Comment Thread for Sapphire HD 5970 2GB OC Review

[r0bc]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

The review was totally unbiased. I told it how it is. Every point I made was backed up by fact.

These comment thread allow me to vent and as such are biased.

I personally don't consider someone that "tells it like it is" to be biased. I think most of us expect nothing less.

[canmx120]

What's the deal with the bottle-necking on fallout 3? Is there some kind of fps limit on the game or is the cpu/something else keeping frame rates under 84?
Also, the entire crysis page has 5790 instead of 5970 listed for the reference card.
I liked the review, glad to see that ATI's finally out on top, and is going to hold on to it for a while.
Student loan money is coming in at the end of this month hopefully, lmao, after I buy my new crotch rocket(street bike) I might go for a new GPU, as long as the tuition still gets paid.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by geokilla

For all the negative stuff that SKYMTL pointed out, such as bad drivers, paper launch, etc., well I can only say, get used to it. You're a reviewer so you should be used to it.

No one should be used to having a carrot dangles in front of their faces and then yanked away. I came down pretty hard on NVIDIA for their GTX 295 paper launch and I will keep on doing so no matter who does it. I'm a reviewer second and a consumer first which is how I write the reviews. I find most reviewers have a serious disconnect between what they do and what the consumers have to go through on a daily basis. Bit-tech in particular makes this distinction which is why most of their launch day reviews say pretty much what ours say. I haven't checked out their HD 5970 review but I am guessing it probably says about the same.

[bojangles]

Originally Posted by rk

What I'm wondering is, why is it named 5970 instead of 5950. It's more of a 5850X2 than a 5870X2.

They will run out of digits soon on the 5000 series, unless they gonna start using the last digit ;).

While the 5970 may have the speeds of the 5850, it has the same amount of texture units as the 5870 (5870/5970 = 80 (x2 for 5970), 5850 = 72). They named it after the architecture rather than the speeds.

SKYMTL, I've read other reviews of this card as well and they say that the stock heatsink for the 5970 utilizes vapour chamber technology with support of up to 400 W of thermal dissipation. Is this true? Do you know if ATI would use this technology throughout their future next gen cards as well?

[Surfer_2099]

Well, in my opinion (and it is a highly regarded one in the circles in which I travel), I think SKYMTL's review is as objective as can be expected. Yes, there is a tangible amount of frustration being communicated in the review, but, after looking closely at the card's performance, promises and the environment in which it is being released, I think a good level of frustration should be communicated.

SKYMTL reviewed the card on it's merrits and weaknesses. He pointed out the strenghts of Sapphire's package and the excellent power and noise performance and underlined the spotty performance, limited (non-voltage tweaked) OC headroom and, in the wrap-up, the poor product positioning from a CONSUMER's standpoint.

In the past, I have not always agreed with some of his reviews (I sometimes felt he was a bit generous and overly patient with problems), but this time, I think he's bang on, and I am an ATI fanboy too!

Cheers!
Unbiased_Canuck :)

[geokilla]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

No one should be used to having a carrot dangles in front of their faces and then yanked away. I came down pretty hard on NVIDIA for their GTX 295 paper launch and I will keep on doing so no matter who does it. I'm a reviewer second and a consumer first which is how I write the reviews. I find most reviewers have a serious disconnect between what they do and what the consumers have to go through on a daily basis. Bit-tech in particular makes this distinction which is why most of their launch day reviews say pretty much what ours say. I haven't checked out their HD 5970 review but I am guessing it probably says about the same.

True true, but even then consumers have to get used to all the crap that we get from ATI and NVIDIA. There isn't much that we can do.

[belgolas]

Another good review. Although this card is way over priced at $700. They have it as high as it can go because of no competition. Just wait till Fermi comes and the prices I bet will drop $200 so it will be $500 or less. If you can't wait then buy now and get raped by the over price. If you wait then you should get a fair price. At the price of $700 you could buy 3 GTX 260 core 216 and still have money to spare. Now I am not saying that 3 GTX 260's would be better but just trying to show you the insane price.

[ontariotl]

While I agree that drivers do need improvement from AMD/ATI, I think the price point really isnt that bad. Considering when its overclocked it will be like 2 5870's in Xfire and how much are 5870's if you can find one? Everyone seems to forget what dollar amount the previous generation cards used to sell for and when a new card comes out, the bitching begins on how expensive it is. Remember 6800 Ultra? 8800GTX or Ultra. Hell even the 9800Pro when it first came out. They weren't cheap, and this is with one GPU on board.

Both companies are guilty of paper releases or very scarce inventory on launch day, and it wont be the last. AMD may seem to be sticking it to the consumer with low inventory, but do you really think they wanted it this way? I'm sure they would love to sell as many cards as they can before Nvidia finally comes out with their newborn. It's a double edge sword with AMD/ATI. Again, when X1800XT was delayed many times, people bitched why isn't it out, what is going on? Finally it comes out late, and with lots in stock to buy from, noses turned up because it was late and the performance wasn't there because Nvidia had their new cards out already. I don't think they wanted to history to repeat itself. Trickle of product is better than no product at all.

Now, as for the HD5970, I would say its probably no point in getting it if you are using one monitor. Using it with eyefinity would make more sense. It is a shame that AMD didnt get their shit together to have xfire eyefinity drivers out for double card setups, but at least the HD5970 is paritally working with a few titles. It's a start, which is why I should have my XFX HD5970 here on Friday.

[LC0g]

funny thing when I read the review I really sensed the anger.

seriously... what a beast...

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by LC0g

funny thing when I read the review I really sensed the anger.

More like frustration. For quite a few reasons:

- Inconsistent performance
- Missing Crossfire profiles
- Messing up allocation even further
- Insane price

Basically, the first two should have been addressed long ago considering this is the 3rd incarnation of this same dual GPU + PLX design. The other two points are a bit more complex but none the less push the wrong buttons.

I think the anger came across because the HD 5970 pretty much erased a lot of my confidence that ATI would turn things around. Don't get me wrong, they are leading the pack but they have really proven that they have very little loyalty to the consumers who have bought and are still waiting for their back ordered cards. In addition, this card is the first in this series that I feel represents a complete misjudgment of the current market environment.