First 5850 Review

[zalbard]

So what suffered going from 5870? Cooling or pwm? The card's much smaller.

[CrimInalA]

that be interesting to find out if it works well....

Most likely going to be a photoshop debacle i'm afraid , if at all .

If it's true I am ordering myself a 5850 today

[jaredpace]

They do overclock nice:


I don't see a review doing a hardmod to a card for a review. So, 99% sure this is software level. Not even sure if he had to increase voltage.

[Helloworld_98]

I still wonder why the 5870 needs to be that long, guess its only a matter of the cooling sollution.

I doubt it, the 5870 only uses 18w more than the 5850 and some of that is going to be from the extra length of the PCB, so there can't be that much more heat emitted to add another two inches to the card, although you could cancel the heat theory out since on the 5850 the exhaust or intake vents on the top of the card are blocked by the PCIe power connectors, a cable and a capacitor, which would have some effect on the cooling.

[Helloworld_98]

They do overclock nice:


I don't see a review doing a hardmod to a card for a review. So, 99% sure this is software level. Not even sure if he had to increase voltage.

looks like those 160 shaders aren't making much of a difference performance wise.

[flopper]

looks like those 160 shaders aren't making much of a difference performance wise.

mostly cpu bound up to 1920x1200.
I would assume eyefinity is where the difference might be shown a little more, depending how much the 5850 overclocks.

[Rick Hunter]

Another review here:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...rgain/Reviews/

[FischOderAal]

Has anyone found frontside pics of 5850 with cooler removed?

Take a look in the review of PCGH
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/scree...5850-PCB01.jpg
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/scree...5850-PCB07.jpg

In the guru3D review they overclocked the 5850 trough rivatuner . And it surely wasn't an Asus brand . So i am not sure where you got your information from .

I didn't mean overclocking, I meant overvolting

[Manicdan]

it looks like they should have flipped the heatsink so the heatpipes would be at the base, since the vents are up top. i wonder how much that can affect airflow

[jaredpace]

Take a look in the review of PCGH
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/scree...5850-PCB01.jpg
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/scree...5850-PCB07.jpg



I didn't mean overclocking, I meant overvolting

Wow, thanks fischoderaal!






AMD lowered 5850 TDP to 151w on final design.

[fornowagain]

Interesting, 3 gpu phases.

[largon]

3+1 for GPU, option for 4+1. 1+1 for memory.
All Volterra & GPU vDDC & vDDCI are softmodable.

[jaredpace]

3+1 for GPU, option for 4+1. 1+1 for memory.
All Volterra & GPU vDDC & vDDCI are softmodable.

When are we going to be able to control memory voltage through software?

[Serra]

the simd unlock it's coming....
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

This is just a link to a thread where a user with 40 posts has said "I have done it, stay tuned and I'll tell you how"... followed by a bunch of posts that say "hoax". Hardly proof, but it's true... oh man. Buy now and in quantity before ATI starts laser cutting.

[villa1n]

This is just a link to a thread where a user with 40 posts has said "I have done it, stay tuned and I'll tell you how"... followed by a bunch of posts that say "hoax". Hardly proof, but it's true... oh man. Buy now and in quantity before ATI starts laser cutting.

Interesting idea regardless, he posts again saying he crashes out in 5 - 8 minutes... so maybe the simd's are actually faulty?

[fornowagain]

Interesting idea regardless, he posts again saying he crashes out in 5 - 8 minutes... so maybe the simd's are actually faulty?

More likely he's just full of it.

[Morais]

I will pass this card until price drops to 199 and lower...cmon nvidia :s

[kuhla]

Since it seems a few people liked the chart I posted last time (SEE QUOTE BELOW), I figured I'd update it and post it again:

Updated sheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pMt...amp;output=html

The 5850 is a better deal (from a strictly price/performance perspective) than the 5870 by a decent margin but still doesn't change the fact that the ATI 4870 (1GB) and the Nvidia GTX260 (216) are the best deals on their respective sides.

I made this for friends and I'm not really sure if anyone here cares but I punched together Anand's test data and combined it with newegg prices for a price/performance spreadsheet. I only used 1920x1200 since that is the resolution that almost all my friends and I play at. I also only selected certian single-gpu cards since my friends and I are very hesitant to consider SLI/CF.

LINK REMOVED, USE THE NEW ONE

Definitely fast but you are still paying a tiny premium for that class leading performance/features. GTX275 and GTX285 lose horribly in price/performance to the 4890. The 4870 (1GB) seems to be currently the best deal on the ATI side and the GTX260 (216) is the best deal on the Nvidia side.

Interested to see how the 5850 might change things. Also wondering if prices will fluctuate as the market adapts to the new king.

[Kingcarcas]

If this card was a knockout it would probably be $600 so it seems fine to me.

[jaredpace]

Updated sheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pMt...amp;output=html

Nice work. 48701GB, Gtx 260 216, and 5850 are good buys.

[villa1n]

Since it seems a few people liked the chart I posted last time (SEE QUOTE BELOW), I figured I'd update it and post it again:

Updated sheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pMt...amp;output=html

The 5850 is a better deal (from a strictly price/performance perspective) than the 5870 by a decent margin but still doesn't change the fact that the ATI 4870 (1GB) and the Nvidia GTX260 (216) are the best deals on their respective sides.

now you just need to normalize it across several reviews for a more accurate picture. ^^ *not actually serious, lol but the statistician in me speaks*

[AbelJemka]

Since it seems a few people liked the chart I posted last time (SEE QUOTE BELOW), I figured I'd update it and post it again:

Updated sheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pMt...amp;output=html

The 5850 is a better deal (from a strictly price/performance perspective) than the 5870 by a decent margin but still doesn't change the fact that the ATI 4870 (1GB) and the Nvidia GTX260 (216) are the best deals on their respective sides.

Best deals if features are not taken into account (DX11, PhysX, Eyefinity, 3D Vision, etc...)

[kuhla]

now you just need to normalize it across several reviews for a more accurate picture. ^^ *not actually serious, lol but the statistician in me speaks*

I know what you mean lol, and if I had tons of time on my hands I probably would for the sheer fun of it (yes, slight masochist) but I just don't have that kind of time these days

Best deals if features are not taken into account (DX11, PhysX, Eyefinity, 3D Vision, etc...)

Yea, I put in the "from a strictly...", because I know features has it's own value (and it is often a bit more subjective value).

[saber63]

HOw does it fold? still like crap? or did they change that?

-Levi

[Newblar]

HOw does it fold? still like crap? or did they change that?

-Levi

its still crap, but hopefully very soon it will change
http://www.rage3d.com/previews/video.../index.php?p=4