ATi Radeon 5770 Performance Test
Conclusion
Averaging the total performance change from all of the benchmarks today, the 5770 comes out 27.92% ahead of the 4850 overall, and a minuscule 1.75% slower than the GTX260+ overall. This is a good result for launch drivers, especially considering the GTX260+ has vastly superior fillrate and memory bandwidth compared to the 5770. We once again see that theoretical specifications don’t necessarily translate into reality.
The 5770 represents a clear performance upgrade over the 4850/4770, so it’s a no-brainer there.
In the case of the GTX260+ however, things get a bit trickier. The 5770 is basically equal in overall performance, but in many games it’s significantly slower. You can either choose between the two based on which games you play, or you could get the 5770 and hope that driver improvements will fix the underperforming games.
We’ve seen excellent performance from the 5770 in the titles where the drivers are optimized, and I firmly believe history will repeat itself with ATi wringing out some great performance in the end. I also suspect that both Cypress and Juniper are underperforming at the moment (intentional or not), and future driver updates will address this. In particular, I would not at all be surprised if a major driver performance update comes when nVidia’s Fermi launches.
I’d also like to add that the results today have demonstrated why I believe it’s better to benchmark a large cross section of games rather than testing a few cherry-picked games at different settings. By testing a larger section of games you get a more accurate picture overall of how the cards perform relative to each other. You’re also more likely to spot compatibility and/or performance issues, especially in titles that are no longer “hot”.
This concludes the main performance analysis of the 5770. Stay tuned for future articles about the 5770, where I’ll cover bottlenecking and image quality in depth (including super-sampling and anisotropic filtering).
Pros
- Significantly faster than a 4850/4770 which it replaces.
- Practically the same speed overall as a GTX260+ while costing a little less.
- Exceptional performance in Doom 3 engine games, especially with 8xMSAA.
- 40 nm manufacturing delivers excellent thermals, power characteristics and die-size.
- Dual-slot cooler evicts all hot air.
- Very compact length.
- 1 GB memory for demanding games.
- DirectX 11 support.
- Angle invariant anisotropic filtering.
- Rotated and sparse grid full-scene super-sampling.
Cons
- Poor performance in some games.
- Driver compatibility issues in some games.
- Removing the 6-pin connector can be tricky.
- Cooler is a bit whiney under load.
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When i had a 5870, I would always leave the fan speed at 45% and i never touched it after that. temperature would never go above sixty degrees celscius despite being overclocked beyond 1 ghz, i dont know if the 5770 is any different. apparently, my other friend who got an xfx 5870 (i had sapphire) was getting temperatures of 70 degrees on load with 100% fan, no over clock.
In my opinion, every heatsink is diffent in a way, it might be the thermal paste.
still, its a nice review to have a whole variety of games. this makes choosing a graphics card much easier for people.
Yes, I like testing a lot of different games (especially older titles) using a mixture of different settings. This gives a more accurate representation of how the cards behave in gaming.
This review was very helpful and informative, thank you very much.
Very helpful review, thank you very much. I was looking to change my old GTS 250 (512MB) and I think the HD 5770 (probably a Sapphire Vapor-X edition) would still be a little good upgrade with DX11 support and Eyefinity support (I actually need a 8400GS that I use for PhysX to plug in a 3rd monitor). Moreover, my board doesn’t support SLI but does support Crossfire (P45 chipset).
Outliers are the problem here, when comparing the HD 5770 and the GTX 260. There are some massive outliers i can see straight off like Ut 2004 and Fear 2 for the HD 5770. I thought both of those games were terrible, so i wont be playing them. The would drag the average down to a more (for me) comparable level.
Gernads and Strife, that’s exactly why I like testing a lot of games. The more games that are tested, the more readers can pick and choose based on what titles they’re interested in.
Also UT2004 doesn’t influence the ranking against nVidia because that game was only tested against a 4850 using 24xAA.
Your results are skewed and there is a large amount of abnormality for your Older OpenGL game results.
A GTX 275 is capable of running Quake 2 at at 1920×1200 80FPS WITH 8xSQ Hybrid AA enabled.
The wolfenstien scores are also questionably, as are doom and prey.
I expect the configuration was incorrect and you were infact benching the games in 16bpp, which will infact be much slower on new hardware, then if you were to use 32bpp.
Squall:
I’m not running Quake 2, I’m running a source port. There’s a big chunk of text pointing that out, right above the results.
As for the rest of the OpenGL benchmarks, there’s nothing questionable about them. ATi’s exceptional performance with the Doom 3 engine is a known fact, dating back to the X1950 XTX days. Also known is nVidia’s large performance hit with 8xAA on G80 parts (and later) in said engine.
one of the best reviews i have seen for this card but the results would vary. it depends on what model of card you get eg. evga 260 or msi twin frozer 260 (big difference) the overclocked vapour x version of the card over clocks alot better than the ati 5770 and mine runs at 28 idle and 46- 58 full load and i got for $15 less only games i have come along that i cant max at playable frame rates are crysis and gta iv but awsome review anyways. thanks also 2 2 vapour x are running the same as a stock gtx295 so i recomend it.
Please Help me i am not using more than one monitor so which is BEST for GAMEs ? which is more powerful
4890 has 256 bit but 5770 has 128 so why 5770 should be a better VGA ?
Sam,
Just read the comments above and you will see what card is best. They are situational. It depends on what you are using your Video Card for primarily. If you want more indepth information email me at nicholas.seigel@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Nic
MCSE
PC GAMER
High Performance PC Enthusiast
Tehnology Nutcase
Thnx, those numbers were very helpful !!
“Also given the retail price of a GTX260+ is only about $20 USD more than a 5770.”
Closer to $50 nowadays. Just bought a Sapphire 5770 1GB for $155. I’d say the 260 would retail at $205 atm.
The article is a year old. Things change.
Just read the comments above and you will see what card is best. They are situational. It depends on what you are using your Video Card for primarily. If you want more indepth information email me at nicholas.seigel@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Nic
MCSE
PC GAMER
High Performance PC Enthusiast
Tehnology Nutcase
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