iXBT Labs - ATI Radeon HD 5850/5870/5970 Graphics Cards

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Today we shall review a few more high-end graphics cards belonging to the Radeon HD 58xx/59xx series. As we have already mentioned before, these solutions have had a great start. Radeon HD 5870 still remains the fastest single-GPU graphics card, while Radeon HD 5970 remains the absolute champion in today's 3D gaming graphics.

As you know, cards like this are produced at third-party factories by orders of AMD or NVIDIA, while partners just label ready products. That's why all of those are identical. However, AMD has been selling Radeon HD 58xx chips separately as well, meaning that partners might have had time to make some customized products. Let's see if this is so.

Design

AFOX Radeon HD 5850 1024MB
GPU: Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 725/725 MHz (standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1000 (4000) MHz (standard) Bus width: 256-bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 1440 Texture processors: 72 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Size: 260x100x33mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), Display Port, HDMI VIVO: - TV-out: - Multi-GPU: Hardware CrossFire
AFOX Radeon HD 5870 1024MB
GPU: Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 850/850 MHz (standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1200 (4800) MHz (standard) Bus width: 256-bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 1600 Texture processors: 80 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Size: 285x100x33mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), Display Port, HDMI VIVO: - TV-out: - Multi-GPU: Hardware CrossFire
Manli Radeon HD 5870 1024MB
GPU: Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 850/850 MHz (standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1200 (4800) MHz (standard) Bus width: 256-bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 1600 Texture processors: 80 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Size: 285x100x33mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), Display Port, HDMI VIVO: - TV-out: - Multi-GPU: Hardware CrossFire
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Overclock 1024MB
GPU: Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 870/870 MHz (850/850 MHz standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1250 (5000) MHz (1200 (4800) MHz standard) Bus width: 256-bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 1600 Texture processors: 80 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Size: 270x100x33mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), Display Port, HDMI VIVO: - TV-out: - Multi-GPU: Hardware CrossFire
XFX Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 1024MB
GPU: Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 765/765 MHz (725/725 MHz standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1125 (4500) MHz (1000 (4000) MHz standard) Bus width: 256-bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 1440 Texture processors: 72 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Size: 260x100x33mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), Display Port, HDMI VIVO: - TV-out: - Multi-GPU: Hardware CrossFire
XFX Radeon HD 5970 2x1024MB
GPU: 2x Radeon HD 5870 (Hemlock) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 725/725 MHz (standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1000 (4000) MHz (standard) Bus width: 2 x 256bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 2x1600 Texture processors: 2x80 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 2x32 Size: 305x100x33mm PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: 2xDVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), 1xHDMI VIVO: - TV-out: - Multi-GPU: internal CrossFire (between GPUs), external CrossFire (with another Radeon HD 5970)

AFOX Radeon HD 5850 1024MB XFX Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 1024MB AFOX Radeon HD 5870 1024MB Manli Radeon HD 5870 1024MB Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Overclock 1024MB
1024MB GDDR5 SDRAM in 8 Samsung chips on the front side of the PCB. Peak clock rate 1250 (5000) MHz.
XFX Radeon HD 5970 2x1024MB
2 x 1024MB GDDR5 SDRAM in 16 Samsung chips on both PCB sides. Peak clock rate 1250 (5000) MHz.

Comparison with the reference design, front view
AFOX Radeon HD 5870 1024MB	Reference card ATI Radeon HD 5870

Manli Radeon HD 5870 1024MB

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Overclock 1024MB

AFOX Radeon HD 5850 1024MB	Reference card ATI Radeon HD 5850

XFX Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 1024MB

XFX Radeon HD 5970 2x1024MB	Reference card ATI Radeon HD 5970

Comparison with the reference design, rear view
AFOX Radeon HD 5870 1024MB	Reference card ATI Radeon HD 5870

Manli Radeon HD 5870 1024MB

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X Overclock 1024MB

AFOX Radeon HD 5850 1024MB	Reference card ATI Radeon HD 5850

XFX Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 1024MB

XFX Radeon HD 5970 2x1024MB	Reference card ATI Radeon HD 5970

Well, I guess I was too optimistic hoping to see some custom products. All six are reference cards, just the Sapphire's has a custom cooler. The rest just have partner labels. Which means you should just buy what's cheaper. Perhaps, with the exception of the card from Sapphire.

These graphics cards feature audio codecs, so nothing else it required to transmit audio to HDMI.

Note that each of these cards has a 6-pin connector for external power supply. Besides, HD 5970 has an additional 8-pin power connector as well.

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

240 Hz maximum refresh rate
2048 x 1536 x 32bit @ 85Hz Max -- analog interface
2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz Max -- digital interface (Dual-Link DVI/HDMI)

As for the HDTV support, a review is available here.

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