PC PC GAMES

Card Specs:

• Interface: PCI Express 2.0 x16
• Core Clock: 870MHz
• Stream Processors: 1600 Stream Processing Units
• RoPs: 32
• Memory Clock: 1250MHz (5.0Gbps)
• Memory Size: 1GB
• Memory Interface : 256-bit
• Memory Type : GDDR5
• Ports: 1 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort, 2 x DVI
• Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600
• CrossFireX Support: Yes
• Size: 270x100x33mm
• System Requirements: 500 Watt or greater power supply with 2x 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX Technology in dual mode)

To me this card can only be described in one word, BEAST! As you may or may not know ATI released Dx11 Gpu’s around September of 2009 and released the 5870 and 5850. Today i am going to be talking about the 5870 Vapor-x, it was released shorty after the reference version. Now, I have a large library of PC games and since the day i got the card i tested them on every single game i own. I will go into detail of my performance in those games later on. But some of those games are the usual benchmarks games like Crysis, Far Cry 2, S.T.A.K.L.E.R Clear Sky, etc. I was able to run all these games at my native resolution of 1920×1200 (25” Wide-screen monitor) and at the highest settings possible. Now the shine of this card would be Direct X 11; which was new at the time of September 2009. Direct X 11 is only available on Windows 7, luckily i picked up a copy on launch date. Now from then on i bought games like S.T.A.K.L.E.R Call of Pripyat , Battle Field: Bad Company 2 which are newly Dx11 games. The 5870 handle those games so well that i was getting around 50-80 fps on both games on my native resolution and on highest possible settings and they looked phenomenal. Now as for temps they never reached above 65 C while gaming on both dx11 games.

When i ran this card on FurMark tho, it reached a temperature of 76 C on max load. I had the card’s fan on 50% and it was fairly quiet. It started to get loud around 70% even though i have around 8 fans in my case. Another part where this card really shines is EyeInfinity. Even though i was not able to run this card in that mode due to the fact i do not have more than one monitor i herd it performs well in games. You may look up reviews online to see their results. But i am just going to let another member of the pcpcgames website show you Eyefinity via his video:

Tim’s Eyefinity video

Overall this card was worth it ! I bought this card about a week after it was released and picked it up on Newegg for about $450. And as for price/performance ratio, its a steal! The drivers are also great, ATI is releasing new ones about every month and include performance in games up 10%. And now for my performance in games. I have a lot more but i’m just posting games that have been known to categorized as “Benchmark Games”

Performance in games

Battle Field: Bad Company 2
1920×1200 , Everything high — Max: 87 — Min: 55 — Avg: 72

BioShock 1
1920×1200 — Everything Possible on High — Dx10 Surfaces — Max: 132 — Min: 86 — Avg: 99

BioShock 2
1920×1200 — Everything Possible on High — Dx10 Surfaces — Max: 120 — Min: 77 — Avg: 90

Borderlands
1920×1200 — Everything Possible on High — Max: 62 ( Game doesnt allow higher) Min: 47 — Avg: 55

Crysis
1920×1200 — Everything on Very High — Max: 54 — Min: 34 — Avg: 45

Crysis: Warhead
1920×1200 — Everything on Enthusiast — Max: 58 — Min: 37 — Avg: 49

DiRT 2
1920×1200 — Everything on Very High — Max: 64 — Min: 46 — Avg: 56

Far Cry 2
1920×1200 — Everything on Very High — Max: 69 — Min: 34 — Avg: 47

Resident Evil 5
1920×1200 — Everything on Very High — Max 62 — Min: 45 — Avg: 53

S.T.A.K.L.E.R Call of Pripyat
1920×1200 — Everything on Very High — Max: 67 — Min: 38 — Avg: 51

Test System Specs:

• Case/Model: Cooler Master CM690
• CPU: AMD Phenom 9550 ~ 2.2 GHZ
• MB: Asus Violet
• RAM: 8 Gb
• Video Card: 5870 Vapor-X
• Sound Card: USB sound card 5hv2 headset
• Hard Drives: 1 Tb Segate
• Optical Drive: Samsung Blu Ray
• Monitor: 25” Hp (w2558hc)
• Keyboard: $10 Hp from wallmart
• Mouse: Razor Deathadder
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

This review is by our community member SkippyDogg.
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