Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Radeon HD 5850

The Radeon HD 5850 has been officially launched, and if you're wondering how it differs from the 5870, here's a brief list:
--physically, it's shorter (the 5870 is 10.5", which is so long it won't fit in all cases)
--it's quieter (by 5-7 decibels under full load)
--it consumes less power (25-50 fewer watts under load, it even consumes less power than the 4870 under load)
--it runs coooler (5-10c less under load)
--at 1920x1200, it's about 20% slower
--it's much cheaper ($259 list versus $399 list for the 5870)

If you want a comparison with an Nvidia product, it's faster than the GTX 285 (which is more expensive, consumes more power, and louder).

That looks like a winner to me.

Links to a few reviews:
Anandtech
HardOCP
Tom's Hardware

I like everything about this card, basically, so it looks like it's time to upgrade from my GTX 260.

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