Radeon HD 5870 Six with 6 display outputs, prices, performance

[okorop]

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,9887.html

A few weeks ago there were reports of another member of AMD's graphics card family Evergreen. The card was code-named Trillian and would not use a special GPU but instead be a very special model. There were talks about three graphics processor but more likely it would be a card with extra display outputs. We have learned that the card will be called Radeon HD 5870 Six and support no less than six monitors, all with 3D functionality.

Many are perhaps wondering how AMD managed to fit no less than six display outputs on the back of the same graphics card. The answer is DisplayPort, or more precise Mini DisplayPort.

The interface, used quite frequently by Apple, supports resolutions up to 2560x1600 pixels through a connector that is only a fraction of the size of a regular DVI output.


DVI. vs. Mini DisplayPort

The 3D support across multiple monitors have been improved significantly with the coming Evergreen family and Radeon HD 5870 Six will take this to a whole new level. Theoretically you could connect six monitors to one and the same graphics card, with tailored resolutions. Something that should not only appeal to simulator fans but also regular gamers, or why not just use it run of the mill applications.

According to the info we received all cards of the Evergreen family will work a lot better with multiple monitors, something we're truly looking forward to seeing more of. AMD has talked about better support for multiple monitors for many years, and finally it's happening, and the exact shape and form will be revealed soon.

We can also confirm the price information on Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 5870, and they will be 299USD and 399USD respectively.

Even if we don't have any benchmarks to share, we have it on good authority that AMD's new Radeon HD 5800 series will bring between 25-40% better performance than current generation, depending on games and application.

The card will use 1GB GDDR5 memory but 2GB models are to be expected. We have learned a bit about the overclocking potential and it seems the 40nm technology has matured well. There are talks about overclocking to 1GHz GPU with the reference cooler, which is on par with the current flagship Radeon HD 4890 in terms of overclocking ability.

We hope to learn more about AMD's Evergreen family soon, very soon, and we will be covering the launch of the first DirectX 11 graphics cards. A launch where performance and features are almost equally important.

[Olivon]

Even if we don't have any benchmarks to share, we have it on good authority that AMD's new Radeon HD 5800 series will bring between 25-40% better performance than current generation, depending on games and application.

Really ? Not 160% ?

[Bodkin]

Even if we don't have any benchmarks to share, we have it on good authority that AMD's new Radeon HD 5800 series will bring between 25-40% better performance than current generation, depending on games and application.

Oh....sigh

[SoulsCollective]

I'm more interested in pricing info - Nordic is generally a reputable source. So, street price of between USD $350-450 for the 5870? And, what, $600-odd for the X2 part?

[Eastcoasthandle]

Oh....sigh

What no 250% improvement with another 150% improvement when overclocked? Sigh indeed...

[Etihtsarom]

Uh...oh...The Tish is about to hit the fan...

[okorop]

25-40% more performance than current generation is really poor if we consider rv770 as the current generation, if it is rv790 or even gt200 it is not poor at all.....anyway let's wait for some benchmark or news from internet
The intresting thing is the one talking about multi monitor tecnology, maybe it will be easier to use with the new generation of graphic cards

[Sh1tyMcGee]

uhhhhh..... 25%-$40 for $399, cannot be true.

[informal]

25% higher than "current generation"... which is... 4870X2 ?

[okorop]

25% higher than "current generation"... which is... 4870X2 ?

I hope so!!!!!!

[informal]

1600SP and 80TMUs,it better do 25% over 4870CF!
Actually the memory bandwidth will probably somewhat bottleneck and limit both 58xx models,but we'll have to see to what extent.

[Bodkin]

I hope so!!!!!!

if this is the case I will retract the sigh :P

[okorop]

1600SP and 80TMUs,it better do 25% over 4870CF!
Actually the memory bandwidth will probably somewhat bottleneck and limit both 58xx models,but we'll have to see to what extent.

The memory bandwidth could be limited by the 256 bus, but if you use ddr5 at high frequency it should be better.......right?

[informal]

The memory bandwidth could be limited by the 256 bus, but if you use ddr5 at high frequency it should be better.......right?

Yes,but IIRC the memory will still be the same as it was on 4870s and even those were feeling the memory BW bottleneck(and those had "only" 800SP,40TMUs).

[spursindonesia]

No 5 Gbps GDDR5 chips for HD 5870 at minimum ? If so, HD 5850 would give the best value if it's also endowed with GDDR5 memory.

[Smartidiot89]

Yes,but IIRC the memory will still be the same as it was on 4870s and even those were feeling the memory BW bottleneck(and those had "only" 800SP,40TMUs).

According to Charlie 1,25GHz(5GHz effective) GDDR5 will be in use for HD5870.

[okorop]

According to Charlie 1,25GHz(5GHz effective) GDDR5 will be in use for HD5870.

a perfect so there will be less restriction in the bandwitch using the 5870 than 5850

[annihilat0r]

That 25-40% has to be pointing to the 4870 or GTX 285. There's no way 5870 can outperform a 4870x2 by such a margin

[FischOderAal]

Yes,but IIRC the memory will still be the same as it was on 4870s and even those were feeling the memory BW bottleneck(and those had "only" 800SP,40TMUs).

If HD-5870 is indeed even more bw-limited than HD-4870, why would AMD go for 1600 SP in the first place? Don't you think they would've known how their chip behaves and save the space to get a cheaper GPU or add other logic?

[Jamesrt2004]

Really ? Not 160% ?

depends how you look at it

25/40% improvement "technically" could say its 125/140% of the current gen...

im sure the marketing will choose 125/140% though


(also we don't know what model too hope its x2 that would be sick!)

[okorop]

That 25-40% has to be pointing to the 4870 or GTX 285. There's no way 5870 can outperform a 4870x2 by such a margin

are you sure? let's see if they did'not mention what the current generation is it is possible that they are comparing the performance of 58xx series with 4870 or 4890 or even 4870x2......If the 5870 will perform less than 4870x2 it would be very bad for amd.....

[Farinorco]

Wow. 25-40% compared to what? If talking about 4850/4870 (equivalent cards from past generation) it's a very poor and disappointing increase. And if I'd talk about "better than previous generation" in a generic sense, I'd be talking about those cards (each one to the respective card from the old gen).

But anyway, now I'm all screwed up... the data doesn't add up...

If there are 2x processing units in the chip... and the rumored size of 300+ mm^2 would point to that...

If clocks are not much lower than past generation... and they're talking about overclocking up to ~1GHz frequencies so it doesn't seem like that...

If they are now using only GDDR5, so at least in the case of the 850 the memory bandwidth is going to be doubled too (same proportion than processing units)... and I don't think 870 need a doubling for several reasons... (mainly, the performance difference between 4850 and 4870, the former with half the bandwidth than the second)

All that doesn't add up...

Well, let's wait and see. If there's going to be a 25-40% performance increase for 299-399$, I'm going to feel very bad with this cards, sincerely...

[AKM]

5870 pics it's bloody HUGE
http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/...ssage/32550799

[Salavat23]

It has to be 25-40% faster than the 4870x2.

Otherwise it would be pointless to even release the card if its 25% faster than a 4890 since you can get that performance for ~$200 with 4770 CF.

[Migi06]

are you sure? let's see if they did'not mention what the current generation is it is possible that they are comparing the performance of 58xx series with 4870 or 4890 or even 4870x2......If the 5870 will perform less than 4870x2 it would be very bad for amd.....

It will have 4870x2 performance and near GTX 295... That's my bet. Not so many hours left...