# AMD Introduces ATI Radeon HD 5970: Fastest Graphics Card in the World



## btarunr (Nov 18, 2009)

AMD today announced the flagship installment in the award-winning line of graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest card ever created. The new ultra high-end model joins a growing list of the world's first and only graphics cards to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11 technology and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology.

Designed to support the most demanding PC games at ultra-high resolutions and image quality settings, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 has unlocked overclocking potential, granting access to every bit of power the card has to offer through ATI Overdrive technology. Now shipping from retailers and available in the channel, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 also launches today in new Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktop PCs.






Record-breaking overclocking capabilities take Dragon Platform technology to the forefront for users that demand the utmost control in performance tuning. The unrivaled overclocking capabilities of the ATI Radeon HD 5970 are enabled by the unique design of the card, which features advanced fan and vapor chamber technologies and a fully vented exhaust to keep the card cool and ensure overclocking headroom using ATI Overdrive technology. The formidable combination of AMD Phenom II processors, AMD 7-Series chipsets, and ATI Radeon HD graphics deliver comprehensive tuning, immersive entertainment, and outstanding value.

Enthusiasts can expand their field of view, ATI Radeon HD 5970, driving up to three displays at once, delivering an unmatched maximum resolution of 7680x1600 and creating an unparalleled game play experience.3 For the first time ever, ATI CrossFireX technology leverages the power of multiple graphics processors to deliver even more game performance in 20 of today's popular titles when using ATI Eyefinity technology, with more to come.

The ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card delivers nearly 5 TeraFLOPS of compute power, ensuring superior performance in the latest DirectX 11 games, as well as in previous versions of DirectX and OpenGL titles. With the world's most powerful graphics core built on 40nm process technology harnessing up to 3,200 stream processors, gamers can enjoy DirectX 11 games now, such as EA Phenomic's BattleForge and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:Call of Pripyat from GSC Game World, with many more titles on the way, including:
Battlefield Bad Company 2 from EA DICE
DiRT 2 from Codemasters, arriving December 1, 2009,
Aliens vs. Predator from Rebellion,
Update to The Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine,
Update to Dungeons and Dragons Online Eberron Unlimited from Turbine.
New features and functionality of ATI Stream technology allow users to harness the ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card to enhance their computing experience, helping to improve the performance of enabled media, entertainment and productivity applications. ATI Stream technology and the HD 5970 support both Direct Compute 11 and OpenCL industry standards for application acceleration.

Delivering full-fledged performance when needed, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 also leads in power efficiency by automatically powering down unused GPU resources when not in use, resulting in idle desktop power consumption as low as 42 watts.

The ATI Radeon HD 5970 is supported by a wide range of add-in-board companies, including ASK, Asus, Club 3D, Diamond, Gigabyte, High Tech, MSI, Sapphire, Tul/Power Color, Visiontek and XFX.

"With the arrival of the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world, we've cemented AMD as the unquestioned graphics leader," said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Group. "With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, the new card, coupled with the awesome power of ATI Eyefinity technology, is the ultimate setup for serious gamers."

"The extraordinary performance of the ATI Radeon HD 5970 is a perfect match for the Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktops," said Frank Azor, senior product planning manager, Dell Gaming. "By offering this level of graphics capability as well as the visual and performance enhancements made possible by DirectX 11 hardware, gamers will benefit from enhanced image quality enabling an incredibly intense gaming experience."

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## arroyo (Nov 18, 2009)

That's VERY BAD, NASTY card! I want this card! NOW!


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## gumpty (Nov 18, 2009)

But can it run Crysis?

Yes, yes it can. Finally.


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## newfellow (Nov 18, 2009)

"to improve the performance of enabled media, entertainment and productivity applications."

Lol, that's cheesy. 

Like there would actually be any softwares utilizing hell their own AVIVO doesn't even use GPU to compute it uses 1 single CPU even on 9.12 drivers and playback of HD is still processed through CPU unless you got 1 specific program.


Still this is one damn monster what goes to hardware side.


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## shevanel (Nov 18, 2009)

yeah i wanna see a user video of crysis being ran by this card and on MAXXXX settings.


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## filip007 (Nov 18, 2009)

Ahhhh...just 5850 x2 and save something


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## t77snapshot (Nov 18, 2009)

gumpty said:


> But can it run Crysis?
> 
> Yes, yes it can. Finally.


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## ste2425 (Nov 18, 2009)

gumpty said:


> But can it run Crysis?
> 
> Yes, yes it can. Finally.



jesus that nearly double the fps of the card below it on every test?!?


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## Cheeseball (Nov 18, 2009)

Jesus Christ. It actually owned Crysis.


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## Conflict0s (Nov 18, 2009)

I visited Scan.co.uk yesterday and they said they were getting them in today  (18/11/09)


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## human_error (Nov 18, 2009)

They're on UK etailers now... £470 is the cheapest model... think i'll be waiting for price drops...(no matter how much it destroys crysis)

**edit**

prices on the etailers are jumping all over the place - one refresh on ebuyer and the minimum price went up £20


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## Conflict0s (Nov 18, 2009)

Wow, that is some price. Evan if this could fit in my case, I don't think I could push to the extra £170 :/ 

One week after the 5870 came out, the price was bumped up by £35 which was kind of annoying.


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## pantherx12 (Nov 18, 2009)

That's an outstanding price for the UK!

much cheaper then buying two 5870s then doing crossfire.


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## Pickles Von Brine (Nov 18, 2009)

*Ati Is At The Top!*

w00t! It is about damn time!


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## wiak (Nov 18, 2009)

newfellow said:


> "to improve the performance of enabled media, entertainment and productivity applications."
> 
> Lol, that's cheesy.
> 
> ...



they are talking about Adobe Flash 10.1 with hardware support using MS's DXVA and ATI's UVD2


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## W1zzard (Nov 18, 2009)

wiak said:


> they are talking about Adobe Flash 10.1 with hardware support using MS's DXVA and ATI's UVD2



all adobe did was switch their renderer to dxva so it uses the generic acceleration .. it will work on any card from any manufacturer that accelerates h264. ati and nv are just hyping it now the same way they called photoshop's opengl use "gpgpu"


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## laszlo (Nov 18, 2009)

it owned crysis but i bet it won't the next one

however this card ,except this particular game,has too much power 200-400 fps when the lcd's are limited to 60 max 100...


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## pantherx12 (Nov 18, 2009)

you can get 120hz lcds easily now.

And above that.


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## gumpty (Nov 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> That's an outstanding price for the UK!
> 
> much cheaper then buying two 5870s then doing crossfire.



Yep. £600 vs £480

Interestingly Sapphire have already done an OC model. Albeit with a piddling overclock of 735/1010 - but it is only a tenner or so more than the normal model.


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## ste2425 (Nov 18, 2009)

just out of curiosity how big is the demand for such power? not to be able to say you have such card but the actual need in your rigs?


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## pantherx12 (Nov 18, 2009)

Not that I can afford it.

bah if I had a job this would be something I would love to spunk half a months wages on ha ha


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## laszlo (Nov 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> you can get 120hz lcds easily now.
> 
> And above that.



you can have 120hz lcd but the problem is the real response time of the pixel;we're fooled by producers with 2ms gtg but is not real;you won't see any difference between  60hz and 120hz when the response time of the panel is same

 is a trick of producer only to boost sells


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## pantherx12 (Nov 18, 2009)

That's not true at all, response is precisely what the name implies, how quickly the monitor will make a change based on input from the computer.

Its a delay nothing to do with refresh rates.

120hz is 120 hz regardless of response time : ]



Example 

120hz monitor 1 second response time, it be like playing a game with epic lag, you'll get killed by everything and won't be able to aim properly but the animation will still be able to display 120 frames per second.


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## laszlo (Nov 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> 120hz is 120 hz regardless of response time : ]



this is valid only at crt and plasma monitors were you have almost 0 response time  

lcd's are working different

a good read:http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_8.html


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## pr0n Inspector (Nov 18, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> That's not true at all, response is precisely what the name implies, how quickly the monitor will make a change based on input from the computer.
> 
> Its a delay nothing to do with refresh rates.
> 
> ...



this is kinda off-topic, but whatever.

120Hz TVs are there to eliminate "uneven" framerate conversions.

*NO* TV out there can actually take a 120Hz input.


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## AsRock (Nov 18, 2009)

gumpty said:


> But can it run Crysis?
> 
> Yes, yes it can. Finally.



Can it run the most boring game in the world ?...


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## ste2425 (Nov 18, 2009)

hey i thought crysis was good still do


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## pantherx12 (Nov 18, 2009)

Yeah I really enjoyed Crysis, first FPS other then F.E.A.R to make me feel like I'm in the game.

Shame its real short though.


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## lemonadesoda (Nov 18, 2009)

_But will it run Crysis *in 3x eyefinity mode*?_  (3x 1200x1600 portrait).



pantherx12 said:


> Shame its real short though.



That's what she said!


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## DRDNA (Nov 18, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> all adobe did was switch their renderer to dxva so it uses the generic acceleration .. it will work on any card from any manufacturer that accelerates h264. ati and nv are just hyping it now the same way they called photoshop's opengl use "gpgpu"



The 10.1 beta gives poor quality but good performance on my rig in the sig...with the beta Flash player made everything look more like it was painted than real.I uninstalled the beta and installed the latest version and now back to quality picture but a little CPU usage.


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## Raiderman (Nov 18, 2009)

I would like to know the dimensions of that "surfboard"!


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## El_Mayo (Nov 18, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> _But will it run Crysis *in 3x eyefinity mode*?_  (3x 1200x1600 portrait).



that's for the HD 7970 to do


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## lemode (Nov 18, 2009)

I’m still sure I won’t actually decide between owning my own 5870 or 5970 until Nvidia releases their cards. I also want the drivers to mature a little as well. I haven’t been keeping up on progress but last time I checked Eyefinity didn’t work in xfire (I’d get 2 5870s if I went that route). Not that I will utilize 6 monitors, but I still might be using the 3 and ideally I’d like it work out of the box. I’m sure by March/May stuff will settle down and we’ll have decent AMD drivers and cards will be plentiful.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Nov 19, 2009)

Pure fail, no ground breaking OC, or ground breaking preformance. A pair of 5850's in crossfire give the same if not better preformance in some cases ( http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/11/18/amd_ati_radeon_hd_5970_video_card_review/3 ). Also they run cooler, will allow a better OC, cost roughly the same if not less, as well as have far better availability, also the fact that their not 12.5 inches long means you don't have to mod your case, get a new one, or use a crowbar to wedge it into a case.  Come on AMD, just pure FAIL!


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## araditus (Nov 19, 2009)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> Pure fail, no ground breaking OC, or ground breaking preformance. A pair of 5850's in crossfire give the same if not better preformance in some cases ( http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/11/18/amd_ati_radeon_hd_5970_video_card_review/3 ). Also they run cooler, will allow a better OC, cost roughly the same if not less, as well as have far better availability, also the fact that their not 12.5 inches long means you don't have to mod your case, get a new one, or use a crowbar to wedge it into a case.  Come on AMD, just pure FAIL!



my friend, youre right in many points, but the point of this card is to be amazing, those purchasing this card have 1 of 3 feasible goals I can think of, 

number one they all have money, and want to buy the best so they feel the best, ego stroking

number two, an enthusiast that enjoys technology and probably will make attempts to have them watercooled and over clocked (what I will be doing, I know a machine shop that can laser cut blocks for them) I have a budget for a 3000$ pc, I can fit 2 of these in 

number three:  setting world records duh, get two of these up to that max of 1000mhz core clock,ln2 cooled a powersupply just for them and another for your processor clocked at 7ghz, He cooled, bc only a processor of that strength might not bottleneck these two beasts. 75,000 3dmark06 anyone?

Its the same reason you see top fuel dragsters going 320mph in 1000 feet, did you know it costs them roughly $50,000 each time they make a pass, and blow the engine everytime?

If you are a concious consumer of course you buy two 5850s, in fact I encourage you its the better buy and value, these have no intention of being a value.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Nov 19, 2009)

araditus said:


> my friend, youre right in many points, but the point of this card is to be amazing, those purchasing this card have 1 of 3 feasible goals I can think of,
> 
> number one they all have money, and want to buy the best so they feel the best, ego stroking
> 
> ...



I wasn't asking for value, I simply expected more. The 5850 runs rather cool, the clocks could be pushed up more, there's room on the thermals. It's just very large let down. I.E. pure fail.


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## HalfAHertz (Nov 19, 2009)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> I wasn't asking for value, I simply expected more. The 5850 runs rather cool, the clocks could be pushed up more, there's room on the thermals. It's just very large let down. I.E. pure fail.



Well that was expected... you get 2 16x pci-e lanes with 2 cards and only 8x pci-e per gpu with the 5970. As W1z showed us you loose 2-3% performance when going from 16x down to 8x lanes...multiply times two and you get t he 4-5% difference between the 5970 and the 5850s.

Plus as was shown on guru3d, with proper software you can go beyond 900MHz on the core while still staying in safe temps...

There are always sacrifices to make with x2 cards but also some nice benefits such as x4 CFX. This is not a mainstream card. If there is anyone we have to be dissapointed from it's Nvidia for not creating more competition and bending Ati's arm as usual


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## Kovoet (Nov 19, 2009)

Well there goes my Januaries bonus up in smoke, promised the wife something. But this I just have to own.

Was going to build a new setup in January anyway but this is one thing thats going in my stacker and I always said need to buy a big case for further upgrades, so this just proved my point to myself.

My setup will be 
Asus P6T deluxe V2
i920 CPU
GT Corsair 6GB ram
Enermax Revolution 85+ PSU
5890 gfx card
and two F3 samsung spinpoints running in raid0

But this will be it for a year or two otherwise the misses will boot me out lol


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## pr0n Inspector (Nov 19, 2009)

Kovoet said:


> Well there goes my Januaries bonus up in smoke, promised the wife something. But this I just have to own.
> 
> Was going to build a new setup in January anyway but this is one thing thats going in my stacker and I always said need to buy a big case for further upgrades, so this just proved my point to myself.
> 
> ...




The waiting list is miles long. You will get one next year if you order NOW.


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## saikamaldoss (Nov 19, 2009)

I would be happy if ATI can shrink the size and provide it as 2 core GPU in 40 or 32nm.. and it will be much better hmmm...


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## Hayder_Master (Nov 22, 2009)

i likes ATI when say we Introduces "Fastest Graphics Card in the World"


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## shevanel (Nov 22, 2009)

is it not? at least for now


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## Lionheart (Nov 22, 2009)

It is the fastest graphics card in the world and I seriously want it so I can play final doom LMAO!!!


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## Jstn7477 (Nov 22, 2009)

saikamaldoss said:


> I would be happy if ATI can shrink the size and provide it as 2 core GPU in 40 or 32nm.. and it will be much better hmmm...



It already is 40nm. Now if NVIDIA can get Fermi out...


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## Lionheart (Nov 22, 2009)

When Nvidia get there shit out and running, Im betting there cards are gonna have some crazy performance but comes at a cost!!!


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## ste2425 (Nov 22, 2009)

im probably behind here but is there anynews on nvidia having anything to compete with the 500 series? last i heard was they dont


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## Lionheart (Nov 22, 2009)

Nope, I think everyones just waiting on fermi to be released so the price performance awesomeness can start between ATI & Nvidia!!!


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## ste2425 (Nov 22, 2009)

fermi? give me a sec whilst i google that lol


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## Lionheart (Nov 22, 2009)

ste2425 said:


> fermi? give me a sec whilst i google that lol




LMAO go for it!


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## saikamaldoss (Nov 23, 2009)

Jstn7477 said:


> It already is 40nm. Now if NVIDIA can get Fermi out...



ya it is but i wanted 2 Rv870 in one 40nm DY


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## Steevo (Nov 23, 2009)

Save $10 on FAIL today.


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