![[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.
Crysis: Warhead]
We are using the full version of Crysis: Warhead. We will be playing Warhead with the latest patches installed in 64-bit. We are playing the entire "Train" level. Our run-through starts off with us getting on the train, manning the gun turrets, and blowing up everything along the way as the train progresses down the tracks. We stop at the tower, perform the mission there, and continue on until the end.
Highest Playable Settings
Many people were disappointed in the Crysis: Warhead performance in our evaluation of the ATI Radeon HD 5870. We really weren’t, for Crysis, it was a significant performance improvement by allowing us to run at all "Enthusiast" settings. The Shaders Quality setting between "Gamer" and "Enthusiast" has a very LARGE performance penalty, on every video card we have ever used. The game is just a beast at graphics, simple as that. Our evaluation of ATI Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX showed significant gains in performance inCrysis: Warhead.
The Radeon HD 5850 single video card was interesting; it just couldn’t push "Enthusiast" Shader Quality at 1920x1200. We tried literally ever "Enthusiast" level setting in Warhead, and it was not playable, even without AA. We were seeing around 20 FPS in the ice levels alone with "Enthusiast" Shaders Quality. We had to drop it down to "Gamer" Shaders Quality; HOWEVER, everything else remained at "Enthusiast" level. This reduction in image quality allowed us to raise the AA level to no less than 4X AA. Again, the game just wasn’t playable with Shaders Quality at "Enthusiast" and No AA.
When we installed two Radeon HD 5850 video cards and enabled CrossFireX we found performance to increase drastically, but still no "Enthusiast" Shaders Quality at 2560x1600. We had to lower the Shaders Quality at 2560x1600 again to "Gamer," just like we had to lower it to "Gamer" on the single Radeon HD 5850 at 1920x1200. Therefore, at 2560x1600 we found the game was playable with Shaders Quality at "Gamer" and everything else at "Enthusiast" with 2X AA enabled with HD 5850 CrossFireX.
Alternatively, with Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX playability at 1920x1200 was excellent and 4X AA with all "Enthusiast" settings, including Shaders Quality, was very playable. We weren’t at a constant 60 FPS, but the max FPS did shoot up into the 50’s at times. So you can easily play with all "Enthusiast" settings at 1920x1200 with 4X AA with HD 5850 CrossFireX as well. We have a graph below that shows some interesting results between 4X and 8X AA at 1920x1200 with CrossFireX.
All of this is much higher than what the GeForce GTX 285 was playable at. We had to set everything to "Gamer" on the GeForce GTX 285 at 1920x1200. Therefore, the less expensive ATI Radeon HD 5850 allows us to enable a higher AA setting than GTX 285, and set almost everything to "Enthusiast" settings where the GTX 285 simply cannot cut it. This all provides a big image quality improvement.
Other Resolutions
With a single Radeon HD 5850 we were not able to set Shaders Quality at "Enthusiast" at 1920x1200, but we were able to it at 1680x1050. Therefore, a single Radeon HD 5850 will allow every setting to be set to "Enthusiast" at a resolution of 1680x1050, with No AA. Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX lets you set everything to "Enthusiast" at 1920x1200 and 4X AA.
Pushing the Radeon HD 5850 single video card up to 2560x1600 is very possible! You just have to drop the Shaders Quality down to the "Mainstream" setting. With that one setting at "Mainstream" we could enable "Enthusiast" on everything else and play smoothly at 2560x1600 No AA.
Superior Antialiasing Performance
One thing we discovered with ATI Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX is the superior antialiasing performance provided. We saw very little drops in performance related to increasing the AA setting.
In this graph below we are comparing Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX at 1920x1200 all "Enthusiast" settings with 4X and 8X AA.
What you will see is that first off, 1920x1200 4X AA/16X AF all "Enthusiast" settings is very playable. We were averaging 32FPS at these settings. When we enabled 8X AA, this game was actually playable in a lot of areas of the game. There were some that were just too low for comfort, and dropping back to 4X AA alleviated that, but generally speaking you will find that at 8X AA performance is actually smoother than it looks by framerate numbers alone. We were averaging 27FPS at 8X AA at 1920x1200 all "Enthusiast" settings. Keep in mind that this game has a very efficient system of applying motion blur which allows lower framerates to feel much faster in-game.
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 1920x1200 4X AA/16X AF and all "Enthusiast" settings.
HD 5850, 5850 CrossFireX vs. HD 5870
The Radeon HD 5850 is appropriately slower than the Radeon HD 5870 here. ATI Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX provides a significant boost in performance.
HD 5850, 5850 CrossFireX vs. GTX 285
The GeForce GTX 285 is simply outgunned here even by the Radeon HD 5850.