Ati radeon hd 5870 - Ati News!

Another new feature is the introduction of the new UVD2 video engine, that is able to decode all HD formats currently in the market.

AMD, however, has decided not to follow nVidia’s choices, and leaving the Stream Processor frequencies in a 1:1 rate when compared to the core frequencies, which in the model featured in this review is 750Mhz. The Stream Processors go from 320 to 800, while the bus is 256bit.

Another important data is the intoduction of the new GDDR5 memories that work at 3600Mhz and offer a rather large band and yet require less energy than the previous ones.

The HD4800 series was built by ATI with the goal of manufacturing a card that could offer the best performance per watt and per mm2. The GPU on this series, codename RV770, is the evolution of the previous RV670 and proposes a noticeable evolution in the architecture. The result was achieved by introducing a different idea about the Stream Processor’s disposition and an enhancement on the total number of SPs, going from 320 to 800.

Another focus point was the introduction of the new GDDR5 memories, that not only bring a noticeable reduction in the energy requirements (30%) but also offer very high frequencies, especially when compared to the GDDR4/3 models.

Surely the most impressive feature on this card is the performance of the VaporX heatsink, that manages the head generated from the card very well, also in stressful situations, and keeping a bearable noise level. In any case, if the fan speed becomes annoying during more demanding games, it’s possible to keep the fan speed at 30% and the maximum temperature will be just slightly over 65°C.

As for the graphic potential, the GPU and memory frequencies were enhanced, and even if the enhancement wasn’t that great, it surely raised the performance enough to be a good alternative to nVidia’s GTX260 solution. Even in heavy games and high resolutions, the card has never given low framerates that wouldn’t allow players to enjoy a fluid gaming experience.

The downside is the memory that features “only” 512MB, which in the current market are a little under the average when compared to other solutions, but with the launch of the Toxic version featuring 1GB GDDR5, that gap is filled.

The card delivers a good performance for those avid gamers that want good performances for a competitive price.

The in-game tests were also done at the following resolutions: 1680×1050 and 1920×1200 with and without filters, using the latest titles that use the DirectX 10 libraries integrated on Microsoft Vista.

Call of Juarez

- 1680×1050 - 44.4
- 1920×1200 - 50.1

With Filters ON

- 1680×1050 - 37.1
- 1920×1200 - 42.8

Call of Duty: World at War

- 1680×1050 - 74.8
- 1920×1200 - 84.5

With Filters ON

- 1680×1050 - 61.2
- 1920×1200 - 69.3

The in-game tests were also done at the following resolutions: 1680×1050 and 1920×1200 with and without filters, using the latest titles that use the DirectX 10 libraries integrated on Microsoft Vista.

FarCry 2

- 1680×1050 - 54
- 1920×1200 - 57

With Filters ON

- 1680×1050 - 29
- 1920×1200 - 41

Crysis WarHead

- 1680×1050 - 16
- 1920×1200 - 19

Company of Heroes

- 1680×1050 - 52.2
- 1920×1200 - 55.2

With Filters ON

- 1680×1050 - 44.7
- 1920×1200 - 51.8

3DMark 05

- 1680×1050 - 19998
- 1920×1200 - 19233

With Filters ON

- 1680×1050 - 18299
- 1920×1200 - 17325

3DMark 06

- 1680×1050 - 14836
- 1920×1200 - 13746

With Filters ON

- 1680×1050 - 11936
- 1920×1200 - 10824

Vertex and Pixel Shaders:

Vertex Shader Complex - 199
Vertex Shader Simplex - 363
PixelShader 1920 - 525
PixelShader 1680 - 662

3DMark Vantage:

Total:

Performance - 9681
High - 6134
Extreme - 4128

GPU:

Performance - 8891
High - 5601
Extreme - 3984

All the tests were done using Vista Ultimate 64 bit with Service Pack 1 and updated to last December, while the drivers used were the Catalyst 8.12 ones.

Due to the price and range of the card, the resolutions for the in-game tests were 1680×1050 and 1920×1200, since any lower resolutions would simply not justify the acquisition of cards such as this one. Also for the software tests, the resolutions used were the same, with and without filters, while for the 3DMark Vantage software the pre-selections used were Performance, High and eXtreme.

On the front part of the card there are the usual connections: 2x DVI-I and S-Video, while on the back, always towards the right part of the card, there are the 2 6pin connectors that will be used to properly connect the card to the power supply.

Except for the different PCB color that identifies the non-reference Sapphire cards (Blue), there aren’t many differences in the component layout for both the back or front parts once the heatsink is removed. In fact, the RV770 GPU is placed in the center of the card, surrounded by the 8 GDDR5 memory chips of 64MB each. At the back, we can see all the power supply area placed in a very orderly manner.

The bundle package also features:

- CD with Drivers
- User Manual
- Two Molex - PCI-EX 6 pin adapters
- DVI-VGA Adapter
- DVI-HDMI Adapter
- CrossFire Bridge
- Component Adapter
- Composite Adapter
- Cyberlink DVD Suite, POwer DVD Software
- 3DMark Vantage full, with license.

As we mentioned before, the card presents itself completely covered on the front part, while the backside that doesn’t present any “heating” component is left open; the only thing that we find is the clip that assures that the heatsink will be connected to the CPU, the same used on the reference card.

As usual in the latest ATI models, on the top part of the PCB we can find the two CrossFire connectors in order to connect two or more cards in parallel, but it’s worth mentioning that whoever wants to use the most internal connector, the crossfire bridge will collide with one of the 3 Heatpipes, which creates a bit of a problem.

Now we’ll go through an overview of the heatsink system present on the HD4870 Toxic. The heatsink presents itself as a simple system with the base directly in contact with the heat source. The fin portion and the three big heatpipes are soldered to the base, and those help dissipate the heat along the surface of the heatsink.

The only thing that differs from the ordinary is the vapor chamber placed in the middle of the aluminum based, made completely in copper and its functioning was explained on the previous post. The question is, how much does this system enhance the cooling capabilities when compared to the reference model?

The reference model presents temperatures of 55°C and 72°C respectively when in idle and full mode. While the Toxic model presents temperatures of 42°C and 60°C respectively. A noticeable enhancement.