Sapphire Cards or Tale of Six Radeon
Sapphire has been represented in Russia for several years now and is one of the largest suppliers of AMD video cards in Russia. The company has earned itself a good name on the Russian market, above all the quality of its products, attractive prices, as well as good overclocking potential of its products, which is very important for computer enthusiasts. Sapphire was again ahead of the rest of the vendors with the release of AMD fifth-series AMD video cards. It is necessary to say a few words to readers about the innovations in this series, which abound. The main chip products, positioned as "evergreen" is DirectX11. Without exception, all cards support the eleventh DirectX and allow you to enjoy great effects. Why "evergreen" you ask? From now on, AMD decided to abandon the letter designations in the name of its graphics cores. Cypress - cypress, Hemlock - hemlock, Juniper - juniper, Cedar - cedar, Redwood - mahogany are the names for the new GPUs. All GPUs have performance differences, but support a common set of technologies. The basis of DirectX11 lay tessellation - the process of splitting the image into smaller forms, such as triangles or quadrangles. This is because the increase in detail in games, so the need for better textures all the time grows.
As the Sapphire products were the first to appear on the Russian market, we chose the products of this brand for the test of the fifth series of video cards from AMD.
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What and how we tested?
We selected a pair of video cards for each model from the Sapphire HD5xxx family and compared them to each other in 3D benchmarks and games. CrossFire configurations also took part in testing. All video cards were tested at nominal frequencies, and we, OCClub.ru , as a project oriented to overclocking, checked the video cards for maximum overclocking.
List of tested video cards:
* 2x Sapphire HD 5970 (735/1010 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5870 (850/1200 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5850 (725/1000 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5770 (850/1200 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5750 (700/1150 MHz)
These video cards, both in single-player mode and in CrossFire, passed the following tests:
* 3DMark06 is a popular graphic benchmark from Futuremark 2006, which still shows excellent graphics performance. Default settings.
* 3DMark Vantage - the latest graphic benchmark, originally honed under Nvidia. But with the release of HD5xxx, everything changed. Default settings.
* Heaven - the first DirectX11 benchmark with impressive graphics. Surely, this test in the future will be mandatory in the set of testers.
* Crysis Warhead is a game that has conquered millions of people all over the planet. Settings: 1920x1200 resolution, very high graphics quality.
* FarCry2 - a game on the Cry Engine engine with beautiful graphics and an exciting plot. Settings: 1920x1200 resolution, Ultra High quality graphics.
Test bench:
* Intel Core i7 Extreme 975 3.33 GHz @ 4 GHz processor
* Cooler Master V8 cooler
* Asus P6T6WS Revolution motherboard
* 3x 2Gb Kingston 2000 MHz DDR3 CL9 RAM
* Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB hard drive
* Cooler Master MPower 850W power supply
Sapphire Radeon HD5970 (27,000 rubles)
Test score: 9/10
* number of stream processors - 3200
* the number of texture units - 2x 80
* number of ROP-blocks - 2x 32
* core frequency - 735 MHz
* memory frequency - 1010 MHz
* memory bus width - 256 bits
* memory capacity - 2x 1024 MB
* TDP level - 294 W
The top two-headed product from AMD turned out so powerful that the gap in performance from the previous generation of video cards turned out to be many times as much. Honestly, no one expected this level of performance. Hemlock is a dual Cypress, but due to the presence of two cores on one PCB, the core frequencies are reduced to 725 MHz instead of 850 MHz. Also, in order to fall within certain limits, the TDP voltages are also lower than usual for Cypress 1.16V. However, the HD5970's fervor is very hot. Cards from Sapphire were able to accelerate to frequencies of 950/1200 MHz, which is a very high figure. The disadvantages of this card include a high retail price of 27,000 rubles. A bunch of a pair of such video cards can become a utopia in the dreams of avid gamers.
Sapphire Radeon HD5870 (16,000 rubles)
Test score: 8/10
* number of stream processors - 1600
* number of texture units - 80
* number of ROP blocks - 32
* core frequency - 850 MHz
* 1200 MHz memory frequency
* memory bus width - 256 bits
* memory capacity - 1024 MB
* TDP level - 188 W
The single-chip version of the top class appeared a few months earlier on the shelves of Russian stores. Reviews of the map that were released on the day of the official announcement were full of positive moments. The overclocking potential of this card is even better than that of a dual-chip flagship fellow. This is easily explained by lower temperatures inside the video card itself. Our copies could work stably at frequencies of 1000/1200 MHz. The main difference from the lower class cards is the presence of a 256-bit memory bus, which allows for higher memory bandwidth. A pair of such monitors bypasses their older "two-headed brother" because of the high core / memory frequency. But the total cost against the Radeon HD 5970 will be higher.
Sapphire Radeon HD5850 (12,500 rub)
Test score: 8/10
* number of stream processors - 1440
* the number of texture units - 72
* number of ROP blocks - 32
* core frequency - 725 MHz
* memory frequency - 1000 MHz
* memory bus width - 256 bits
* memory capacity - 1024 MB
* TDP level - 151 W
The same Cypress, but with low frequencies and high overclocking potential. Cheaper, colder, silent - a lot of positive moments. Where are the cons, you ask? You will not believe it, but I did not find the minuses, the cards easily overcame the HD5870 nominal level in overclocking and stopped at around 920/1150 MHz. And this is without raising the voltage on the GPU! There is also good news for those who do not have the latest model. The video card is easily installed in most modern cases, when the HD5870 and HD5970 with their installation in the case can cause problems. One card is the best purchase, and a couple is doubly the best choice.
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 (6,500 rubles)
Test score: 7/10
* number of stream processors - 800
* number of texture units - 40
* number of ROP blocks - 16
* core frequency - 850 MHz
* 1200 MHz memory frequency
* memory bus width - 128 bits
* memory capacity - 1024 MB
* TDP level - 108 W
Juniper is a graphics core, the main difference of which from its senior counterparts is the presence of only 128 bit memory bus. For a graphic memory of 1024 MB about a year ago, the 128-bit memory bus was not enough. Of course, I understand that this is a low-end video card, but nevertheless this is what makes the card too weak. Power GPU in this case has a large margin of safety. HD5770 managed to overclock the frequencies 1050/1400 MHz. Although on all the HD5xxx cards of the line, GDDR5 standard memory chips are used, it is on the HD5770 that the memory can be overclocked. A couple of such cards in CrossFire cannot catch up with the Radeon HD 5850 due to the narrow bus.
Sapphire Radeon HD5750 (6,000 rubles)
Test score: 5/10
* number of stream processors - 720
* number of texture units - 36
* number of ROP blocks - 16
* core frequency - 700 MHz
* memory frequency - 1150 MHz
* memory bus width - 128 bits
* memory capacity - 1024/512 MB
* TDP level - 86 W
At the moment it is the weakest card generation. The cost of this card is on average 6 thousand rubles. What do we get for this money? The performance of this card is naturally minimal in relation to the older brothers, but with the cards of the previous generation and competitors from Nvidia HD5750 can fight on equal terms. Especially it is necessary to pay attention to the level of heat generation, which is close to the minimum, and this in view of the good performance. Buying a second such card is relevant, since the increase in performance is almost doubled.
Test results:
The level of graphics is simply amazing. All this is due to tessellation, disabling which gives a very good increase in fps. Although the top cards result in a very good level. With the increase in video card power, the scalability of overclocking increases.
3DMark 06 is very dependent on the frequency of the processor. With its increase, the growth of results is several times higher than the growth from the overclocking of the graphics adapter itself. Again, because of this, the results in CrossFire bundles very little exceed their single comrades.
The test, originally sharpened for Nvidia video cards, now does not cause any difficulties for the new Radeons. Dependence on the CPU with the increase in video card power is less and less, so the results of top-end cards from overclocking increase very well. With CrossFire technology, there are also no complaints - there is a significant increase.
Crysis after its release put on the blades all existing at the time of the system. A year later, the developers of iron were able, finally, to catch up with the gap laid by the developers of Crytek. At maximum settings, it will be possible to play the truth only on top-end cards, but with a decrease in resolution, even weak cards allow you to play comfortably. The germination from acceleration is almost minimal at first glance. But because of the initial low fps in percentage, overclocking gives 5-10 percent increase. But from the work of the second video card the increase is much more noticeable.
The continuation of the sensational action came out after Crysis, and as we can see, the game developers had mercy on us in terms of the requirements for the hardware. Starting with the Radeon HD 5770, we can comfortably play even with Full HD resolution. In this game, the Crossire technology is well optimized, due to the higher frequencies, the Radeon HD 5870 steam beats the current performance monster Radeon HD 5970.
Findings.
The AMD Radeon HD 5xxx family undoubtedly turned out to be the most successful during the production of its products. Finally, the development managed to realize all the power embedded in their GPU. Sapphire was the first to enter the Russian market of video cards with this product, and undoubtedly it will get all the cream from sales. And sales already at the initial stage show very good results. Separately, it is worth highlighting the overclocking potential of sapphire products. For enthusiasts or extreme overclockers, a Sapphire product may be the best choice. According to the results of our testing, we can award the Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 to the “Reasonable Choice” award. Really attractive cost combined with good performance and high overclocking potential make this product the best.
The video card Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 is awarded with the title “Our choice”. The most powerful video card of our time - what else can a real gamer dream of!
Testing and text - Vlad slamms Zakharov
As the Sapphire products were the first to appear on the Russian market, we chose the products of this brand for the test of the fifth series of video cards from AMD.
')
What and how we tested?
We selected a pair of video cards for each model from the Sapphire HD5xxx family and compared them to each other in 3D benchmarks and games. CrossFire configurations also took part in testing. All video cards were tested at nominal frequencies, and we, OCClub.ru , as a project oriented to overclocking, checked the video cards for maximum overclocking.
List of tested video cards:
* 2x Sapphire HD 5970 (735/1010 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5870 (850/1200 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5850 (725/1000 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5770 (850/1200 MHz)
* 2x Sapphire HD 5750 (700/1150 MHz)
These video cards, both in single-player mode and in CrossFire, passed the following tests:
* 3DMark06 is a popular graphic benchmark from Futuremark 2006, which still shows excellent graphics performance. Default settings.
* 3DMark Vantage - the latest graphic benchmark, originally honed under Nvidia. But with the release of HD5xxx, everything changed. Default settings.
* Heaven - the first DirectX11 benchmark with impressive graphics. Surely, this test in the future will be mandatory in the set of testers.
* Crysis Warhead is a game that has conquered millions of people all over the planet. Settings: 1920x1200 resolution, very high graphics quality.
* FarCry2 - a game on the Cry Engine engine with beautiful graphics and an exciting plot. Settings: 1920x1200 resolution, Ultra High quality graphics.
Test bench:
* Intel Core i7 Extreme 975 3.33 GHz @ 4 GHz processor
* Cooler Master V8 cooler
* Asus P6T6WS Revolution motherboard
* 3x 2Gb Kingston 2000 MHz DDR3 CL9 RAM
* Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB hard drive
* Cooler Master MPower 850W power supply
Sapphire Radeon HD5970 (27,000 rubles)
Test score: 9/10
* number of stream processors - 3200
* the number of texture units - 2x 80
* number of ROP-blocks - 2x 32
* core frequency - 735 MHz
* memory frequency - 1010 MHz
* memory bus width - 256 bits
* memory capacity - 2x 1024 MB
* TDP level - 294 W
The top two-headed product from AMD turned out so powerful that the gap in performance from the previous generation of video cards turned out to be many times as much. Honestly, no one expected this level of performance. Hemlock is a dual Cypress, but due to the presence of two cores on one PCB, the core frequencies are reduced to 725 MHz instead of 850 MHz. Also, in order to fall within certain limits, the TDP voltages are also lower than usual for Cypress 1.16V. However, the HD5970's fervor is very hot. Cards from Sapphire were able to accelerate to frequencies of 950/1200 MHz, which is a very high figure. The disadvantages of this card include a high retail price of 27,000 rubles. A bunch of a pair of such video cards can become a utopia in the dreams of avid gamers.
Sapphire Radeon HD5870 (16,000 rubles)
Test score: 8/10
* number of stream processors - 1600
* number of texture units - 80
* number of ROP blocks - 32
* core frequency - 850 MHz
* 1200 MHz memory frequency
* memory bus width - 256 bits
* memory capacity - 1024 MB
* TDP level - 188 W
The single-chip version of the top class appeared a few months earlier on the shelves of Russian stores. Reviews of the map that were released on the day of the official announcement were full of positive moments. The overclocking potential of this card is even better than that of a dual-chip flagship fellow. This is easily explained by lower temperatures inside the video card itself. Our copies could work stably at frequencies of 1000/1200 MHz. The main difference from the lower class cards is the presence of a 256-bit memory bus, which allows for higher memory bandwidth. A pair of such monitors bypasses their older "two-headed brother" because of the high core / memory frequency. But the total cost against the Radeon HD 5970 will be higher.
Sapphire Radeon HD5850 (12,500 rub)
Test score: 8/10
* number of stream processors - 1440
* the number of texture units - 72
* number of ROP blocks - 32
* core frequency - 725 MHz
* memory frequency - 1000 MHz
* memory bus width - 256 bits
* memory capacity - 1024 MB
* TDP level - 151 W
The same Cypress, but with low frequencies and high overclocking potential. Cheaper, colder, silent - a lot of positive moments. Where are the cons, you ask? You will not believe it, but I did not find the minuses, the cards easily overcame the HD5870 nominal level in overclocking and stopped at around 920/1150 MHz. And this is without raising the voltage on the GPU! There is also good news for those who do not have the latest model. The video card is easily installed in most modern cases, when the HD5870 and HD5970 with their installation in the case can cause problems. One card is the best purchase, and a couple is doubly the best choice.
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 (6,500 rubles)
Test score: 7/10
* number of stream processors - 800
* number of texture units - 40
* number of ROP blocks - 16
* core frequency - 850 MHz
* 1200 MHz memory frequency
* memory bus width - 128 bits
* memory capacity - 1024 MB
* TDP level - 108 W
Juniper is a graphics core, the main difference of which from its senior counterparts is the presence of only 128 bit memory bus. For a graphic memory of 1024 MB about a year ago, the 128-bit memory bus was not enough. Of course, I understand that this is a low-end video card, but nevertheless this is what makes the card too weak. Power GPU in this case has a large margin of safety. HD5770 managed to overclock the frequencies 1050/1400 MHz. Although on all the HD5xxx cards of the line, GDDR5 standard memory chips are used, it is on the HD5770 that the memory can be overclocked. A couple of such cards in CrossFire cannot catch up with the Radeon HD 5850 due to the narrow bus.
Sapphire Radeon HD5750 (6,000 rubles)
Test score: 5/10
* number of stream processors - 720
* number of texture units - 36
* number of ROP blocks - 16
* core frequency - 700 MHz
* memory frequency - 1150 MHz
* memory bus width - 128 bits
* memory capacity - 1024/512 MB
* TDP level - 86 W
At the moment it is the weakest card generation. The cost of this card is on average 6 thousand rubles. What do we get for this money? The performance of this card is naturally minimal in relation to the older brothers, but with the cards of the previous generation and competitors from Nvidia HD5750 can fight on equal terms. Especially it is necessary to pay attention to the level of heat generation, which is close to the minimum, and this in view of the good performance. Buying a second such card is relevant, since the increase in performance is almost doubled.
Test results:
The level of graphics is simply amazing. All this is due to tessellation, disabling which gives a very good increase in fps. Although the top cards result in a very good level. With the increase in video card power, the scalability of overclocking increases.
3DMark 06 is very dependent on the frequency of the processor. With its increase, the growth of results is several times higher than the growth from the overclocking of the graphics adapter itself. Again, because of this, the results in CrossFire bundles very little exceed their single comrades.
The test, originally sharpened for Nvidia video cards, now does not cause any difficulties for the new Radeons. Dependence on the CPU with the increase in video card power is less and less, so the results of top-end cards from overclocking increase very well. With CrossFire technology, there are also no complaints - there is a significant increase.
Crysis after its release put on the blades all existing at the time of the system. A year later, the developers of iron were able, finally, to catch up with the gap laid by the developers of Crytek. At maximum settings, it will be possible to play the truth only on top-end cards, but with a decrease in resolution, even weak cards allow you to play comfortably. The germination from acceleration is almost minimal at first glance. But because of the initial low fps in percentage, overclocking gives 5-10 percent increase. But from the work of the second video card the increase is much more noticeable.
The continuation of the sensational action came out after Crysis, and as we can see, the game developers had mercy on us in terms of the requirements for the hardware. Starting with the Radeon HD 5770, we can comfortably play even with Full HD resolution. In this game, the Crossire technology is well optimized, due to the higher frequencies, the Radeon HD 5870 steam beats the current performance monster Radeon HD 5970.
Findings.
The AMD Radeon HD 5xxx family undoubtedly turned out to be the most successful during the production of its products. Finally, the development managed to realize all the power embedded in their GPU. Sapphire was the first to enter the Russian market of video cards with this product, and undoubtedly it will get all the cream from sales. And sales already at the initial stage show very good results. Separately, it is worth highlighting the overclocking potential of sapphire products. For enthusiasts or extreme overclockers, a Sapphire product may be the best choice. According to the results of our testing, we can award the Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 to the “Reasonable Choice” award. Really attractive cost combined with good performance and high overclocking potential make this product the best.
The video card Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 is awarded with the title “Our choice”. The most powerful video card of our time - what else can a real gamer dream of!
Testing and text - Vlad slamms Zakharov
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/78437/
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