ATI Radeon HD 5970: The Undisputed Performance Champ
Posted 11/18/09 at 11:00:00 AM by Loyd Case & Gordon Mah Ung
AMD’s Radeon HD 5970 takes the performance crown, and now offers DirectX 11 GPUs top to bottom.
You can forgive AMD for stealing a line from Nvidia’s playbook. From the name and marketing materials, it’s not obvious that this card is a dual GPU card. One AMD chart even refers to the card as the “ATI Radeon HD 5970 GPU,” much like Nvidia’s 295 GTX is a dual GPU card that’s sold as if it were a normal graphics card.
Let’s take a quick look at the speeds and feeds of the new card, and then discuss additional features. We’ll compare them to the Radeon HD 5870 single GPU card; there are differences in core and memory clock speeds.
ATI Radeon GPUs Compared
| Model | HD 4870 | HD 5970 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | Single HD 5870 GPU | Dual HD 5870 GPUs |
| Stream Processors | 1600 | 3200 |
| Core Clock | 850MHz | 725MHz |
| Memory | 1GB 1200MHz GDDR5 | 2GB 1000MHz GDDR5 |
| Texture Units | 80 | 160 |
| ROPs | 32 | 64 |
| Memory Data Rate | 4.8Gbps | 4.0Gbps |
| Compute Performance | 2.72TFLOPs | 4.64TFLOPs |
| Idle Power | 27W | 42W |
| Max Power | 188W | 294W |
Most features simply double, since there are two identical GPUs with the same memory per GPU. However, note the memory bandwidth is lower, since the memory clock is lower. Also, overall compute performance isn’t quite double, since the engine clock for each GPU defaults to 725MHz, rather than the single GPU 5870’s 850MHz.
In addition to the paired GPUs, the card maximizes performance with a new second generation PLX PCI Express 2.1 bridge chip. This speeds up communications between the two GPUs.
The older Radeon HD 4870 X2, AMD’s last dual GPU card, often suffered from serious overheating problems, so AIT has taken steps to improve overall thermal efficiency. The first step is to used specially screened GPU chips with the minimum amount of leakage current. The thermal system consists of a vapor chamber, with heat dissipation via a fully vented exhaust system. Finally, a multipoint, programmable PWM fan controller ensures fan speeds consistent with overall thermal output. The whole affair is rated to dissipate 400W, or over 100W of headroom.
The use of low leakage GPUs suggests that the core clock speeds could be pushed higher than the default 725MHz. Given that the card can dissipate 400W of overall thermal output, ATI has decided to leave the card unlocked, letting users overclock it to their heart’s content. The company is even making available an overvoltage tool, and suggests that the card has enough headroom to push the engine clock to above the 850MHz of the single GPU HD 5870 and the memory speeds up to the 1200MHz of the 5870. In The HD 5970 also sports sophisticated digital voltage regulators, real time power monitoring and Japanese pure ceramic capacitors, which facilitate higher clock speeds. (The reason for the more conservative default clock speeds is that the company needs to make allowances for the thermal environment inside PC cases, which may be less optimal.)
What about power efficiency? The HD 5970 offers the same clock gating capability as the single GPU variant. In addition, the card offers an ultra low power state that puts one GPU to sleep, which cuts the overall power draw of that GPU by half the normal idle performance. The card idles at 42W, only 15W higher than the 27W of the HD 5870. Of course, the card sucks 294W at full throttle – and that’s at the default clock speeds. So you’ll need a power supply with the later PCI Express 8-pin power connector – the HD 5970 uses one eight pin and one six pin connector from the PSU.
The onboard connectors are slightly different from the original HD 5870: two DVI-I connectors and one mini-DisplayPort attachment, first popularized with Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops and iMacs. All three can be attached simultaneously, and drive three displays at the same time. Note that most DisplayPort enabled monitors which aren’t Apple displays ship with standard sized DisplayPort cables, so you’ll need to obtain a mini-DisplayPort to standard DisplayPort cable if you want to take advantage of that connection option.
Remember, NVIDIA has promised
Submitted by jibran_pcc on Thu, 08/19/2010 - 12:01am
Remember, NVIDIA has promised the first of it's next gen cards to be commercially available within the next 7 weeks and ATi was showing an as yet unnamed new card, both at CES. Both of these new cards were running three and in one case, six monitors in 3-D. I would wait either for the new versions either to get one of them or to take advantage of the price drop that will for sure happen with the present generation high end cards.
Submitted by bradblack on Wed, 08/18/2010 - 6:49am
Remember, NVIDIA has promised the first of it's next gen cards to be commercially available within the next 7 weeks and ATi was showing an as yet unnamed new card, both at CES. Both of these new cards were running three and in one case, six monitors in 3-D. red xl abdominal exerciser | ab exercises for men | lower ab workouts for men
Submitted by jarunm on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 6:50am
Submitted by geckofish52 on Fri, 04/02/2010 - 7:35am
yeah i think they typoed
Submitted by jason_mazzy on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 7:01pm
I was curious about performance money is no issue kinda question. What would run more efficiantly/faster?
Quad 5870's?
or dual 5970's?
now straight logic says quad's, but as many of you know the performance drops after the second card. So would dual 5970's run faster?
Submitted by Milo Hajek on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 11:22am
What gives, its supposed to be a $599 card, yet I have yet to see it for less than $649, with the most common price being $699, a hundred bucks more then MSRP, and the worst part is that even if you can stomach the paying that highway robbery price, you can't actually order one. I have checked everything from Newegg, Amazon, Pricewatch, ebay and more and no one even has them in stock!!! What gives ATI? Are you not making enough for your manufactures to build HD5970's? Readers want to know, and I would applaud any manufacture that has the guts to actually sell the card for MSRP ($599).
Submitted by Jims45wow on Sun, 05/02/2010 - 6:07pm
Don't clap and cheer, just give me $100!
Jim
Phenom II X4 940 Black, MSI K9A2 Platinum AMI Bios v1.9
4GB Corsair DDR2 1066@800 5/5/5/18/23/2T no fins/fans
ATI Saphire 4870 512MB DDR3 750MHz/900MHz core/mem
Now, let's try the Spam Block ag-ain! (to the tune of
"Time-Warp", it makes being refused more fun...)
Submitted by Milo Hajek on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 11:16am
Proof reading.... "The older Radeon HD 4870 X2, AMD’s last dual GPU card, often suffered from serious overheating problems, so AIT has taken steps to improve overall thermal efficiency." Common guys "AIT"??? really.
Submitted by NicciAdonai on Sun, 02/28/2010 - 7:38am
Bring on the external GPU enclosures!
Submitted by Baer on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 4:42pm
Remember, NVIDIA has promised the first of it's next gen cards to be commercially available within the next 7 weeks and ATi was showing an as yet unnamed new card, both at CES. Both of these new cards were running three and in one case, six monitors in 3-D. I would wait either for the new versions either to get one of them or to take advantage of the price drop that will for sure happen with the present generation high end cards.
Submitted by Xylogeist on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 9:04am
Soo.... this beats the Nvidia 295? Sweet, Ill start saving... for the next Nvidia card with Fermi! Shabang
Submitted by TechnoBoy on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 3:24pm
you do reliase its having massively low yields in single digits and is expected to launch at 500 quid?
Submitted by RadioactiveKernel on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 11:02pm
Alot of people think that this card is major overprriced. I dont think so considering how long it should last if you take care of your system(s). I still have a Radeon 9800 Pro (256MB was max back then sonny) in my legacy computer running alot of current games decently. (Med settings mostly) So the $500 it cost me averages out to $62.50 per year. Plus its still working !
I am buying two for my new system from DigitalStorm.
Submitted by Dexter243 on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 7:40pm
my 2 4850's are still kicking all the as i can throw at it
with my cheep 9850x4 quad and 6 gig ddr 2 800../and win 7 ult
in no way will i even concider a new card for a few more years
Submitted by Caboose on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 3:56pm
How are you running 2 4850's in Crossfire on your Mac. I didn't think Mac's supported Crossfire (or SLI).
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by bingojubes on Sat, 12/12/2009 - 5:43pm
Price is quite daunting, but how about including some brackets to support the other end? i don't feel like installing one, only to have the sheer weight of awesome break my PCI slots, either in transit or gaming.
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Submitted by dankers on Sat, 02/27/2010 - 8:58pm
die in a fire
Submitted by nsk chaos on Tue, 12/01/2009 - 3:37pm
hmm....ill consider getting this card once the price drops and are in stock....
Submitted by RAMBO on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 6:59am
I'm not willing to give up my left nut to buy this beast, yes it's a killer card,
but, the 5870 is best bang for buck.
$600 for a GPU forget it, anything over $450 you can keep it ATI, NVIDIA!
They are just miking us year after year, 1 year from now they will release another 5 to 6 hundered
dollor card. Wake the F up people, demand more for less or just don't buy!
You all just play right in to their hands by shelling out the dough... Dough I and alot of other's don't have, Most of
all they charge more for less interface's; where did the HDMI Dual Display Port Go? I do not want a Video Card at
that price without HDMI for sure, Later People and Great Computing...
Submitted by Thursday on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:42pm
I would much rather have the Display port...are you really going to stuff this card into a HTPC?
Submitted by RAMBO on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 5:46am
Have you seen many Display Port Monitors out there? Some yes,
but very very few.
Most Monitors shipping now have HDMI and some only have
HDMI to hookup to.
It has nothing to do with putting a RAD Video Card in a HTPC.
I'm being nice to you, just do some more research, or research peroid
before making a comment!
Happy Holidays All... P.S. Keep Your UBER PC's Rock'en; and Rambo
can stuff anything into whatever he wants!!!
Submitted by SpaceBison on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 12:20am
So are the linux drivers up to par or does nvidia still wipe the floor with ati in this area?
Submitted by HellTempest on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 9:58pm
I was drooling at the specs
Submitted by Zallomallo on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 6:15pm
Pentium Dual Core and onboard graphics! Beat that!
Submitted by Xylogeist on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 12:05pm
Nvidia just got F'd in the A.
Submitted by RAMBO on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 7:03am
Nvidia will give ATI a reach around when their new card is released, as long as the price is right of course
for broke F's like me and other's can afford!
And, as usual, there would
Submitted by gendoikari1 on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 11:14am
And, as usual, there would be supply problems so LOLFAIL that everyone would be out of stock.
Submitted by AleceHelix on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 9:33am
Geez, I'm still running a 2007 computer with a Intel Core 2 Quad CPU and a nVidia 9800 Videocard. I need to upgrade.
Submitted by praetor_alpha on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 4:39pm
I've had a Q9300 and GTX 280 for a year and a half. Sure it's remotely possible I get another CPU, I'm looking to keep this until like, Crysis 2 or 3.... or 2 to 4 years, whichever is first; I might be playing too much SC2 by then (with a more than capable machine) to even care about other games.
Submitted by mesiah on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 11:08pm
Don't worry, you will be just fine. Until the playstation 4 or xbox 720 comes out your machine will run every game that is made. Since there is no money in making computer games these days those high powered graphics cards do nothing but inflate our Epeens with ridiculous frame-rates.
Submitted by snapple00 on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 7:28am
Looks like we are about a year off from having a gfx card that can actually play crysis maxed at 60 fps!
(mod) WOW
Submitted by quantumnerd on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 11:24am
(mod) WOW that's fast, it runs crysis with extra sparkle at HD res > 60 FPS, amazing.
Submitted by downlinx on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 6:06am
like i said before, it maybe fast but games that dont scale for dual vid cards will only be using a 5850 video card. wow 600$ for this even the gtx295 was cheaper when it came out and this card is only 15% faster, whoopydydoo, i will keep my gtx295 andgtx260 phys and still beat this card. im not a nvidia fanboy, i just go where there are least amount of trouble.
Submitted by CloudRider on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 9:39am
Did anyone else hear Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw's voice in their head when they read that line?
Submitted by Khaled on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 2:32am
I just bought the 5870 ... too soon?
Submitted by AleceHelix on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 9:40am
GPUs will always become more powerful in time, so if you're waiting for a faster GPU, set a goal and don't go off and buy a GPU you will regret buying.
Submitted by mesiah on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:45pm
Damn you guys! I budgeted $400 for a graphics card in my new build. It hurt to budget that much but I am running 3 displays and wanted maximum performance. Now I have rethink it. $600 is a whole lot of moolah for a graphics card..... bad damn is it sweet.
.
Submitted by Vano on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:12pm
If they continue grow the cards like this, for then next upgrade we'll need new generation-extra-deep case, plus support brackets to hold the other end of the card from bending...
Submitted by ThermoGel on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 9:46am
And have to plug the computer into a 240V outlet.
Submitted by Dexter243 on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:04pm
Nutcracklng snack
well for about a year now i have ben running my 2 4850's in xfire and find with my crapy old amd 9850 x4
and thes 2 4850's in xfire i can run just about any game i want at max settings on my 22" lcd so ill be fine for some time
but kudos ati for a kick ass card
Submitted by knexkid on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 10:58pm
Wow, I'm surprised how much the 4870x2 holds up to the 295. I have a 4870x2 and I thought that the 295 was significantly better, it the 4870x2 actually beats the 295 in most tests. Well I have been pretty happy with it! It needs to last me another 1-2 years though (perferablly 2)
Submitted by zakn on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 6:48am
My 4870x2 is still kicking ass as well!
Submitted by Primus2112 on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 4:38am
I am happy with my 4870X2 as well :)
Submitted by ethanajs on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 10:27pm
I thought the 1156 chipset didn't have two PCI-E x16 controllers? So why would you Crossfire them if the bandwidth is limited.
Submitted by Peanut Fox on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:27pm
I think your are assuming that a 5970 is saturating the bandwidth of PCI x8, and it's not. The difference between cards in Crossfire/SLI in x8 vs x16 configurations typically show little or no difference. However, from a pure performance standpoint it would have been nice if they tested crossfire with dual x16 PCI slots.
Submitted by JuanSolid on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 5:57am
If you use two cards at the same time it does not matter that both slots are x16, they will both be forced to perform at 8x specs. If you did three two would perform at x4 spec and one would perform at x8 spec (or was it all perform at x4 spec?). This is why you see a performance decrease, or just not as great an increase, in some games when using the same card twice.
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