Hardware XFX Radeon HD 5870 Black Edition Graphics Card Review

man I still laugh when I see the power consumption and heat out put of the GTX 480 for the little to no gain that card offers lol.

 

I'm So very disappointed in this XFX Black Edition 5870 as I'm looking to upgrade from my two XFX HD 4890 @ 1 ghz black edition cards. I see no reason to buy this card as the overclock is very weak and XFX offers no voltage control software.

I'm PRAYING that ATi releases a HD 5890 with a 384 bit interface, 1.5 gbytes of GDDR5 as well as a standard 1 ghz core clock as that would make for an awesome card to have (and crush Fermi) before they release their HD 6000 series.

XFX HD 5000 black edition cards have been pretty lame this time around

 

think the duct idea works well with the ref type coolers.. cause you get the low temps and the heat goes out the back

it only costs a couple of bucks at home depot

 

Anologue parts... 4 phase? where 5 phase digital gone?? 2 words... CHEAP IMITATION!

Andy

 

This is a very good point as I wish windows would switch to my integrated video card when i'm not gaming to help save more juice. Some genius at some tech company (or some hacker) should make a program that does this.

I would go with ASUS as they have a well designed card with voltage tweak software allowing you to greatly surpass the 1 ghz threshold on an overclock. I've seen some HD 5870 at 1.2 ghz

If over voltage isn't your thing then go with Gigabyte as they make the best cards as they only use the best components and their cards all overclock very well but you won't see 1.2 ghz without an over volt.

 

Kind of surprised that nVidia hasn't gone into making gpus for toasters, considering their 2nd place showing in the last two years.

 

Plus they are as hot as toasters. nVidia's last big thing was the 8800gtx, THAT was worth talking about, everything since has been 2nd place.
Once the 4870x2 came out ATI has ruled the Gamer realms. With the 5970 (and the 5800 series in general) only a fool would be using nVidia now.
I do hope nVidia will come out with something competitive in the next year or so, with only two companies making serious gamer cards, having one company in the lead for so long is not healthy. We shall see!

 

Guess I'm a fool then. Hell, even I think I'm crazy for wanting a GTX 480...but then someones got too, or you'll all have to pay through the roof for your ATI goodies.

Plus with Nvidias underhanded ways, locking things out from ATI and such...getting green is the only way of getting everything.

 

Oh Rly?

 

For the minimal gains, I don't think overclocking the GPU is worth it. Maybe if it pushes low mins to a playable level it is worth it thoive honestly never been in that situation. Roll on the GTX460's tho. Supposedly they'll be overclocking monsters. We can only dream!

 

I'll have the Sapphire OC'ed version anytime! Albeit its price tag, it's the gpu to go =D

 

The Toxic is the one thing that may sway my mind from a 480.

 

5870 2gb MATRIX... a card that allows voltage tweaking AND memory timing tweaking... its an absolute god send!


Andy

 

Sorry if I sounded like an ATI-Fanboy
It just seemed that the 480 had become better since the last article, which it might have done (Driver)
Personally I'd hoped that the 480 would have been better or at least more competitive. Alas, it is not and 5870 prices have gone up since then.
5890 meh, don't like dual chip cards...

 

Really I have to disagree, especially if your vid card is a bit marginal. Oc'ing can make the difference between a playable setting and an unplayable one.

 

So can dropping down from 4 X AA to 2 X AA etc. Sometimes lowering settings produces a better return for little visual impact. I did say in that situation that maybe its worth it., but it does depend on the game, mirrors edge needs AA IMO for example, where as crysis im happy enough to drop some AA or take a res drop and increase some settings. It is very hard to generalise.

 

Apparently it doesn't acheive what it set out to. . . that's a shame because apart from in one or two specific scenarios there's still no real competition for the GTX 480.

In actual terms of course, the framerates are incredibly close in practical terms.

 

I wonder if in future there was a possibility to attach your water cooling system into those pipes...

 

I love my XFX but the support is terrible.