Official ATI HD 5970 reviews and discussion

[Maziar]

Tomshardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5970,2474.html

Anandtech:
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=1

Bit-tech:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/11/18/amd-ati-radeon-hd-5970-review/1

PC-Per:
http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=820

Extremetech:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2356032,00.asp

Hothardware:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Radeon-HD-5970-DualGPU-Powerhouse/

Bjorn3D:
http://bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1738

HardOCP:
http://hardocp.com/article/2009/11/18/amd_ati_radeon_hd_5970_video_card_review

Firingsquad:
http://firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_5970_performance_preview/

Hardwarezone:
http://hardwarezone.com/articles/control.php?cid=3&id=3072

Guru3D:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5970-review-test/

Techpowerup:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH5970/
and
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_5970_CrossFire/

Trustedreviews:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/graphics/review/2009/11/18/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD-5970/p1

Techreport:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/17986

Legitreviews:
http://legitreviews.com/article/1141/1/

Driverheaven:
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=885

Tweaktown:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3013/sapphire_radeon_hd_5970_2gb_video_card/index.html

Hexus:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21179
and
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21212

OverClockers Club:
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_radeon_5970/

 

[Kari]

techPowerUp
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH5970/
and
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_5970_CrossFire/

 

[Maziar]

Thanks added those too

 

[daedalus685]

ZOMG:

http://www.*****/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/25628-sapphire-radeon-hd-5970-2gb-oc-edition-review.html



Edit:... ok, what about hardwarecanucks is censored?
I give up...

 

[randomizer]

That is why we have TinyURL, although it should not be needed, and if I was to guess why it is, it's thanks to one user in the comments sections for articles advertising the site.

http://tinyurl.com/whyisthissitecensoredaswell

 

[daedalus685]

People just ruin it for everyone.. though I must say the internet has given me a life long hate for tinyURL.. Just cant bring myself to use it given the strong distrust for everyone else who does.. lol

Evidently it needs the .com for the filter to pick it up

Anyway.. lots of review now. Strange how varied the overclocking results are.

 

[randomizer]

They are pre-production models, so there's going to be alot of variance as they get tweaked for mass production. Also, the platforms are probably different, and of course, so are the reviewers

 

[L1qu1d]

k tell me something, I haven't been able to really read that much into it, is this card basically a 5850 X2 or a 5870 X2? because it performs more like 2 5850s than 2 5870s???

 

[Maziar]

Its basically 2 5850's in CrossFire.
And links updated.

 

[noob2222]

its 2 5870s clocked down to fit ATX spec, the 5850 only has 1440 shaders and 72 texture units

The 5970 has the full 1600 and 80. Its designed to be overclocked, but can't be sold that way due to power constraints.

 

[randomizer]

Yep, it's two slow HD5870s. I also believe it's the PCIe 2.0 spec, not the ATX spec, that it's conforming to

 

[Maziar]

But i read in the Toms review that because of 300W PCI-SIG,they lowered the clock speeds to 5850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5970,2474-2.html
"For example, ATI reduced the voltages it used and correspondingly dropped the 5970’s clock rates to Radeon HD 5850 levels. This was done to keep maximum board power to 294W—under the defined 300W PCI-SIG electromechanical specification"

 

[randomizer]

Yes, the 225W/300W High Power Card Electromechanical Specification, that's the one I was thinking of, not PCIe 2.0.

 

[noob2222]

But i read in the Toms review that because of 300W,they lowered the clock speeds to 5850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5970,2474-2.html
"For example, ATI reduced the voltages it used and correspondingly dropped the 5970’s clock rates to Radeon HD 5850 levels. This was done to keep maximum board power to 294W—under the defined 300W PCI-SIG electromechanical specification"

Clock speeds and voltage were lowered, but the chip on the card itself is a full blown cherry picked 5870. Its cherry picked because it will operate at lower than standard voltages, which allows them to stay under 300W.

Consider this card an unofficial BE GPU.

Anandtech probably had the best explanation of the whole thing here http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=4

If you want to overclock this thing, make sure your Power Supply is ready for it.

 

[Maziar]

Yup i was a little disappointed with the voltage change for OC,by changing the voltages the card draw a lot more power.

 

[L1qu1d]

Makes sense.

I just read the guru3D review, they managed to OC it to 900 MHZ (23-25 mhz lower than what I could achieve with the 5870 I had before) but at a 90 degree temp I dunno if its a fair trade off

 

[ronka]

You think my PSU Corsair TX650 could handle this baby ?

 

[Maziar]

It should handle it fine:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5970/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5970-system-requirements.aspx
"650 Watt or greater power supply one 75W 6-pin and one 150W 8-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (850 Watt with two 75W 6-pin and two 150W 8-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)"

 

[sunnyp_343]

no 650w is enough for crossfire or sli

 

[daedalus685]

no 650w is enough for crossfire or sli

That is a rediculous statement to make, and entierly false.

If you are talking about 650W for 2 5970s then sure.. but 650 is enough for the vast majority of crossfire/SLI rigs. 650 is right in spec to power one 5970, though if you have a hundred HDDs it might not be ideal.

 

[RogerDeath]

OverclockersClub.com did a review of Sapphire's version: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_radeon_5970/

They include the specs of the test computer, what they test it against, and they even take their best shot at overclocking it using the drivers that Sapphire provided with the card.

 

[Maziar]

thanks added that too

 

[customisbetter]

I hate to be off topic, but i have been away too long. Maziar and randomizer are mods now? woah.
congrats.

 

[randomizer]

Horatio is back whoo!

 

[Guest]

Would 70Amp corsair 850W be enuff for overvolting the card? Because Im afraid of breaking the powersupply as I saw on XtremeSystems that the card draw 80amp??@ 1.26volt is that true? http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=fff08b69b7ac7168c9a8ed35740963e9&t=239629&highlight=5970&page=2
Or is that 80amp is from the wall and depends on psu efficiency?