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More details on the Radeon HD 5000 series
Robert Hallock
September 12, 2009 3:58 AM ET in Tech
If reports from ATI-Forum.de can be believed, we now have official pricing, specs, and launch dates for AMD’s upcoming Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs.
Radeon HD 5870
Launch date: September 22
Core Frequency: 850MHz
Memory: 1600MHz GDDR5
Shaders: 1600
Consumption: 188/27w max/idle
Price: < $400.00 USD
According to AMD benchmarks (grab your salt), the GPU is roughly equivalent to NVIDIA’s reference GeForce GTX 295 adapter which sandwiches an SLI configuration into a single card. Put another way, the HD 5870 is allegedly some fifty percent faster than the single-GPU GeForce GTX 285.
Radeon HD 5850
Launch date: September 22
Core Frequency: 725MHz
Memory: 1000MHz GDDR5
Shaders: Unknown
Consumption: 155/20w max/idle (est.)
Price: < $300.00 USD
Radeon HD 5870 X2
Unfortunately for extreme GPU enthusiasts everywhere, the least amount is known about the 5870 X2. We know for certain that the card is a dual-GPU solution consisting of twin HD 5870 cores, but rumors allege that the switch to 40nm production has allowed for both GPUs to fit on the same PCB. The same body of rumors also claim that the card will fall just shy of $600 USD and, more reasonably, say that it will be a dual-slot solution.
If indeed AMD’s performance figures regarding a single 5870 can be believed, CrossFire’s traditional scalability tells us that a 5870 X2 should deliver another 40-60% on the GTX 295. If our numbers are right, that will make the 5870 X2 fully twice as fast as the current crop of single-GPU cards.
Sadly, we know that this card will not in fact launch on September 22 with the rest of its family. The 5870 X2’s launch is set for a later date, and we’re not quite certain when that is.
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