Gigabyte finally debuts its HD 5870 Super Overclock card

[Bowtie]

It's called Proadlizer, and in short it's sort of a super capacitor.

As for making it a 2GB card... we have seen that there's nothing to gain from the additional capacity with a Radeon HD5870, so no reason to go for 2GB ( and raising the card's price more ).
And mostly, this card is aimed at the overclockers, so 1GB > 2GB
I agree on the price though, it could & should be lower than that.

Maybe someone on here could explain it to me better, is there a reason why they can only double the memory on these cards? Why cant they add another 256 megs or half a gig instead of doubling it?

[Kej]

Maybe someone on here could explain it to me better, is there a reason why they can only double the memory on these cards? Why cant they add another 256 megs or half a gig instead of doubling it?

Memory chips have a certain bit-width. Graphic cards usually uses memory chips
with a bit-width of 32.

For example in the Radeon HD 58xx the GPU has a bit-width to the on board
memory of 256. In order to reach 256 bits you need 8 memory chips (8 times 32).

The size of memory chips comes in multiples of 2, thereof the doubling each time
you move up in memory size.

[RAID]

[Bowtie]

@ Kej
Thanks for the explanation, is there a way around this design wise or are they stuck at doubling up?

[Manicdan]

@ Kej
Thanks for the explanation, is there a way around this design wise or are they stuck at doubling up?

the bitrate determines the number of chips, so 32bit per chip / 256bit bus = 8 ram chips for a 5870, if they put on a 384 bit bus, it would be 12 chips, and be 1.5GB, its very possible, but would add more heat and use up more space, and is needed for bigger chips, or for using slower chips, like the 480 uses.

ATI was fast ram smaller bus, nvidia was slow ram bigger bus and they both come out near the same.

going much higher than that is probably a bad idea though, the 2900 was 512bit and power hungry, and had a bandwidth of over 100GB/s, and was never really used effectively.

[Bowtie]

Thanks Manic, it certainly is good to learn the tech behind those fps

[Manicdan]

Thanks Manic, it certainly is good to learn the tech behind those fps

warning, i only know what i learned on here, lol. i actually have no real job experience with computers, or any classes for computers, all self taught, or learned from the guys on here.

[Kej]

warning, i only know what i learned on here, lol. i actually have no real job experience with computers, or any classes for computers, all self taught, or learned from the guys on here.

...and thats good enough many times.

[mike]

just got my retail 5870 SO - gotta love that Hynix memory on this card - running a smooth 1420mhz on the memory. GPU also not too shabby, doing 1040mhz with default voltage ( measured 1.18V).

Too bad no voltage adjustment with the retail card, 1.3V should do wonders!

[NKrader]

-1 doesnt even look like the batmobile..

whoa this was my 555th post

[Jor3lBR]

just got my retail 5870 SO - gotta love that Hynix memory on this card - running a smooth 1420mhz on the memory. GPU also not too shabby, doing 1040mhz with default voltage ( measured 1.18V).

Too bad no voltage adjustment with the retail card, 1.3V should do wonders!

No voltage adjustment? How about that Gigabyte OC utility to ajust vgpu and vmem?

Gigabyte SOC Tuner

[Expat GriZ]

No voltage adjustment? How about that Gigabyte OC utility to ajust vgpu and vmem?

Gigabyte SOC Tuner

Yup, this would be a deal breaker for me if this is not included or doesn't work with the retail cards. Does this work with your card, Mike??

[Jor3lBR]

Yup, this would be a deal breaker for me if this is not included or doesn't work with the retail cards. Does this work with your card, Mike??

Yes this would be ridiculous. And OC edition without an OC software?!?!?!

RMA...

[mike]

Yes this would be ridiculous. And OC edition without an OC software?!?!?!

RMA...

not sure yet - might be that I was doing something wrong. But vcore mod is super easy - just moving some resistors around for a vid mod. Will try that later tonight - hopefully 1100+ on air. But I am confident it a modest boost it should at least do 1100...

[dinos22]

glances over at my card, Hynix check
testing starts tomorrow

[M.Beier]

Mine is now in Leipzig, wuhuu, now less then 1K miles from destination!

[dinos22]

Thanks DHL for wasting 2 days, and for finally clearing my item from the customs... to be delivered tomorrow :@ ( better not scr3w that too )

Mine is now in Leipzig, wuhuu, now less then 1K miles from destination!

someone's going to have to continue the troll work obviously

[BenchZowner]

I would like to thank Eva & "mr interesting" ( hicookie ) from Gigabyte and give my first to DHL for the delayed delivery and customs clearance.



Removing the card again to re-apply thermal paste and I'll give it a quick OC test on air before I start insulating it.

[Expat GriZ]

Cool Bench!! Looking forward to this......hope you check out the Ocing software as well.

[BenchZowner]

Actually I'm currently looking for it
My card arrived in a foam box ( no accessories, package, CD ) and every single Gigabyte contact of mine is off-line or away

Maybe our humorous Australian buddy has it ? ( he must be sleeping now though )

[SKYMTL]

I will have to check the CD when I get home but I am reasonably sure the card does ship with the SOC Tuner.

[Manicdan]

what a bunch of babies, back in the day if you wanted more volts you had to get out the soldering iron!

[Expat GriZ]

Considering it sounds like a promo card from Gigabyte & probably has to be returned, soldering on it probably isn't a great idea. First you see what the card can do on air & use the software....then go cold & really use the software....... & one more thing, For those of us buying our gear, people don't want to buy a second hand card that has been modded.




Yup, the Ozzie is down...or pulling an all nighter, but Mike G has a card.

[Jor3lBR]

Seems that Mike is right the SOC Tuner will not raise voltages. First who post the hardmod wins a prize

[miahallen]

Seems that Mike is right the SOC Tuner will not raise voltages. First who post the hardmod wins a prize

WOW! Total fail

I don't mind hard modding mine (when I get it), but I don't have a clue how to work out an OCP mod on my own....does the soft OCP mod in SOC Tuner work?