ATI Radeon HD 5770 - DirectX 11 for the Masses

[Rob Williams]

AMD may have released its first Evergreen GPUs mere weeks ago, but don't think it's slowing down for anybody. Today, the company has followed-up with its first mid-range parts, belonging to the HD 5700 series. Performance is much more modest on these new cards, but no features have been scrapped. It's all here... DirectX 11, Eyefinity and more.

You can read our full review of AMD's latest graphics card here and discuss it here!

[gibbersome]

Awesome review Rob! I'm grateful that you did comparisons with the Nvidia 250 and 260, as well as the ATI 4870.

With the exception of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, the HD 5770 lagged behind the GTX 260 in all the game tests.

Since the price of the 260 has come down quite a bit (can be had for less than $150 now), the HD 5770 seems to be in no man's land. Reducing the stream processors to 800 might have been too much. While the power consumption has gone down, so has the performance.

[Rob Williams]

I disagree to some extent. The HD 5770 is indeed slower than an HD 4870 (it's not due to a lower number of stream processors, because that's not the case), but as the HD 5770 is fast to begin with, AMD opted to include other unique features that gamers would appreciate, such as Eyefinity, DirectX 11 and multiple outputs. The GTX 260 might cost a little less, and perform a bit better, but it offers none of those perks that the ATI card does. DX11 might not be a big deal right now, but what about a year from now? The HD 5770 could handle it, while the GTX 260 would be even more outdated.

Even as a gamer, I'd spring for the HD 5770. The performance might be less (it's not a significant loss), but instead, I'd get DX11 support, Eyefinity should I want it in the future, multiple outputs, and far improved power consumption and temperatures. I think it's a great card overall. I wouldn't let the minor performance loss cloud things unless the absolutely only thing you care about is that.

[gibbersome]

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

I disagree to some extent. The HD 5770 is indeed slower than an HD 4870 (it's not due to a lower number of stream processors, because that's not the case), but as the HD 5770 is fast to begin with, AMD opted to include other unique features that gamers would appreciate, such as Eyefinity, DirectX 11 and multiple outputs.

Sorry, I wasn't sure what was the major reason for the performance drop. The 5770 also sacrifices half the ROPs and memory bandwidth as well.

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

DX11 might not be a big deal right now, but what about a year from now? The HD 5770 could handle it, while the GTX 260 would be even more outdated.

That would be one thing to consider. Again the edge that ATI holds here is that the 5000 series are the only cards in the market that support DirectX 11. Since it is a newer generation of cards, the expectation is higher. Is DirectX 11 worth the 10% drop in performance, while paying about $10 more?

Even as a gamer, I'd spring for the HD 5770. The performance might be less (it's not a significant loss), but instead, I'd get DX11 support, Eyefinity should I want it in the future, multiple outputs, and far improved power consumption and temperatures. I think it's a great card overall. I wouldn't let the minor performance loss cloud things unless the absolutely only thing you care about is that.

The power consumption and temperatures was one thing I was very impressed with. The 5850 is even more impressive with its performance/power ratio. I would give the edge to the HD 5750, 5770 cards over their Nvidia counterparts in the mobile category.

Going back to the title of your review, "DirectX 11 for the Masses," I see why your recommend this card. It's a very fast card for its price (which will go down and compete with the GTX 260 in the coming weeks), but more importantly, it supports DirectX 11. And it will for the coming year or so handle most of the games out there on very high resolution. I guess I've been spoiled by the fact that the 4770 outclassed the 3870 when it first came out.

However, there are people out there who are looking for the best performance bang for the buck. If they opt for the 260 for this reason, it may be a short sighted decision.

[Rob Williams]

Originally Posted by gibbersome

Sorry, I wasn't sure what was the major reason for the performance drop. The 5770 also sacrifices half the ROPs and memory bandwidth as well.

Are you comparing the HD 5770 to another HD 5000 card? It should be compared directly with the HD 4870, since for the most part, it's the most comparable from a specs standpoint. The HD 5770 is slower because of the memory bus. Downgrading from 256-bit to 128-bit makes a rather significant difference.

Originally Posted by gibbersome

That would be one thing to consider. Again the edge that ATI holds here is that the 5000 series are the only cards in the market that support DirectX 11. Since it is a newer generation of cards, the expectation is higher. Is DirectX 11 worth the 10% drop in performance, while paying about $10 more?

If you need to pick up a GPU now, then I'd say it probably is. If DX11 does indeed take off, it would suck to be stuck with a non-DX11 card next summer. I don't consider the $10 to be just for the DX11 though. Like I've said before, I think the multiple outputs, unbelievable power consumption and Eyefinity support is fantastic.

Originally Posted by gibbersome

However, there are people out there who are looking for the best performance bang for the buck. If they opt for the 260 for this reason, it may be a short sighted decision.

As I mentioned, if all you care about is performance, then another card is going to suit you better. But let's face it... the HD 5770 handled almost all of our games just fine at 2560x1600. How many people will purchase this card and run that resolution? An insanely low number. People with 2560x1600 will be purchasing larger GPUs. My point is, if this card can handle most games at 2560x1600, then it's sure as heck not a bad card in any regard.

[Doomsday]

Is it normal for my HD5770 to have the GPU clock to be at 157Mhz and Memory to be 300Mhz but they keep jumping up and down every few seconds to 850Mhz and 1200Mhz respectively?

[Rob Williams]

Originally Posted by Doomsday

Is it normal for my HD5770 to have the GPU clock to be at 157Mhz and Memory to be 300Mhz but they keep jumping up and down every few seconds to 850Mhz and 1200Mhz respectively?

Yes, that's a power-saving feature. When in a game, the clocks should stick to their top-end values 100% of the time.

[Doomsday]

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

Yes, that's a power-saving feature. When in a game, the clocks should stick to their top-end values 100% of the time.

Awesome!