ATI Radeon HD 5870

[AquaticPenguin]

From early reviews, I would say no though. It sounds like another die shrink with double the components on the card compared to the 4870. The early consensus is that it is an evolution from the 4870 and not the hoped for revolution.

Why would you think such a thing ?

The 5800 series is a lot greater than the 4800. Not a small upgrade.

Dx11 ready.
RV870 chip vs RV770 for 4800.
40nm technology vs 55 nm for 4800. <-- Die Shrink
2.15 BILLION transistors vs 956 millions for hd4870. <-- Double the transitors
Shader 5.0
etc.

Dx11 and Shader 5.0 are changes, but they're not revolutionary - They're changes that need to happen for Ati to stay in the game. And the change in chip is of little relevance. His point was there's no massive change in architecture, or in the hardware... They've just doubled everything and shrunk it as far as current tech will allow. Although I will agree it is one heck of a card, it's not really innovative.

[MonkeySoldier]

Erm..not really innovative? Eyefinity isn't innovative? The Cypress chip can control up to 6 monitors at a time. Before this, you could only go up to two, or you had to buy some other (expensive) card to make it possible.


As you said, doubling the transistors isn't innovative, however the 5870 uses ~50 W less then the GTX 285 when stressed, and ~70 W less when idling. source

[AquaticPenguin]

Originally Posted by MonkeySoldier

Erm..not really innovative? Eyefinity isn't innovative? The Cypress chip can control up to 6 monitors at a time. Before this, you could only go up to two, or you had to buy some other (expensive) card to make it possible.


As you said, doubling the transistors isn't innovative, however the 5870 uses ~50 W less then the GTX 285 when stressed, and ~70 W less when idling. source

Ok Eyefinity is an innovation. But I'm not sure the market is completely there. Certainly the people who buy the card are the kinds of people who will have money for extra monitors. But there are still some glitches with the support which need to be ironed out with it and I'm not sure people will pay the extra hundreds of moneys needed to get something which is an improvement, but not a fantastic improvement. I would liken it to the nvidia 3d glasses. Some games do support it and apparently the effect is quite convincing... But it's a big chunk of money for the hardware and you need to be pretty committed to getting it to be willing to part with the cash. However that's rather off topic as it certainly is an innovation on Ati's part so my argument isn't completely valid.

The power consumption is a step in the right direction, and the power savings are very reasonable - Although this is probably down to the shrinking of the die size.

The card is very nice, and I've got to say I like the design of the case. It's simple and modern. But it still feels like they've doubled the hardware numbers and done a bit of nip-tuck (although better than nvidia who seem to rebrand cards more than produce new ones). I'm not sure what else could be done by the company but it's not a groundbreaking release in my opinion.