DEAD - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 $200 after discounts

[fishys87]

There's gobs of threads on this subject here and elsewhere. Long story short, 5870 is faster in most games except those that use a lot of tessellation, then they start to pull even. And 6870 crossfire outperforms 5870 crossfire.

I haven't tried to OC my new card yet but so far stock performance is looking good. The cooler is pretty quiet and seems effective. Temps are 38 idle/70 load (playing Metro 2033 for 30 min.s) and the fan never goes above 40%.

That's what I've been reading.. I know to take things with a grain of salt and to have an open mind.


You don't have any issues with the "grey screen of death" do you? And I asked a some-what similar question on another forum, and someone mentioned to "make sure you install drivers right", or not doing so could result in errors and what-not.

What exactly does "installing drivers right" mean? I've only used nvidia, and I've never had a problem with the drivers not installing properly.


Care to shed any light on this?

 

[kovboi]

You don't have any issues with the "grey screen of death" do you?

Not yet. Only owned it a few hours, of course, but so far so good.

What exactly does "installing drivers right" mean? I've only used nvidia, and I've never had a problem with the drivers not installing properly.

Just uninstalling the old drivers through the control panel still leaves all kinds of files behind. These can cause instability down the line, like when AMD decides to update CCC. So after uninstalling, I boot into safe mode and use driver sweeper (or some such), then reboot and install the new drivers. I also do this when installing a new card even if it's still ATI.

 

[fishys87]

Not yet. Only owned it a few hours, of course, but so far so good.


Just uninstalling the old drivers through the control panel still leaves all kinds of files behind. These can cause instability down the line, like when AMD decides to update CCC. So after uninstalling, I boot into safe mode and use driver sweeper (or some such), then reboot and install the new drivers. I also do this when installing a new card even if it's still ATI.

If you get to OC'ing the 5870, let me know how it goes, and if you hit any potential "wall".

With nvidia, there's a "clean install" option that erases the previous files and what-not before installing the new drivers, and have yet to have any driver issue related problems yet. Guess I will have to manually remove them with driver sweeper if I go this route.

And before I forget, what is "CCC"?

 

[kovboi]

Just a quick update (the deal is dead, but it might be back again). The stock cooler is a little poor in implementation. A couple of times I had the card throttle back after pushing past 80 degrees. At that point, the fan runs at over 70% and gets very noisy.

I tried out a couple of heatsinks I had on hand. The accelero s1 rev.2 does ok, but doesn't really keep up very well. However, my trusty Thermalright HR-03GT is doing amazingly well. The card idles at 34C and during gaming it tops out at 62C. In furmark it does get to 70C, though that's with a low speed 92mm fan that is nearly silent. I'll see how it oc's once I get some ramsinks on it.

So bottom line: a very nice card but plan on replacing the stock cooler. If it costs more than $30, you might just as well get the vapor-x version.

 

[hank123]

Water does wonders. my 5850 is lucky to break 50c even over clocked.

 

[kovboi]

Deal is back. no coupon code, just 219.99 plus a $20 MIR.