Friday, September 18th 2009

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 and HD 5850 Smile for the Camera

Here are the fist pictures of Sapphire's Radeon HD 5800 series offerings: Radeon HD 5870 1GB and Radeon HD 5850. The cards sport the usual sticker design of a CGI girl in a reddish background. With these cards having the cosmetic "red-streak" cleaving the cooler shroud in the center, the so is the sticker. This is also perhaps the first public picture of the Radeon HD 5850, and our size projections were right: While the Radeon HD 5870 maintains a long PCB, the HD 5850 is about as long as a Radeon HD 4870 (reference design). Both accelerators stick to the reference AMD design.

* Images removed at request of Sapphire * Google for alternate source
Source: Hermitage Akihabara
Add your own comment

148 Comments on Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 and HD 5850 Smile for the Camera

#101
PP Mguire
You should wholesale those and sell me one =)
Posted on Reply
#102
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
newtekie1Not necessarily. The HD2900XT comes with 100+ GB/s memory bandwidth, should something faster than that also have higher bandwidth...
HD 4000 series needed the 100+ GB/s memory bandwidth, evident from memory speeds enhancing performance. Same applies to HD 5850. Using the very same logic, a GeForce GTX 260 that is as fast as a HD 4870 doesn't need 111 GB/s then. And GTX 285 which is as fast as HD 4850 X2 doesn't need all that bandwidth either.
Posted on Reply
#103
lemonadesoda
erockerI'm painting mine pink and drab green. It looks fine from the side anyways.
Pink drag-queen edition? Might sell...
Posted on Reply
#104
Maban
lemonadesodaPink drag-queen edition? Might sell...
I'd buy it.
Posted on Reply
#106
Velvet Wafer
i hope this card will be out soon. the jokes start to get really lame;)
Posted on Reply
#107
TheMailMan78
Big Member
They could sell a "Save the TaTa's" edition GPU to raise money to fight breast cancer. One thing nerds love is some tits. Ati could sell them in sets of two. Hell I'd pay extra for that and put save the titties on my desktop.
Posted on Reply
#108
Kovoet
LOL can't believe you guys and girls worry about the colours of the actual card.
Posted on Reply
#109
Zubasa
newtekie1Not necessarily. The HD2900XT comes with 100+ GB/s memory bandwidth, should something faster than that also have higher bandwidth...

Yet the next two generations after that had cards with less memory bandwidth, that were easily faster. Memory bandwidth doesn't need to increase with new cards. The HD5800 series might really benefit from it, or maybe ATi even removed the GDDR3 memory controller from the core, forcing GDDR5 use. If that was the case then cutting down the core was necesary. But we don't know, and that is why I'm asking.
You really should not bring out the 2900XT as an example, because we all know that ATi mispredicted that design pretty badly. :ohwell: It is only about as fast as a 3870 really.

I can telll you right now that the rv770 on a 4850 is quite limited by its memory bandwidth.
Posted on Reply
#110
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
phanbueywhat about 3870 and 3850 - they were literally identical cards... with the same memory interface... (although I think the 3850 was 256 memory standard and the 3870 was 512)

only DX 10 series with weaker memory config was the the 4xxx series. Usually they go with a weaker (manufacturing-wise) core and cheaper construction and power cuircuitry.
No they weren't, the HD3870 used GDDR4 and the HD3850 used GDDR3.

The last time we saw identical cards was the HD2900XT and HD2900Pro, and eventually ATi changed the HD2900Pro to use a 256-bit bus instead of the 512-bit like the HD2900XT.
btarunrHD 4000 series needed the 100+ GB/s memory bandwidth, evident from memory speeds enhancing performance. Same applies to HD 5850. Using the very same logic, a GeForce GTX 260 that is as fast as a HD 4870 doesn't need 111 GB/s then. And GTX 285 which is as fast as HD 4850 X2 doesn't need all that bandwidth either.
When has memory speeds NOT enhanced performance? Never...so your logic is flawed. Yes, lowering the memory bandwidth by moving to GDDR3 would have hurt performance, so does crippling the core. The whole point of BOTH is to hinder performance. ATi has never used this strategy to hinder performance right out of the starting block. The cards don't need GDDR5 to perform well.
Posted on Reply
#111
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
newtekie1When has memory speeds NOT enhanced performance? Never...so your logic is flawed. Yes, lowering the memory bandwidth by moving to GDDR3 would have hurt performance, so does crippling the core. The whole point of BOTH is to hinder performance. ATi has never used this strategy to hinder performance right out of the starting block. The cards don't need GDDR5 to perform well.
Then your argument is flawed, because you acknowledge that faster the memory the better. Today's performance GPUs need over 100 GB/s memory bandwidths to remain competitive. HD 4850 with its GDDR3 memory was competitive with G92-based GPUs, but not with NVIDIA GPUs with over 100 GB/s memory bandwidth. RV770/RV790 products with GDDR5 were. So once again, AMD could not carve a Pro SKU with GDDR3 memory, because there's no way you can end up with sufficient bandwidths on a 256-bit wide interface.
Posted on Reply
#112
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
btarunrThen your argument is flawed, because you acknowledge that faster the memory the better. Today's performance GPUs need over 100 GB/s memory bandwidths to remain competitive. HD 4850 with its GDDR3 memory was competitive with G92-based GPUs, but not with NVIDIA GPUs with over 100 GB/s memory bandwidth. RV770/RV790 products with GDDR5 were. So once again, AMD could not carve a Pro SKU with GDDR3 memory, because there's no way you can end up with sufficient bandwidths on a 256-bit wide interface.
I disagree, the HD4850 wasn't just crippled because of memory, it was clocked a far bit lower on the core/shader clock also. That drastically affected performance. The HD4870/4890 had issued competing with nVidia's GPUs with over 100 GB/s, and it had plenty of memory bandwidth. The over 100MHz downclock on the HD4850 was more of a performance factor than the GDDR3 memory bandwidth.

I don't believe that a HD5850 with GDDR3 would perform that much worse than the incarnation we are seeing here.
Posted on Reply
#113
Unregistered
but i really don't care what ever strategy ati use as long as it perform good and have reasonable price(HD 5850), i will buy it.
Posted on Edit | Reply
#114
pantherx12
Shitty cards but for an example of memory giving a performance boost.

HD4350 - HD550 only difference is memory type and you get quite a nice boost.
Posted on Reply
#115
Mistral
newtekie1, as much as I love the way you manage to contradict yourself, I'm starting to wander what exactly is the point of your last few posts...

Sure faster/wider memory is nicer, sure clocking higher the core makes it faster. Also sure is that the people at DAAMIT who designed the cards have at least a vague idea what to do in order to hit the market segments they need to. And this is what it's all about.
Posted on Reply
#116
lemode
I tend to stay away from Gigabyte, Sparkle, PNY, MSI, and Sapphire graphic cards only because every gamer I’ve ever been friends with has had issues with these manufactures.

I’ve bought ASUS, HIS, EVGA, BFG, XFX and haven’t had a problem with any.
Posted on Reply
#117
dr emulator (madmax)
arguing with the news editor is a big :shadedshu
i just hope it lasts more than five minuets
as i want a card with good performance and longevity
Posted on Reply
#118
a_ump
newteckie's origional point or question makes sense to me and i'd have to say you cant say yes or no with what we know. But what stated with 40nm yield issues makes sense. I'm sure there had to be some defective RV770 core when they started manufacturing, yet they didn't use those at the start for a crippled HD 4850 with same memory subsystem like they're doing with the HD 5850. Instead i'd assume they kept the defective RV770's cores for when they released the HD 4830. There's nothing wrong with speculation or curiosity.

Yet HD 5850 looks better than the HD 5870, but meh i'll probly take the sticker off, never now might lower core temp by 1 degree :p
Posted on Reply
#121
grunt_408
lol @ wizzard mon is GPU-Z working with 5xxx series yet ? I am confused...
Is this real? Is the one above real wtf? CPU scores look a little squwiff :D
Posted on Reply
#122
kylzer
Well i know the GPUZ is fake or modded somehow in f430s pic

im sure there both fake tbh.

EDIT wait?

thats a HD4890 lol
Posted on Reply
#123
grunt_408
kylzerWell i know the GPUZ is fake or modded somehow in f430s pic

im sure there both fake tbh.

EDIT wait?

thats a HD4890 lol
I know about the 4890,
I was curious about the 5xxx GPU-Z screeny and posted up 4890 results for comparison.
I remember reading here on TPU that Wiz has not yet released a version of GPU-Z supporting the 5xxx series cards.

P.S I see your sig is fake too :p

Going back on topic now though them cards do look great . I wonder why the vent on the back is so small?
Posted on Reply
#124
kylzer
CraigleberryI know about the 4890,
I was curious about the 5xxx GPU-Z screeny and posted up 4890 results for comparison.
I remember reading here on TPU that Wiz has not yet released a version of GPU-Z supporting the 5xxx series cards.

P.S I see your sig is fake too :p
Yeah i thought he said that too

forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1552086&postcount=716

and yes ^_^ premature i guess :D
Posted on Reply
#125
grunt_408
lol it dosnt hurt to have some forward planing for the future at least when you own one you will have no need to change your sig :p
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
May 5th, 2024 19:57 EDT change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts