We all remember the 5000 series cards from AMD and how much of an impact they had to the market by offering great performance at a fantastic price point. Shortly after this era, the 6000 series arrived on the scene offering better tessellation and technical effects for that similar pricing structure.
As a lot of brands completely phased out the 5000 series cards, Sapphire were keen to push more performance out of them and still offer that fantastic bang for buck that the 5000 series gave initially but this time with even better pricing.
Today sees us taking a look at the 5850 Xtreme from Sapphire in a look to see how it compares against some of the beefiest, most powerful, cutting edge cards of today, hoping that the 5000 series still has some life left in it and can still pack a punch.
Specifications
[TABLE=class: grid, width: 100%][TR][TD=align: center]Output[/TD][TD=align: left]1 x Dual-Link DVI
1 x HDMI
1 x DisplayPort[/TD][/TR][TR][TD=align: center]GPU[/TD][TD=align: left]725 MHz Core Clock
40 nm Chip
1440 x Stream Processors[/TD][/TR][TR][TD=align: center]Memory[/TD][TD=align: left]1024 MB Size
256 -bit GDDR5
4000 MHz Effective[/TD][/TR][TR][TD=align: center]Software[/TD][TD=align: left]Driver CD
SAPPHIRE TriXX Utility[/TD][/TR][TR][TD=align: center]Accessory[/TD][TD=align: left]DVI to VGA Adapter
6 PIN to 4 PIN Power Cable x 2[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]
Well I hope these are available in Europe because here in the States they came in about April and went… Fast. They where normally priced about $145 (102) with No-Rebate and shipped free, it was a very nice BfB at the time. The only thing is I'd like to have presented is the acoustics, temps, and power charts include the previous generation Nvidia stuff. What wouldve really told the story is seeing it sparing with the likes of the Inndo3d GTX460 OC, that POV GTX460 Beast, or the KFA2 GTX470! When you start working titles that most who aspire to game in this price point today play (not Metro) titles like BC2, BattleForge, COD4, UT3 and @1920x you really have to sit-up and take notice.
nice review Andy :)!almost bought one of these cards before the retailer upped the price :/!glad to see the 5850 still coming in strong as they easily offer the best bang for buck card on the market with sub £100 pricing :D!