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…

The AMD reference cooler features a single 80mm blower fan, which is used to draw air from within the case and push it over the heatsinks fins where it will quickly warm up and then exit the case through the rear of the case. This is exactly the same design used in all high-end graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia for some time now.

Flipping the AMD reference Radeon HD 5970 over exposes the PCB as black. The traditional red used by ATI back in the day has been replaced by a more sinister looking black. There is also a black heat spreader on the rear of this graphics card, much like there was on the Radeon HD 5870. This heat spreader is used to cool down the memory chips placed on the rear of the graphics card.

Removing the heatsink exposes the two GPUs, GDDR5 memory chips, and a few other critical components. In fact, with the heatsink off the Radeon HD 5970 looks almost identical to the Radeon HD 4870 X2 we reviewed some time ago, though it is of course noticeably longer.

The key changes involve the new GDDR5 memory, improved power circuitry, and an updated 2.0 PEX bridge from PLX Technologies, which is used to link the GPUs together. All this hardware is cooled via the large heatsink that covers the majority of the 30cm long PCB.

Also worth mentioning is that the Radeon HD 5970 features two additional power connectors, a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector. This is the same configuration used by previous dual-GPU graphics cards such as the GeForce 9800 GX2 and Radeon HD 4870 X2, so current high-end power supplies should cater for this new graphics card.

The Radeon HD 5870 GPU, of which the Radeon HD 5970 carries two, uses a 40nm design which was first introduced with the Radeon HD 4770. This has allowed ATI to be quite aggressive with the core speed, clocking the GPU’s at 725MHz. That said, AMD does believe that with the aid of their flexible overclocking options the cores can be pushed much higher than this.

The GDDR5 memory works at an even more impressive frequency (1.0GHz x 4) on this particular model, while the card features a total memory capacity of 2GB. The core configuration of the Radeon HD 5970 GPU includes 1600 (320x5) SPUs, 80 TAUs (Texture Address Units), and 32 ROPs (Rasterization Operator Units), which is double that of the Radeon HD 4870 X2.

AMD’s reference card came with Hynix ICs on-board (H5GQ1H24AFR-T2C parts). These GDDR5 modules are rated for 1.25GHz operation, so we expect to push them beyond the stock 1.0GHz configuration.

The Radeon HD 5970 naturally supports CrossfireX technology, and therefore in the standard position we find a single connector for bridging two cards together. The only other connectors can be found on the I/O panel; our AMD sample featured two dual DVI connectors along with a Mini Display Port connection. It is worth noting that like the Radeon HD 5870, this version can also support a maximum resolution of 2560x1600 on not one but rather three monitors.

Hardware - Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition (Overclocked @ 3.70GHz) - x3 2GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 (CAS 9-9-9-24) - Seagate 500GB 7200-RPM (Serial ATA300) - ATI Radeon HD 5970 (2GB) - HIS Radeon HD 5870 (1GB) - HIS Radeon HD 5850 (1GB) - HIS Radeon HD 5770 (1GB) - VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 (2GB) - Asus Radeon HD 4890 (1GB) - Palit Radeon HD 4870 (1GB) - Asus GeForce GTX 295 (1792MB) - Asus GeForce GTX 285 (1GB) - Asus GeForce GTX 275 (896MB) - Palit GeForce GTX 260 (896MB) - ASUS P6T Deluxe (Intel X58) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) - Nvidia Forceware 191.03 - ATI Catalyst 9.10

Already the Radeon HD 5970 looks impressive, with a 3Dmark score of 9238pts at 2560x1600, which is a new record for a single graphics card. This incredible score meant that the Radeon HD 5970 was 37% faster than the GeForce GTX 295 and 48% faster than the Radeon HD 5870. Furthermore, the previous generation AMD flagship graphics card, the Radeon HD 4870 X2, was blown away by a 62% performance margin. The 3Dmark Vantage results certainly are impressive, but how do they translate into real-world gaming performance?

The Batman Arkham Asylum performance at 2560x1600 saw the Radeon HD 5970 defeat the GeForce GTX 295 by a 27% margin, while it was 42% faster than the Radeon HD 4870 X2, and an impressive 58% faster than the Radeon HD 5870.

The Radeon HD 5970 screamed when testing with BattleForge, as we saw it beat the Radeon HD 5870 by a 59% margin and then the Radeon HD 4870 X2 by an 84% margin. The GeForce GTX 295 struggled in this game, allowing the Radeon HD 5970 to gain some significant ground.

The Radeon HD 5970 provided impressive performance gains over the Radeon HD 5870 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, delivering 70% more performance at 2560x1600. However this only made the Radeon HD 5970 around 30% faster than the GeForce GTX 295, and 35% faster than the Radeon HD 4870 X2.

The Radeon HD 5970 remained strong when testing with Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, where it out gunned the Radeon HD 4870 X2 by a 48% margin at 2560x1600. The Radeon HD 5970 was also 45% faster than the Radeon HD 5870, and 32% quicker than the GeForce GTX 295.

For as long as I can remember a GeForce graphics card has sat at the top of our Crysis Warhead graph, but no more. The Radeon HD 5970 was 13% faster at 2560x1600 when compared to the GeForce GTX 295, while it beat the Radeon HD 4870 X2 by 34%, and the Radeon HD 5870 by a 48% margin.

Dawn of War II is a demanding RTS game and although the Radeon HD 5970 was just 24% faster than the Radeon HD 5870, it smashed the GeForce GTX 295 and Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards by 47% and 95% margins respectively.

Despite beating the Radeon HD 4870 X2 by an 11% margin, the Radeon HD 5970 was 37% faster than the Radeon HD 5870, and 40% faster than the GeForce GTX 295 at 2560x1600 in Fallout 3.

When testing with Far Cry 2 at 2560x1600 the Radeon HD 4870 X2 bombs out with a miserable 14fps. The Radeon HD 5970 on the other hand managed 49fps, making it 44% faster than the Radeon HD 5870, and 26% faster than the GeForce GTX 295.

The Radeon HD 5970 shows strong performance gains in Left 4 Dead 2, beating the GeForce GTX 295 by a 40% margin, while it also beat the Radeon HD 5870 by 52%, and the Radeon HD 4870 X2 by an impressive 54% margin.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is the first game to be included in our benchmarks that supports DirectX 11, which the Radeon HD 5000 series cards were tested using. This gave the Radeon HD 5970 a massive performance advantage over the competition, as it was 51% faster than the Radeon HD 5870, 84% faster than the GeForce GTX 295, and a whopping 100% quicker than the Radeon HD 4870 X2.

Interestingly the Radeon HD 5970 only just beat the Radeon HD 5870 in Unreal Tournament 3, winning by a 10% performance margin at 2560x1600. The Radeon HD 5970 did beat the Radeon HD 4870 X2 by a 23% margin, and the GeForce GTX 295 by a 32% margin.

Finally we have Wolfenstein, and this is yet another game that the Radeon HD 5970 does very well in. At 2560x1600 the Radeon HD 5970 was 43% faster than the GeForce GTX 295, and 52% faster than both the Radeon HD 5870 and Radeon HD 4870 X2.

In terms of power use the Radeon HD 5970 is hungry, which was to be expected. With a total system consumption level of 498 watts, the Radeon HD 5970 used slightly less power than the Radeon HD 4870 X2, while consuming 8% more than the GeForce GTX 295. Interestingly, the Radeon HD 5970 does only use 26% more power than the Radeon HD 5870, which we found quite surprising.

The operating temperature of the Radeon HD 5970 is well within acceptable levels, with an idle temp of 60 degrees, while under load the card heated up to 87 degrees. The 87 degree stress temperature placed the Radeon HD 5970 alongside the GeForce GTX 275 and the Radeon HD 5870. What we found most surprising about this was when under load the Radeon HD 5970 appeared to generate roughly the same amount of noise as the GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards.

Overclocking improved the 3Dmark Vantage score at 2560x1600 by 20%, as the Radeon HD 5970 was awarded 11099pts. This made the Radeon HD 5970 an incredible 65% faster than the GeForce GTX 295, which was the next fastest graphics card tested.

Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts allowed for a 17% performance increase at 2560x1600 when overclocking the Radeon HD 5970. This made the Radeon HD 5970 around 54% faster than the GeForce GTX 295, which was again the next fastest graphics card.

The only other game we had time to test was S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and again we see healthy performance gains when overclocking the Radeon HD 5970. The performance at 2560x1600 was increased by 18%, which made the Radeon HD 5970 around 78% faster than the Radeon HD 5870.

However, with the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 we do strongly believe that as the drivers mature this product will become faster, possibly much faster. When compared to the Radeon HD 5870, which is essentially a single GPU version of the Radeon HD 5970 with a little overclocking, the new dual-GPU monster was on average 49% faster.

Furthermore, out of the dozen games we tested with, the Radeon HD 5970 was found to be on average 45% faster than the GeForce GTX 295 and 70% faster than the Radeon HD 4870 X2. That is quite incredible really, and even in many worst case scenarios the Radeon HD 5970 out gunned the GeForce GTX 295 by around a 30% performance margin.

Although the GeForce GTX 295 is almost a year old now it has ruled with an iron first, destroying the competition to become the world’s fastest single graphics card, until now of course. Interestingly, despite the huge leap in performance, the Radeon HD 5970 only consumed 8% more power than the GeForce GTX 295 when under full load, making it very efficient.

Products such as a $600 US graphics card are clearly aimed at extreme end-users, and with that being the case, why not provide the end user with a feature they will want and use. That feature for the Radeon HD 5970 would be the voltage modifications that allowed us to increase the core frequency by almost 25% (per core), while we did manage to boost the memory frequency by 25%.

The beta drivers which we were forced to use, as the card lacks official support at the moment, did cause us more than a few problems, though we were able to work around most of them. The overclocking side of things seemed a bit half concocted and again created a few problems for us.

Although we were able to reach a stable overclock of 900MHz, AMD claims that many cards that they have tested will operate at 1GHz using the voltage mod, so we are keen to revisit the Radeon HD 5970 in the near future. Unfortunately we had just 2 days with the card, leaving us with so much more that we want to test and try.

Still, our overclock provided a 20% rise in score when testing with 3Dmark Vantage at 2560x1600, which was impressive. Then when testing with Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts we saw a 17% increase in performance generated by the overclock, while S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat provided us with an 18% gain. It seems clear already that boosting the performance of the Radeon HD 5970 by over 15% is a very real possibility.

It is also important to keep in mind that with a length of 30cm, this graphics card is not going to be compatible with a wide range of computer cases. Therefore we suggest that those looking at purchasing this impressive graphics card make sure that their case can accommodate for the EATX (extended ATX) form factor, which measures 30.5cm wide, roughly the same dimension as the Radeon HD 5970.

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Reviewed By Steven Walton