Manufacturer: MSI Price: $ 499 US Author: Steve Date: 04/07/2010

[ Test: Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2 ]

Although the MSI R5870 Lightning boosts the Crysis Warhead performance at 2560x1600 by an impressive 21% when compared to the standard Radeon HD 5870, it is still considerably slower than the GeForce GTX 480. The MSI R5870 Lightning trailed the GeForce GTX 480 by an 8% performance margin, though it did help close the gap considerably. When testing with Far Cry 2 we see a 12% performance gain at 2560x1600 when comparing the MSI R5870 Lightning to the standard Radeon HD 5870. Unfortunately this performance boost simply is not enough, as the GeForce GTX 480 remains 37% faster than the MSI R5870 Lightning.

<- Previous Page Table of Contents Introduction MSI R5870 Lightning in Detail Test System Specs & 3Dmark Vantage Test: Batman Arkham Asylum, Battlefield Bad Company 2 Test: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Company of Heroes >>> Test: Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2 <<< Test: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, Metro 2033 Test: Resident Evil 5, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Test: World in Conflict, Wolfenstein Power Consumption & Temperatures Conclusion Next Page ->

Dan Posts: 2 Joined: 2010-04-18

Posted on: 04/19/2010 05:35 PM A link is provided here to purchase this card, however, for a quick price comparison I went to Newegg [I know they do not always have the lowest prices]. HD 5870 $400, Lightning $480, GTX 480 $500. As for watts used under load by the overclocked Lightning, all I can say is HOLY POWER BAT MAN!! For me, one of the detractors against the GTX 480 is power draw. While the overclocked Lightning draws much less at idle [172 watts total - very good] than the GTX 480, under load the power needed by the overclocked Lightning is astonishing. Those were some of my thoughts concerning the Lightning. Very good overclock by the way. Any idea when the HD 6870 [or whatever it will be called] will be out? With the economy sinking and not much pressure from Nvidea I suspect as late as 1Q 2011, which is an eternaty for a new GPU, a year and a half for ATI. Regarding the next generation of video cards, if Nvidea gets their act together and makes money for the next 9 months and finds a way to soundly defeat the HD 5xxx they may have a next generation GPU about the same time ATI does, which would be interesting. Again, a very good review and an outstanding overclock on the Lightning.

Oldie

Posted on: 04/15/2010 08:51 PM Stick that Thermalright Spitfire heatsink on this thing and see how it overclocks then

Steve Posts: 80 Joined: 2010-02-08

Posted on: 04/16/2010 11:11 AM Posted by DM on 04/09/2010 04:59 PM You need to redo the power ratings, IN GAME, Furmark isn't an accurate benchmark, somehow it puts voltage regs under their full load while the gpu doesn't do any extra work. ProX is right nothing needs to be redone. Posted by Brutalis on 04/09/2010 02:53 PM Being an amateur photographer I know that DOF (Depth Of Field) is a generally desirable effect, but sadly it's not always welcomed. Brutalis I have no idea about photography, I wish I could get someone to take the photos for me I hate doing it. I do not use a tripod but you are right I should. Also I use a basic compact camera and cannot change lenses. I will look into something more advanced but really I wouldn’t do it justice.

Brutalis

Posted on: 04/18/2010 08:31 PM "Brutalis I have no idea about photography, I wish I could get someone to take the photos for me I hate doing it. I do not use a tripod but you are right I should. Also I use a basic compact camera and cannot change lenses. I will look into something more advanced but really I wouldn’t do it justice." No, you don't need a huge DSLR, most pocket cameras would do just fine, if used right. Use the landscape mode (yeah, sounds strange, but don't let the name confuse you, it's multi-purpose :P), a tripod, force the lowest ISO and you're basically there. Sorry if off-topic comments are not that welcomed. I just love giving photographic advice

ProX	Posted on: 04/08/2010 11:49 AM Nice review. That thing is impressive but a tad too expensive I feel.

bazz	Posted on: 04/08/2010 10:11 PM That is a mighty impressive graphics card that challenges the GeForce GTX 480 well. Great review keep them coming!

Horribleron Posts: 13 Joined: 2010-03-26

Posted on: 04/09/2010 01:48 AM I've been running a MSI R4870 MD1G card for nearly a year now which has been a great 4870 product. With this review MSI has furthered my respect as a quality video card maker even more.

ffox	Posted on: 04/09/2010 11:01 AM wow that thing is lightning fast, yeah I said it nice card I wonder what two would be like? Ahh to dream!

Brutalis

Posted on: 04/09/2010 01:53 PM After reading this review I now feel compelled to sell one of my kidneys in order to buy the MSI Lightning, and the other one just to afford a new high-end power supply, so that I can give the card a massive overclock and see who dies first - me or it :P Thanks for just killing me, Steve! Jokes aside I have a suggestion about the photos used in your reviews. Being an amateur photographer I know that DOF (Depth Of Field) is a generally desirable effect, but sadly it's not always welcomed. If a tripod is used (and it should, given that the video card is a completely static object), one could stop down the lens to say f8-f9 in order to eliminate the DOF and get a nice evenly sharp image of the board. I just feel that would suit the technical nature of the articles a bit more. Keep up the hard work, mate! Cheers!

DM

Posted on: 04/09/2010 03:59 PM You need to redo the power ratings, IN GAME, Furmark isn't an accurate benchmark, somehow it puts voltage regs under their full load while the gpu doesn't do any extra work. This caused the 4870 to crash and ALL cards, the 480gtx included, to give riduculous results. Stability testing, it isn't even good for that as you could be unstable in furmark(like the 4870) and never once crash in any game at max load ever. The problem is, the lightnings gone overboard on the voltage regs just so you definately aren't limited. THat doesn't mean you'll actually use that full power in gaming, its just that to eliminate a bottleneck when overclocking. Testing in a real game I would wager would bring the lightnings power usage down to 10-15% above the 5870, massively below the 480gtx, but all cards would register a lower number by probably a vaguely similar amount. So the question is, in any real gaming situation does the Lightning edition really use insanely more power than a standard 5870, or ONLY in furmark, again I'd suggest only the later. Considering so many stock 5870's can overclock pretty close to 1000Mhz anyway, why would you buy a card that uses that much more power to do so.

ProX

Posted on: 04/09/2010 09:49 PM @ DM ... I don't understand your point. Why would the Radeon HD 5870 consume far less in gaming applications and not the GeForce GTX 480? That makes no sense to me, this is an apples to apples test given they were tested under the same conditions. Furthermore I seriously doubt with a 17% core overclock and a massive voltage hike that the Lightning is only going to use 10-15% more than a standard Radeon HD 5870. I think you will find the percentages will scale much like they did in the review.