AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review

Where to buy your ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card

PowerColor Radeon HD 5970

Manufacturer’s Site: PowerColor

PowerColor couldn’t send us a picture in time for this article, but could reveal some details about the card. It’s a stock-speed version, with both GPUs clocked at 725MHz and the 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1GHz (4GHZ effective). Like many HD 5000-series cards, there’s a code for Colin McRae: Dirt 2 in the box too. While there weren’t too many details about the card, PowerColor could tell us that cards will be with Scan at or around launch.


Estimated UK Price: TBC
Suggested Reseller(s): Scan

Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 Overclock Edition

Manufacturer’s Site: Sapphire

Sapphire is the only manufacturer we know of to ship its first Radeon HD 5970 pre-overclocked. Admittedly, it’s not by much – 10MHz on the GPU and a similarly low amount on the memory – but still. Sapphire has also spent the last few months developing its GPU voltage tool, which it calls Redline. The app is so new that it’s not on the driver CD – instead you have to follow a secret URL to the darkest depths of Sapphire’s site to download it. That’s kind of cool, and much better than the drink of the same name we just about remember having a few years ago. [shudders]

Sapphire not only bundles a license key for Colin McRae: Dirt 2 with its HD 5970, but also a copy of BattleForge. Well, we say ‘copy’, there’s a sticker on the box and note that you can download BattleForge for free and get playing. Still, as BattleForge is also meant to be a DX11 title, we’ll forgive Sapphire. The Sapphire card uses the reference cooler and so is 11.5in 12.2in long.


Estimated UK Price: TBC
Suggested Reseller(s): Overclockers, Scan

XFX Radeon HD 5970 (Standard and Black Edition)

Manufacturer’s Site: XFX

XFX is launching its range of HD 5970 cards with two versions – a vanilla ‘XXX’ card and its re-designed Black Edition – guess which one we’re the most excited about? The Black Edition card comes with a new OverVolt Tool that lets you play with the voltages of your GPUs and memory. The tool won’t be available for non-Black Edition owners, as you can only get this tool by registering your card and downloading the app from XFX’s website. We’re expecting a Black Edition card in the labs soon, so will be giving OverVolt a whirl.

While XFX doesn’t even bundle an activation key for Colin McRae: Dirt 2, it seems to have the widest distribution of the cards we’ve looked at, with three shops listed that should stock cards. Both versions of XFX's Radeon HD 5970 use the reference cooler, so measure 11.5in 12.2in in length.


Estimated UK Price: TBC
Suggested Reseller(s): eBuyer, Overclockers, Scan