ATI Radeon HD 5830: Bridging The 5700- And 5800- Price Gap

Radeon HD 5830: Bridging The Gap

"What?" you're asking. "There's another Radeon HD 5000-series card hiding under ATI's cap? That's right. In fact, there's more than one: the Radeon HD 5830 we're testing here today and a Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity⁶ Edition board that'll surface in March. But we'll be looking at the six-display-capable model later. Today, with the GF100-based cards from Nvidia still missing in action, it's all about the Radeon HD 5830, purported to hit a price and performance point between the Radeon HD 5770 and Radeon HD 5850.

At this point, we should probably just refer to February 2010 as "Radeon 5000-Series Launch Month," because this is the third card to emerge in the last 28 days. It's also the most exciting of the trio. Nevertheless, if you missed the Radeon HD 5450 and Radeon HD 5570 stories, those are more entry-level discrete boards. This launch is aimed toward the folks with a little more money to spend on graphics, but not the $300+ it'd take to procure the company's higher-end offerings.

You see, before today, there was a big hole between the $160 Radeon HD 5770 and the $310 Radeon HD 5850. That's a gaping $150 price gap that fails to capitalize on the facts the ATI's previous generation fell off after the Radeon HD 4890 and Nvidia is only able to compete sub-$200 with GeForce GTX 260 or above $350 with the 285. The GeForce GTX 275 is essentially missing in action.

In its prime, the Radeon HD 4890 stood in for roughly $200, but good luck finding find one for sale anymore. The Radeon HD 4890 stock seems to have dried up over the last month.

Apparently, nature isn't the only thing that abhors a vacuum. AMD isn't too happy about it either, so it gave us the Radeon HD 5830 to fill the void. It emerges with a $239 launch price; promising, but certainly not set in stone, as the Radeon HD 5850 and 5870 showed us. Since the new 5830 is based on the high-end Cypress GPU that powers both of its higher-end predecessors, we have ambitious hopes for this card. In 1670, John Ray said, "Hell is paved with good intentions." So, let's make sure that this seemingly perfectly-placed product delivers the bang for your buck we'd expect.

  • jomofro39
    I love my 4890. I am sad they are disappearing, because I planned on getting a x-fire thing going in the next few months, and now I have to just try and get two 5770s and sell the 4890 I have now, obviously, so I can grab some DX11! Hurray for progress!
    Reply
  • meluvcookies
    I was hoping this would be just a bit cheaper such that the 5850 could finally come down nearer it's original MSRP. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll see those adjustments until closer to the summer.
    Reply
  • 4745454b
    To much money for such little card. Performance wise its just a really expensive 4890. A good buy at $200, but $240 is to much. Might as well pony up the extra $60 and get the 5850. 5810 is a bit more like it.
    Reply
  • flyinfinni
    seems more like a 5790 than a 5830 to me... Still- they are filling in the line quite well, and its gonna be interesting to see how Nvidia's new line will compare.
    Reply
  • intelx
    im a little disappointed about this one, i mean 239 and yet the 4890 is $40 cheaper and beats it in some new games, i was really hoping for better performance form the 5830, now after reading this, im leaning towards either 5770 in crossfire or single 5850.

    man ati is kicking Nvidia in every corner right now, all the way from low end to the high end 5970!
    Reply
  • intelx
    im a little disappointed about this one, i mean 239 and yet the 4890 is $40 cheaper and beats it in some new games, i was really hoping for better performance form the 5830, now after reading this, im leaning towards either 5770 in crossfire or single 5850.

    man ati is kicking Nvidia in every corner right now, all the way from low end to the high end 5970!
    Reply
  • acasel
    Where is the overclocking portion? If this thing overclocks good then it might be a worthy purchase..
    Reply
  • Aircraft123
    This article definitely made me feel better about my dual XFX 4890 CrossFire setup. Performance is theoretically around a GTX295 for less money than a single 5870!!!

    if the 5830 can come down to ~$200 and offer good crossfire performance perhaps with good overclocking potential I can see this card do very well.
    Reply
  • notty22
    ATI managed to cripple all the magic out of a 5850 with this thing.
    A gtx260 beats it in places and its only 10% faster than a 5770, thats 70 dollars cheaper ? Thanks , but NO Thanks.
    Reply
  • porksmuggler
    I've been waiting for this review, thanks Don. With the 4890 and 4850X2 still floating around for sale, this one isn't appealing even at $200. Performance is just too close to the 5770...
    Reply