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The new ATI Radeon HD 5870 is a seriously impressive graphics card, delivering a level of performance and efficiency previous unseen from a single-GPU graphics card. Having pushed the Radeon HD 5870 though 15 different games at 3 different resolutions, we can safely say that this is without question the fastest single-GPU graphics card money can buy. When compared to the Radeon HD 4870 the results are staggering, as we saw an 83% performance gain on average, with the Radeon HD 5870 delivering more than twice the average frame rate at 2560x1600 in games such as Far Cry 2, Company of Heroes and Wolfenstein. Just 2 of the games tested dipped below a 60% performance gain, and those games were World in Conflict and Supreme Commander. Commonly the Radeon HD 5870 appeared to be between 65% and 85% faster than the Radeon HD 4870, which was truly impressive. However the real focus point for us was not the now $150 US Radeon HD 4870 (1GB) graphics card, but rather the previous single-GPU performance king, the GeForce GTX 285. Priced at $350 US the GeForce GTX 285 is just $50 less than the Radeon HD 5870, so how did the two compare? Based on the 15 games that we tested, the Radeon HD 5870 was on average 45% faster, which is impressive given it is expected to sell for just 14% more or possibly even less than that. While 4 of the tested games provided the Radeon HD 5870 with less than a 10% performance advantage, it was able to double the performance of the GeForce GTX 285 in 3 of the games tested.  If you shape the results to remove the three highest and three lowest results, the Radeon HD 5870 was still on average 39% faster than the GeForce GTX 285. Therefore, in terms of value the Radeon HD 5870 is a far superior product. Furthermore, the Radeon HD 5870 is also a much more efficient product, as it required just 2.5% more power to deliver on average 45% more performance. The only other alternative we can see to the Radeon HD 5870 right now is a pair of Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards, which will set you back around the same amount and in most cases will deliver better performance. In fact, at 2560x1600, where multi-GPU technology works at its best, out of the 15 games tested the Radeon HD 5870 was faster than the Radeon HD 4870 X2 in 6 of those games, and in many of the games where it was slower, the margin was very minimal. The disadvantage user’s face when opting for Crossfire is that they will require a motherboard offering dual PCI Express 16x lanes with full bandwidth. Additionally, a pair of Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards will be louder and consume considerably more power at idle and under load. Furthermore, they will not support DirectX 11, so we feel the Radeon HD 5870 is a much better value solution at this price. In short, the performance of the Radeon HD 5870 has blown us away, as we never quite expected it to be this good. It shall be every interesting to see how the new Radeon performs against current generation graphics cards in upcoming games, such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for example. Furthermore, we are also going to keep a close eye on performance in the games that we have already tested as the ATI Catalyst drivers mature over the next few months. Not only has the performance blown us away, but so too has the operating efficiency, and the extremely low idle power consumption will help make Crossfire configurations far more viable. While on the topic of Crossfire, we cannot wait to see what the Radeon HD 5870 X2 can do next month, as that is set to be a truly epic product. For now the Radeon HD 5870 looks to be the world’s fastest single-GPU graphics card that provides gamers with the best value option of any high-end graphics card. Reviewed By Steven Walton |
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