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The time has come, the time we have been waiting for since the release of the Radeon HD 5870. Today we can show you the Radeon HD 5970, which is essentially a pair of Radeon HD 5870 GPU’s on a single PCB, and at 30cm long it’s not only the fastest graphics card you will have ever seen, it’s also the biggest... Just 7 weeks ago now AMD unleashed their highly impressive Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, and in the process stole the performance crown from Nvidia by delivering the world’s fastest GPU. The following week saw the release of a slightly cut down version, known as the Radeon HD 5850. Another week on and we were presented with the Radeon HD 5770 and 5750 graphics cards, both delivering exceptional value.  Prior to the release of the Radeon HD 5870 the GeForce GTX 285 featured the world’s most complex and powerful GPU. This made the so called cut down version of the Radeon HD 5870 even more impressive, as the 5850 was also found to be more powerful than the GeForce GTX 285. However, although AMD had done the unexpected and defeated the GeForce GTX 285 with the Radeon HD 5850, they still had one more challenge to overcome, the GeForce GTX 295. Comprised of a pair of GT200b GPU’s featuring the same core configuration as the GeForce GTX 275, the GTX 295 is a serious customer and one we did not expect to be made obsolete by a next-gen single GPU product. AMD had to dig a little deeper and that is exactly what they have done. Despite already measuring almost 28cm long, which is about 4cm more than your typical ATX motherboard, AMD has taken the Radeon HD 5870 and added another GPU. Some thought it not possible, and I must admit to be skeptical about the idea myself. However today AMD is officially unveiling the new ATI Radeon HD 5970, which as you might have already guessed, takes a pair of GPU’s (the same as those used on the Radeon HD 5870) and sticks them on a single PCB. In terms of specifications the core configurations are the same as that of the Radeon HD 5870, while the operating frequency of both the core and memory has been reduced to match that of the Radeon HD 5850. Still, despite this the Radeon HD 5970 has a theoretical bandwidth of 256GB/s, which is quite incredible. The Radeon HD 5870 proved to be very efficient in terms of bandwidth, as despite having slightly less bandwidth available when compared to the GeForce GTX 285, it was significantly faster. This is interesting as the GeForce GTX 295 produces a bandwidth of 223.8GB/s which is 13% less than that of the Radeon HD 5970. On paper the Radeon HD 5970 certainly looks capable of destroying the GeForce GTX 295, which has remained the world’s fastest single graphics card since being released at the start of this year. Something we find interesting about the Radeon HD 5970 is that AMD is claiming an introductory price of just $600 US. While this is an incredible amount of money to pay for a graphics card, it is certainly not unusual for a high-end graphics card. Although the GeForce GTX 295 was introduced at $500 US it did have to contend with extremely cheap Radeon HD 4700 products at the time, which forced the price down. However the Radeon HD 5870 is considered quite a good buy at its introductory price of $400 US, though the problem of availability still remains and most are unable to get their hands on one. When you consider that a pair of Radeon HD 5850 graphics cards will set you back $600 US anyway, the Radeon HD 5970 does make more sense as it is a better alternative to throwing a pair of these cheaper graphics cards in Crossfire. Furthermore, a pair of Radeon HD 5970 graphics cards is going to cost $800 US. The Radeon HD 5970 has yet another trick up its sleeve, and to be honest we cannot help but get excited about this one. AMD say that this graphics card is completely unlocked for end-users, and this means get ready to break out your overclocking caps. By uncapped the AMD software now allows limitless core and memory frequency boosts, while the user is also free to increase voltages. This kind of overclocking freedom has never been provided by AMD/ATI or Nvidia before, and while any alterations made using the AMD software are not covered by warranty, the fact that they are offering this kind of support to those that want it is impressive. This is certainly a feature that we are keen to look at in this review. For now let’s take a quick look at the Radeon HD 5970 graphics cards… |
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Wesley |
Posted on: 09/11/2012 09:39 PM
I found this information very helpful. I know the 5970 is a little older now, but it's still an awesome video card.. I was worried about the fact that the fan was not kicking in at 70 degrees and this article explained that the GPU can safely get hotter and the fan will start and lower it.. I had been using overdrive to leave the fan on 100% all the time while playing or bitcoin mining Thanks!! |