![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, September 30, 2009
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5850 Video Card Review
The ATI Radeon HD 5850 is launching today! It is based on the same 5800 architecture as the HD 5870. We aim to find out how it compares to an HD 5870 in single GPU and 5850 CrossFireX configurations. The ATI Radeon HD 5850 is bringing with it an incredible PC gaming value.
Arma II
We are using the full Steam version of Arma II with latest patches. For our testing procedure, we are playing the first five minutes of the single-player scenario entitled "Counterattack," in which Russian forces are tasked with retaking control of a city from rebel forces. We begin our FRAPS recording immediately following that ejection, while we work our way into the outskirts and eventually into the heart of the city.
Highest Playable Settings
Note: The order of video cards in our table ranges from most expensive video card configuration to lowest cost video card configuration. I.E. the HD 5850 CrossFireX is the most expensive setup, and the single HD 5850 is the least expensive setup being compared here. This way you can see which card at what end of the price scale provides the best value in comparison. For example, in this game, the HD 5850 provides a better experience than the GTX 285, yet is less expensive than the GTX 285.
In our launch evaluation of the ATI Radeon HD 5870 we found that it provided the highest gameplay experience we have seen yet in Arma II. Similarly, the ATI Radeon HD 5870 also offered the best gameplay experience in its single GPU class.
We were able to play Arma II at 1920x1200 with "Low" AA and visibility at 1200 and everything else at "Very High" settings. The ATI Radeon HD 5850 is less expensive than the GeForce GTX 285, and the Radeon HD 5850 delivered the better experience. The GeForce GTX 285 was playable at 1920x1200 but with No AA and visibility down to 1000 and terrain/objects and shadow detail at "Normal." The difference in the gameplay experience was extremely noticeable.
As we would have expected the ATI Radeon HD 5870 was faster than the ATI Radeon HD 5850, however the in-game differences aren’t massive. The ATI Radeon HD 5870 allowed us to go up one more notch in AA levels to "Normal" AA and increase visibility to 1600. Those are the only differences in Arma II between the Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 5870. The difference between those two video cards is a lot less than the difference in gameplay compared to the GTX 285.
In the past, we have seen that multi-GPU video cards do not scale well in Arma II, apparently we just didn’t have the right cards for the job! We found that there was better scaling with the new ATI Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX than we have seen with other cards in this game. The best scaling came, at no surprise, at 2560x1600. At this resolution we were able to push CrossFireX farther than at lower resolutions! At 2560x1600 this game was playable at "Low" AA with visibility at 1200 and terrain/objects and shadows at "High."
You simply have to up the resolution in this game to receive the best scaling, because at 1920x1200 we did not see much of a difference with HD 5850 CrossFireX. We were able to up the AA level and visibility at 1920x1200, but that was it. We received a much smoother performance actually at 2560x1600. Very interesting. There are still a lot of things going on with this game that are odd to say the least.
One thing to also note in this table and graph are the minimum framerates. The new AMD ATI video cards are pulling in the highest minimum framerates, compared to the GTX 285 and Radeon HD 4890. This is very important for gaming, and it shows the new AMD ATI Radeon HD 5800 series provides a smoother and more consistent gameplay experience, especially with CrossFireX.
Other Resolutions
In our testing we always check out gameplay at other resolutions. In this case, the Radeon HD 5850 single video card was playable at 1680x1050 with visibility at 1600, Antialiasing on "Normal" and everything else on "Very High." This provided a very rich and detailed gameplay experience in Arma II. This is close to as good as you can get in this game, other than maxing out the visibility slider, which is impossible on any video card right now.
Alternatively, you could play at 2560x1600 on the Radeon HD 5850, but you’d have to lower visibility to around 1000 and turn terrain/objects and shadows to "Normal" with No AA.
Apples to Apples
In our apples-to-apples testing we have setup two graphs for you to compare with, to make things easier to read.
We are testing at 2560x1600 with "Low" AA and "VeryHigh" AF with visibility at 1200, terrain, object and shadows at "High."
HD 5850, 5850 CrossFireX vs. HD 5870
In this graph we can see that ATI Radeon HD 5850 just barely trails the Radeon HD 5870. With ATI Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX we do see a performance advantage, but it isn’t as big as other games.
HD 5850, 5850 CrossFireX vs. GTX 285
In comparison to the GeForce GTX 285 a single Radeon HD 5850 is much faster in this game, no doubt about it.