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

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
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.

2 x 6950's rival 2 x 580's for 60% of the price

Thats disappointing?
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,001
126
Cypress deserves a spot in a Hall of Fame somewhere.


Yea, it might be up there with the Nvidia 8800's and Radeon 9700/9800. All of these cards probably seem so great because the competition was late with their competing product and when they arrived, all of them underwhelmed.

I'm really tempted to get another 5870 for some CF action. It's really the only upgrade that makes any sense for me. Newegg has a Gigabyte with a custom cooler and a free 1TB harddrive on sale for $280 AR now... that's pretty tempting.
 

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
It's very relevant still, and with deals putting them at $214 and recently again at $216 you can CF it and keep going for even longer.

It's what I have and only upgrades I'm looking at now are on the SSD and CPU side. I'll holy onto the 5870 until something comes out it can't handle.
 

GundamF91

Golden Member
May 14, 2001
1,827
0
0
Ok, thanks for all the advice. After gaming last night for on HAWX, Fallout New Vegas, and Bad Company 2 on max setting (my 22" screen is only 1680x1050), I'm just going to hold onto the 5870 and see what 7xxx series brings in a year. I think I'm getting over the upgrade itch now that 69xx doesn't appear to be making a big leap.
 

dlamb2471

Member
Dec 21, 2010
56
0
66
I fell victim to upgrade itch and swapped out my 5850 for a 6950. That being said...there was no reason. There's nothing I'm playing on my 1920x1080 screen that my 5850 wasn't handling. So definitely cheers to you if you can hold off for 7xxx.
 

evolucion8

Platinum Member
Jun 17, 2005
2,867
3
81
The HD 5870 is a fantastic card even by today's standards. Tessellation is its weak point and yet, besides of Unigine, there's no games that is unplayable with tessellation on with an HD 5870 unless if you are using exotic levels of Anti Aliasing or ultra high resolutions.
 

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
6,770
1
81
I think they are so relevant that I just bought for for $300 AR... Of course for that price it included a Corsair 650w and a 1TB Seagate so it was hard to resist ;)
 

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
6,770
1
81
Awesome. Only $20 more AMIR....Plus the 1TB drive. Yes, better deal here.

Thats the one I bought. Be sure to check the combo deals, for about $30 more (after the rebates are in) you get a Corsair 650w as well as the HDD and GPU. When I ordered it there was a $20 rebate for the Corsair as well (instead of the $10 there is now).
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,240
2
76
I think they are still very relevant today.

$249 AMIR -- This is an eggcelent price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125316

even better on 72 our sale last week, 220 AR.

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?
lol wut? with everything on and at low maybe? my 4850x2 with no aa/af doesnt do 90fps at 1920x1200 but your gts 250 will?
 

RockinZ28

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2008
2,173
49
101
Just put my 5870 into my secondary pc used exclusively for my 1080p plasma. Still runs games very well at this res.
 

Teizo

Golden Member
Oct 28, 2010
1,271
31
91
If you are gaming at 19x12 or 19x10, I wouldn't even think about upgrading atm. You won't really notice much gameplay wise. Save your money until the 28nm chips come out early 2012. The 5870 is more than capable of holding it's own just fine, and even though it is not the fastest card out there...it is fast enough for what you need.
 

Jacky60

Golden Member
Jan 3, 2010
1,123
0
0
Ok, thanks for all the advice. After gaming last night for on HAWX, Fallout New Vegas, and Bad Company 2 on max setting (my 22" screen is only 1680x1050), I'm just going to hold onto the 5870 and see what 7xxx series brings in a year. I think I'm getting over the upgrade itch now that 69xx doesn't appear to be making a big leap.

Tend to agree I really want to upgrade but going to sit this generation out. The 5870 can still stand tall and should last another 6-12 months easily.
 

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
7,949
48
91
www.techbuyersguru.com
I think the 5870 has legs. Hopefully it'll be remembered like the 8800GT.

Well, the 5870 will be remembered more like the 8800gtx (which admittedly came out at at a higher price point). The 5850 will likely be remembered as the 8800gt (which is what I replaced when I went to the 5850).
 

Petey!

Senior member
May 28, 2010
250
0
0
Yeah absolutely no reason to upgrade right now. The 5870 was a hell of a card, just get another to xfire down the road and it'll last you for a long time.
 

shangshang

Senior member
May 17, 2008
830
0
0
5870 is relevant... but can we all agree that its greatest weakness is tessellation and Xfire? And with all the rage that is tessellation and "dual-gpu" setup, I can see some users wanting to dump the 5870.
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,240
2
76
I think the 5870 has legs. Hopefully it'll be remembered like the 8800GT.

this.

with the next process(28nm?) a year away or more if things dont go well.....the card still has serious staying power....
 
Last edited:

shangshang

Senior member
May 17, 2008
830
0
0
Well, the 5870 will be remembered more like the 8800gtx (which admittedly came out at at a higher price point). The 5850 will likely be remembered as the 8800gt (which is what I replaced when I went to the 5850).

Nah the 8800gt was a legend compared to its predecessor and contemporary at the time. I mean NV 8800gt versus AMD 3870 was a complete joke. The 5870 does not hold that kind of magic compared to its predecessor and its contemporary the gtx480.

The only current gpu that even comes close to "8800gt" status is the gtx460. It's ridiculous to think that one could have a gtx460 768mb for $93 out the door and pretty much could play all current games comfortably up to 1080p resolution. That's legend stuff.
 

notty22

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2010
3,375
0
0
Speaking of the 8800, I noticed this section at 3dmark 11, its % of popular gaming cards of people testing and viewing their score via their server.
Don't know if my interpretation is correct, but the 8800 in different versions are the first most popular 3 accounting for almost 30% of the scores.
http://www.yougamers.com/benchmarkticker/
8800gts 11%
8800gt 10%
8800gtx 8%
It's a testament to that card. ?