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When testing video cards, it is important to use a system which would suit the target audience. For this review we are using a Intel Core i7 975 processor paired with the excellent, KitGuru award winning Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard – check out the review here if you missed it. We will compare the card to the higher end HD 5870 model as well as a reference HD5850 to see how it falls between the two very different price ranges. KitGuru also always tries to mix and match a wide range of games within our reviews – no one wants to see the same five or six games in every review.
Test System:
Sapphire HD5850 Toxic 1GB Edition
Intel Core i7 975
Coolit ECO A.L.C.
Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
6GB Corsair DDR3 1866mhz Memory
Intel 160GB SSD Drive
Lacie 730 30 inch screen.
Western Digital Raid 0 (2x1TB Drives)
Enermax 1250W Revolution PSU
Lian Li Armorcase
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit – all newest patches applied
Fraps Professional
Catalyst 10.4a driver
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Resident Evil 5
Batman Arkham Asylum
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat
Left 4 Dead 2
Colin McRae Dirt 2
Crysis Warhead
3dMark Vantage
All the latest bios updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru test all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.
Bloody Nora batman, thats one scary overclock ! I snagged those apps, thanks for the heads up
I love Sapphires modded cards, those coolers rock my world. Wouldnt it be cool if AMD actually released these from now on with all their new mid/high end ranges?
Absolutely no chance they would be on reference cards, they cost too much. I like the thinking though. Hey with the Intel story that was on here a few days ago and the new reference coolers they are looking at, maybe the whole industry is shifting views on this?
Hats off to Sapphire again,was going to buy this but I held off for a bit even though I read a few good reviews about it. This is a wicked board. £230!! just ordered one
£230 is a wicked price. the ordinary card is £240 in a local store here.
Good price, would like to see CF figures for these. £460 for two of them, would be a good head to head against a GTX480 🙂
I think the 480 GTX would get its ass handed to it, then some, but would be interesting for sho.
I think the 5770 is better value though, ive seen some for £120 online, two of them would beat one of these.
Anyone seen a good price for one of these in Canada?
£349.99 on newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102881&cm_re=hd5850_toxic-_-14-102-881-_-Product
Canada? anyone know? best online place to buy?
Great review, thanks KG
Loved the review, thanks Gurus
Sapphire are great, wish more makers would use vapor x style cooling.
XFX are doing one which I think is sourced from the same company. check out this review. http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/xfx-hd5870-black-edition-review/
Read this review last night and didnt have time to comment. Its a great product as many reviews have already testifed to. Was interesting personally to see the drain figures at the wall.
not much stock available where I live. unfortunately as a bud of mine wants it.