Quantcast

Don't have an account? Register Now! Forgot password?

Related Articles
Maximum IT
SEE MORE MAXIMUM IT
News

Play Armchair Electrician with Asus' Voltage-Tweakable EAH5800 Series Graphics Cards

Posted 10/02/09 at 11:15:14 AM  by Paul Lilly

comment Commentsprint Printemail EmailDeliciousDiggStumbleUponRedditFacebookSlashdot

Just in case laying claim as the fastest single-GPU videocard on the planet wasn't enough of a selling point for AMD's recently released HD 5870 videocard, Asus has added a twist that it claims will boost performance by up to 38 percent: Voltage Tweak Technology.

According to Asus, owners of its newly launched EAH5870/2DIS/1GD5 and EAH5850/2DIS/1GD5 videocards will be able to crank up GPU voltages through its SmartDoctor application. On the HD 5870, end users can raise the volts from 1.15V to 1.35V, boosting GPU and memory clockspeeds from 850MHz and 4800MHz (effective) to 1035Mhz and 5200MHz. On the HD 5850, gamers can up the volts from 1.088V to 1.4V, which is enough to overclock the GPU and memory from 725MHz and 4000MHz to 1050MHz and 5200MHz.

By doing so, Asus' own benchmarking noted a 17 percent performance gain in 3DMark Vantage Extreme on the 5870, and an impressive 38 percent jump on the 5850.

Get the full scoop here.

Image Credit: Asus

COMMENTS:4
TAGS: graphics, videocard, gpu, asus, hardware, build a pc, 5870, eah5800, 5850
COMMENTS
avatarVery true even the points

Submitted by erolsipar on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 11:43am

Very true even the points have are so close. Then what's the point buy a HD 5850 and overclock it and there you have a HD 5870 but not just that the HD 5850 has 1440 shaders and HD 5870 has 1600 shaders even if you clock them the same there still should be different results in gaming.

Login or register to post comments
avatarthe 5850 is cheaper, that's

Submitted by wolf17 on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 4:47pm

the 5850 is cheaper, that's why people would choose to buy the cheaper card and overclock it for "free" performance gains :) 

"Life is about living, not stressing" - a very smart girl :)

Login or register to post comments
avatarNumbers are off

Submitted by JuanSolid on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 9:24am

The numbers must be off, or the naming scheme for ati graphics is in reversing order now. The 5850 boasts better stats in that statment by far even without the overclock at 4000 mhz mem and 4800 gpu.

The 4000 mhz is a typo from what gddr5 can produce. The base clock on 5850 is 1000 mhz, and 1200 mhz on the 5870. This does not make sense with how they came up with the 725 mhz in the statement above for the 5870 mem speed.

I think someone was drunk when putting in these numbers in teh statement from asus, or, the spec charts on that page are all completely wrong. But not one number matches up in a way that is consistant and can be correlated to the others :/.

Login or register to post comments
avatarNice catch

Submitted by One4yu2c on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 11:40am

You're right, the numbers were off. Asus' press release wasn't laid out very well, but here's how it breaks down:

EAH5870 (GPU / Effective Memory)
850MHz/4800MHz ---> 1035MHz/5200MHz with increased voltage

EAH5850 (GPU / Effective Memory)
725MHz/4000MHz ---> 1050MHz/5200MHz with increased voltage

-Paul Lilly

Login or register to post comments

This Month's Issue
Maximum PC
SUBSCRIBE NOW
AND SAVE!
FEATURE How to Get FREE Programs, Services, Software & MoreFEATURE Digital Photo Printer RoundupHOW TOBuild a 3D CameraFEATUREDIY Arcade PCWHITE PAPERHow TRIM Works