XFX HD5870 Black Edition Review

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the DLC episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV, containing both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on one disc. It was released alongside the DLC release of The Ballad of Gay Tony on 29 October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and released on 13 April 2010 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3. It does not require a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV to play, nor is an Xbox Live or PSN account necessary (except for multiplayer). The content is also played straight from the disc, and does not need to be downloaded to a hard drive to play, like various other disc-based expansions for other Xbox 360 games that have been released in the past.

The engine is still extremely demanding for this game – even months later for the newest hardware. The latest version changes some of the rendering calls and is used partially within the latest Max Payne engine.

Once again the XFX overclocked Black Edition shines and shows noticeable improvements when compared with the reference design card. While the reference card keeps minimum frame rates at 25fps the XFX has a noticeable edge. What does this mean in the real world? Well some sections which could be noticeably ‘juddery' on the reference card were smoother. We are all for that.

This is a rare occasion for us – seeing Grand Theft Auto 4 at such high settings barely dropping under the 30fps mark at all – which is even more impressive when you realise the card only has 1GB of memory onboard. The Black Edition makes for a great GTA4 gaming experience.

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