A pair of ATI 5770 1Gb in Crossfire vs. a single ATI 5870 1Gb. One could call it a fair fight considering the price point of both setups. They will be put through their paces in some of today’s game titles…
Test Setup
Hardware
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (4,2GHz CORE/2,9GHz IMC)
- RAM: 2x 2GB OCZ Platinum (1550MHz 6-6-6)
- Monitor: LG W2600HP-BF 1920×1200 pixels
- GPU: Two ATI HD 5770 1Gb (Crossfire) & one ATI HD 5870 1Gb
Software
- MS Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
- Catalyst 10.3 February preview (driver package 8.71.3-100205a-095620E)
- Fraps
- Battlefield Bad Company 2
- Aliens vs. Predator
- Borderlands
- Half Life 2
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
The FPS where recorded over a 20 second period using Fraps. Multiple runs where completed for each game, and the average values where then calculated for each game and GPU setup. Vertical Sync where disabled for all tests. And the highest possible quality settings where used, unless else is noted.
Battlefield – Bad Company 2
1920×1200, 8x MSAA, 16x AF, HBAO, DX11
(x-axis = seconds, y-axis = fps)
It’s pretty close, but the 5870 managed to push out a few more FPS. Very much playable on both setups. But guess a few more FPS could always be desired for online play.
Aliens vs. Predator
1920×1200, 16x AF, DX11
(x-axis = seconds, y-axis = fps)
At a first glimpse this looks like extremely poor, or no Crossfire support at all. However, I made sure that both 5770 GPU’s where active during testing. And after some additional research, this does indeed seem to be a reasonable result in AvP on two crossfired 5770s… The 5870 is really flexing its muscles in this one!
Borderlands
1920×1200, 16x AF
(x-axis = seconds, y-axis = fps)
I where not able to bypass a FPS limit of 62 in this game. But decided to include the chart anyway, as both card setups stayed under that limit most of the time.
Half Life 2
1920×1200, 4x MSAA, 16x AF
(x-axis = seconds, y-axis = fps)
Both setups managed to push out a healthy amount of pixels. And still, quite impressive graphics for such a old title!
Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2
1920×1200, 4x AA, “Extra”
(x-axis = seconds, y-axis = fps)
Towards the end of the run when things heat up a little, the crossfired pair of 5770s closed the gap to their bigger brother. But the 5870 is still a head nonetheless.
Quick Final Thoughts
Well there isn’t much to say really. But if you have plans to grab one of these cards, then go for the 5870 if you can. But a pair of 5770s is still to be counted on, and it has proven to be a very potent setup. Nonetheless fun for the tinkerer! But I bet two 5870s is even more fun…
Be sure to check out TestFreaks for more expert reviews on the Radeon HD5770 & HD5870.
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Run Win 7 64bit dude. I am pulling way more FPS in almost all games on similar config (except I have 8GB RAM ) with 10.3a.
64bit shouldn’t make any difference, with the exception of the greater RAM.
Interesting.. what about hiGh resolutions? Is cf better?
Also, what voltage did u need to get 4,2ghz?
Anish, never seen a difference between 32/64bit, and especially not in games
I used a older set of drivers than the 10.3a. In what games do you see a difference?
Starbuck, not sure how they perform in higher resolutions, but I wouldn’t expect any miracles from the 5770s
1.57-ish vcore for 4.2ghz, on water.
Did you even install the crossfire profiles? It helps a lot. Use the current drivers and profiles for a better comparison.
Profiles that was included in the feburary preview was installed.
Cant redo it with every new driver release, sorry
I was talking about BC2 and Borderlands.
I am not going below 50FPS on Borderlands at all with 5770CF even for a minute.
Just realised you are using 8xAA on BC2. So that I can understand. I benched with 4xAA. Yeah with AA of anything more than 4x 5770s do start to show their limitations, but honestly I never use 8xAA at 19×12.
ANyway can you tell me where in game you took borderlands and BC2 readings?
AVP is royally screwed up with 10.3a as well. CF does not work at all in that game for me.
The areas/maps is shown in the screen shots for those two games. Think it’s called “Jacobs Cove” in Borderlands. And its the map right after the first tank battle in BFBC2 sp.
I went all out on quality settings, so there are certainly frames to be gained from tweaking game settings, possibly with no loss in visuals.
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Thanks guys,
I was comtemplating getting two hd 5770 or one hd 5870, but did not know what differance would be. Have now ordered a hd 5870
Depends on the price difference. I already had a 5770 installed for the past 9 months, so for $110 Canadian I figured another 5770 was more economical. They seem to run well.
I wasn’t too excited about paying $250-280 for a 5870, so I’ll push the the life of the 5770’s as far as I can.
cheers,
Jason
THIS GAMES ARE SHIT !!! WHY YO NOT COMPARED THIS CARD WITH CRYSIS CRYSIS 2 BETA OR METRO 2033 !!!!!!!? ????
This was done last spring retard.
[...] zowiezo en als het in je budget past een CF HD5770 prijs – 244euro incl Azerty HD5770 CF – [Blog] 5770 CF vs. 5870 – Game Performance Comparison | TechREACTION waarom ik die graka zou veranderen is omdat het eigenlijk niet zo een goede is :') de 58xx waren [...]