To everyone who bought radeon 5870's recently

jmarti445

Senior member
Dec 16, 2003
299
0
71
You may need to check your Video Card's BIOS and update it to atleast 103(Asus' 107 BIOS is recommended0, quite a few of the cards are 101 BIOS cards and don't really supply enough voltage to the chip, it should run fine after doing this.
 

jmarti445

Senior member
Dec 16, 2003
299
0
71
They have the old BIOS versions which can cause issues, updating the cards to the latest bios fixes the issue. A lot of people think they are refurb cards when infact they are truely OEM cards and are likely from a large supplier who just didn't have a lot of orders for the 5870 cards.
 

Arkadrel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2010
3,681
2
0
They don't run fine? What's going on with them? :confused:

Apperntly Asus bios gives to little voltage, so claims jmarti445.
That could result in instability, ei crashes under heavy load ect.

So is this just Asus or other venders cards?
 

jmarti445

Senior member
Dec 16, 2003
299
0
71
They are ATI Reference designs and use the reference BIOS that first came out with the card when it was released in September 2009, the Asus BIOS fixes it.

I'm willing to bet the OEM is Dell, though it maybe another OEM who supplied the cards.
 
Last edited:

smithkt

Member
Oct 29, 2007
176
1
81
This is probably related to the sale GearXS was having before the holiday for $150? If so, thanks for the info. I bought one and while it's been working fine, it won't hurt to check it out.
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,248
136
I'd think that if on the original bios of the 5870 updating it would be for the better.

Just a FYI from here down!

The stock bios kinda sucked when released. I flashed my 5850 with a Asus bios way back then! Good for 1000/1300 afterwards....Full water block to tame the temps as those vregs get very, very hot when pushing the card to it's potential :)

I wouldn't suggest trying for some crazy high overclock if you flash it. Well you can overclock but keep an eye on the temps. The vregs get hotter than the core by alot when pushing the card.

If I remember correctly my 5850 was flashed with the modded 5870 bios version tho. Gives a little xtra vram voltage if I remember correctly.
 
Last edited:

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Define recently. Who would be buying a 5870 now, when there's cheaper cards that perform better on less power? Used or refurbs?
 

smithkt

Member
Oct 29, 2007
176
1
81
Define recently. Who would be buying a 5870 now, when there's cheaper cards that perform better on less power? Used or refurbs?

How about 1 month ago. I bought one. GearXS was selling OEM overstock for $150. Great value. I think Geeks also was selling them around that price.
 

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
0
Define recently. Who would be buying a 5870 now, when there's cheaper cards that perform better on less power? Used or refurbs?

I purchased three from Ben's Outlet, a 1saleaday.com affiliate that priced them at $150 like GearsX.

I've only got them OC'd to 930 right now because they wouldn't stay stable at my target of 950. I'll try flashing them soon.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,193
2
76
Which card is on par with 5870 and is cheaper than $150?

Like many people he assumed that the 5870 was slower than 6xxx cards because it's a lower number.

The 5870 is still solidly upper mid-range to this day, and is really only held back buy it's 1gb vram.
 

Vesku

Diamond Member
Aug 25, 2005
3,743
28
86
I equate 5870 roughly to the 6950 with a bit weaker tessellation. I'm going to ride this used 5870 I picked up at least until late this year, I think. Shame it doesn't crossfire as well as the 6000 series and also shame on my optical input for being sensitive to microstutter.
 
Last edited:

watek

Senior member
Apr 21, 2004
937
0
71
Yeah the 5850's, 5870's are solid right now. These will be good for another 2 years, saving money until there are games that are actually worth upgrading for.
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
Define recently. Who would be buying a 5870 now, when there's cheaper cards that perform better on less power? Used or refurbs?

He's probably talking about the $140 5870s in the hot deals forums.

I believe they are refurbs.
 

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
0
Yeah I almost bought some HD 5850s from them. I'm not paying those prices for refurbs when HD 6870s are the same price or cheaper.
 

jmarti445

Senior member
Dec 16, 2003
299
0
71
I settled on the Saphirre BIOS 105 BIOS, the 101 BIOS uses a 1.1625 voltage for 850 speed, the 105 uses 1.175 for voltage. Use the Saphirre BIOS if you want to keep HDMI functionality on your system. I used the 108 BIOS and while the overclocking headroom was insane this build is a HTPC.
 

monkeydelmagico

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2011
3,961
145
106
The HD 5870s from Ben's Outlet and GearsX were new OEM cards.

Nope. My ben's outlet card was definitely a refurb/used. It was scratched in places, the mounting bracket was slightly bent and the outline of where a mounting screw had already been was clearly visible.

Jmarti, thank you for posting up some good info. As I am not on HDMI I will probably give the 108 bios a try.