ATI 5870 owners

[brett1042002]

Any of you guys been experiencing a lot of issues with your 5870s? I'm in the market to buy a 5870 very soon, but the reviews on Newegg and some other sites don't look so promising. A lot of people are complaining of lock-ups and driver issues. Is this just people using the drivers off the CD? Bad luck? ID10T errors? Or are these initial batch of cards troublemakers?

Also, is it worthwhile to upgrade from a 4890 to a 5870 based on your gaming experiences? I know the benchmarks/synthetics look pretty, but would like to hear some of your personal experiences. Thanks .

~Brett

 

[abdul89]

I haven't had one problem with my 5870. Iv had it for a month and i game every day. Seems like most of the problems were with the first batches of 5xxx series cards. The performance is simply amazing, not sure how much of a performance increase you will notice going from a 4890 (obviously youl get much higher fps though).

 

[vvhocare5]

I went from a 4780x2 to 2x5850's (flashed with the 5870 bios). No problems here. Performance is better and the system is cooler.

I have seen some issues with drivers but not what I read about. I did get that grey screen of verticle lines but it has gone away. Its really hard to say what the issues behind them are. Many people just dont get how to deinstall and re-install drivers, some have clear power supply issues, some are clear overheating issues - but it all gets blamed on the driver. But there are certainly weird issues in the driver - and ATI doesnt tell us what it is changing.

For example, they powered off the second card in Crossfire without telling us. It was a good idea as it doesnt do anything in 2D mode but people were freaking out...it was clear to me what it was doing when I saw it.

The drivers will mature so I say its looking good and jump in - the waters fine.

A 5870 is equal to 2x4890's in Crossfire in terms of performance..

 

[brett1042002]

Best answer selected by brett1042002.

 

[brett1042002]

Thanks for the info guys. Think i'll cave and get one this weekend

 

[jay2tall]

I've had my 5870 for about 2+ months or about 3 weeks after they hit the shelf. I have not had ANY issues. I installed the drivers off ATI site rather than the CD as people were having issues and I just went directly to the latest drivers. Upgrading from a 4890 to a 5870 is a significant upgrade, you will not be sorry, especially if you are on a higher res display.

Looking back though, if you want to save $100 you can get a 5850 and overclock it to the 5870 speeds. You have a few less Stream procs and texture units, but it performs just under the 5870 at the same clocks. Form what I gather, you do not need to do anything to voltages to achieve these speeds.

I've overclocked my 5870 and have gotten minimal benefits from going to a 950/1300 speed with a voltage increase. I ended up returning it to stock clocks because I only saw maybe 1 or 2 FPS increase in any game. The 5870 is pretty optimized as it is.

 

[EXT64]

My 5850 works very nicely as well (didn't need a 5870 since my monitor is still pretty low res) though it isn't very old.

 

[brett1042002]

I game at 1920*1080 on dual 24" monitors btw... forgot to add that.

But thanks again Jay for the input. I feel more confident in making this purchase .

 

[jay2tall]

^ It's a big card 11.2" I believe. Just to hold it in your hands will make you happy. I had to have a moment with mine before I installed it.

 

[brett1042002]

^ Hehe, well I just purchased it off of Newegg. I went with the Asus model. I've always had great luck with them. Can't wait to get it!

Yea, i'm sure the pics don't do it justice when it comes to its size. Hopefully, it will fit in my Antec 1200 with no clearance issues .

 

[jay2tall]

An Antex 1200 is huge dude, it will be fine. I have a thermaltake ElementS case and it cleared but 1/4" Otherwise I'd have to flip my HDD cage the other way. It runs very cool in 2D mode, which was the first thing I noticed. Between 35C and 40C. At load I think it has gotten to 80C on very heavy games. MW2 it just laughs at and never even hits 70C.

 

[brett1042002]

Yes, it is a huge case lol. I took it to a LAN party one time. I will NEVER do that again. I'd rather carry around an 80lb. bag of concrete. However, my buddies were drooling over it .

Those temps sound good to me. My 4890 w/ OC never breaks 60c. My computer room temp is always around 67 degrees Fahrenheit. 7 case fans help too .

 

[jay2tall]

Yeah my buddy built a system for his friend using a 1200. There are SOOOO many fans in it from factory. haha. He lugs if over there for LAN's as well. I always stick with a mid case because of that. I REALLY miss my old CoolerMaster Ammo case that had the handle on top. I should have gotten a lan box this time, but silly me didn't. Oh well i have to take 2 trips to the car instead of 1 now. tower, backpack, lcd