Even if AMD's lineup leaves a performance gap between the 5850 and 5770, if the price is right, the product's abilities themselves are a non-issue.
If the card comes in between $120 and $150, the card is in a sound position, providing performance at a similar price point as its predecessors (the 4870 and 4850), but with new features, and higher profit margins for AMD. The launch price of the 5770 is $160 and it is in stock today.
If the card doesn't sell well at that price point, I'll bet it will easily drop a few dollars while still turning a tidy profit for AMD. It's inevitably going to be cheaper to fabricate and manufacture than the last generation, and in the future, I don't doubt that it will deserve far more than a 4/10 on the value scale.
It's better value in the US and if we scored our reviews based on US pricing, the 5770 would likely score higher - its launch price is a good $40 lower than the 4850 and there's a respectable performance increase. Things have moved on... in the US. However, given that our reviews are ultimately scored based on UK pricing and we just don't think the value is there for UKers because you're being asked to pay what you paid last year for performance increase that doesn't warrant that outlay.
It's a card that 4770 users would probably upgrade from and there's a decent performance difference between the two... however, AMD is asking us to almost pay twice as much for that extra performance here in the UK. We've been able to do that ever since the 4770 launched.
Of course, length is less of a problem on a card such as the 5770 because it's shorter than the width of a typical ATX motherboard (30.5cm by 24.4cm). The vents on the end again do nothing but help give the card that "I'm here to save the world" feeling normally associated with superheroes - they also hide the board's loan 6-pin PCIe power connector.
The conclusions page was a bit depressing. Looks like we're getting shafted unnecessarily because AMD (sort of) has a monoploy on the market for now.
All I can say is I'm glad I didn't wait! My 4850 will do just fine until I actually need a DX11 part. Looks like 5850 is the way to go when/if prices drop a bit.
Was looking forward to this along with a 5750 comparison, not so sure now after this review
As an aside, now that Adobe are using the graphics card processing capability when rendering images in Photoshop CS and video in Premiere, would be interesting to see some benchmark comparisons in this area alongside the games for the photogs here.
you have to consider the power consumption, usually I say myself that this doesn't matter much, but with the current generation there's a significant difference to the 4800 series, in idle alone the 5770 needs ~60W less than a 4870 card.
with my usual PC usage that averages to around 45 euros worth of energy in a single year.
considering it deliveres around the same performance as a 4870 card and you're using your PC a lot, not only for gaming, the 5770 is more value in my opinion.
I personally think the overall score of 6 is unjustified, and the reason I say this is because of your sentence at the end
"Until that happens, you're better off considering one of the previous generation cards while they're still available."
AMD/Ati will not enter at the lower price point at this moment in time, they will wait for previous generation stock levels to drop and as that happens the price of the 5770 will go down. Remember that when the 4850 & 4870 goes out of stock Nvidia will still be there with their current generation cards and AMD/ATi will not stand by and allow Nvidia exclusivity to that area of the market.
Of course, length is less of a problem on a card such as the 5770 because it's shorter than the width of a typical ATX motherboard (30.5cm by 24.4cm). The vents on the end again do nothing but help give the card that "I'm here to save the world" feeling normally associated with superheroes - they also hide the board's loan 6-pin PCIe power connector.
The conclusions page was a bit depressing. Looks like we're getting shafted unnecessarily because AMD (sort of) has a monoploy on the market for now.
I just hope that stocks of 4870 1gb last out until Christmas, so I can pick up another one and put it in crossfire. It's the much cheaper upgrade path for me, but that power consumption is going to hurt compared to that of the 5*** series.
Still would like to see a 5870x2, but with nvidia taking so long and no demanding games any time soon I guess there's not much point.
Originally Posted by Nictron I personally think the overall score of 6 is unjustified, and the reason I say this is because of your sentence at the end
"Until that happens, you're better off considering one of the previous generation cards while they're still available."
AMD/Ati will not enter at the lower price point at this moment in time, they will wait for previous generation stock levels to drop and as that happens the price of the 5770 will go down. Remember that when the 4850 & 4870 goes out of stock Nvidia will still be there with their current generation cards and AMD/ATi will not stand by and allow Nvidia exclusivity to that area of the market.
The 5770 deserves more than a 6!
So we're supposed to review based on a price that the card might hit at some point in the future? At £120, it looks like we were pretty generous with our pricing and had we known it'd be over £140, it would have been a whole lot worse.
From a gamers' perspective, please explain what makes this card anything more than "all right" according to our scoring policy, which is clearly laid out and signposted at the bottom of every review. We made a point of being completely transparent with our scoring policies so that our feelings wouldn't be misinterpreted - we're generally pretty tough with our scores compared to other sites, but I'd prefer a 9/10 or 10/10 to actually mean something than just give it to every product that ever passes through our hands.
Our awards then become nothing more than a sticker program, which would be good for us in the short term (because it'd get our name on lots and lots of product boxes, thus improving our visibility), but it wouldn't be as good in the long term when I readers realise we're giving everything an award. Frankly, we'd rathersee our awards used sparingly so it actually means that the products that achieve award status are actually really good. Of course, that's not going to please everyone (especially the marketing departments), but what's the point in having scores from 1 to 10 if you don't use the full range?
Originally Posted by Geoff x Ebuyer are now listing 5770s starting at £111.
That's much closer to where it should be, I think. Hopefully over the next few days, we'll see the 5770 prices settle down to £110 at max and at that point it'll be a better proposition.
The 5750 is just over £90, which might make it an interesting option - we'll have to see how it performs. :)
Originally Posted by mi1ez They have however got the protected audio path and combined with their low noise and power could be good for a HTPC that does the odd bit of gaming.
Yep, no denying that... as an HTPC card, it's likely going to be pretty good, but why wouldn't you just opt for the 5750 instead if you're only going to do 'a bit' of gaming? :)
Comments 1 to 25 of 63
ReplyGuess I should stay put ;)
If the card comes in between $120 and $150, the card is in a sound position, providing performance at a similar price point as its predecessors (the 4870 and 4850), but with new features, and higher profit margins for AMD. The launch price of the 5770 is $160 and it is in stock today.
If the card doesn't sell well at that price point, I'll bet it will easily drop a few dollars while still turning a tidy profit for AMD. It's inevitably going to be cheaper to fabricate and manufacture than the last generation, and in the future, I don't doubt that it will deserve far more than a 4/10 on the value scale.
It's a card that 4770 users would probably upgrade from and there's a decent performance difference between the two... however, AMD is asking us to almost pay twice as much for that extra performance here in the UK. We've been able to do that ever since the 4770 launched.
Great review as always Tim!
Ouch...
And this kids, is why technology monopolies are bad.
The conclusions page was a bit depressing. Looks like we're getting shafted unnecessarily because AMD (sort of) has a monoploy on the market for now.
Even found some for $136 CAD, looks to be like 40-50~ cheaper here than a 4870.
As an aside, now that Adobe are using the graphics card processing capability when rendering images in Photoshop CS and video in Premiere, would be interesting to see some benchmark comparisons in this area alongside the games for the photogs here.
with my usual PC usage that averages to around 45 euros worth of energy in a single year.
considering it deliveres around the same performance as a 4870 card and you're using your PC a lot, not only for gaming, the 5770 is more value in my opinion.
"Until that happens, you're better off considering one of the previous generation cards while they're still available."
AMD/Ati will not enter at the lower price point at this moment in time, they will wait for previous generation stock levels to drop and as that happens the price of the 5770 will go down. Remember that when the 4850 & 4870 goes out of stock Nvidia will still be there with their current generation cards and AMD/ATi will not stand by and allow Nvidia exclusivity to that area of the market.
The 5770 deserves more than a 6!
Whoops, money on the mind when I wrote that :|
Still would like to see a 5870x2, but with nvidia taking so long and no demanding games any time soon I guess there's not much point.
So we're supposed to review based on a price that the card might hit at some point in the future? At £120, it looks like we were pretty generous with our pricing and had we known it'd be over £140, it would have been a whole lot worse.
From a gamers' perspective, please explain what makes this card anything more than "all right" according to our scoring policy, which is clearly laid out and signposted at the bottom of every review. We made a point of being completely transparent with our scoring policies so that our feelings wouldn't be misinterpreted - we're generally pretty tough with our scores compared to other sites, but I'd prefer a 9/10 or 10/10 to actually mean something than just give it to every product that ever passes through our hands.
Our awards then become nothing more than a sticker program, which would be good for us in the short term (because it'd get our name on lots and lots of product boxes, thus improving our visibility), but it wouldn't be as good in the long term when I readers realise we're giving everything an award. Frankly, we'd rathersee our awards used sparingly so it actually means that the products that achieve award status are actually really good. Of course, that's not going to please everyone (especially the marketing departments), but what's the point in having scores from 1 to 10 if you don't use the full range?
The 5750 is just over £90, which might make it an interesting option - we'll have to see how it performs. :)
Yep, no denying that... as an HTPC card, it's likely going to be pretty good, but why wouldn't you just opt for the 5750 instead if you're only going to do 'a bit' of gaming? :)
-
« Previous
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
Next »
Discuss in the forums