ASUS EAH5970: Hail to the new KING !

A couple days ago, I had the chance to acquire a rather interesting PDF, related with ASUS EAH5970 and Voltage Tweak Technology. Seems like we're dealing with a magnificent VGA that combines excellently, superb capabilities and amazing performance. Monstrosity in its true form ! I was taken aback that much, that I decided to write an article in HWBOX.gr regarding the new king.

First of all, let's do an overview of the product and its main selling points. Using advanced Voltage Tweak technology and ASUS SmartDoctor application, you will manage to raise stock GPU Clocks by 31%. DirectX 11 and Windows 7 are responsible for optimal picture quality, at least that's what ASUS is implying in the PDF. In her attempt to justify herself, ASUS included Colin McRAE DiRT 2 in the product bundle - "Most Anticipated DirectX 11 Game Bundle". Another interesting selling point, not only for Radeon HD 5970 but also for other 5800 series VGAs like 5870, is the support of Eyefinity Technology - up to 3 displays for that particular model. While we are on that, bear in mind that in order for multi-display eyefinity technology to work you will need a monitor with DisplayPort connector or a DVI connector along with a special adaptor. Hardcore users who aim for more than 3 monitors will have to wait for the special Eyefinity Edition of the card. PDF did not include photos of the VGA because it focused more on its special features, so I borrowed a few from techPowerUp ASUS EAH5970 2GB GDDR5 review ;)


http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41bf361898.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41bf3951de.jpg

Left to right: NVIDIA Single PCB GeForce GTX295, Sapphire Radeon 4870X2, ASUS EAH5870, ASUS EAH5970

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http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41bf405d1f.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41bf4683bb.jpg


Some of you may wonder why AMD/ATi significantly decreased 5970 clocks. If so, take into consideration the fact that AMD/ATi had to abide by ATX Standards (300W). I am not going to go into details for vga specs, nothing new there. Instead, I'm going to elaborate on ASUS SmartDoctor a bit and its beneficial impact on your games or benchmarks. EAH 5970 stock clocks are 725/4000MHz @ 1.05V. At these clocks, a system with a Core i7 975 EE @ 3.33GHz produces 11506 Marks in 3DMark Vantage Extreme Preset. Increasing VGA clocks @ 950/5012MHz @ 1.35V resulting in X14039 and a considerable performance boost. Max ASUS SmartDoctor settings are 1.45V, 1000MHz core and 6000MHz memory. However, they aren't doable at all when using air cooling.

Take a look at some more ASUS EAH5970 exclusive features apart from SmartDoctor, like GameOSD or Splendid.


http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...4345f4c137.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41e82a9deb.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41e82be9e5.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41e82ec851.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41e830d6c9.jpg

http://www.hwbox.gr/images/imagehost...41e832293c.jpg




Source (more exclusive photos included): http://www.hwbox.gr/news/6781-asus-e...-grafikon.html

**The photos in this thread without hwbox watermark are courtesy of techPowerUp.

if you still have it, whats the max ram speeds you could get stable? ignoring core voltages at excessive levels for the stock cooler

That's only a newspost and nothing more dude. I didn't test the VGA. :)

And just to be sure. All the un-watermarked pictures are courtesy of techPowerUp. ;)

max ram speed i got (my card in those pics) was 1310, check my review

this card is already insane with its lower clocks lol no need for extreme for now unless u r planning to use eyefinity

Yeah check out W1zzard's review guys it's really nice and thorough ;) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH5970/1.html :up:

W1zzard thanks for letting me use some of your photos. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eric66

this card is already insane with its lower clocks lol no need for extreme for now unless u r planning to use eyefinity

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*gasp!*

Are you suggesting we settle for....stock?!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eric66

this card is already insane with its lower clocks lol no need for extreme for now unless u r planning to use eyefinity

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A proper gamer needs as much as FPS as possible, while at the same time maintaining 24/7 stability ;) Thus, he overclocks his VGA up to a certain point in order to gain a considerable performance boost. Did you check out the difference between 725/4000MHz and 950/5012MHz ? ;)

I'm not even going to talk about benchmarkers (including myself). Every single FPS plays an important role.

What was the crysis setting's in Wizzards review ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hell Hound

What was the crysis setting's in Wizzards review ?

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I'd like to know as well. The scaling just looks too unreal :eek:

But can it play crysis? Yes it can! :)

i was about to do the no DP dance but then they have the miniDP :shakes: why dose ati have to spite me

and voltera must be pulling in alot of money now from the consumer market now with being on every high end ati card and not just an obscure dfi bord

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Originally Posted by CarpeDiem

But can it play crysis? Yes it can! :)

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Mostly not ;P

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/3474/35450591.png

I guess we won't see 2560x1600 Very High 4xAA 16xAF 30fps min stables until next-gen of ATI/nVidia cards. But who cares, it's been demonstrated to be a poorly coded game which can't be run on the highest-end harware two years after its release.

I havent paid much attention lately, What chip is in the place of what used to be PLX. It now has a IHS with ATI branding?

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Originally Posted by jfromeo

Mostly not ;P

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/3474/35450591.png

I guess we won't see 2560x1600 Very High 4xAA 16xAF 30fps min stables until next-gen of ATI/nVidia cards. But who cares, it's been demonstrated to be a poorly coded game which can't be run on the highest-end harware two years after its release.

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what a load of bs 5970 is slower than 4870x2 and 5870 lol :ROTF: pls come with better review

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Originally Posted by G0ldBr1ck

I havent paid much attention lately, What chip is in the place of what used to be PLX. It now has a IHS with ATI branding?

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It's the same chip used in the 4870x2 I believe, just different markings/heatspreader. Supposedly it also exposes and uses some features that were dormant before, not sure what.

Read this info in the [H] forums, if I come across the link again I'll post it, it's in the 5970 review thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CarpeDiem

But can it play crysis? Yes it can! :)

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Who cares? Does anyone even play that P.O.S. game? :)
thanks for sharing your results.

:toast2: heres to ATI/AMD

bit-tech ran their 5970 on catalyst 9.10, TPU ran on catalyst 9.12 beta5.

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the new 9.12 beta driver is insane in Crysis!!!!!!!!!

11.18.2009 16:06:40 - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 3X @ Map: ambush @ 0 1920 x 1200 AA 0xx
==> Framerate [ Min: 35.60 Max: 73.98 Avg: 59.46 ]

9.12 beta



DirectX 10 ENTHUSIAST 2X @ Map: ambush @ 0 1920 x 1200 AA 0xx
==> Framerate [ Min: 26.96 Max: 57.88 Avg: 46.69 ]

9.11 beta

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http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...3&postcount=16

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eric66

what a load of bs 5970 is slower than 4870x2 and 5870 lol :ROTF: pls come with better review

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thats the average were its the best and the minimum thats all driver based. i dont see why people care about crysis benchmarks its coded for the g80 and not to scale well with shaders

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Originally Posted by trans am

Who cares? Does anyone even play that P.O.S. game? :)
thanks for sharing your results. :toast2: to AMD

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It's a good game. Not the best, but it's good. I dunno why people think it sucks so bad. The game was just ahead of its time and to this day it's still the best looking game out there. I think people are just spoiled with the Michael Bay experiences in video games lately ( MWF2 and others )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jfromeo

Mostly not ;P

I guess we won't see 2560x1600 Very High 4xAA 16xAF 30fps min stables until next-gen of ATI/nVidia cards. But who cares, it's been demonstrated to be a poorly coded game which can't be run on the highest-end harware two years after its release.

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like mentioned thats a 30" lcd..not nearly as common as a 24"..and 35fps in crysis is smooth..the minimum is an issue but definitely driver related like said..
the card can definitely run that game smoothly

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Originally Posted by zanzabar

thats the average were its the best and the minimum thats all driver based. i dont see why people care about crysis benchmarks its coded for the g80 and not to scale well with shaders

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ok may be i overreacted but its unbelievable that 5970 is slower than every card when it comes to min fps. someone mentioned that they ran test with cat 9.10 which can explain this

So theres a beta 9.12 but the official 9.11's haven't been released yet? :clap:

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Originally Posted by eric66

ok may be i overreacted but its unbelievable that 5970 is slower than every card when it comes to min fps. someone mentioned that they ran test with cat 9.10 which can explain this

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Check through the reviews that are starting to show up, there's definitely a trend showing through - this card has loads and loads of brute power, but ATI's got some work to do on their driver support for this card.

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Originally Posted by oohms

So theres a beta 9.12 but the official 9.11's haven't been released yet? :clap:

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9.11 whql here

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

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Originally Posted by MpG

... ATI's got some work to do on their driver support for this card.

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The story of ATI's life.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hell Hound

What was the crysis setting's in Wizzards review ?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vit^pr0n

I'd like to know as well. The scaling just looks too unreal :eek:

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I pm'd him myself, according to him its all set to ultra max settings. :up:

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all on ultra afaik. i never changed the settings between the different cards, so the relative increase does apply. yes 9.6 from june

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Quote:
Originally Posted by kadozer
I noticed your Crysis vanilla results for 5970 is very impressive. Was that with 16af all enthusiast for 1920 and up resolution?

Also you state 9.6 Catalyst. Is that from Catalyst from last June? or a special review catalyst driver?

I only ask because some people on other forums doubting your result and I want to clear it up.

So, what does this Asus card offers different than the other reference 5970s apart from the fancy software bundle? (software and bios can be transfered to other brand's reference cards right?)

Wonder if you can just flash a 5870 bios onto both cores of this 5970 and just run it at 5870 speed of 850/1200 for 24/7?

Good luck trying to find one to buy before Christmas... you think 5850/5870's are hard to find...

i think i'll wait for the dual 5950 :yepp:

5 in stock in nz, sapphire brand :)

Sapphire HD5970 here in Greece retails for 565€. That's the only one listed in Greece so far :D
It's not available yet, but from what I've heard it will be available in relatively small quantities, at least for the time being.

@jt digital: Why 2 x 5950s ? I'd prefer 2 x 5870s instead ;) Bad thing is that we have to wait for the drivers to mature. And it's so typical of ATi to never have proper drivers for gaming... For the first two months we're going to see their full power being unleashed on benchmarks only.

@lowdog: Can't seem to understand your logic behind this post :confused: Why not just raising the voltages a bit and overclock both the core and the memory without having to flash 5870's BIOS ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by George_o/c

Sapphire HD5970 here in Greece retails for 565€. That's the only one listed in Greece so far :D
It's not available yet, but from what I've heard it will be available in relatively small quantities, at least for the time being.

@jt digital: Why 2 x 5950s ? I'd prefer 2 x 5870s instead ;) Bad thing is that we have to wait for the drivers to mature. And it's so typical of ATi to never have proper drivers for gaming... For the first two months we're going to see their full power being unleashed on benchmarks only.

@lowdog: Can't seem to understand your logic behind this post :confused: Why not just raising the voltages a bit and overclock both the core and the memory without having to flash 5870's BIOS ?

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HD5970
HD5950 (waiting for this, i think it will be released by christmas)
HD5870
HD5850

i think it will offer the best bang for the buck, we'll see, waiting on reviews...

HD5950 is supposed to consist of 2 x 5850s without the extra two SIMD units ?