5850 vs 5870 Performance: Is the 5870 really that much better

P

PS3

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
1,386
Is there really a noticeable performance improvement? You can get a 5850 to 5870 clocks pretty easily.
 
The difference is usually enough to either turn up the res a bit, or up the AA. While you can clock the 5850 to 5870 speeds, you're still missing a group of shaders. Even if you clocked the 5850 to 1000/1200, you'll barely be able to match a stock 5870.
 
It's going to depend on a handful of factors, such as what game, the resolutions, the rest of the computer, and such. If you're running a low resolution or a slow CPU, then there won't be a difference because of a bottleneck. If you're running a game that is memory bandwidth constrained, the delta could be around 10-15%. In a shader dependent game, the difference could be between 10-20%. As I said earlier, this is all subject to change depending on a shit-load of variables, so there's no one number that I can give you. Your best bet is to read a bunch of reviews that use games that you play, and figure out the difference yourself.
 
The 5850 can indeed be overclocked to 5870 speed but the 5870 can also be overclocked as well. Comparing an overclocked video card to a reference one is unfair unless the oc potential is very different between both video cards.
The main difference between the 5870 and 5850 lies within the architecture (1600 vs 1440 SP and 80 vs 72 TU) and this cannot be compensated by a normal overclocking.

I would go with the 5870 for resolutions 1920*1200 and above and the 5850 otherwise. Of course, you budget must also be factored in...
 
But the 5850 can handle 1920x1200 easily! This I guarantee.
 
PS3 said:
But the 5850 can handle 1920x1200 easily! This I guarantee.
Click to expand...

The problem is....

NOW it can run CURRENT games at 1920x1200.

The 9800pro could run 1280x1024 at max settings.... once upon a time.

The 5850 is simply missing 160SP (32SP - by nVidia's way of counting), and by that logic it's missing 10% of the 5870's shader count.

However.... in parrell processing, you cannot regain that 10% simply by OC. You have lost that 10% of physical shader count, and 10% of every shader operation is going to be relegated to "next time," which in the FPS world, is simply just dropped.

You can get more shader speed by OC, but the 5870 can OC, too (and likely better, since it was never binned for any reason whatsoever).
 
What do you mean it was never binned? Thought they bin the chips and give the 5970 the best chips.
 
PS3 said:
But the 5850 can handle 1920x1200 easily! This I guarantee.
Click to expand...


PS3 said:
What do you mean it was never binned? Thought they bin the chips and give the 5970 the best chips.
Click to expand...

The 5850 is created from binned 5870 chips.

They either:

Test the chips, and bin the "slightly failures" to the 5850 level by removing errornous SP.

or

Take a laser and randomly disable certain sections of 5870 chips, and then name it 5850.


Either way, the 5850 is nothing more than a cut-down 5870.


NO amount of OC will get the 5850 to the 5870's real potential.

In certain games, you may be able to OC the 5850 to the FPS you'd expect from a 5870, but that is simply because those games are not truely (for the most part) utilizing the full potential of these cards.

However, the 5870 will always be 160SP ahead....

no matter what.
 
Seems like such a waste, cutting down a perfectly good video card :p
 
Though the price difference vs performance doesn't warrant 5870 purchase, BUT what would be the difference IF 5870 is overclocked too.
 
PS3 said:
Seems like such a waste, cutting down a perfectly good video card :p
Click to expand...

ach...

everybody does it.

nVidia has the gt200a/b core, with it's variants:

GTX260 c192 with 192SP and 448bit memory bus
GTX260 c216 with 216SP and 448bit memory bus
GTX275 with 240SP and 448bit memory bus
GTX285 with 240SP and 512bit memory bus

And ATi has their's, too.

HD4xxx

HD4830 with 640SP GDDR3/4 interface
HD4850 with 800SP GDDR4/5 interface
HD4870 with 800SP GDDR5 interface

HD5xxx

HD5750 with 720SP (same chip as the 5770)
HD5770 with 800SP
HD5850 with 1440SP (same chip as the 5870)
HD5870 with 1600SP

Allows them to sell less-the-perfect chips and clear out stock of binned chips when they need to.
 
PS3 said:
Seems like such a waste, cutting down a perfectly good video card :p
Click to expand...
No, what would be a waste is if they threw out the die instead of just disabling the parts of it that didn't work properly and selling it for less money.
 
So, does anybody have some benchmarks of the 5850 vs 5870 in a 22" Eyefinity setup?

5040x1050 or 3150x1680?
 
Most reviews I've read seem to indicate there's a ~10fps difference in frames at 2560x1600 in most games, and this is pretty consistent across review sites.

I want to order one of the two, but I'm just not sure the 5870 is worth $100 more for 10 extra frames.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top