ATI HD Radeon 5870: The Fastest Videocard Ever (PS It's $380)
Posted 09/23/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Loyd Case
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AMD packs 2.15 billion transistors into a tiny chip, offering outstanding performance, DirectX 11 support, and triple-monitor (or better) capability. Nvidia’s response is nowhere to be seen
AMD’s graphics division, the former ATI Technologies, loves a good surprise. The company has been a perennial also-ran in the graphics performance arena, but every now and then, it one-ups the competition in a big way. That happened back in 2002, with the launch of the original Radeon 9700, which stole the performance lead from archrival Nvidia. It happened again last year, with the Radeon HD 4800 series. The 4850, 4870, and 4890 weren’t always faster than the competition, but they were small, efficient chips that forced Nvidia into a price war that was good for users but bad for Nvidia’s bottom line.
Now AMD’s doing it again, putting some serious hurt on the competition with the first GPU to support Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 11 API. AMD’s also been paying close attention to the emerging market for non-gaming apps accelerated by GPUs, such as video transcoding and digital photography, fully supporting DirectCompute 11 and OpenCL standards for general purpose computing on graphics cards.
This new chip is no shrinking violet in the numbers department. Every number associated with the new Radeon 5800 series is staggering: 2.15 billion transistors, 2.7 trillion floating-point operations a second, more than 20 gigapixels per second throughput, 1,600 shader units. Other numbers impress because of their smallness. One example: The idle power is a scant 27W— lower than many entry level GPUs.
Given the sheer scale and ambition of this GPU, does it deliver in the performance realm? And will it deliver at a price normal humans can afford? Let’s find out.
Digging into the Radeon HD 5870
At its core is a no-compromise GPU more efficient than any in graphics history
Two years ago, AMD’s ATI division decided to bow out of the game of building huge, hot chips that were expensive to make, ceding the high-end glory to Nvidia’s GT200 chip. That’s not to say AMD gave up on performance; it instead adopted the mantra of building the best performance GPU within a certain cost and power envelope. The Radeon HD 5800 series, originally code-named RV870, is the culmination of that approach. Taking advantage of Moore’s Law, ATI’s designers were able to build a GPU with few compromises using a 40nm manufacturing process.
Radeon GPUs Compared
Radeon HD 4890 vs 5870
| Radeon HD 4890 | Radeon HD 5870 | |
|---|---|---|
| Die Size | 263mm-squared | 334mm-squared |
| Transistor Count | 956 million | 2.15 billion |
| CPU Clock | 850MHz | 850MHz |
| Memory Clock | 975MHz | 1200MHz |
| Memory Quantity (GDDR5) | 1GB | 1GB |
| Manufacturing Process | 55nm | 40nm |
| Stream Processors | 800 | 1600 |
| Texture Units | 40 | 80 |
| ROPs | 16 | 32 |
| Maximum Board Power (TDP) | 160W | 188W |
| Idle Power | 90W | 27W |
Power and Performance
The new GPU is just 334mm2—30 percent larger than the earlier 4870 GPU, but packing more than twice the number of transistors.
At 27W, the idle power is astonishingly low for such a large chip. The key factor was enabling lower memory clocks and voltages during idle, a feat made possible because of significant improvements in the 40nm manufacturing process. The net result is very low power when the board is just rendering your Windows desktop. At the same time, the VRM (voltage regulator module) interface has been improved, preventing overheating while allowing somewhat higher power consumption when performance is actually needed.
So the HD 5870 can draw less power while it’s doing nothing. But we also expect to see better performance, particularly given some of the other specs listed by ATI. The faster memory gives the 5870 overall memory bandwidth of 153GB/s. Feeding that huge pipe is a GPU with twice as much hardware where it matters—stream processors, ROPs, and texture units.
The graphics engine itself sports some new features—particularly the hardware tessellation engine. While past ATI products have offered hardware tessellation, the new engine fully supports Microsoft’s DirectX 11 tessellation API. ATI is fond of pointing out that this is actually its sixth generation tessellation hardware.
Sorry, suppost to be a
Submitted by altair31 on Mon, 11/16/2009 - 5:14pm
Sorry, suppost to be a reply
I call BS on MaximumPC
Submitted by Hitachi on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 10:27pm
You can't do reviews on cards that don't exist. And as i've proven by searching the internet, clearly this card does not exist, it's just a hoax that ATI came up with for publicity. DUH MaxPC how could you not see through this one. Just to sell the lie they made a single card and sent it to you, how could you be so blind.
Submitted by altair31 on Mon, 11/16/2009 - 5:17pm
How could you be so dumb as to think MPC would review something that doesn't exist! Also, how could it not exist, since it's in my gaming rig! Sorry, I probably went overboard there, since likely you are some fanboy. As for be, I just want pure power.
Submitted by Hitachi on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 2:32pm
I was just making fun of the fact that this card is impossible to find in stock. Which is keeping me from buying one.
And a pretty obvious joke at
Submitted by Taz0 on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 2:13am
And a pretty obvious joke at that. Now who's the fanboy, altair?
Just tested this against my
Submitted by Xylogeist on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 10:10am
Just tested this against my GTX 295.... Holy hell... The 295 lost... looks like over 70% of your are wrong :) ATI now reigns the land... until the 300 series of Nvidia comes out XD
Submitted by sybert on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 3:50pm
ATI has been owning Nvidia so bad lately. When they release a new GPU it crushes the Nvidia side.
And then ATI got owned by their own manufacturing.
All right, fess up. Who has
Submitted by gendoikari1 on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 7:22pm
All right, fess up. Who has the sole 5870 ever made? Sure, it might kick ass and have DX11 to boot, but it won't do much if there is just one card in existence. AMD's manufacturing progress=fail.
IF THEY EVER SHIP THEM!
Submitted by JohnP on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 7:50am
Notice that there is NO STOCK on Newegg, Amazon, and Zipzoomfly? Lot of good to have a great card if you DON"T MAKE THEM! Is AMD/ATI nuts? What are they waiting for, NVidia to catch up? Idiots. Never announce a new card unless you can deliver. Otherwise, you get folks forgetting about all the good publicity this card has gotten.
UPDATE: Well, One card in stock at ZipzoomFly (11-5-09). 20% over MSRP but 1st card I have seen...ANOTHER UPDATE must of had all of one card in stock! Gone in 10 minutes..
Submitted by CrimsonFrost on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 10:27am
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/rv870_092209122344/20094.png
Looks like it's beating the #$%^ out of the GTX295 to me.... Guess what happens to the 295 when the X2 version of this card comes out?
Submitted by rrtzmd on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 6:47am
...that graph doesn't show a 295 -- it only goes up to the 285.
Submitted by Evolyptic on Sat, 11/07/2009 - 12:03am
"Nvidia Geforce GTX 295" is on the list. It is the forth one from the top.
Nice Card But....
Submitted by cj100570 on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 12:25pm
Will It Blend?
GTX-295 still beats this
Submitted by n3iyr on Sun, 11/01/2009 - 8:22pm
This is a carefully worded biased article. This guy is so AMD biased he just happend not to mention the NVIDIA GTX-295. Oh, ooops! we were talking single GPU models. Oh, so sorry. So, how is it king if it can't knock down the castle door? The dual GPU model is still secret hush, hush rumor. Well, it might be if, ah, well, um, NVIDIA hasn't said anything ya know. Could be their not worried? Come on dude. It is not king till it rules the land. Truth is, it's another AMD attempt to catch up. As usual. If, could, should, are words. They don't make the card top the numbers.
Submitted by Evolyptic on Sat, 11/07/2009 - 12:07am
The guy above you posted a nice graph that shows how the 285 SLI beats the 295 on crysis & this card beats both; Thus, I think your the one being biased & Fanboyish.
Submitted by Onyx2291 on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 12:47pm
Well yes, but still, it can keep up on a decent pace at a fraction of the cost. Once the 5970 comes out then it will be a true battle, equal on both sides for classification purposes.
nVidia does market the 295 as the fastest dual gpu doesn't it?
-Onyx
Submitted by n3iyr on Sun, 11/01/2009 - 9:23pm
Yep
Submitted by DRAGONWEEZEL on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 12:47pm
They are sold out throughout the state of WA. I found one at *$%#? (Oh, I don't want you to get there before me, I'll uncensor that when I have it in my hot lil hands)
It'll be 400 for the card, and 20 for gas to get there and back. I'll take it though.
THERE ARE ONLY 11 TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. Those that think binary jokes are funny, those that don't, and those that don't know binary
Submitted by Mayhemm on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 12:15pm
The 5870 seems like an awesome card from a performance and power consumption standpoint. However, this thing looks like the Red October and, from what I've heard, is almost as large. Is this thing going to fit in most cases? My current case is struggling to accomodate a 9.5" card!
Submitted by shaolin95 on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 4:17am
It is the fastest SINGLE card. It gets beaten by the GTX 295 and even the 4870x2 very often.
Of course if you prefer single GPU and do not care for the game changing experience that is 3D Vision then this is your card.
Regards
Submitted by mattman059 on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 5:10am
Oh wow 3D! what is this 1980? I personally dont give a shit about 3D anything, games, movies, popup books..who cares? I'll take my games the way the good Lord intended it. flat. regular. enjoyable.
Submitted by DRAGONWEEZEL on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 12:46pm
Dude... chill. Flat isn't going anywhere in the next 5 years. Everyone just bought shiny new plasma and Lcd tv's / monitors.
Though I still use an old SGI 3.2 MP monitor.
THERE ARE ONLY 11 TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. Those that think binary jokes are funny, those that don't, and those that don't know binary
Submitted by neelchauhan on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 11:57am
I went to 3dGameMan.com and they reviewed the 5870, 5850, and 5750 when you only got the 5870. I believe that this is the fastest card but I want to tell high-end gamers (They will need it) and Wii lovers (To suck their money) to buy this.
Submitted by shaolin95 on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 10:07am
Since it gets beaten by the 295 more often than not, I think that would be a far more accurate title.
Submitted by ready4war on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 6:28pm
5870's are already OUT!!!
Submitted by jrodskreet on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 9:56pm
with the multi monitor capabilities i wonder how well it would do on the Samsung LED? i would love to sit back and play my RTS games from my la-z-boy like it was on my ps3.
Submitted by HereKnorThere on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 9:13am
I've got a Samsung 52" 850 Series and my Evga GTX285 works great with it(I've only hooked it up w/ HDMI) I don't see why the 5870 would be any different.
Nice Card
Submitted by AleceHelix on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 8:06pm
I don't care much for the FPS discussions below, but man, in all essence, this is a sweet card.
Submitted by jr1475 on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:51am
I haven't looked at all the posts but I noticed on the picture of the 5870 card that there are two red "vent" looking openings at the end of the card adjacent to the 2 6-pin power connectors. Are these openings for air or am I missing something? Thanks.
By the way, I have been an AMD fanboy for a long time and switched from Nvidia 8600GTS X 2 in sli to one ATI 4870, then a 4870x2 (it blew up on me and was warranty replaced by) then 2 HIS ICEQ4 turbo 1Gb GDDR5 cards in crossfire. I don't want to bash Nvidia but I cannot understand why in the world they would still be using GDDR3 and having to overclock the hell out of the memory (read heat, huge cooling assemblies).
I love the fact that my good old Texas-based AMD is shaking up the mix. A few months back there was an article in your rag about Intel NEEDING AMD despite the small market share AMD has.
Then came Dubai and the "Foundry." Boys, we have a truly worthy contender for both Intel and Nvidia. Competition is great and it is us, the end users that benefit. Sure, the Intel Core I7 will smoke an AMD but I never had to change my motherboard in order to try the new socket AM3 processors and keep my AM2+ CPU's as a backup. It is this kind of backwards compatability that shows AMD understands that it cost us money to go out and get a new motherboard just because the new CPU won't work on the old motherboard.
I look forward to Nvidia's answer to ATI's 5870 salvo shot over the bow. Competition has, especially lately kept the cost of high-end components within our (real world working man's) reach. Cudos AMD.
James R. Rea
okay. either i have a memory
Submitted by nsk chaos on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 5:58pm
okay. either i have a memory leak (which i tend to have somewhat) or the price went up from 350 to 380.....
Submitted by ronf57 on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 6:26am
Looking at the specs and the opencl and direct compute implementation i have to wonder, what is the performance equivalent of this GPU as a CPU.
Are we nearing the cross point in the curve of intel dominance of cpu powered PC and GPU as CPU powered pc?
544 giagaFlops on the 5800 GPU vs 85 gigaFLOPs i-7 975?
Holly molly batman! Huston we have a problem! Danger. danger will robinson!
create a good instruction set and test these things against each other.
a separate note, is it me or does the look of this remind anyone else of the old plug in computer cpu/memory sytem upgrades for early 386 and even mac se30?
Submitted by chocobo on Sun, 10/04/2009 - 10:42pm
This card looks amazing and I will absolutely be buying one in the future... I'm only waiting because $380 is above my spending range right now.
I love that they're focusing on using only as much power as necessary. I use my computer for work AND for casual home stuff like web browsing and videos AND gaming. It would be ridiculous to have two GTX 285s in SLI running at full blast the entire time, using up enough electricity to light up my whole house and raising my room temperature by 15 degrees.
Submitted by ubuwalker31 on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 1:23pm
More than doubling the transistor count to 2.15 billion is amazing. Of course, I'm going to wait to see if NVIDIA can beat AMD's offering...and see who has better Linux support!
The Need to Post this AGAIN
Submitted by 010000100110010... on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 8:42pm
5870 X4? Real or Fake? You decide.
Submitted by AleceHelix on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 6:27pm
Really? If the X2 is still rumored, could there really be an X4?
Submitted by nsk chaos on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 6:18pm
ati's comeback eh?....im likin it =) still a bit moar attached to nvida though
tech pr0n at its best lmao
Submitted by storm747 on Wed, 09/30/2009 - 7:09pm
I will definitely get one as soon as it ships out.I have never ran into problems with an ATI graphics card but ran to some problems with an NVidia card couple of years back.Now I have an ATI Radeon 4850 in my Core i7 CPU systems and was looking to upgrade it to ATI 4890 but as this article has confirm it,I might as well wait for the 5870.I am sure Nvidia will have an answer for it and there will always be the 5880 or 5890 coming soon just like the 4800 series cards we've seen today.
Nevertheless it's an awesome card although pricey for the normal consumer's.I will still buy it coz it says it will help me in my photo editing not to mention expected superb performance on rendering game's graphics.
Congratulations AMD and ATI :))
Impressive benchmark
Submitted by StonedMagician99 on Wed, 09/30/2009 - 8:06am
Impressive benchmark results. Maybe I'll get 3 5890s when they ship early next year...
Submitted by 010000100110010... on Tue, 09/29/2009 - 8:55pm
One, the ATI Radeon 5870 looks amazing performs very well. Hope to buy one soon. Two, Snapple00 is being as you would say a jackass to several people in this post and the random insults don't help him much either.
Submitted by Taz0 on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 1:09pm
Random insults? You mean the insults you threw at him? Let me refresh your memory. In a single post you managed to insult him 11 times:
1. Liar
2. Ignorant
3. Arrogant
4. Jackass
5. "and which clearly, you are very good at [being a a jackass]"
6. Ignorant
7. Ignorant
8. Arrogant
9. Jackass
10. "doesn't know half of anything about what he's talking about"
11. n00bI'd look in the mirror before posting.
Submitted by 010000100110010... on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 7:14pm
They weren't random. I felt the need to insult him because apparently he was insulting several other people in the comments section for no good reason at all. Or perhaps you'd like to as they say 'butt' in into a mess that wasn't created by you? If I were in your position, I wouldn't care much for petty squabbles like the one demonstrated. In fact, I don't care much at all for this site. I'm not trying to 'pick a fight' with you. Have a great day Taz0. -Ben
Submitted by Taz0 on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 6:36am
So let me get this straight. You preach to:
1. Not insult others.
2. Not to "'butt' in into a mess that wasn't created by you"
3. Not to "care much for [other's] petty squabbles"
4. Not to "pick a fight"Yet you follow none of what you preach:
1. You insult him, a lot.
2. You butt-in to messes that weren't created by you ("he was insulting several other people").
3. You care a lot about other's petty squabbles ("I felt the need to insult him", oh how mature).
4. You picked a fight with him, and are now picking a fight with me by accusing me of violating three of your commandments, which you violate yourself, repeatedly.I'm sorry, but that is hypocritical. In addition, you keep saying he was insulting other people. He didn't cuss anyone, like you do, but rather make fun of them. There's a huge difference between cynicism and profanity. He was using the former while you unjustifiably crossed the line into the latter. That makes you the worse offender, and you have no right to criticize him or me. I am not justifying his actions, but I am appalled by yours.
On a lighter note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QyYaPWasos
Submitted by 010000100110010... on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 5:14pm
The 'worse' offender? I'm sorry Taz0 but there no such thing as being the 'worse' offender. I'm also appalled by you of accusing me of being a hypocrite when you clear are one yourself. You accuse me of insulting snapple, 'butting' into messes, petty squabbles, and picking a fight with you? Let me tell you something Taz, you violate every one of your accusations. 1. You insult me by accusing me of being a hypocrite. 2. You butt in to messes that wasn't created by you. 3. You care a lot about my squabble apparently. 4. You picked a fight with me for no good reason whatsoever. And HE WAS insulting other people by accusing them of not enjoying PC gaming because of they thought 36 FPS were playable. Now I may not have a major in social science, but I'm sure that's a random insult. Excuse me, but I'd like to review one of the most basic freedoms, A.K.A., freedom of speech. I criticize whoever and whatever I want. Another thing, is that everyone is a hypocrite, in some form of another. I admit I'm a hypocrite. I merely haven't seen you do so, in fact, all I've heard from you is cynicism and criticism. You call me a hypocrite? Take a look in the mirror.
Submitted by Taz0 on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 12:36pm
I've never called you a hypocrite. That would be unfair since I don't even know you. I suggest that you calm down and re-read my post. Perhaps you could also re-read all your posts and you might find that you often misunderstood the person you were replying to. Sometimes your reply was completely unrelated and sometimes it was to the point, but made no sense. Maybe you were reading too quickly, maybe you found the content infuriating and did not finish reading it, maybe English is not your first language (as it isn't for me) or perhaps you didn't really care enough about the subject matter or the writer to thoroughly comprehend what was said. In any case, it is difficult and somewhat frustrating to converse with someone who doesn't quite get the point you're trying to make, someone who's not on the same 'wavelength' as you, so to speak.
So instead of wasting both of our time, as we seem to be getting nowhere, I suggest we end this conversation on good terms. I apologize for anything I have said that might have hurt your feelings and wish you nothing but good fortune. If we meet again, may it be under better terms. Goodbye and good luck.
Submitted by 010000100110010... on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 2:34pm
Alright Taz0. And English isn't my first language, it's Greek.
Submitted by snapple00 on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 6:13pm
Wow, talk about a cry baby! Your still upset that you got dominated!? Looks like someone needs to learn how to let things go!
You probably don't realize this, since you are in a mad rage, but you were the one complaining about points 1 - 4. And then you hypocritically carried out said points anyway, resulting in you looking like the dunce that you are. Taz0 was calling you on it, so why would it matter if he violates one of the points? (I know, its tough to understand, just give it another read)
How was 4th grade class today, by the way?
Oh, and your internet status has flat lined.
Submitted by 010000100110010... on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 8:05am
Looks like you need to follow what you preach. 1. You need to learn how to let things go. 2. You called me to quote "Trying to hurt me with your made up comments? Shows how little respect you have for yourself." It seems that you were arguing an even less illogical concept, which is basically pure insult. There's actually a such thing as "Plato's Allegory of the Cave." I'm glad I paid attention in all of my classes. Why should it matter that I violate one of the points. You're still merely another arrogant toerag who has too much bloody time on the computer. Get a job.
And 4th grade was fine... 19 years ago. I don't really care what my internet status is, but I have plenty of friends, and none of them are as aggressive as you. If you care to read the further comments below, there are actually some INTERESTING concepts about eye movement and FPS. Now why don't care about that and leave me alone you irksome little fly.
Submitted by snapple00 on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 2:40pm
I never asked how many friends or anything you have had.. So why are you telling me that? On the defensive are we?
Oh and I know you don't care about your internet status, but some wise person long ago told me that it is still your status... LOL. You are a walking contradiction.
Looks like you have such a big crush on me that you can't leave this 'irksome' fly alone. I know you will respond to this post too, probably telling me how much friends you have again.
For being as old as you say you are, you talk and argue like my 11 year old sister. Wait... is this my 11 year old sister?
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