AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review

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Looking now at power consumption and astonishingly, despite being such a fast card, the HD 5970 isn't the most power hungry card on test. That said, the two cards that do beat it are the previous generation dual-chip cards, so that's not surprising. Regardless, the total system power figures of 143W at idle and 330W under load aren't in the realms of the ridiculous.

Where to Buy

XFX RADEON HD 5870 1 GB DDR5 PCI Express Card HD587AZNF9

The HD 5970 also performed well in our noise tests, producing no more noise than its single-chip cousin, the HD 5870, and significantly less than either the GTX 295 or GTX 285 when idling. Under load it does get pretty loud, though, and is only outstripped by the HD 4870 X2, which is a particularly noisy card. Essentially, you'll want to be wearing headphones or employing some serious sound-proofing when gaming with this card.

So, all told, the HD 5970 is an impressive card. It has absolutely bags of performance, has all the latest features, consumes a not horrific amount of power, and when idling it's not too noisy either. However, there is one rather important factor yet to consider, price. Currently retailing for an eye-watering £519.98, this is the most expensive graphics card we've seen in years. As such, we find it impossible to recommend for anyone with a single monitor as the HD 5870 delivers enough performance in the majority of games and will save you £200.

However, taking into account Eyefinity, the HD 5970 starts to make sense. Even three relatively small monitors will give a total resolution exceeding that of a single 30-incher (2,560 x 1,600) so that extra performance will start to be of tangible benefit. And let's face it, if you can afford to be buying three monitors just for a better gaming experience then spending £500 on a graphics card is something you'll certainly consider.

Verdict

The AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 is without doubt the single fastest graphics card on the planet. However, if you own a single monitor then it's simply overkill and the HD 5870 is a much more sensible option. If you're interested in pursuing a multi-monitor gaming setup, though, then this is a card well worth considering.

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