Amd radeon 5970: ATI Radeon HD 5970 Specs

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review

Verdict

Key Specifications

Review Price: £519.98

Today sees the launch of AMD’s latest top-of-the-range DirectX 11 graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 (codenamed Hemlock). Like AMD’s previous high-end cards, it uses two graphics chips housed on a single board and has an internal CrossFire interface to get the ultimate in performance. Since AMD’s current top-of-the-range single-chip card, the Radeon HD 5870, is already one of the fastest in the world, this new card is sure to take performance to the next level. Shortly we’ll see if it does but first, a bit of a history lesson.

For the last few generations of its graphics cards, AMD’s strategy has been to create a chip that will compete at what it sees as the more lucrative mid- to high-end market of £200-£300, rather than the ultra high-end of £400+. It then uses two of the chips to create a single monster of a card to compete at that top-end. The same architecture is then used to design scaled down versions of the chip to create lower end cards. In contrast, nVidia has aimed its previous top-end chips much higher, thus creating much more expensive and faster single chip cards. This is still nVidia’s strategy, as its latest ‘Fermi’ architecture proves.

The result of this is that AMD has ”had” to bring its dual-chip cards to market simply to compete with nVidia’s top-end single chip cards (not to mention nVidia’s dual-chip cards as well). However, this time around we have a slightly different situation. While the HD 5870 still isn’t the out and out fastest card – the nVidia GeForce GTX 295 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 (both dual-chip cards) still trade places for top spot with it – it’s the clear choice of the three due to its support of DirectX 11, its lower power consumption, and better compatibility thanks to its single chip (while CrossFire/SLI support is getting ever better, some games still have issues with these dual-chip solutions). As such, the need for AMD to release the HD 5970 is limited right now; it could easily sit back and wait for the HD 5870 to reap its rewards for a bit longer. Nevertheless, AMD ”has” chosen to launch the card already so let’s take a closer look.

The HD 5970 uses two Cypress chips mounted on a single board with 1GB of GDDR5 memory for each chip. The GPUs run at 725MHz while the memory is clocked at 1GHz (effectively 4GHz), which theoretically means this card will have performance that sits somewhere between two HD 5870s in Crossfire and two HD 5850s also in CrossFire – it has the same number of SIMDs as the 5870 but the clock speed of the 5850.

Physically the card is something to behold, at 12.2in (310mm) long and weighing 1.2kg, it is simply colossal. This immense length means the card overhangs the back of a standard ATX motherboard by 2.5in (6.5cm) and as such won’t fit in many cases, so check there’s space before opting for this card (incidentally, the ATX specification does allow for cards up to 13. 3in long so AMD isn’t breaking any rules here).

Conversely, by picking prime examples of its Cypress chips and keeping the clock speeds down, AMD has managed to keep the HD 5970’s total power consumption to below 300W, so it only requires an 8-pin and a 6-pin auxiliary power connector, rather than two 8-pin connectors. This means it stands a better chance of being compatible with your power supply.

Despite the decent power consumption claims, AMD was at pains to point out that the HD 5970 has plenty of headroom for overclocking. As well as the chips themselves already being ‘underclocked’, the scope for boosting performance is aided by particularly high quality power management circuitry and the new cooler that AMD has employed. The latter uses a vapour chamber (essentially a flat heatpipe) to contact directly with the chips, with a conventional aluminium fin arrangement on top of this to dissipate the heat. This vapour chamber, and the rest of the cooling system, can actually cope with up to 400W of thermal dissipation.

AMD also pointed out that OEMs will have the option to use two 8-pin power connectors and significantly overclock its cards to sell at a premium. It will be some time before such cards arrive though.

As a consequence of the new cooling system, AMD has had to change its output configuration from the ‘two dual-link DVIs, DisplayPort (DP), and HDMI’ configuration we’ve seen on all previous 5000 series cards. Instead, one full slot of the output panel is given up to exhausting the card’s heat and the other slot is home to two dual-link DVI ports and a mini-DP. Before getting too upset, though, remember that you could only use three of the four outputs at any one time on the other cards anyway. Furthermore, with DVI to HDMI and mini-DP to full-size-DP converters in the box, you’ll still have all the various output configurations available in some form or other. The DVI/HDMI also supports digital audio output over HDMI like all previous AMD cards.

A first for this card is that it will support AMD’s new Eyefinity multi-display technology, something that previous CrossFire setups couldn’t do. This means you’ll be able to game on three monitors at once with a total resolution of up to 7,680 x 1,600. Currently just 22 games are supported but this will of course increase over time. Meanwhile Eyefinity support will find its way to conventional Crossfire setups at the start of next year.

So, that’s how the card stacks up physically and in terms of features but the real question as always is how does it perform? Read on to find out.

We tested this card on our usual test bench, the details of which are below. We ran five games to test for performance then checked total system power consumption and noise levels both when idling and gaming. As always we ran our tests multiple times to try and ensure consistent figures then record the average.

With the exception of Counter-Strike: Source (CSS) and Crysis, the gaming results are recorded manually using FRAPs while we repeatedly play the same section of the game. For CSS and Crysis we use timedemos and framerate recording is automated. For Crysis, all in-game detail settings are set to High while all the other games are run at their highest possible graphical settings.

Meanwhile, power draw testing is done using a mains inline power meter. The idle figure is taken when the system is simply on the Windows Desktop with no obvious background activity going on. The load test is then taken when running our Crysis timedemo at 1,920 x 1,200 with 2xAA. Likewise, noise levels are tested using the same idle and load scenarios as above. We isolate the test bed in a sound-proof box and record noise levels from about 30cm away.

We find that below about 40dB is indicative of a card that when housed in a conventional case will go unnoticed in a relatively quiet home office environment. For use in a ‘silent’ PC (for in the bedroom or cinema room) without resorting to sound-proofing your case, you’ll want a card that’s lower than 35dB at idle. As for under load, above about 50dB is a constantly noticeable level that would disturb you if using speakers or open-back headphones while gaming.

”’Test System”’
* Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition
* Asus P6T motherboard
* 3 x 1GB Qimonda IMSh2GU03A1F1C-10F PC3-8500 DDR3 RAM
* 150GB Western Digital Raptor
* Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

”’Cards Tested”’

* AMD ATI HD 5970

* AMD ATI HD 5870

* AMD ATI HD 4870 X2

* nVidia GeForce GTX 295

* nVidia GeForce GTX 285

”’Drivers”’

* AMD HD 5970 – Hemlock beta driver 8.663.1

* Other AMD ATI HD 5000 series – 5000 driver

* Other ATI cards – Catalyst 9.9

* nVidia cards – 190.02

”’Games Tested”’

* Far Cry 2

* Crysis

* Race Driver: GRID

* Call of Duty 4

* Counter-Strike: Source

Looking first at Far Cry 2, the HD 5970 starts with a healthy lead over the competition and maintains it throughout, pulling further and further ahead until, at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4xAA, it has nearly a 50 per cent lead over its nearest rival, the GTX 295. Of course, the thing to note here is that it’s only at this sort of resolution that all the other cards on test don’t deliver very playable framerates, so unless you have a monitor with such a resolution this card is going to be overkill.

It’s a very similar picture in Crysis, though rather than the HD 4870 X2 being the most consistent nearest rival, it is now the GTX 295. The performance advantage of the HD 5970 is also felt earlier on with most of the other cards struggling to deliver playable framerates at 1,920 x 1,200, 4xAA. The HD 5970 struggles a little at 2,560 x 1,600 but will still give just playable results. It also holds a significant 20 per cent advantage over its nearest rival at this resolution.

Moving onto less demanding games and we find ourselves in the situation where all cards on test deliver playable framerates even at 2,560 x 1,600, 4xAA. Still, with the HD5970 outperforming its nearest rival in Race Driver: GRID by some 42 per cent and by 43 per cent in Call Of Duty 4 when testing at 2,560 x 1,600 4xAA, this card is certainly proving to have astonishing levels of performance.

The final game we test is Counter-Strike: Source and because all these cards give such good performance, it’s actually the CPU/rest of the system that is holding performance back. As such we’ve only shown the 2,560 x 1,600 results. Here, most of the other cards begin to become the bottleneck and performance drops just a tad. However, the HD 5970 is still completely CPU-limited even at the highest setting, such is its processing power.

Looking now at power consumption and astonishingly, despite being such a fast card, the HD 5970 isn’t the most power hungry card on test. That said, the two cards that do beat it are the previous generation dual-chip cards, so that’s not surprising. Regardless, the total system power figures of 143W at idle and 330W under load aren’t in the realms of the ridiculous.

The HD 5970 also performed well in our noise tests, producing no more noise than its single-chip cousin, the HD 5870, and significantly less than either the GTX 295 or GTX 285 when idling. Under load it does get pretty loud, though, and is only outstripped by the HD 4870 X2, which is a particularly noisy card. Essentially, you’ll want to be wearing headphones or employing some serious sound-proofing when gaming with this card.

So, all told, the HD 5970 is an impressive card. It has absolutely bags of performance, has all the latest features, consumes a not horrific amount of power, and when idling it’s not too noisy either. However, there is one rather important factor yet to consider, price. Currently retailing for an eye-watering £519.98, this is the most expensive graphics card we’ve seen in years. As such, we find it impossible to recommend for anyone with a single monitor as the HD 5870 delivers enough performance in the majority of games and will save you £200.

However, taking into account Eyefinity, the HD 5970 starts to make sense. Even three relatively small monitors will give a total resolution exceeding that of a single 30-incher (2,560 x 1,600) so that extra performance will start to be of tangible benefit. And let’s face it, if you can afford to be buying three monitors just for a better gaming experience then spending £500 on a graphics card is something you’ll certainly consider.

”’Verdict”’

The AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 is without doubt the single fastest graphics card on the planet. However, if you own a single monitor then it’s simply overkill and the HD 5870 is a much more sensible option. If you’re interested in pursuing a multi-monitor gaming setup, though, then this is a card well worth considering.

—-

Score in detail

Value 7
Features 10
Performance 10

ATI Radeon HD 5970 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050: What is the difference?

33points

ATI Radeon HD 5970

41points

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

54 facts in comparison

ATI Radeon HD 5970

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Why is ATI Radeon HD 5970 better than Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050?

2. 91 TFLOPS higher floating-point performance?
4.64 TFLOPSvs1.73 TFLOPS
9.97 GPixel/s higher pixel rate?
46.4 GPixel/svs36.43 GPixel/s
43.14 GTexels/s higher texture rate?
116 GTexels/svs72.86 GTexels/s
143.9GB/s more memory bandwidth?
256GB/svs112.1GB/s
384bit wider memory bus width?
512bitvs128bit
2432 more shading units?
3200vs768
Supports multi-display technology?
15°C lower load GPU temperature?
82°Cvs97°C

Why is Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 better than ATI Radeon HD 5970?

667MHz faster GPU clock speed?
1392MHzvs725MHz
219W lower TDP?
75Wvs294W
752MHz faster memory clock speed?
1752MHzvs1000MHz
3008MHz higher effective memory clock speed?
7008MHzvs4000MHz
1 newer version of DirectX?
12vs11
0. 4 newer version of OpenGL?
4.6vs4.2
1146million more transistors?
3300 millionvs2154 million
1.8 newer version of OpenCL?
3vs1.2

Which are the most popular comparisons?

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ATI Radeon HD 5970

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AMD Radeon RX 550

ATI Radeon HD 5970

EVGA GeForce GTX 760

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ATI Radeon HD 5970

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ATI Radeon HD 5970

AMD Radeon HD 6450

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Price comparison

User reviews

Overall Rating

ATI Radeon HD 5970

0 User reviews

ATI Radeon HD 5970

0. 0/10

0 User reviews

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

2 User reviews

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

6.0/10

2 User reviews

Features

Value for money

No reviews yet

6.5/10

2 votes

Gaming

No reviews yet

6.0/10

2 votes

Performance

No reviews yet

6.0/10

2 votes

Fan noise

No reviews yet

10.0/10

2 votes

Reliability

No reviews yet

6.0/10

2 votes

Performance

1.GPU clock speed

725MHz

1392MHz

The graphics processing unit (GPU) has a higher clock speed.

2.GPU turbo

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (ATI Radeon HD 5970)

1518MHz

When the GPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance.

3.pixel rate

46.4 GPixel/s

36.43 GPixel/s

The number of pixels that can be rendered to the screen every second.

4.floating-point performance

4.64 TFLOPS

1.73 TFLOPS

Floating-point performance is a measurement of the raw processing power of the GPU.

5.texture rate

116 GTexels/s

72.86 GTexels/s

The number of textured pixels that can be rendered to the screen every second.

6.GPU memory speed

1000MHz

1752MHz

The memory clock speed is one aspect that determines the memory bandwidth.

7.shading units

Shading units (or stream processors) are small processors within the graphics card that are responsible for processing different aspects of the image.

8.texture mapping units (TMUs)

TMUs take textures and map them to the geometry of a 3D scene. More TMUs will typically mean that texture information is processed faster.

9.render output units (ROPs)

The ROPs are responsible for some of the final steps of the rendering process, writing the final pixel data to memory and carrying out other tasks such as anti-aliasing to improve the look of graphics.

Memory

1.effective memory speed

4000MHz

7008MHz

The effective memory clock speed is calculated from the size and data rate of the memory. Higher clock speeds can give increased performance in games and other apps.

2.maximum memory bandwidth

256GB/s

112.1GB/s

This is the maximum rate that data can be read from or stored into memory.

3.VRAM

VRAM (video RAM) is the dedicated memory of a graphics card. More VRAM generally allows you to run games at higher settings, especially for things like texture resolution.

4.memory bus width

512bit

128bit

A wider bus width means that it can carry more data per cycle. It is an important factor of memory performance, and therefore the general performance of the graphics card.

5.version of GDDR memory

Newer versions of GDDR memory offer improvements such as higher transfer rates that give increased performance.

6.Supports ECC memory

✖ATI Radeon HD 5970

✖Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Error-correcting code memory can detect and correct data corruption. It is used when is it essential to avoid corruption, such as scientific computing or when running a server.

Features

1.DirectX version

DirectX is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.

2.OpenGL version

OpenGL is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.

3.OpenCL version

Some apps use OpenCL to apply the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU) for non-graphical computing. Newer versions introduce more functionality and better performance.

4.Supports multi-display technology

✔ATI Radeon HD 5970

✖Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

The graphics card supports multi-display technology. This allows you to configure multiple monitors in order to create a more immersive gaming experience, such as having a wider field of view.

5.load GPU temperature

A lower load temperature means that the card produces less heat and its cooling system performs better.

6.supports ray tracing

✖ATI Radeon HD 5970

✖Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Ray tracing is an advanced light rendering technique that provides more realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in games.

7. Supports 3D

✔ATI Radeon HD 5970

✔Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Allows you to view in 3D (if you have a 3D display and glasses).

8.supports DLSS

✖ATI Radeon HD 5970

✖Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an upscaling technology powered by AI. It allows the graphics card to render games at a lower resolution and upscale them to a higher resolution with near-native visual quality and increased performance. DLSS is only available on select games.

9.PassMark (G3D) result

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050)

This benchmark measures the graphics performance of a video card. Source: PassMark.

Ports

1.has an HDMI output

✔ATI Radeon HD 5970

✔Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Devices with a HDMI or mini HDMI port can transfer high definition video and audio to a display.

2. HDMI ports

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (ATI Radeon HD 5970)

More HDMI ports mean that you can simultaneously connect numerous devices, such as video game consoles and set-top boxes.

3.HDMI version

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (ATI Radeon HD 5970)

HDMI 2.0

Newer versions of HDMI support higher bandwidth, which allows for higher resolutions and frame rates.

4.DisplayPort outputs

Allows you to connect to a display using DisplayPort.

5.DVI outputs

Allows you to connect to a display using DVI.

6.mini DisplayPort outputs

Allows you to connect to a display using mini-DisplayPort.

Price comparison

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Which are the best graphics cards?

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review

Written by

TOO-LONG TOO-LONG

November 18, 2009 | 12:06

Tags: #11 #atm #benchmarks #buy #card #comparison #cost #crossfire #crysis #directx #dx #fast #free #gold #live #performance #result #review #testing

Companies: #amd #ati

1 — AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review2 — What’s a Radeon HD 5970?3 — Where to buy your Radeon HD 5970, pg14 — Where to buy your Radeon HD 5970, pg25 — Test Setup6 — Fallout 37 — S. T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky8 — Dawn of War 29 — Crysis10 — Call of Duty: World at War11 — Power Consumption and Thermal Performance12 — Performance Analysis13 — Availability and Conclusion

Manufacturer:AMD
UK Price (as reviewed):£520 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): NA

AMD has had the luxury of having virtually no competition in the graphics card market ever since it released its ATI Radeon HD 5800 series towards the end of September. Nvidia hasn’t done an awful lot in response to the Radeon HD 5870 and 5850 — aside from struggle, of course — because its first Fermi-based graphics cards are still quite a long way from release.

Our latest information suggests that we might see something by way of a performance preview this side of Christmas, but don’t expect any kind of product volume on retailers’ shelves until well into the first quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, AMD has been busy executing its launch strategy — we’ve not only seen AMD release the Radeon HD 5870 and HD 5850 graphics cards, but the firm quickly followed with the more moderately priced Radeon HD 5770 and HD 5750 cards. Although we don’t think the 5700-series represent great value at the moment, both of the Radeon HD 5800 series cards are.

Click to enlarge — this is almost as long as the Subway sandwich I’m going to have for lunch today, but probably not as tasty

AMD’s problem, however, has been getting enough products out of the door, as both the Radeon HD 5870 and 5850 have been horrendously difficult to get hold of. It’s hard to understand how AMD could underestimate demand in such a way, given that they’re the first DirectX 11-based graphics cards — it looks like those problems with the Radeon HD 4770 availability are creeping back.

TSMC’s 40nm process has had a lot of issues ever since its introduction and it meant that AMD couldn’t make enough Radeon HD 4770s to satisfy the demand. The same appears to be true here, too, as AMD simply cannot make enough Cypress GPUs to satisfy current demand — we’ve heard board partners with back orders of Radeon HD 5800 cards in the several hundreds of thousands, which is quite frankly crazy.

Click to enlarge — the PCI bracket features two dual-link DVIs and a mini-DisplayPort connector

Today, AMD is executing the third part of its four-phase Radeon HD 5000 series launch today with the release of the Radeon HD 5970. The Radeon HD 5970 is codenamed Hemlock and is not a completely new GPU. Instead, it’s a pair of Cypress GPUs connected together with a PCI Express 2.0 bridge chip to deliver enough performance to shatter every record in the book.

Given the above, we asked AMD to explain how it plans to keep up with demand for yet another Cypress-based card. The firm said that it made little sense to hold back — the card is ready and, because it’s a flagship product, it’s not going to have a huge impact on supply. At more than £500, we definitely agree with that sentiment, but it’s still taking GPUs away from the products that will definitely sell (i.e. the HD 5870 and HD 5850).

What we can deduce is that AMD has taken some steps to improve yields — the first measure is the card’s specs — the Radeon HD 5970 isn’t just a pair of Radeon HD 5870s strapped to one PCB. Instead, the two GPUs are underclocked versions of the Radeon HD 5870 GPU and use less voltage too. The less aggresive speed-binning should help ATI keep yeilds, though this move will also help keep GPU temperatures inside the HD 5970 down.

The new naming scheme is an improvement on the X2 nomenclature, which felt like a step backwards on all the good work AMD had done by dropping the branding suffixes such as Pro, XT, XTX and OMG!!!111. It removes the final suffix in AMD’s armoury and if it ends up releasing a cheaper dual-GPU part, customers won’t be confused as they won’t be wondering whether a 5870 is faster than a 5850 X2, for example.

1 — AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review2 — What’s a Radeon HD 5970?3 — Where to buy your Radeon HD 5970, pg14 — Where to buy your Radeon HD 5970, pg25 — Test Setup6 — Fallout 37 — S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky8 — Dawn of War 29 — Crysis10 — Call of Duty: World at War11 — Power Consumption and Thermal Performance12 — Performance Analysis13 — Availability and Conclusion

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2GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 2080 TiGeForce RTX 2080 SuperGeForce RTX 2080GeForce RTX 2070 SuperGeForce RTX 2070GeForce RTX 2060 SuperGeForce RTX 2060GeForce GTX 1660 TiGeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660GeForce GTX 1650 SuperGeForce GTX 1650 GDDR6GeForce GTX 1650 rev.3GeForce GTX 1650 rev.2GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1630GeForce GTX 1080 TiGeForce GTX 1080GeForce GTX 1070 TiGeForce GTX 1070GeForce GTX 1060GeForce GTX 1060 3GBGeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 3GBGeForce GTX 1050GeForce GT 1030GeForce GTX Titan XGeForce GTX 980 TiGeForce GTX 980GeForce GTX 970GeForce GTX 960GeForce GTX 950GeForce GTX TitanGeForce GTX 780 TiGeForce GTX 780GeForce GTX 770GeForce GTX 760GeForce GTX 750 TiGeForce GTX 750GeForce GT 740GeForce GT 730GeForce GTX 690GeForce GTX 680GeForce GTX 670GeForce GTX 660 TiGeForce GTX 660GeForce GTX 650 Ti BoostGeForce GTX 650 TiGeForce GTX 650GeForce GT 640 rev.2GeForce GT 640GeForce GT 630 rev.2GeForce GT 630GeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 580GeForce GTX 570GeForce GTX 560 TiGeForce GTX 560GeForce GTX 550 TiGeForce GT 520GeForce GTX 480GeForce GTX 470GeForce GTX 465GeForce GTX 460 SEGeForce GTX 460 1024MBGeForce GTX 460 768MBGeForce GTS 450GeForce GT 440 GDDR5GeForce GT 440 GDDR3GeForce GT 430GeForce GT 420GeForce GTX 295GeForce GTX 285GeForce GTX 280GeForce GTX 275GeForce GTX 260 rev.

2GeForce GTX 260GeForce GTS 250GeForce GTS 240GeForce GT 240GeForce GT 230GeForce GT 220GeForce 210Geforce 205GeForce GTS 150GeForce GT 130GeForce GT 120GeForce G100GeForce 9800 GTX+GeForce 9800 GTXGeForce 9800 GTSGeForce 9800 GTGeForce 9800 GX2GeForce 9600 GTGeForce 9600 GSO (G94)GeForce 9600 GSOGeForce 9500 GTGeForce 9500 GSGeForce 9400 GTGeForce 9400GeForce 9300GeForce 8800 ULTRAGeForce 8800 GTXGeForce 8800 GTS Rev2GeForce 8800 GTSGeForce 8800 GTGeForce 8800 GS 768MBGeForce 8800 GS 384MBGeForce 8600 GTSGeForce 8600 GTGeForce 8600 GSGeForce 8500 GT DDR3GeForce 8500 GT DDR2GeForce 8400 GSGeForce 8300GeForce 8200GeForce 8100GeForce 7950 GX2GeForce 7950 GTGeForce 7900 GTXGeForce 7900 GTOGeForce 7900 GTGeForce 7900 GSGeForce 7800 GTX 512MBGeForce 7800 GTXGeForce 7800 GTGeForce 7800 GS AGPGeForce 7800 GSGeForce 7600 GT Rev.2GeForce 7600 GTGeForce 7600 GS 256MBGeForce 7600 GS 512MBGeForce 7300 GT Ver2GeForce 7300 GTGeForce 7300 GSGeForce 7300 LEGeForce 7300 SEGeForce 7200 GSGeForce 7100 GS TC 128 (512)GeForce 6800 Ultra 512MBGeForce 6800 UltraGeForce 6800 GT 256MBGeForce 6800 GT 128MBGeForce 6800 GTOGeForce 6800 256MB PCI-EGeForce 6800 128MB PCI-EGeForce 6800 LE PCI-EGeForce 6800 256MB AGPGeForce 6800 128MB AGPGeForce 6800 LE AGPGeForce 6800 GS AGPGeForce 6800 GS PCI-EGeForce 6800 XTGeForce 6600 GT PCI-EGeForce 6600 GT AGPGeForce 6600 DDR2GeForce 6600 PCI-EGeForce 6600 AGPGeForce 6600 LEGeForce 6200 NV43VGeForce 6200GeForce 6200 NV43AGeForce 6500GeForce 6200 TC 64(256)GeForce 6200 TC 32(128)GeForce 6200 TC 16(128)GeForce PCX5950GeForce PCX 5900GeForce PCX 5750GeForce PCX 5550GeForce PCX 5300GeForce PCX 4300GeForce FX 5950 UltraGeForce FX 5900 UltraGeForce FX 5900GeForce FX 5900 ZTGeForce FX 5900 XTGeForce FX 5800 UltraGeForce FX 5800GeForce FX 5700 Ultra /DDR-3GeForce FX 5700 Ultra /DDR-2GeForce FX 5700GeForce FX 5700 LEGeForce FX 5600 Ultra (rev.

2)GeForce FX 5600 Ultra (rev.1)GeForce FX 5600 XTGeForce FX 5600GeForce FX 5500GeForce FX 5200 UltraGeForce FX 5200GeForce FX 5200 SEGeForce 4 Ti 4800GeForce 4 Ti 4800-SEGeForce 4 Ti 4200-8xGeForce 4 Ti 4600GeForce 4 Ti 4400GeForce 4 Ti 4200GeForce 4 MX 4000GeForce 4 MX 440-8x / 480GeForce 4 MX 460GeForce 4 MX 440GeForce 4 MX 440-SEGeForce 4 MX 420GeForce 3 Ti500GeForce 3 Ti200GeForce 3GeForce 2 Ti VXGeForce 2 TitaniumGeForce 2 UltraGeForce 2 PROGeForce 2 GTSGeForce 2 MX 400GeForce 2 MX 200GeForce 2 MXGeForce 256 DDRGeForce 256Riva TNT 2 UltraRiva TNT 2 PRORiva TNT 2Riva TNT 2 M64Riva TNT 2 Vanta LTRiva TNT 2 VantaRiva TNTRiva 128 ZXRiva 128 9Fury XRadeon R9 FuryRadeon R9 NanoRadeon R9 390XRadeon R9 390Radeon R9 380XRadeon R9 380Radeon R7 370Radeon R7 360Radeon R9 295X2Radeon R9 290XRadeon R9 290Radeon R9 280XRadeon R9 285Radeon R9 280Radeon R9 270XRadeon R9 270Radeon R7 265Radeon R7 260XRadeon R7 260Radeon R7 250Radeon R7 240Radeon HD 7970Radeon HD 7950Radeon HD 7870 XTRadeon HD 7870Radeon HD 7850Radeon HD 7790Radeon HD 7770Radeon HD 7750Radeon HD 6990Radeon HD 6970Radeon HD 6950Radeon HD 6930Radeon HD 6870Radeon HD 6850Radeon HD 6790Radeon HD 6770Radeon HD 6750Radeon HD 6670 GDDR5Radeon HD 6670 GDDR3Radeon HD 6570 GDDR5Radeon HD 6570 GDDR3Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5Radeon HD 6450 GDDR3Radeon HD 5570 GDDR5Radeon HD 3750Radeon HD 3730Radeon HD 5970Radeon HD 5870Radeon HD 5850Radeon HD 5830Radeon HD 5770Radeon HD 5750Radeon HD 5670Radeon HD 5570Radeon HD 5550Radeon HD 5450Radeon HD 4890Radeon HD 4870 X2Radeon HD 4870Radeon HD 4860Radeon HD 4850 X2Radeon HD 4850Radeon HD 4830Radeon HD 4790Radeon HD 4770Radeon HD 4730Radeon HD 4670Radeon HD 4650Radeon HD 4550Radeon HD 4350Radeon HD 4350Radeon HD 43500 (IGP 890GX) Radeon HD 4200 (IGP)Radeon HD 3870 X2Radeon HD 3870Radeon HD 3850Radeon HD 3690Radeon HD 3650Radeon HD 3470Radeon HD 3450Radeon HD 3300 (IGP)Radeon HD 3200 (IGP)Radeon HD 3100 (IGP)Radeon HD 2900 XT 1Gb GDDR4Radeon HD 2900 XTRadeon HD 2900 PRORadeon HD 2900 GTRadeon HD 2600 XT DUALRadeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4Radeon HD 2600 XTRadeon HD 2600 PRORadeon HD 2400 XTRadeon HD 2400 PRORadeon HD 2350Radeon X1950 CrossFire EditionRadeon X1950 XTXRadeon X1950 XTRadeon X1950 PRO DUALRadeon X1950 PRORadeon X1950 GTRadeon X1900 CrossFire EditionRadeon X1900 XTXRadeon X1900 XTRadeon X1900 GT Rev2Radeon X1900 GTRadeon X1800 CrossFire EditionRadeon X1800 XT PE 512MBRadeon X1800 XTRadeon X1800 XLRadeon X1800 GTORadeon X1650 XTRadeon X1650 GTRadeon X1650 XL DDR3Radeon X1650 XL DDR2Radeon X1650 PRO on RV530XTRadeon X1650 PRO on RV535XTRadeon X1650Radeon X1600 XTRadeon X1600 PRORadeon X1550 PRORadeon X1550Radeon X1550 LERadeon X1300 XT on RV530ProRadeon X1300 XT on RV535ProRadeon X1300 CERadeon X1300 ProRadeon X1300Radeon X1300 LERadeon X1300 HMRadeon X1050Radeon X850 XT Platinum EditionRadeon X850 XT CrossFire EditionRadeon X850 XT Radeon X850 Pro Radeon X800 XT Platinum EditionRadeon X800 XTRadeon X800 CrossFire EditionRadeon X800 XLRadeon X800 GTO 256MBRadeon X800 GTO 128MBRadeon X800 GTO2 256MBRadeon X800Radeon X800 ProRadeon X800 GT 256MBRadeon X800 GT 128MBRadeon X800 SERadeon X700 XTRadeon X700 ProRadeon X700Radeon X600 XTRadeon X600 ProRadeon X550 XTRadeon X550Radeon X300 SE 128MB HM-256MBR adeon X300 SE 32MB HM-128MBRadeon X300Radeon X300 SERadeon 9800 XTRadeon 9800 PRO /DDR IIRadeon 9800 PRO /DDRRadeon 9800Radeon 9800 SE-256 bitRadeon 9800 SE-128 bitRadeon 9700 PRORadeon 9700Radeon 9600 XTRadeon 9600 PRORadeon 9600Radeon 9600 SERadeon 9600 TXRadeon 9550 XTRadeon 9550Radeon 9550 SERadeon 9500 PRORadeon 9500 /128 MBRadeon 9500 /64 MBRadeon 9250Radeon 9200 PRORadeon 9200Radeon 9200 SERadeon 9000 PRORadeon 9000Radeon 9000 XTRadeon 8500 LE / 9100Radeon 8500Radeon 7500Radeon 7200 Radeon LE Radeon DDR OEM Radeon DDR Radeon SDR Radeon VE / 7000Rage 128 GL Rage 128 VR Rage 128 PRO AFRRage 128 PRORage 1283D Rage ProIntelArc A770 16GBArc A770 8GBArc A750Arc A380Arc A310NVIDIAGeForce RTX 4090GeForce RTX 4080 16GBGeForce RTX 4080 12GBGeForce RTX 3090 TiGeForce RTX 3090GeForce RTX 3080 TiGeForce RTX 3080 12GBGeForce RTX 3080GeForce RTX 3070 TiGeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 rev.

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GeForce GTX 580. The Second Coming of Fermi

AMD Radeon HD 5970

U.A. | EN

MSI Radeon HD 5970 video card review and testing GECID.com. Page 1

::>Video cards
>2010
> MSI R5970-P2D2G

02-10-2010

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Almost a year has passed since AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) officially introduced the graphics accelerator ATI Radeon HD 5970 , but to this day it remains the most productive. NVIDIA, having released its voracious monster on the GeForce GTX 480 chip, was unable to provide the market with its long-awaited two-chip version. The main problem here was the power consumption of such a solution and its exorbitant heat dissipation. AMD had the same difficulties with the release of the dual-chip video card ATI Radeon HD 5970, but the developers were able to get around them by lowering all the operating frequencies of the video card and selecting chips with a lower operating voltage. The ATI Radeon HD 5970 has the highest theoretical performance of 4.64 trillion floating point operations per second for a single video accelerator. This allowed the ATI Radeon HD 5970 dual-chip graphics adapter (codenamed Hemlock ) to be the most sought after among the most demanding gamers and PC enthusiasts.

The AMD (ATI) comparison table of the main characteristics of the Radeon HD 58** series and the Radeon HD 5970 accelerator clearly demonstrates all the changes that Cypress chips had to undergo in order to use them in the Radeon HD 5970 accelerator.

	Radeon HD 5970	Radeon HD 5870	Radeon HD 5850
Total number of transistors, billion	4.3	2.15	2.15
Number of stream processors	2 x 1600	1600	1600
GPU clock frequency, MHz	725	850	725
Memory clock frequency, MHz	1000	1200	1000
Memory bandwidth, GB/s	2 x 128	153.6	128
Number of texture units	2 x 80	80	72
Texture fill rate, Gtexel/s	116	68	52.2
Number of ROPs	2 x 32	32	32
Pixel fill rate, Gpixel/s	46. 4	27.2	23.2
Computing performance, TFLOPs	4.64	2.72	2.09
Maximum board power consumption, W	294	188	170
Board idle power consumption, W	42	27	27

Reducing clock frequencies to the level of Radeon HD 5850 allowed to reduce the operating voltage both on the GPUs themselves and on the memory chips, which in turn reduced the total power consumption of the accelerator. Such an artificial reduction in performance was necessary to keep the maximum power consumption of the video card within the electromechanical specification of 300 W PCI-SIG. Raising the frequencies to the level of the Radeon HD 5870 (850 MHz core / 1200 MHz memory) would lead to the maximum power consumption of the board closer to 375 or even 400 watts.

The reference ATI Radeon HD 5970 accelerator, as well as its analogue, which came to us for testing MSI R5970-P2D2G , uses a high-quality element base in the textolite filling, as well as an innovative two-slot active air cooling system. The design of the cooler assumes the presence of a rather large evaporation chamber, which is designed to effectively remove excess heat from the main «hot spots» of the product to a massive aluminum radiator. A standard size turbine blows over the aluminum fins with a PWM speed controlled fan.

The use of specially selected graphics processors with low leakage currents made the video card even colder. Together with the installed special cooling system, this gives hope for power dissipation up to 400 watts. The lower frequencies and the use of higher stability chips should please overclocking enthusiasts, as they will be happy to make the graphics accelerator work at higher frequencies.

We went a little deeper into the theoretical details announced by AMD for the ATI Radeon HD 59 reference accelerator.70, but real tests and a detailed review of the final product will tell us much more about the practical side of using this solution.

Video card MSI R5970-P2D2G

Let’s consider a complete copy of the reference video card ATI Radeon HD 5970 provided to us for testing by MSI.

Specification table:

Model

MSI R5970-P2D2G (ATI Radeon HD 5970)

Graphics core

2x (AMD) ATI Radeon HD 5870 (RV870 «Cypress»)

Conveyor

2 x 1600 unified flow

Supported APIs

DirectX 11 (Shader Model 5.0)
OpenGL 3.2

Core frequency, MHz

725

Size (type) of memory, MB

2×1024 (GDDR5)

Memory frequency (effective), MHz

1000 (4000)

Memory bus bit

512 (2 x 256)

Tire standard

PCI Express X16 2. 1

Outlets

2 x DVI-I (HDMI and VGA via adapters)
1x miniDisplayPort (DisplayPort via adapter)

HDCP support

Yes
MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1 and H.264/AVC decoding

Drivers

Latest drivers can be downloaded from:
— GPU Manufacturer Site
— Support Site

Manufacturer website

http://ua.msi.com/

The use of two AMD RV870 «Cypress» chips caused a number of noticeable changes in the graphics card specification in relation to the reference single-chip ATI Radeon HD 5870 solution. The doubling affected the number of stream pipelines , amount of installed memory and bandwidth of the memory bus. Operating frequencies have been reduced to 725 MHz for the GPU and to an effective 4000 MHz for the memory chips. The variety of connectors on the rear panel has been reduced to three, there are two DVI-I and one miniDisplayPort. Through the adapters included in the package, the user can connect the display via DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA interfaces. Such large-scale changes do not even allow us to predict the resulting performance, but we will be able to check it in the testing process.

The video accelerator is delivered in a thick large box with an easy-to-carry plastic handle. A jet plane is depicted on the top of the package, probably as a symbol of the high performance of the video card. At the top you can see the company logo and icons of supported proprietary technologies ATI CrossFireX and ATI Eyefinity. Underlined at the bottom is the ATI Radeon HD 5970 accelerator model, the presence of 2 GB GDDR5 video memory, DirectX 11 support and the presence of a miniDisplayPort output. The box also indicates the presence in the delivery set of the proprietary MSI Afterburner utility for overclocking this accelerator.

On the back of the box, you can see a detailed description of the features of the MSI Afterburner utility with screenshots of some of its windows. The advantages of the Military-class components used in this accelerator model are also described here:

Hi-c CAP (Highly-Conductive Capacitor) — high-conductivity tantalum capacitors provide more stable power supply to the graphics core.

SSC (Solid State Chock) — Closed chokes prevent coil vibration and improve heat dissipation from the coil, which improves conductivity for better overclocking stability.

Solid Cap (Solid Capacitor) — solid capacitors guarantee 10 years of trouble-free operation.

MSI R5970-P2D2G delivery set is quite worthy:

One adapter from two peripheral power connectors to a 6-pin video card power connector;

One adapter from one 6-pin video power connector to an 8-pin video card power connector;

CrossFire Bridge;

CD with drivers and utilities;

Brief instructions for installing a video card;

DVI to HDMI adapter;

DVI to VGA adapter;

miniDisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter;

The design of the video card is exactly the same as the rest of the «top» solutions of the 5th series of accelerators from AMD. It’s all because of the use in all reference video cards of a standard type of turbine and a uniform casing for it. This accelerator is among its brothers ATI Radeon HD 5970 is distinguished only by the MSI R5970 inscription on the top of the casing and the round MSI sticker on the cooling turbine fan itself.

The ATI Radeon HD 5970 is even larger, by an inch (2.54 cm), compared to the already small ATI Radeon HD 5870. The MSI R5970-P2D2G measures 12.5 inches (31.75 cm). Such dimensions can create some problems when installing it in most conventional cases, but when purchasing such an accelerator, a real enthusiast simply has to take care of choosing a decent case.

The reverse side of the accelerator, except for cut holes for the cooler mounting system, is completely hidden under a metal plate. It provides an increase in the rigidity of the entire structure and contributes to a more reliable fastening of the cooling system.

Considering that this video card has two chips already connected in CrossFireX mode, the MSI R5970-P2D2G accelerator can be installed in CrossFireX mode only in pair with one similar model. This is possible thanks to a single connector for the CrossFire bridge, which is located on the top of the accelerator.

Two chips and the controller connecting them required the installation of two additional power connectors. As a result, the predicted power supply of the video accelerator is provided through the PCI Express slot (75 W), one 6-pin additional power connector (another 75 W) and one eight-pin additional power connector (150 W). Recall that the reference version of the accelerator on the Radeon HD 5870 required the connection of two six-pin connectors.

Due to the two-slot design of the cooling system, three display connectors (two DVI-I and miniDisplayPort) fit on the rear panel of the accelerator. There is also a large grille for removing hot air from the case.

On the front side of the printed circuit board, a tandem of two GPUs and a switch chip that ensures their joint work is striking.

The video accelerator is based on a pair of Cypress GPUs.

The GPU frequency is 725 MHz. The RV870 chips themselves are made according to the 40 nm process technology, which leads to their relatively low power consumption. The number of unified shader processors each is 1600, texture units 80, and the number of ROPs 32.

In the absence of load, the frequency of the chips decreases to 157 MHz, and the video memory slows down to 300 MHz (effective frequency 1200 MHz). At the same time, the supply voltage is reduced and the turbine speed is reduced, which provides a noticeable reduction in energy consumption and noise.

Located between the GPU chips, the AMD8647-8850BC switch chip provides processor communication over 16 PCI Express 2.0 lanes. The switch is labeled as ATI’s own product, but it is very similar to the PLX PEX 8647, a model that was used on the Radeon HD 4870×2 and was developed by PLX Technology.

Video memory with a total capacity of 2 GB (1 GB for each video chip) is made up of 16 Hynix chips marked H5GQ1h34AFR-T2C of the GDDR5 standard with an access time of 0. 4 ns, which allows them to operate at an effective frequency of up to 5000 MHz. Since the resulting frequency of the memory chips on the video card is slightly lower and amounts to 4000 MHz, there remains a good frequency corridor in reserve, which you can try to use during overclocking.

Placing two video card chips on just one printed circuit board forced the developers to complicate the power system quite a lot. Each GPU is served through three power phases by a separate converter, and the converter circuits themselves are identical.

One VT1157SF key and 8 ceramic capacitors per phase. ATI uses a built-in CPLA-3-50 induction circuit in this converter (performs the function of the usual single “cube” chokes for all three phases).

Each of the two Volterra VT1165MF controllers controls the converter of its corresponding graphics chip. This type of controller has the ability to adjust the voltage by software.

The third Volterra VT1165MF controls the converter that powers the memory controller (VDDCI). This converter has two phases using the CPL-2-50 dual inductor circuit. The memory is powered through a pair of simplest single-phase converters (one for each “set” of microcircuits) controlled by VT232WF controllers, which makes it impossible to control the memory supply voltage by software.

As you can see in the photos above, one of the phases of each video processor power converter is left unsoldered. Also, the six-pin auxiliary power connector soldered here can be easily replaced with an eight-pin one, the place and holes for the legs are already provided.

All the content of the board, as expected for the «top» solution of the line, is assembled with high-quality components. Many capacitors have been replaced with solid state ones, and those that remain are also made using technology that provides increased reliability and high performance.

On the reverse side of the board, only the remaining half of the memory chips and small matching elements can be noted.

The cooling system itself consists of several parts. The metal frame, made up of two plates, through the thermal interface comes into contact with all hot elements of the board — video memory chips and elements of the power subsystem. A separate design is used to cool the GPU — a massive aluminum heatsink with a thick copper substrate (evaporator), which is in direct contact with the GPU crystals and the switching chip.

We used the FurMark utility to evaluate the efficiency of the cooling system, and detailed monitoring was carried out using GPU-Z and MSI Afterburner.

Working at stock frequencies and controlling the turbine speed automatically, the GPU warmed up to 84°C, although one of the additional thermal sensors showed a temperature of 87°C. At the same time, the turbine rotation speed was 2874 RPM, which is approximately 60% of the maximum, and the entire cooler worked with little noise. Such results indicate an acceptable efficiency of the cooling system with a fairly low noise in automatic mode, but this picture will obviously not change for the better when overclocked.

Radeon HD 5970 video card [in 2 benchmarks]

ATI
Radeon HD 5970

PCIe 2.0 x16 interface

Core clock 725 MHz

Video memory size 1024 MB

Memory type GDDR5

Memory frequency 4000 MHz

Maximum resolution

Description

ATI Launches Radeon HD 59 Sales70 November 18, 2009 at a suggested price of $699. This is a desktop video card based on TeraScale 2 architecture and 40 nm manufacturing process, primarily aimed at gamers. It has 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 4 GHz, and coupled with a 256-bit interface, this creates a bandwidth of 128.0 Gb / s.

In terms of compatibility, this is a two-slot PCIe 2.0 x16 card. The length of the reference version is 305 mm. The connection requires one 6-pin cable and one 8-pin cable, and the power consumption is 294 W.

It provides poor performance in tests and games at the level of

7. 63%

from the leader, which is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

Radeon HD
5970

or

GeForce RTX
3090 Ti

General Information 9999 (A100 SXM4)

Value for money

To obtain an index, we compare the characteristics of video cards and their cost, taking into account the cost of other cards.

0

50

100

Features

Radeon HD 5970’s general performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core clock, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. They indirectly talk about the performance of the Radeon HD 5 of 16384 (Radeon Pro Duo)
Compatibility and dimensions

Information on Radeon HD 5970 compatibility with other computer components. Useful for example when choosing the configuration of a future computer or to upgrade an existing one. For desktop video cards, these are the interface and connection bus (compatibility with the motherboard), the physical dimensions of the video card (compatibility with the motherboard and case), additional power connectors (compatibility with the power supply).

Overall benchmark performance

This is our overall performance rating. We regularly improve our algorithms, but if you find any inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in the comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

ATI HD 5970
7.63

Passmark

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Passmark

This is a very common benchmark included in the Passmark PerformanceTest package. He gives the card a thorough evaluation, running four separate tests for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11, and 12 (the latter being done at 4K resolution whenever possible), and a few more tests using DirectCompute.

Benchmark coverage: 26%

ATI HD 5970
2257

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests showing a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature that appears to be made of lava. Using resolution 1920×1080, Fire Strike shows quite realistic graphics and is quite demanding on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

ATI HD 5970
3690

Game tests

FPS in popular games on the Radeon HD 5970, as well as compliance with system requirements. Remember that the official requirements of the developers do not always match the data of real tests.

Medium FPS

Popular games

Relative performance

Overall Radeon HD 5970 performance compared to its nearest desktop counterparts.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
101.18

ATI Radeon HD 5870
100. 39

AMD Radeon R7 250X
100.39

ATI Radeon HD 5970
100

AMD Radeon HD 6870
98.03

AMD Radeon HD 7770
96.72

AMD Radeon RX Vega 11
94.1

Competitor from NVIDIA

We believe that the nearest equivalent to Radeon HD 5970 from NVIDIA is GeForce GTX 460, which is faster by 1% and lower by 5 positions in our rating on average.

GeForce GTX
460

Compare

Here are some of NVIDIA’s closest competitors to the Radeon HD 5970:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A
106.68

NVIDIA P106-090
106.42

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
101.18

ATI Radeon HD 5970
100

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE
88. 86

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE
87.02

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2
86.24

Other video cards

Here we recommend several video cards that are more or less similar in performance to the reviewed one.

Radeon HD
5870

Compare

GeForce GTX
460

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GeForce GTX
560SE

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firestream
9370

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Radeon HD
6850

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GeForce GTX
650 Ti

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Recommended Processors

According to our statistics, these processors are most often used with the Radeon HD 5970.

xeon
L5430

7.1%

xeon
E5450

5.7%

Core i7
950

4.3%

Phenom II
X6 1055T (95W)

4.3%

Core i5
1035G1

2.9%

Core i3
550

2.9%

Xeon E5
2420

2.9%

Core i5
4460

2.9%

Core i5
2300

2.9%

Core 2
Quad Q9505

1.