AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5850 Video Card Review @ [H]

BravO))) said:
Daauuummmnnnn. Crossfire is getting way better at scaling.
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I'm looking at the HD5850 review as I type this....and......holey calzone......the GTX285 is getting severely smashed. Not just some titles, but all of them. The best the GTX285 could pull out is a draw (and that is in the one game that AMD admits has issues - NFS: Shift). Otherwise, it's beatdown, beatdown, and severe beatdown. (ArmA II, Crysis: Warhead, and Crysis itself, respectively) It's one thing for the GTX285 to get whacked by the HD5870 (though the two are *supposed* to be able to compete head-up), but the HD5850 is a lower-end part, so why is it smacking around the GTX285 like Hermione Granger does Draco Malfoy?

Getter performance than the GTX285, better fit in cases, easier on the electric bill, and a lower price. What's not to like?
 
Krenum said:
Very good review guys, Pretty stellar performance as well. I think I'll be picking up this card seeing how I only game in 1680x1050 right now.
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I game little higher than that (1920x1080 NI where possible, but now mostly at 1280x720 due to a VERY low-end GPU). However, the HD5850 will enable me to push everything ceilingward with a Q9550 at 3 GHz or better (which even air-cooling should be able to meet). Because of the card's length, the HD5850 sounds like THE solution for SFF/HTPC use (not just ATX, but even mATX and some mITX) and should easily support almost anything you can ask of it. Yes; it WILL push HD48xx prices downward (in a major way!); however, the power-consumption figures (especially HD5850 vs. HD4850, or even HD5850 vs. HD4830) alone point to HD5850 as the smarter choice as far as performance for dollar for 23" or less.
 
My case doesnt even support a DVD room, its too small.
yet i can find a way to put 2x 4870x2 in my pc :D
 
Good review as always. This is going to be my winter upgrade for sure.
 
Damn, I remember when GTX 280 was the single GPU King for a while, then came the even better 285 with a hefty price tag.

This 5950 easily puts them to shame...with a great price. Honestly, they coulda gone away at pricing this at $299 seeing how it beats the GTX 285 in all aspects. Good for them (and us :D)
 
PGHammer said:
I'm looking at the HD5850 review as I type this....and......holey calzone......the GTX285 is getting severely smashed. Not just some titles, but all of them. The best the GTX285 could pull out is a draw (and that is in the one game that AMD admits has issues - NFS: Shift). Otherwise, it's beatdown, beatdown, and severe beatdown. (ArmA II, Crysis: Warhead, and Crysis itself, respectively) It's one thing for the GTX285 to get whacked by the HD5870 (though the two are *supposed* to be able to compete head-up), but the HD5850 is a lower-end part, so why is it smacking around the GTX285 like Hermione Granger does Draco Malfoy?

Getter performance than the GTX285, better fit in cases, easier on the electric bill, and a lower price. What's not to like?
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Are you serious? OF COURSE it's better than the GTX 285. You're comparing a new generation video card to old, outdated technology. Also, the GTX 285 should, in no way possible, compete with an HD5870. If AMD had released a high end chip that was head-to-head with nvidia's "last year's tech", there would have been a lot of pissed off people out there.

*Edit - fixed spelling/grammar errors
 
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I'm glad I didn't hold out on this one. My main reason would have actually been the size, but seeing that the power slots are in the rear of the card, it's not actually much shorter than the 5870 (wouldn't fit in my case without some dremel action anyway).
 
very nice, might have a couple of 285 SC 2gb card up fs :)
 
I can't believe that the card offers all that performance and it's QUIET! A sound sample would have been nice. Great review anyway, Brent! You get no sympathy from me in regards to the lack of sleep. Not when you're getting to play with kick ass hardware. :p

Any chance you guys could post some Batman benches/gameplay impressions? I'm looking to switch to the 5870 but I'm in love with Batman AA right now and I don't want to switch if it will screw with performance or the overall experience. If Nividia can't top the 5870 by the time I finish the single player campaign, I'm switching teams (again).
 
My expectations were surpassed big time.

I thought it would be a much closer race between the 285 and the 5850 with the latter being a better value.
 
HazardousHalf said:
Are you serious? OF COURSE it's better than the GTX 285. You're comparing a new generation video card to old, outdated technology. Also, the GTX 285 should, in now way possible, compete with an HD5870. If AMD had released a high end chip that was head-to-head with nvidia's "last year's tech", there would have been a lot of pissed of people out there.
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It has happened before, fortunately those days are long gone.
 
The only thing that disappoints me is the price. Wasn't the 4850 $200 at launch? I don't remember if the performance deltas over the 3xxx line were as big, but they were substantial.
 
LockeOak said:
The only thing that disappoints me is the price. Wasn't the 4850 $200 at launch? I don't remember if the performance deltas over the 3xxx line were as big, but they were substantial.
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The 4000's came out after the GT200's.

It's the other way around this time.

Prices are based on current market and not past launches.
 
Anyone tested performance with Folding@home -- I'd like to know how these cards stack up to the GTX260 and 280 series cards...
 
I think the 5850 unlocking is a hoax. The last post by the guy is that they can't get it stable - which is what one would expect if the 5850 is merely a 5870 that didn't pass QA and had to have a cluster disabled.

Don't get your hopes up :(
 
spintroniX said:
I think the 5850 unlocking is a hoax. The last post by the guy is that they can't get it stable - which is what one would expect if the 5850 is merely a 5870 that didn't pass QA and had to have a cluster disabled.

Don't get your hopes up :(
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I have to agree, where the heck would he of gotten a 5850 that fast, unless he was a reviewer????? It does not add up!
 
great review kyle. Im just about sold on this card. Packs a punch at a very affordable price point. And with black friday looming, and bing.com cashback.....im just hoping to get a card down to $220! Hell at that point i might get 2. XFX, im looking in your direction:p Please bundle COD:MW2 with my cards, thank you. :D
 
AMD - 4
nV - 0

Excellent review as always, gentlemen.

Still wondering if it's going to be worth it to wait for the 5770's for us budget folks, although $260 is certainly a deal for what you get. I read 5770's could be out late october, and considering i'm stuck at 1680 x 1050 and Eyefinity isn't in my plans (college bills and no space) this card is probably too much for me. Why pay the premium for the new technology I'm not going to use?

Hard not to drool at these cards though. AMD is really kicking nV where it counts these last few weeks.
 
any hints as to when the 5770 will drop? I'm not needing a huge gain in performance since I'm at 1920x1200, but having 4890 performance with silent cooling, low temps and low power usage at a decent price ($200 and under). Anyways by the time I buy, which will be December probably, the 5850 is around $200 I might have a hard time saying no. :D
 
I don't know if this was covered, maybe I missed it.
None of my monitors have a display port connection.
Can I use a display port to dvi converter? Will that work for the 3rd monitor?
 
so will the 5750 support eyefinity also? i don't play games much but i love the 3-6 screen setup.
 
jbrealey said:
I don't know if this was covered, maybe I missed it.
None of my monitors have a display port connection.
Can I use a display port to dvi converter? Will that work for the 3rd monitor?
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That is actually mentioned in the eyefinity video review towards the end while trying to test out a 3xDVI setup using the 2 native DVI ports and the Apple DP->DVI convertor box (and quickly followed by a few choice expletives from Kyle on how much he admires the apple hardware :p).

I think Brent or Kyle mentioned in one of the thousands of 58xx threads going on right now that they will be testing a new Dell DP->DVI adapter soon (probably for the eyefinity performance review) to verify that a 3xDVI setup is possible and that it was the Apple accessory to blame. AMD stated that they have a 3xDVI setup running in-house, but there was no mention of how they achieved that.

Long story short, you should be fine with an adapter that is up to snuff.
 
phiquach said:
so will the 5750 support eyefinity also? i don't play games much but i love the 3-6 screen setup.
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5850 supports the same Eyefinity configurations as 5870, its max support is 3x 2560x1600, same specs... the same will go for 5770
 
ARGH this makes me want to pull the trigger on this card right now, but its 320-350 canadian . . . guess I'll wait until holiday sales.
 
So what's the best brand for ATI/AMD cards?

Looking for Warranty + Customer Service + Reliability --> Performance
 
UL said:
So what's the best brand for ATI/AMD cards?

Looking for Warranty + Customer Service + Reliability --> Performance
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The general consensus seems to be XFX, but they seem to mostly be out of stock.
 
jonneymendoza said:
EVGA are the best
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Do I even have to post that Evga, to their ultimate detriment, don't sell ATI vid cards....oh well, it feels good to post this anyways. I like Evga too. I'm learning to like some ATI companies, like XFX.


Ahhhh, I'm free..........too close to the light.......
 
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