of games. So I'm looking for and upgrade now. My monitor can display up to 1650x1080 and that's not going to change anytime soon. I live in the US, and I would really like to spend less that $200. The lowest price I could find for the 5770 was $176.42 from Amazon. Newegg had it for $159.99 but with shipping to me it would be about $180.

Would this card be a good deal for me? I kind of want something at least by Nov, because a few games I really want will be coming out by then. I know that some other cards (GTX 260, HD 4890) are out there, though they are more expensive, but I am exited about the 5770's dx11 support. I was thinking that I could use this card for at least the next few years without feeling like I need an upgrade.

What do you guys think. I feel like I'm missing something.

 

Honestly, I would hang on for the next couple of weeks because I think prices will settle down a bit after everything has settled down a bit. Our conclusions have focused very much on the UK pricing we were given and as stated earlier in the thread, the 5770 is a better option in the US because pricing is much keener. The 5770 has every chance of becoming a good buy in both markets (at $160US + tax or £110 inc VAT, it's approaching that) - I think the pricing needs to settle down a bit because, right now, it's too early to be 100 per cent sure.

In fact, we don't doubt that it'll eventually make its way into our monthly buyer's guides. The reason it has the chance to do that is because there's a lot that the 5770 gets right: power consumption, noise and heat are all excellent, as are many of the other features (explaining the 9/10 features score). Gaming performance isn't bad either, frankly, which is why we gave it a 7/10 for performance.

Support for DX11 is good too, even though I'm still not convinced that it'll be relevant on a card like this in the next 12-18 months (it's a looking glass, but it is something to think about) because the performance isn't quite as high as we'd hoped. What I'm least convinced about on a card of this calibre though is support for EyeFinity - I can't see it being useful on this card, but I can at the higher end. We'll have a proper look at EyeFinity on the 5870/5850 very soon.

 

Thank you Tim for taking the time to post your evaluation. I think I will bite the bullet and hold off on buying a card for now. I want to see how the prices shake out in the next few months, and how Nvidia responds to this. Maybe they'll pull something out of their hat. But if not, a few extra months will maybe allow me save up for a higher end card like the 5850, which I think is powerful enough to remain relevant when the real DX11 games start coming out. My goal is really to pick a card that will last a long time. After thinking about it, going cheap now probably won't work out too well long term. We'll see how the market shakes out, I guess.

That, and my car service light came on this morning, of all times. Looks like my money is going elsewhere, lol.

 

No problem! The 5850 is the gem of the 5000 series at the moment because it gets the balance right and isn't that far away from the realms of affordability (based on what we know Bit's readers spend, on average, on a graphics card each year)

 

That sucks about your engine light but until you see smoke or hear a funny noise don't worry about it (mine has been on for over 100,000 miles)
Anyway in my opinion my HD 4890 is awsome and I want to crossfire it with the rapidly dropping prices but after looking at the energy consumption (or lack of) and the little heat the Hd 5000 series produces it doesn't make sense for me to buy another.
My rig is always on so I need the energy savings. to replace your 7800 gt for the short term i would buy a used 260 or 275 or if you like ATI i would buy a used HD 4890. you should be able to get one of those for no more than $150. Long term wait till holiday shopping season when the prices come down on Amd Hd 5000 series. If your waiting for Nvidia I cant possible believe their prices will be lower but if they are more power to them. anyway from a 7800 to whatever i just mentioned will be a huge jump in power and performance. I just hope you got a ride to the store lol

 

I agree that the 5770 is a little bit on the high side in asking price for what it puts out. But I am curious on your thoughts about the 5750. On paper it doesn't look like there's a ton of difference between the 5770 and the 5750. And for £25ish less, it seems to me like it would be a good budget card. What do you guys think?

 

Where in God's name are you living in the US that shipping from Newegg costs you $20? I live in Iowa and no vid card from Newegg has ever cost me more than $7 from Newegg. Are you wanting to pay for something faster than ground shipping?

 

It could be a better option, yes, but it's difficult to say for sure without testing it!

 

I live in Hawaii. Along with Alaska, we don't have any choice but ground shipping (or the pricer 2-day options and such), and yeah it's that expensive. If I recall, when I wanted to buy my case from Newegg, shipping was almost $100. Which is why I buy from Amazon when possible. Their super savings shipping doesn't exclude Hawaii like Newegg's free shipping option does.

 

Have read some reviews on the Net where the memory could approach the OC of the more expensive HD5770 but the core was stumbling behind a bit, about 100MHz. What can you tell us about the stock voltage of both cards, especially the HD5770? Maybe that and some picking explains the difference between the cores.

 

Great review. Especially for gamers like me that most of us lack the money to buy top of the line video cards like 5870 and 5850. Now I can comfortably wait till December before rushing to get an upgrade for my aged HD4670.

Been looking at 4870 & 4890 as an upgrade for my 4670 then came 5770. I think this will be the card for me. Since I can only play on my 1280x1024 resolution lcd monitor, AMD X2 5000, 2gb memory. I only wanted to play Age of Conan in MAX settings this Holiday season, I'm tired of adjusting video settings just to have that quality and less low fram rate. Its a gift for myself.

BTW do you guys think I can run AoC in MAX settings with my specifications given when I upgrade my video card?

From HIS 4670 to HD 5770.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
2.0GB Ram
Asrock Alive NF7G-HD720p R1.0
160GB HDD
Windows XP SP3 32-bit

Thanks in advance. ^^,

 

I think everyone who finacially can afford it go out and get a Directx 11 card. ATI or Nvidia don't matter. Too me all the directx 10 cards are starting to look like gas guzzlers when compare to the new cards. I can accurately look at the graph on my electric bill and point out every time I ran my HD 4890 overclocked to 1ghz..

 

Just got the sapphire HD5770 1gb to replace my ageing 7800gt. You guys really don't do this card justice in your review, it's quite capable of running 99% of my games maxxed out at 1920x1080. Perhaps a slight edit would be apt considering the cards are now available around the £110 mark? It's well worth the asking price.

 

Thank you dire_wolf for the confirmation on the performance of the card. Will going to get one soon.