The AMD Radeon HD 5870 is definitely still running in many gaming rigs and despite the fact that we are looking at a graphics card that is now three generations behind, it still holds its ground in many games, at least if you are not pushing UHD resolutions or ultra-high in game settings. Unfortunately, with latest batch of games, it definitely shows its age and when compared to the Radeon HD 7970, it becomes a rather unfair battle, making the HD 7970 a much better choice.
Although it still can hold its
ground in many games, at higher quality settings of course, the HD 5870
definitely shows its age, as after all it is now already three generations
behind. When compared to previous generation, Radeon HD 7970 Tahiti-based
graphics card, it definitely becomes an unfair battle, as Tahiti-based HD 7970
is not only more efficient but it definitely packs much better performance per
buck punch and thanks to AMD's Never Settle bundle, it certainly is a viable
upgrade.
While it is still can pull playable framerates in games like the Call of Duty
Black Ops 2, the HD 5870 is definitely is definitely not enough when it comes to
titles like Crysis 3. Of course, not even the Radeon HD 7970 can pull playable
framerate on High Preset, 1920x1080, 8xMSAA, Very High settings with an average
18.4FPS, but it is 130 percent faster than the HD 5870 that managed to pull a
rather modest 8FPS. Same things go for most of the other recent game titles and
while the Radeon HD 5870 barely pulls playable framerate in Battlefield 3 with
32,6FPS, the Radeon HD 7970 has much more breathing room with an average of
71.2FPS.
Although the performance gain translates to higher power consumption under load,
the overall power consumption is much lower on the Radeon HD 7970 when compared
to the HD 5870. To be precise, the HD 7970 uses up to 47W in idle while the HD
5870 draws around 53W. Under load, the HD 5870 does draw less at 232W compared
to the HD 7970 which needs 323W but overall power consumption makes the HD 7970
around 54% better than the HD 5870, especially if you consider the performance
gains.
The price is a whole different story, as, although it is currently not
available, the HD 5870 is listed with a lowest price set at €224,09 but was
selling at around €249 back in its glory days, which is pretty much what you
have to pay for the HD 7970 today, and we are talking about factory-overclocked
HD 7970 GHz Edition based on Tahiti XT2 GPU.
The upgrade is certainly a good way to go in case you are running the HD 5870
and looking at the Radeon HD 7970. The HD 7970 definitely has a decent
performance-per-buck score, especially considering that it is still eligible for
AMD's Never Settle bundle which could give you a total of three free games that
you can choose since the HD 7970 gets you Radeon Gold Reward. Of course there is
always the new R9/R7 series of graphics cards that will probably get some sort
of bundle as well (R9 series already gets Battlefield 4), but bear in mind that
some of these R9/R7 are pretty much rebranded HD 7000 series graphics cards. The
Radeon R9 280X which is pretty much based on the same chip as the HD 7970 GHz
Edition is around 20-30€ more expensive so the HD 7970 certainly is a better
choice, at least if you can find it available.
The AMD Radeon HD 5870 is definitely still running in many gaming rigs and despite the fact that we are looking at a graphics card that is now three generations behind, it still holds its ground in many games, at least if you are not pushing UHD resolutions or ultra-high in game settings. Unfortunately, with latest batch of games, it definitely shows its age and when compared to the Radeon HD 7970, it becomes a rather unfair battle, making the HD 7970 a much better choice.
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