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When testing video cards, it is important to use a system which would suit the target audience. For this review we are using a Intel Core i7 975 processor paired with the excellent, KitGuru award winning Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard – check out the review here if you missed it. We will compare the card to the higher end HD 5870 model as well as a reference HD5850 and Sapphire Toxic Edition. KitGuru also always tries to mix and match a wide range of games within our reviews – no one wants to see the same five or six games in every review.
Test System:
Powercolor HD5850 PCS+ Edition
Sapphire HD5850 Toxic 1GB Edition
Intel Core i7 975
Coolit ECO A.L.C.
Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
6GB Corsair DDR3 1866mhz Memory
Intel 160GB SSD Drive
Lacie 730 30 inch screen.
Western Digital Raid 0 (2×1TB Drives)
Enermax 1250W Revolution PSU
Lian Li Armorcase
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit – all newest patches applied
Fraps Professional
Catalyst 10.4a driver
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Resident Evil 5
Batman Arkham Asylum
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat
Left 4 Dead 2
Colin McRae Dirt 2
Crysis Warhead
3dMark Vantage
All the latest bios updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru test all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.
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.