Ati radeon hd 5870 - Ati News!

Conclusion - Part 2
Another good mention goes to the optimization work done by ATI on the core frequencies while in 2D mode, bringing the energy requirements to the same level as the nVIDIA counterpart.

In 2D mode, the core works at only 240Mhz. Also the fullload energy consumption was reduced, which means a great performance/consumption ratio. In idle, the card requires only 210Mhz and in full mode, 340Mhz.

Conclusion - Part 1

At the end of the review, one of the things we noticed is that the new proposal, which in theory should be the direct competition of the GTX260 and the future GTX275, manages to keep up even with the GTX285.

In the benchmark tests, except for the 3Dmark Vantage, the HD4890 shows a superiority towards its previous model and the nVIDIA counterparts, while on the 3DMark 06, the filter activation shows a decrease on the performance. In the in-game tests, the XFX proposal does rather well, and it can be a good alternative for those who don’t want to spend the extra money for the nVIDIA top-card.

Company of Heroes - DirectX 10

- 1680×1050 (without filters) - 56.9
- 1920×1200 (Without filters) - 55.3
- 1680×1050 (With filters) - 55.4
- 1920×1200 (with filters) - 52.5

With Company of Heroes, the card shows almost the same performances as its nVIDIA counterpart.

Call of Juarez - DirectX 10

- 1680×1050 (without filters) - 55.7
- 1920×1200 (Without filters) - 49.6
- 1680×1050 (With filters) - 47
- 1920×1200 (with filters) - 40.9

Call of Juarez’s complex graphic engine gives an advantage to ATI’s solution, with even the previous model, the HD4870 managing to obtain better results than the nVIDIA solution.

Crysis WarHead

- 1680×1050 - 23
- 1920×1200 - 20

Crysis 2 is a very heavy game on any machine, and in this case, the ATI solutions tend to lose ground to the nVidia ones. However, the newest ATI solution is much better than the previous one.

Unreal Tournament III

- 1680×1050 (without filters) - 187
- 1920×1200 (Without filters) - 158
- 1680×1050 (With filters) - 128
- 1920×1200 (with filters) - 105

Unreal Tournament is a game based on nVIDIA solutions, but the new ATI card manages to keep up with the GTX 285 with no bigger issues.

In-Game Tests

FarCry 2

- 1680×1050 (without filters) - 62.2
- 1920×1200 (Without filters) - 59.9
- 1680×1050 (With filters) - 49.5
- 1920×1200 (with filters) - 45.4

Testing FarCry 2, we realize how much better the HD4890 is when compared to the previous solutions. It even tops nVidia’s GTX 285, offering the best results in the category.

3DMark Vantage

- Performance - 11652
- High - 7201
- Extreme - 4825

3DMark Vantage - GPU

- Performance - 10202
- High - 6467
- Extreme - 4639

3DMark Vantage, being demanding as it is, it’s still a little challenging to the ATI solutions, especially when compared to the nVidia models. But the HD4890 gives better results than the previous models.

3DMark 06

- 1680×1050 (without filters) - 16606
- 1920×1200 (Without filters) - 15241
- 1680×1050 (With filters) - 13159
- 1920×1200 (with filters) - 11889

Pixel and Vertex Shader

- Pixel Shader (1680) - 740
- Pixel Shader (1920) - 587
- Vertex Shader (Simplex) - 416
- Vertex Shader (complex) - 230

Fillrate

- Single - 13450
- Multi  - 28025

Benchmark Tests

All the tests are done in two resolutions: 1920×1200 and 1680×1050 with and without filters.

3DMark 05

XFX HD4890 1GB XXX Edition

- 1680×1050 (without filters) - 24001
- 1920×1200 (Without filters) - 23401
- 1680×1050 (With filters) - 19749
- 1920×1200 (with filters) - 19479

It’s worth noticing that the new proposal scores very high points, especially when compared to the previous version. The only problem is when the filters are enabled, the ATI solutions usually lose when compared to the equivalent nvIDIA ones.

Card Layout  - Part 2

At a first glance, the card is exactly the same as the previous HD4870 model, except for the stickers on the heatsink cover. The PCB is the classic red-colored one found on most ATI models, almost completely covered with a heatsink made completely in copper, with a big plastic cover and the 70mm fan.

Analyzing the card on detail, it’s clear to see that the back part of the card has differences on how the components are disposed, and we can also see the 8-pin connectors instead of the 6-pin ones. The outputs are the classic ones, 2 DVI-I and an S-Video, while on the top part there are 2 connections for the CrossFire.

XFX’s bundle features a DVI-HDMI connector, the Crossfire ridge, the molex adaptor, a driver CD and the Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X CD game.

Card Layout

XFX, on the XXX model, has decided not to change anything on the cooler and power supply layout of the card, changing only the working frequencies. Hence, this model is to be considered identical to the AMD reference model when it comes to the layout.

AMD has left a lot of space to manufacturers on these new models to create personalized versions, and there has been a few models with a bigger power supply requirements (6pin + 8 pin for example) for a bigger overclock margin. XFX has personalized this card with a different sticked on the heatsink cover where the model number (HD4890) is shown, and a XFX logo sticker is placed on the fan as well.