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The Powercolor Radeon HD5850 PCS+ Video card is supplied in a tower shaped box with what looks to be a futuristic car on the front. I am not really sure of this recent fascination with racing cars … perhaps far east engineers are frustrated F1 drivers.
It is a rather bland looking box which certainly won't help to sell them within a store environment.
The package contains a Driver CD (well out of date), a quick install guide, Dirt 2 Coupon for Steam, Crossfire bridge and a DVI adapter.
The card itself is rather attractive with a centralised fan system – built on a traditionally coloured red ATI PCB.
It is nice to see a PCB like this again as it always gives me a nostalgic feeling of the ‘good old days' when all ATI cards were red.
The heatpipes are set into matched pairs, a pair of narrow links and a wider set – ensuring a good transfer of heat from the core.
The fan has a Power color logo stuck to the middle area and the substantial heatsink can be seen behind the blades.
The card draws power from two 6 pin PCI-e power connectors – keeping with the reference power design.
The card is supplied with two dual link DVI's as well as Displayport and HDMI out. This also adheres to the reference design.
Thats a sweet ass card, almost all the HD5850s overclock like hell, mine hits 850 and 1200 ram too 🙂 and its reference, gets a bit hot though
great review, covered all the bases. I agree HD5850 is much better than GTX465. cheaper too which I cant believe
The problem I have with ATI cards, no matter how good they are, is the drivers. I know they are meant to be better than 2 years ago, but I will never forget the issues I had with my media center and infinite loops. never again.
I think the cooler is actually quite ugly, Saapphier card looks much better
good price, but id still rather go for the 5870 and overclock that. can get some good overclocks with those cards too. its only £80 more I think.
excuse english, anyone have france retailers with this in stock?
Fermi is still good, I hate the way people knock it all the time. its very fast – GTX465 is great value
@ Terry – what world are you living in? GTX465 is slower, hotter, more expensive than the HD5850. why would you buy it ?
Temperatures are really good actually, seems a better deal than the Sapphire. what about noise? I dont see any ratings? louder or quieter than Sapphire?
whats the noise like? is it acceptable when overclocked?
Good review, like the card. good price too
Still dont see a need to upgrade from my last gen card. im happy with 8800
Seems quite dear still, I like the 5770, but I dont game at 1920x or 2560x . I might add another 5770 to my system though, crossfire anygood ?
Quality review – you are certainly pumping them out lately Z man.
Wouldn’t touch this make, they seem very generic far east, not a european supported brand.
prefer sapphire, even for the £20 more. better cooler, better company, I would think.
Actually you guys are wrong – most of these cards are all made by the same handful of companies in the far east, then ‘farmed’ out to the various companies we buy them from. All basically made by the same people. I have had powercolor boards in the past, never had a problem. Dont be so narrow minded
another great review.