The 5800 series GPUs have been out for a while. Manufacturers are now coming out with variations on the originals, but I thought it might be fun to take a step back and do a quick run-through of this generation of AMD/ATI’s top graphics cards.
In the Beginning…
…were the default clocked, reference cards. AMD says this series contains “The most technologically advanced and feature rich GPUs AMD has ever created.” They are based on AMD’s 40nm process and have 2.15 billion (yes, billion) transistors on the GPU.
The TeraScale 2 Unified Processing Architecture has
- 1600 Stream Processing Units
- 80 Texture Units
- 128 Z/Stencil ROP Units
- 32 Color ROP Units
At stock, reference 5870 GPUs clocked in at 850MHz
Not only is it one of the most powerful GPUs on the planet, it comes with some of the fastest memory on the planet. The “GDDR5 interface [has] 153.6GB/s of memory bandwidth.” Memory speed on reference cards is 1200MHz.
So what does all of that mean? Well, it basically means you have one extremely powerful GPU. Rather than regurgitate information that has already been out for a while, feel free to have a look at a very detailed explanation in this excellent Anandtech article starting on page 4.
Stock 5870 - Photo Courtesy AMD
You can get a stock 5870 (850 MHz GPU / 1200 MHz RAM) for around $380 -$390 at Newegg.
Middle of the Road
Of course, people are never satisfied with top of the line for too long, so manufacturers began taking stock cards and overclocking them from the factory. These cards typically come with mild-to-moderate overclocks, like this offering from XFX (875 / 1250) and this one from Sapphire (870 / 1250). They are at a little bit of a price premium over a stock 5870 and are based off the reference PCB layout.
Perhaps they’re binned a little better to ensure stability at the increased clocks, but that’s just a guess and may not even be accurate. Those aren’t difficult overclocks to obtain and the premium may or may not be worth it, depending on how much you like the upgraded cooler.
XFX 5870 XXX - Photo Courtesy XFX
The cards mentioned above will run you $430 and $480, respectively.
Where Are They Now?
Now that manufacturers have pushed the stock PCB about as far as reasonable, it’s time for the redesigns. For instance, this one from MSI (900 GPU / 1200 Memory) has not only an upgraded cooler, but they’ve redesigned the PCB as well. MSI isn’t alone either. ASUS has an aftermarket PCB offering (900/1225) and Gigabyte does too, coming in at one of the fastest on the market (950 / 1250).
MSI 5870 Lightening - Photo Courtesy MSI
Being new and stronger, these cards command the greatest premium, running $480, $520 & $499, respectively.
What Will They Do?
Well, that’s what we’re here to find out. I’m happy to say we have a Gigabyte Super Overclock (SOC) GV-R587SO-1GD (Newegg link) clocked at 950 /1250 in testing literally as I type this, courtesy of AMD.
Gigabyte 5870 SOC
Look for the review two Mondays from now. See you then!
-Jeremy Vaughan (hokiealumnus)
Related posts:
- ATi HD 5870 Review
- ATI Radeon HD5870 Eyefinity6 Review Roundup
- ATI Increases its Market Share
- ATI Tapes Out 6000-Series Graphics Cards
- ATI Radeon HD 5550 GDDR5 Review
Tags: 5870, amd, ATI, gigabyte
05-28-10 06:24 AM
05-28-10 06:44 AM
I think that these cards are binned higher than most 5870s because I have yet to see a review of one of these RoG cards that has a GPU core that can't reach 1030+ Mhz. Both of mine reach 1080 @ 1.3v, and 5250 @ 1.675v.
They've also started to include their own special software and features, too. iTracker2, ProbeIt volt-meter voltage monitoring, and the ability to tweak the GDDR5 memory timings for example! That's only with the amazing RoG 5870, though
06-04-10 02:26 PM
06-07-10 08:33 PM
Oh and by the way hokie, grats on turning green!!!
06-07-10 08:44 PM
On-topic, still haven't gotten anything on my voltage problem. Will update as I know more.
The Matrix is definitely high dollar in this range. The ROG series as a whole seems to be though. Hopefully they'll drop it to be in line with the rest at some point.