Asus Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Introduction
Published: 16th November 2009 | Source: Asus | Price: £240 |
Introduction
There are a lot of things that we want in life. It's human nature to want something, although of course some of us may take this a step further and replace want with “need”. These “things” could be anything. A glamorous holiday in a place that's always warm and is always sunny when you want it to be. That new BMW coupe that you saw on the streets the other day maybe... Or a really big house, that can cater for all your nearest and dearest. All of this is probably a tad irrelevant for a tech based website... Perhaps we don't care for extravagant holidays. A new sports car? Not at all, that's what Racedriver GRID is for. That big house...all our friends are accessible via Skype! I'm going to stop trying to get myself killed by means of stereotyping and turn one's attention to the release of the Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards codenamed “Cypress”. There are some things in life which can't be had because they're a little out of one's reach at a given point in time. However, in this case (thanks to ATi and TSMC) would seem that whether you have the money or not, you can't have any high end Direct X 11 goodness in your life because there is a pitiful quantity in distribution relative to the current demand for them. To make things worse, it seems ATi may take it upon themselves to raise the value of these products. As these graphics cards trickle through the supply chain and relevant Add in Board Partners, Wholesalers and Retailers profiteer on these highly demanded graphics cards, this will in turn affect pricing greatly. As shown below, the trend of Radeon HD 5850 pricing over the last two months hasn't been particularly promising.
It's not too great on nVidia's side either as they appear to have cut production of their GT200 based graphics cards (GTX 260, 275, 285 and 295) and thus the price gauging continues. We shall not let this affect our view on the products themselves but it should be mentioned that these graphics cards are as good as gold dust right now. We were however very grateful that Asus were able to supply us with today's review item, the Asus Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card.
Asus shouldn't need any introduction, offering product solutions to all ends of the market from systems components for the retail and OEM as well as their own laptops/netbooks and desktops. The brand has been in the graphics card business for a very long time and have brought a number of memorable products to market including the Asus GTX 295 MARS graphics card. With that in mind, we have very high expectations from the product that we're about to review.
Specifications
| Name | Asus Radeon HD 5850 | Asus Radeon HD 5870 |
| Core Name | Cypress | Cypress |
| Core Frequency | 725MHz | 850MHz |
| Stream Processors | 1440 | 1600 |
| Memory Frequency | 4000MHz (1000MHz x 4) | 4800MHz (1200MHz x 4) |
| Memory Interface | 256bit | 256bit |
| ROP Count | 32 | 32 |
| TMU Count | 72 | 80 |
| Original Retail Price | £199.99 | £299.99 |
Unlike a number of Asus' enthusiast graphics cards, the Asus Radeon HD 5850 operates at reference clock speeds of 725MHz Core and 4000MHz Memory. Aside the clock speed differences, the 5850 is kept away from it's bigger brother by it's reduced Stream Processor count. Regardless, it's specifications on paper look very promising.
Let's continue to the next page to have a look at Asus' new Direct X 11 graphics card in the flesh!
Most Recent Comments
Very nice review covered enough to want to buy one.
Awesome card, it's a damn shame that they've seen fit to hype the prices. All said and done, hitting the market at around £200 and slipping to £175-ish would have made it mouth-watering for some.
I think it's gotten to the stage that lack of availabilty needs to be in the bad section 'at the time of writing', in so much that when ASUS see the review/feedback they can perhaps take more notice of what the enthusiasts are saying also. Having a choice, but not being able to find it, is a really bad thing.
Tool looks good, not so good with the voltage thing lacking, perhaps an upd8 will come along to sort that out.
Typical of ASUS gfxcards I've experienced of late, well build, look pretty good and is probably sounds strange, but I bet it felt good when u took it out of the anti static.
Good stuff, bad timing maybe.
I think it's gotten to the stage that lack of availabilty needs to be in the bad section 'at the time of writing', in so much that when ASUS see the review/feedback they can perhaps take more notice of what the enthusiasts are saying also. Having a choice, but not being able to find it, is a really bad thing.
Tool looks good, not so good with the voltage thing lacking, perhaps an upd8 will come along to sort that out.
Typical of ASUS gfxcards I've experienced of late, well build, look pretty good and is probably sounds strange, but I bet it felt good when u took it out of the anti static.
Good stuff, bad timing maybe.
The price gouging is unacceptable IMO. The lack of availability for these new products (and SSD's) is getting to be a bit of a joke.
It is a nice mid range card though, it performs well on the test bed. It will be interesting to see how these DX11 cards handle DX11 titles...
It is a nice mid range card though, it performs well on the test bed. It will be interesting to see how these DX11 cards handle DX11 titles...
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Originally Posted by name='Mr. Smith'
The price gouging is unacceptable IMO. The lack of availability for these new products (and SSD's) is getting to be a bit of a joke.
It is a nice mid range card though, it performs well on the test bed. It will be interesting to see how these DX11 cards handle DX11 titles... |
These Basterds decide to make less and charge more to keep their income the same as making more for less. We are in recession all workers get litlle or no wage increase and companies like this will reduce staff to make less then charge more to make the price right so the Basterds at the top make more money for employing less and working less as well.
Simple answer no one buy a single item until the price drops, we can easily force them to drop the price, it would not harm us to not buy the card for a month yet it would cripple their company if we don't.
Am i the only one that noticed the Crysis Warhead graph was actually the Call of Duty stats?
Maybe it's because i always jump to those FPS results
If people weren't out trying to buy them the price wouldn't be so high, ye olde supply and demand.
Blame the ****s that want to pay over the odds for such kit, the buisness' are just taking advantage of it... unfortunately that's what all business' do!
Maybe it's because i always jump to those FPS results
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Originally Posted by name='kimandsally'
Simple answer no one buy a single item until the price drops, we can easily force them to drop the price, it would not harm us to not buy the card for a month yet it would cripple their comany if we don't. |
Blame the ****s that want to pay over the odds for such kit, the buisness' are just taking advantage of it... unfortunately that's what all business' do!
Yikes, that was a bit of a mix up on my part! Fixed 
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Originally Posted by name='Maverick1dj'
f people weren't out trying to buy them the price wouldn't be so high, ye olde supply and demand. Blame the ****s that want to pay over the odds for such kit, the buisness' are just taking advantage of it... unfortunately that's what all business' do! |
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='Maverick1dj'
If people weren't out trying to buy them the price wouldn't be so high, ye olde supply and demand. Blame the ****s that want to pay over the odds for such kit, the buisness' are just taking advantage of it... unfortunately that's what all business' do! |
Ipso, it's not the manufacturers fault, it's the consumer ?
U are correct tho. The prices for everything are there - take it or leave it. Just as when fuel is running out, minor stations will jack up their prices.
Let's be consistent tho aye.
A businesses purpose is to make money so you can't blame them for latching onto the rarity of a product and hacking up the prices, I'm not saying it's moral, but i certainly don't find it surprising, when has any business corporation been successful from being moral? It just doesn't go hand in hand.
The only power we consumers have is to club together, unfortunately that seems to be against our nature, there's enough show offs and kit junkies out there that want to one up their peers by shelving unnecessarily amounts of cash out for the newest and best kit in spite of their own wallet just to say 'I have this, you don't!' IMO these people let the side down, it's foolish false macho-ism .
As for the whole camp/fan-boy behaviour i really don't get it, i have no loyalty to any company as they have no loyalty to me (first paragraph explains this) those who think they do are truly misinformed, when i build a PC or purchase components i buy the best i can for the money I'm willing to spend with a slight eye on the near future. The company that get's my cash is the one that offers the best goods cheapest... period.
performance/cost/longevity - no amount of branding, advertising, supply issues, rave reviews will detract me from these 3 basic rules.
anyways... bit of a rant and well off topic whoopsies
The only power we consumers have is to club together, unfortunately that seems to be against our nature, there's enough show offs and kit junkies out there that want to one up their peers by shelving unnecessarily amounts of cash out for the newest and best kit in spite of their own wallet just to say 'I have this, you don't!' IMO these people let the side down, it's foolish false macho-ism .
As for the whole camp/fan-boy behaviour i really don't get it, i have no loyalty to any company as they have no loyalty to me (first paragraph explains this) those who think they do are truly misinformed, when i build a PC or purchase components i buy the best i can for the money I'm willing to spend with a slight eye on the near future. The company that get's my cash is the one that offers the best goods cheapest... period.
performance/cost/longevity - no amount of branding, advertising, supply issues, rave reviews will detract me from these 3 basic rules.
anyways... bit of a rant and well off topic whoopsies
I accept with information:it's gotten to the stage that lack of availabilty needs to be in the bad section 'at the time of writing', in so much that when ASUS see the review/feedback they can perhaps take more notice of what the enthusiasts are saying also.
I assume this review is written for another country, because the XFX warranty in America is the best you can get, its a double lifetime warranty, far better than the Asus warranty.
Hi TC93,
This review was written in England, where XFX offers 24 months warranty on Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards.
This review was written in England, where XFX offers 24 months warranty on Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards.
I had 12 months warranty on an XFX GTX280. It crapped the bed and they failed to replace it - they sent a refund minus usage costs to the online store.
Imo - that isn't a 12 month warranty. Not my fault they got no stock.
Used to champion XFX myself, not anymore.
Imo - that isn't a 12 month warranty. Not my fault they got no stock.
Used to champion XFX myself, not anymore.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='Maverick1dj'
A businesses purpose is to make money so you can't blame them for latching onto the rarity of a product and hacking up the prices, I'm not saying it's moral, but i certainly don't find it surprising, when has any business corporation been successful from being moral? It just doesn't go hand in hand.
The only power we consumers have is to club together, unfortunately that seems to be against our nature, there's enough show offs and kit junkies out there that want to one up their peers by shelving unnecessarily amounts of cash out for the newest and best kit in spite of their own wallet just to say 'I have this, you don't!' IMO these people let the side down, it's foolish false macho-ism . As for the whole camp/fan-boy behaviour i really don't get it, i have no loyalty to any company as they have no loyalty to me (first paragraph explains this) those who think they do are truly misinformed, when i build a PC or purchase components i buy the best i can for the money I'm willing to spend with a slight eye on the near future. The company that get's my cash is the one that offers the best goods cheapest... period. performance/cost/longevity - no amount of branding, advertising, supply issues, rave reviews will detract me from these 3 basic rules. anyways... bit of a rant and well off topic whoopsies |
I for one will refuse to pay ott prices
feck them, my 8800gt can wait
feck them, my 8800gt can wait
What is the likeliness of picking these up for around £100 around february?
Id say you havnt got a hope in hell tbh
Prices will no doubt drop some when NVidia release their latest range as they did with the X18**, X19** etc. How much by will depend on the performance difference.
Nice card, nice review, I am buying this tommorow morning from scan. £230 O.O
Although it does come with DiRT2 so thats nice
Although it does come with DiRT2 so thats nice
Nice review there Mul, I have a little doubt about DX11, my 4870X2 still serve me well anyway but its a nice gfx.
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Originally Posted by name='Lynx'
Nice card, nice review, I am buying this tommorow morning from scan. £230 O.O
Although it does come with DiRT2 so thats nice |
I got the XFX 5850 XXX, and I must say, it's awesome!
good gpu
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Originally Posted by name='EXPANDER'
good gpu
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