Is Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) still relevant today?

[GundamF91]

I got the HD5870, it still pays all the games I want right now, but with all the cards coming out, it makes me itchy just thinking about upgrading. How long should I hold onto the 5870?

 

[OVerLoRDI]

the 5870 is a very powerful card still. Games with heavy tessellation will make it appear weak, but it still definitely isn't slow. The new generation doesn't offer that huge of a performance increase. If you are happy with your 5870 for now and it meets your needs (i use the word need loosely) hold on to it for another generation.

 

[biostud]

until there are some games you can't play

 

[Dankk]

Hold onto it. The 5870 is a very powerful card. The only thing it's not fantastic at is tessellation... and it's gonna be a little while before we see any games make heavy use of tessellation anyway.

 

[happy medium]

5870 vs the 6950 both overclocked

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2128273

 

[cusideabelincoln]

How long should I hold onto the 5870?

Until you come across a game that it can't play the way you really want to play it.

 

[WelshBloke]

I cant decide if buying one now is a good idea.

5870--£188
6950--£220
6970--£280
570--£280

Its kinda looking like a good choice to me, I'm at 19x12 with a C2Q at 3ghz.

 

[badb0y]

5870 is right at the heals of the GTX 570 and the 6950/70 definitely a relevant card today.

 

[Gikaseixas]

It's a beast of a card IMO, i have one and i can confirm.

Keep it until you find a game that makes it bend to it's knees.

 

[Dropmachine]

I don't get questions like this.

I play black ops quite a bit, 1920x1200. No AA, but thats fine. I have everything turned on, except shadows cause they look like crap anyways, and I destroy people regularly. The FPS code in the corner of the screen says I am getting about 90 FPS, and I have a GTS 250. So how could a 5870 possibly be considered irrelevant?

I'm beginning to think that people are more excited about the numbers the cards put out than the actual experience of playing the games themselves. If I can get a smooth enough framerate out of my lowly GTS 250, you should be more than happy with your 5870.


That said, I will be upgrading soon.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I'm running DA:O at 2560x1600 max settings with my 5870 and it works just fine. Unless my gaming needs change I think it might hold me over until the 7xxx generation.

 

[Deanodarlo]

5870 is just as much of a current gen card for games as the others. It was ahead of its time on release and the 6970 doesn't beat it by much at all.

In the days of console ports, there is no need to update a 5870. It will continue to be a beast of a card. I'd wait for a jump in processes down from 40nm before making a switch.

 

[PingviN]

Cypress deserves a spot in a Hall of Fame somewhere.

 

[Termie]

Your only true upgrade would be to crossfire another 5870. Not sure if that works on your MB, but a 6950 is a sidegrade and a 6970 is a weak upgrade.

 

[Vdubchaos]

5870 will be relevant for another 1-2 years, easily.

 

[Maximilian]

Yeah i thought the same thing OP, my 5850 is yesterdays news But looking at the benchmarks its actually still up there with the best of them, dont think ill upgrade until 7xxx series or nvidias 6xx come out.

 

[Wreckage]

It's faster than a 6870 and about the same as a 6950.

 

[exar333]

And with 5870s on sale for ~$220, they are VERY tempting to pick up...

 

[GundamF91]

Yeah, the price is really nice on 5870. It's tempting to get another 5870 to Xfire, but I heard 5xxx does not scale as well on Xfire as 6xxx. I don't really need more heat in the case anyway.

 

[Deanodarlo]

I can tell, this thread has gone all wrong hasn't it GundamF91? - you want us to tell you the 5870 is a load of crap so you don't feel guilty upgrading for no good reason other than than you must.

That upgrade feeling aren't going nowhere. If you have then cash and the itch, flog the 5870 and grab a 6970. Keep telling yourself it's for the tessellation. And suddenly become a huge Metro 2033 fan may help too.

 

[WelshBloke]

I can tell, this thread has gone all wrong hasn't it GundamF91? - you want us to tell you the 5870 is a load of crap so you don't feel guilty upgrading for no good reason other than than you must.

That upgrade feeling aren't going nowhere. If you have then cash and the itch, flog the 5870 and grab a 6970. Keep telling yourself it's for the tessellation. And suddenly become a huge Metro 2033 fan may help too.

Or save the cash and get an SSD :awe:

 

[Powermoloch]

5870 is still a hot card :thumbsup:

 

[superccs]

Its best to buy every new video card that comes out, no matter how much the cost. If you don't you may miss out on a really good one and then hear about it from someone else on the forum.
:stupid:

 

[CraigRT]

I just got a 5870 and I'm loving it.. It had instant and MIR as well which made it 100% worthwhile even coming from a 4890, which I can still recoup some $ from.

Great card. Very satisfied. Runs cool and quiet.

 

[YBS1]

I felt pretty silly going from crossfired 4890's to crossfired 5870's, and the jump from a 4890 to a 5870 is far larger than the jump from a 5870 to 6970. This whole "generation" has been a massive disappointment IMO. Only the 580 is even a ho-hum upgrade if you tend to stick with the high end cards on the scale. On the other hand, the more value oriented cards do have a lot to offer someone who is upgrading from two or more generations back.