Archive for category Graphics cards
ATI Radeon HD 5870 Benchmark comparison
As promised, here are some benchmarks for the newly released Radeon HD 5870. The test system comprised an Intel i7 975 Extreme 3.33 GHz overclocked to 4GHz, with 6GB DDR3 (1600 MHz) on an Asus Rampage II Extreme. The system was running Windows 7 x64.
There are no real surprises in the benchmark results. In most cases the 5870 runs roughly neck-and-neck with the Nvidia GTX 295, with each gaining a slight lead in certain games.
The real benefits are reserved for ultra-high-end gamers who will notice a significant boost over other cards when using a dual card setup at very high resolutions. We’ll be bringing you some 5850 benchmarks as soon as it’s out.
Left 4 Dead benchmark comparison.
Crysis benchmark comparison.
GTA4 benchmark comparison.
Far Cry 2 benchmark comparison.
Radeon 5870 launches but 5850 delayed
Posted by Dan in ATI, Release Dates on September 22nd, 2009
AMD have today announced the release of the first native DirectX 11 GPU, the Radeon 5870, but we’re going to have to wait a little while longer for the 5850. Although AMD haven’t said how long it will be before the 5850 gets released, it seems like a last minute change of plan to help boost sales (and the price) of the 5870, so expect to see the 5850 very soon.
The 5870 is retailing for around $379 for the 1GB version, with models from Sapphire, ASUS and SIS available now.
We’ll be bringing you a review of the 5870 in a few days, as soon as we can bring you some benchmarks.
Radeon HD 5850
Radeon HD 5870
Radeon HD 5870 specs, release date leaked
Posted by Dan in ATI, Graphics cards, PC Hardware, Release Dates on September 10th, 2009
Details of ATI’s next high-end graphics card, the Radeon 5870, have surfaced on the webs. The new chip, also known as the RV870, is expected to hit stores in the US on Tuesday 22nd September and in Europe on the 23rd. The HD 5850 will launch on the same day.
If the specs, surfaced on Fudzilla are correct, the Radeon 5870 will feature a 40nm GPU instead of the 55nm processor found on current gen units. This should equal cooler running temps which will hopefully translate into high overclocking potential.
First leaked image of the ATI Radeon HD 5870
According to the site, the 5870 will also feature:
* 825 Mhz core clock speed (725 Mhz for the 5850)
* Option of 1GB or 2GB of GDDR5 running at 1300 MHz (effectively 5200 MHz)
* 1600 shader processors (compared with 800 on the current HD 4870)
* 32 ROPS (compared with 16 on the HD 4870)
* 48 TMUs (compared with 40 on the HD 4870)
* 2.1 TFlops of effective computational potential (around double the TFlops offered by the HD 4870)
* Native DirectX 11 Support
The Radeon 5850 X2 is expected to follow about a month later.
This isn't a 5870, sorry, but it looks nice and fills some space.
What new features will DirectX 11 bring?
Posted by Dan in Graphics cards on June 10th, 2009
Details and specs for DirectX 11, the newest version of Microsoft’s gaming and multimedia API are beginning to pour in as its October 22nd release date approaches. DirectX 11 was originally announced around this time last year and is due to be released this October along with Windows 7.
Here’s a breakdown of DirectX 11’s details and specifications so far.
* Improvements in synchronization between multi-core CPUs
* Compute shader to handle non-graphical tasks such as physics acceleration and stream processing * Improved texture compression
* Improved tessellation calculations * Windows 7 and Vista compatibility
* Offers improvements to existing DX 10 and 10.1 hardware
DirectX11 has also been designed to to be easier for programmers to work with. ATI will release the first wave of DX11 cards, the Radeon HD 5850 and 5870 late this summer, with Nvidia’s Geforce GTX300 expected early next year.
An ATi demo illustrating some of the improved features of DirectX 11
ATI: Radeon 5850, 5870 X2 to feature 40nm cores
Posted by Dan in ATI, Graphics cards, PC Hardware on May 26th, 2009
The folks at Fudzilla are reporting that they’ve just got confirmation from ATI on the eagerly awaited 5850 and 5870 X2 cards. ATI’s DirectX 11 high-end card, codenamed R800 is made of two 40nm GPUs.
With an announcement on the X2 cards coming so soon, it seems like the flagship cards are probably just around the corner.
Geforce GTX 360 and 380 coming soon?
Posted by Dan in Graphics cards, Nvidia, PC Hardware on May 24th, 2009
While it’s likely that Nvidia’s new line of DirectX 11 compatible cards will be released sometime in Q4 this year, what we’re not sure of is the name.
After working their way through a fairly standard naming system from GeForce 2 to 9 over the last ten years or so, Nvidia had to change convention when naming the latest range or else add an extra digit. Therefore, the far meatier sounding GTX 2 range was born. It seems likely than Nvidia will follow suit and release this as the GTX300 range, with the GTX360 and 380. News of GTX375 and 395 models and X2 versions are still anybody’s guess at the moment.
Update: There are rumors from the Computex ‘09 show that Nvidia’s DirectX11 range won’t be ready until the first half of 2010. However, with AMD/ATi demonstrating their own DX11 hardware at Computex this week, it’s unlikely that Nvidia will allow ATi such a large head-start.