Hardware Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB Vapor-X Review

Hey Harry

In the Test Setup page you have mispelled the ATi 5970 as ATi 5890. It needs to get fixed

I see the card performs really good, at least better than a stock one.

 

totally agree , why carnt we have a comparative test of a average users setup ? , now THAT'S real world testing.

 

Have you guys not heard of CPU bottlenecking? If they did that then then far more people would complain the results weren't an accurate representation of the performance of the card relative to other cards (which is why you use a consistent test system setup for reviews).

 

I think I might ditch me two water cooled 4870 which I have crossfire issues now and then to a single water cooled 5870.

 

If you're going to watercool then there really isn't much point in getting this card. You'd probably do best with the ASUS 5870 so you can pump up the voltage too - WC should easily dissipate the heat if you get a decent full-cover waterblock.

I'd be interested in this, however £300 for a graphics card is hard to justify. That is, to my girlfriend - otherwise I'd just open my wallet and pledge loyalty to Sapphire!

 

$400 for a HD5870 will seem like a bargin when Nvidia announces the prices of the GTX360/GTX380/GTX395...

 

A Good card for a full HD HTC which also lets you play at high res.
What about its hdmi-audio extra features ?
Did not find the ambiant Lab. temperature ?
Same Q as above; Which Intel or Amd CPU may limits it (in case of an upgrade)

 

Because the "average user" setup, as you put it, wouldn't hold up to scrutiny. Imagine a situation where performance was bottlenecked so heavily by a CPU, that every card delivered identical frame rates in every resolution, at every quality setting, across every game.

Using the i7-965, the 6GB RAM, the SSD, etc, means the system is seriously unlikely to bottleneck - this is essentially the fastest system money can buy. If your system is slowing down your new £300 graphics card that badly, then you shouldn't be buying £300 graphics cards. These graphs present clear advice - X card is better than Y card at your settings - instead of just having a lot of straight flat graphs, and the conclusion will never end up being "Wow, this Radeon 5970 Crossfire setup is giving the same performance as a 9500GT!"

Oh, and d1ck0, welcome to the forums.

 

Very well said maverick.

You forgot one point - Can't have a test system that is inferior to all to other hardware sites which are all using i7 testbeds for benching

 

Excellent review, as always.

BUT!

You really need to send the games you're testing in straight to the bin. Of the games you include, the one game thats even remotely interesting nowadays is DoW2, because of it's CF issues. Perhaps you should look into more relevant titles, like Left 4 Dead 2, Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands, Dragon Age: Origins etc etc and so on? Knowing how you like to accomodate your readers, I'm looking forward to a remake of this particular review. Cheers!

 

Because Crysis is still the most demanding game, and because STALKER:CS scales well at high resolutions. MW2 is just the same as COD4, which was never the most demanding game (can you even benchmark in MW2? is it balanced for that?), Borderlands is a UT3 engine game but because of the unique gfx style you cant test AA/AF properly (i think HOCP had an experience with this).

Also, you tend to stick with games as you build up a database of review scores, meaning like-for-like comparisons are easy.

 

If only you guys would be willing to set your STALKER:CS to max.

 

CCL price has now jumped to £405!

 

I am waiting for the HD 5850 version of this Sapphire Radeon Vapor

 

Could you please explain the 25C difference between the peak heat of the ATI Radeon HD 5870 in the Asus Radeon HD 5870 Voltage Tweak Review (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/10/20/asus-ati-radeon-hd-5870-volt-tweak-review/9) and the ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/11/18/amd-ati-radeon-hd-5970-review/11) and the temperature shown in this review?

 

the single gpu hd5870 increases the delta T by 25 degrees. if you pass that same exhaust over the 2nd gpu of the hd5970 it will increase by another 25 degrees. rather simplistic but you get the idea.

 

Hmm, I don't think we're on the same track - my question was: Why is the standard ATI Radeon HD 5870 listed as having a delta T of 25 degrees in two other Bit Tech reviews and a delta T of 50 degrees in this one? I mentioned the HD 5970 review as that also lists the HD 5870 in its heat performance chart.

 

oh right. well spotted.

bindi? why is the peak temp in this review (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/12/01/sapphire-radeon-hd-5870-1gb-vapor-x-review/8) 50 degrees whereas the other 2 are 25 degrees? (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/10/20/asus-ati-radeon-hd-5870-volt-tweak-review/9)

 

With the enhanced cooling offered by this card, did you have a chance to further overclock it?