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ATI's HD5770 has been a monster success story for them – and rightly so, it combines a killer combination of gaming performance and value for money.
KitGuru has reviewed many HD5770's in the past and we have also concentrated on Crossfire performance.
Today however we have something special in mind for our readers. The new Sapphire HD5770 Flex Edition which can support up to four monitors via ATI Eyefinity. Sapphire have managed to achieve this by using three DVI connections – one being an HDMI to DVI adapter. The card itself operates at 850 mhz core and 1200mhz (4800mhz effective) on the GDDR5 memory.
We have had this card in our offices for quite some time now (a very early version without full retail packaging), but we wanted to hold fire on a review until we managed to get time to fully utilise a three screen configuration – we believe there is very little point reviewing this specific product without concentrating on the amazing multiscreen display options.
Today KitGuru has a thorough analysis of the Sapphire HD5770 Flex in a 3 monitor configuration – this card is the first product on the market to deliver a true SLS (Single Large Surface) work area without the need for costly active adapters. The majority of HD 5000 series cards with ATI Eyefinity support demand that the third monitor is Displayport compatible, or that an active Displayport to DVI or VGA adapter is used.
FeatureSet
- SAPPHIRE Flex Technology supports 3 displays without the requirement of DisplayPort monitors or Active DP adapters, and can support up to 4 displays with the use of a DisplayPort monitor or Active adapter.
- Microsoft DirectX® 11 Support
- Shader Model 5.0 Support
- Direct Compute 11
- Programmable hardware tessellation unit
- Accelerated multi-threading
- HDR texture compression
- Order-independent transparency
- 1.04 billion 40nm transistors
- 800 Stream Processing Units
- OpenGL 4.0 support
- ATI Eyefinity Technology
- ATI Stream acceleration technology
- OpenCL 1.0 compliant
- DirectCompute 11
- Accelerated video encoding, transcoding, and upscaling
- 2nd Generation TeraScale Engine
- PCI Express 2.1 x16 bus interface
- Advanced 1GB/128-bit GDDR5 memory interface
- HDMI 1.3 support with Deep Color and 7.1 High Bitrate Audio
- On chip HDCP Support
- ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU support for highly scalable performance. (Use up to four discrete cards with an AMD 790/890FX based motherboard)
- ATI Avivo HD Support
- ATI Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray™ and HD Video.
- Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT)
- DVD Upscaling
- Dynamic Contrast
- Built-in HDMI with 7.1 surround sound support
- Support for H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2
- Dual Stream 1080p playback support
- DXVA 1.0 & 2.0 support
Zardon, top job man. Some of the huge tech sites just tested this with one panel, pure laziness. Great review.
Now THATS what im talking about baby. love it.!
Ive said it before and ill say it again dammit. The reviews on this site from big Z are the best on the net. This is a great product, but I cant see pricing anywhere and I dont see it on any stores. any clues ? 🙂
how much is the price going to be, ive already got 2 good screens, this and another one might transform my life, more than getting a 5870 🙂
Wow it was brilliant seeing the videos of the games running, looks like it was a bastard to capture mind you.
Need to sell my left kidney and get 3 decent panels. The big question is HOW MUCH IS IT ZARDON!? £150? £180?
I have bookmarked this to read more later. nice work on the COD MW2 page man, that was a lot of work to get it running right.
Without AA surely its a bit blocky though? hard to tell in the videos, but the frame rates are certainly good looking with them all.
Holy cow. that looks fucking wicked man. Wish we could trade jobs. I had to weld a car this afternoon. fancy a trade?
Ok, I have to say it, dude what in the hell size is that screen behind them all? 60 inch?
I have to get this setup. time to hit the credit cards…..
When are the cards out? I see them nowhere.
What I hear end of august they are out. not sure of the pricing yet, no solid prices anywhere. id guess £175
Lol im slow, I saw another review of this yesterday and didnt even know it did 4 monitors, or 3. Why did no one else test it with 3 screens? good job KG!
Well that is just awesome. dirt 2 looks brilliant on it. would like 3 screens the same mind you, but this is enough to get the idea of how wicked it could be !
Fuck ! i love the videos. how good was resident evil and COD? you could see things on the peripherial vision screens on the sides you never do normally.
No Crysis at 5760? tsk tsk 😉
Bloody hell ive been in work doing double shifts and I get today off and spend all day reading the content from monday. thats some serious work and what a brilliant product from sapphire. I hope to see it on a 5870 soon, the 5770 is a good board but its a bit spineless with AA.
Once again, Z is the man.
pure sex. that is a great board. ATI are still leading the way, no doubt about it.I cant believe how many crap reviews of this card I read yesterday either.
Hey, mix n match monitors, nothing wrong with that, I run 3 and they are all sizes and shapes !!
Good review Z thanks.
Hey, mix n match monitors, nothing wrong with that, I run 3 and they are all sizes and shapes !!
Good review Z thanks.
Sapphire are still no1, no comparison to anyone else atm
Damn, damn and more damn.
My system is such a POS, Time i spent some money.
All the cool kids will have 3 monitors soon after reading this. even if it means they sell their car.
Resident Evil was awesome with 3. so much going on at the sides in that video.
HD5770 is really quite impressive once you go over those figures. I wouldnt expect COD or DIRT2 to work at 5760. but they do. L4D2 works well also.
So come on, what is the price ? anyone? £200 ? more ?
Love that card, something about real estate that makes me forgive lower performance. tbh I never run with AA anyway, can never be arsed and I dont often notice it anyway.
It all depends how much this costs. if its same price as GTX460 its going to get nailed, even if it has 3 screen support. I dont know many people who want 3 screens.
Sapphire always impress me, I love their coolers and support. ive never had one of their cards fail. why move? KG loves sapphire too ive noticed. which means I love KG. happy hugs 🙂
Nah id rather have this than 460. runs cooler, even quieter, not as fast but more monitor support. and is ATi 🙂 nuff said.
Zardon. top job man, top job. im tempted, but broke. so will be patient to see price, and pray its £50 with a free mortgage.
Zardon = ATI fan boy 🙂
Come on. 9.5 out of 10 for a HD5770!? the price of 3 screens is out of the question for most people. if not all.
Power consumption is good on this one. maybe they optimised it.
This is my next card, ill probably never be able to get another monitor as I already have two, but it might tempt me to stop smoking.
Well tickle me with a fat lettuce and shave my pubes 🙂 That was very stimulating that review. id buy one, but id rather you all bought me one instead.
Yay a review on a product that support 4 monitors, with more than 2. dont know what some sites are smoking lately 🙂
Well what do you know. Sapphire pushing ATI again, they should buy ATI and sell the cards the way they do them ….. right 🙂
Brilliant review, put the effort into this one.
I would like one of these for my 6 monitors.
Only joking ive only one, but in my dreams ive six.
Sapphire rock. that is a brilliant product. overclocks well too , 1000 core almost? jesss
Extra marks for extra effort Zardon. Very informative review and it certainly shows the benefits of this card which I wasn’t getting until reading this one.
Tres Bein 🙂 me likely this.
I wasnt impressed with this card on page 1, but by the final page I was sold. Now how the hell can I get my order in 🙂
Im an nvidia fan but this is the only card that could sway me. I just wish they came with forceware drivers
Certainly a good indication that Sapphire are pushing ATI products further than ATi would imagine themselves. They really do deserve a lot of credit for this product. I hate being tied into displayport. not that I dont like it, but very few monitors support it when compared to DVI.
Zardon, are you working for Sapphire PR, this is an immensely favourable review. TO be fair, I get it though , just messing with you 😉
If they manage to keep this under £175 its a winner.
Anyone seen this for sale yet? when is it out ?
Not much point reviewing this if you dont know when its out !
I wonder if they will make a 5870 with this technology, would be better for gaming.
Veryy good review although the games look handed picked cause they will run at this res. what about things like crysis and metro, they wouldnt work at t his res
heh, I bet most of the other sites are slapping their heads after reading this one. only one to test it right so far 😉
shame it doesnt support 3 screens at 2560×1600, wonder if thats possible down the line.
this is an impressive setup. id like it with 3 screens the same, would look better but the concept is great for such a well priced card. Sapphire did a good job with this one.
Hi, found this on google, great review, just what I wanted to see. My question is when are these going to be on sale?
I have always been a big believer in Sapphire products because of the highest level of support they give customers. I had one card fail on me around 5 years ago – and I had it replaced without a question, within 2 weeks. They are a top outfit and its the reason they are number one in the world for selling ATI products.
This looks to be contuining their long line of successes and I thought this review showed the card in its true light. I read 3 reviews yesterday and they all failed to cover the main points of the product which is multi monitor support. Thank you for this article, I am buying two when they are available.
I read a review on this yesterday and when it was over I was asking myself why the reviewer hadn’t tackled multiple monitor gaming or even productivity. Isnt this the whole point of the product? Anyway I learned a lot about this card, wouldnt have minded seeing a few more games however, but best of the bunch.
Hey, good review – the monitor on the left sucks ass though, glad I dont have it 🙂
Glad to see someone testing the card well. we were talking about crap reviews of this product on anandtech last night.
This is a most unusual product for Sapphire to release, has no one else realised it?
The HD5770 is not a hardcore gaming card, why release this first for multi monitor display when the HD5870 would be a fantastic first move. no aa is alright I could live with that, but its an unusual first entry for them. if they wanted to target work place and productivity surely a lower end board would make more sense? It seems a half way house to me.
@ Forest – its a product that Sapphire feel they can probably sell well. 5870s are lovely but their sales are low. People dont realise that. high end boards sell a fraction of mid range. mid range sell a fraction of low end. Always will be this way.
However, instead of putting this on a 5550. the 5770 is a good option, its capable of gaming as the review shows.
@ Tech Head. I dont agree., surely 5870s have sold tons by now? Imagine saying some games would hit 50fps with AA? thats what a 5870 would bring to the table.
Dont get me wrong im not knocking the 5770 but its not a hardcore gamers card.
@ Forest – what constitutes a hardcore gaming card to you? I was happily surprised the 5770 could push through smooth framerates at 5760 resolution! I have no idea what the price will be, I know Sapphire sold the Flex dongle device for £90 alone for other cards. so 5770 reference now is £130. add that, its £200, same price as a GTX460 OC. If you need more than 2 screens it will sell but I think sapphire need to be aware that its going to compete against strong nvidia products. £175 would be a sweet spot if they can make it.
I REALLY enjoyed this review. I thought it was just another HD5770 with a good cooler and those bore me now, but sapphire really delivered something special.
I was going to ask how much they are, then I see the comments in here asking the same. Does anyone know. its not listed in any stores, even on preorder.
I dont normally post comments as they are ghey, but good review, enjoyed this. back to LfD2 online. laterz/
I like how some of the games show much more on the side panels than you get with just one screen. The POV is brilliant. I want this so bad.
Great , brilliant, wicked. tremendous. Thats what Sapphire are :p
Excellent review. No point testing this baby on a single screen, otherwise whats the point of making it ! I dont even think anyone showed screens of it running on three panels with work based apps never mind gaming. Good well rounded review.
I enjoyed this review, was nice to see gamez running on 3 screens, especially when the product is made for it 🙂
Dirt 2 looked really good, so much more vision at the sides, such as the walls. its always something that annoys me with games, the fact the sides of the race track are never seen and you sometimes dont know how much space you have on each side. Maybe im just crazy…
When I saw this review was going to be using games across three screens I thought ‘ whooa, whats up? this isnt going to handle that res. After reading the testing and seeing the videos, it actually works REALLy well. its nice to get productivity options across three screens but to also be able to play a few games across them, even if you need to lower a few settings. Not everyone needs 16AA, I know I dont 😉
I really enjoyed to read this review. Was good to see performance over 3 monitors and its surprisingly how good the card is.
I do like Sapphire, they make very good products. I hope they bring this flek technology into other cards. l ike their 5670, would be nice to get a silent version, ultimate edition with flek
Good card, I wonder if they will license the technology to other companies or just keep it to themselves.
Did sapphire create flex hardware or did ati make it for them?
It overclocks very well, most of the HD5770s do. its a good card from Sapphire, they really deliver a good range of products in all price ranges. I hope ATIs next range is as strong as 5 series.
crap I wish I could afford such a mega setup, but my crappy job as a designer making skins and shit like that wont allow me to get a cool setup like this. ah well, time to upgrade jobs, if I anyone will have me.
Sapphire get my vote, shame I already bought a 5770 months ago
It shows how good ATis mid range is – sure you cant use AA and the like, but christ almighty for under 200 quid running 3 screens is an amazing concept. The fact you can even game on it at all is stunning and im glad you coverered it here.
I was glad when sapphire anounced their dongle for dvi and hdmi triple output. even happier they put it into this product. hope they do it with more. Now all we need is atis new range and hopefully the next gen mid range cards can handle AA at these settings.
This is next on my list to buy, I already have two 21 inch screens, another is only 110 and hopefully this card is 150-170, so under 300 for 3 screen gaming. Cant wait !
This is a very good write up, I enjoyed reading about COD fixes, which is unusual as the game had a lot of money behind it, they should have fixed that themselves. ATI need to work with them.
The opensource community comes to the rescue again, good to see.
Hello. I like the sapphire card, but I wonder when it is going to be made available in Germany. does anyone know?
This review told me all I needed to know. The card is great with 3 screens for productivity and can pull through most games if you dont go nuts with the IQ settings. thanks.
I wish Sapphire would make more cards in the range with this option. I never liked displayport as I have three great DVI monitors already. Not sure the 5770 is a wise futureproof choice and the review shows it struggles with current engines unless you lower a few settings. Not knocking it for the price, but id like a bit more Horsepower under the hood
Weird I lost my last comment, something wrong?
I liked the review, is good to see someone doing more testing with screens the way it should be used. I am not sure it will be good this time next year for games however.
Hello, can I ask a question? How does this work with Battlefield ? id love to know if it works and how it runs the game with that engine
I think these would be wonderful in crossfire, I bet AA would work with these games with that.
There is a problem with this and no one has seen it. This card will be replaced in a few months and im sure ATI will incorporate this technology as standard very soon. Making a purchase now very bad especially as the next card at this price range is likely to be 20% faster, or more.
Benidict – it is possible, but this is nothing different that any other sector of the technology market. People who buy a 980x for instance. in 6 months, the price is halved, its been replaced and a new slot is out. same with everything. There is never a right time to buy, but sometimes you have to jump in , head first and enjoy whatever you get for as long as possible.
Hey Zardon, its me from Tomshardware, I really liked this review give me a buzz man I cant get a hold of you anywhere
Why no WOW engines in anything on this site, its one of the most played games on the planet.
The review was good, but not enough games tested. I wanted to see crysis, metro, battlefield, maybe GTA4
Videos were good fun, liked the review, thanks for taking the time to try three screens, very cool.
Was there a price mentioned anywhere? im not reading through all these comments.
When is this released, September?
I hope sapphire can sell this cheap enough, the flex product was expensive
I wonder how two of these would work in crossfire, could you power 6 screens on the one computer?
Wonder why they cant get it to work with three screens at 2560×1600. I know not many people could afford 3k for monitors, but it would be a nice option.
I think this is going to be expensive, due to the hardware required to get DVI x3 working. they need to cover development costs.
Can the reviewer tell me if a game like starcraft 2 works over three monitors?
I doubt an RTS would take advantage of 3 screens, it would be massively distorted. no way to fit the map shapes into wide resolutions like that.
I wanted to address someone earlier who said they think this card is a bad idea and flex should be on the 5870 first before anything else.
How many people would afford a 5870 with flex on it ? its bound to add at least £50 to the asking price and I dont think high end cards sell well anyway.
Great work KG – very good review and very entertaining to watch teh videos. even more entertaining to read some of these comments. Seems Sapphire might sell a few of these if ‘the price is right’.
I cant see this being sold for anything under £200, the flex technology alone costs sapphire money, and their R&D needs covered. It might price itself out of sales.
I cant believe people bitch that you cant use AA with this card over three 23-24 inch screens. Seriously lol, what a bunch of whining little bitches 🙂
Man, Sapphire really deserve some credit for this product if they have developed the design. I always hated being tied into displayport. sure its 2560×1600 capable but that only affects 0.1% of anyone who games. only reviewers use 30 inch panels, no one else can afford them. so the fact sapphire came up with an ingenious concept of turning that HDMI port into something useful for this is just brilliant.
Big round of applause. I love to see companies like this pushing the boundaries.
Brilliant idea, ill never get near it, one screen is enough for me, but its nice to see it running on 3. benchmarks are good, but the proof is in the pudding, or the videos in this case.
Read this earlier in work didnt have time to comment.
Have time now – great review, but please use some new games in reviews. not sure what is out, but hopefully mafia 2 replaces something like Left4Dead 2 in future reviews.
I love the temperatures and power consumption. its a complete ‘all rounder’ and will make its way into design agencies also. really cool to see photoshop screen and other stuff to give impression of size. I had to scroll it about 3 times to see it all on my own screen.
Zardon, id love to see a review of these in Crossfire over three screens, just to measure the gains with performance. If you can do it, please use a few more engines like Metro.
excuse my ignorance, but can crossfire X work with 6 screens, or can you only power 3 in gaming in CFx?
This is much more interesting than single screen. man ive had my fill of 5770 reviews for the last 9 months. sapphire did a great job with this, overclocks like crazy, shame you didnt try dirt 2 with the overclocked settings.
I would say that this card is not meant for 3 screen gaming, however. I stand corrected. it is not meant for 3 screen gaming, IF you want high settings. That said, to be totally unbiased I feel the score is a little high, even if it a fantastic all rounder. We dont know the price yet, it could be £250.
ATI must love Sapphire, they bring out cards much better than reference designs. better coolers, less heat, less power, and now full support for 4 screens on a midrange card, and you aren’t even demanded to use crappy displayport.
Looks like it going to be around 200 bucks. 🙂
Seen it listed as a preorder for 210 euros. Thats not a bad price.
Our company is going to order a few of these for the design team as it means they wont have to reorder panels with displayport for multiscreen
Good article – interesting to see these videos with massive POV – I saw one on pcperspective a while ago and it really does bring a whole new dimension to gaming. Only problem is the space required on a desk (as well as cost).
Great idea to try it over 3 monitors, I wouldn’t have thought it would be able to power 3 screens when gaming AT ALL, never mind pretty well if you watch some of the settings. Very tempting product from Sapphire. Ill talk to the missus.
Glad I found this article on google this morning, really helped me make my mind up with a purchase decision. They got my money.
This is a very attractive gfx. Sure its not a power house by todays standards but its very balanced. good IQ, great with video on HQV tests. capable of throwing decent frame rates over 3 panels. perfect for productivity too. Very well done.
Videos really helped and I liked the whole concept. I dont think I can ever be in a position to run with three monitors, but I appreciate that Sapphire are trying to break hardware rules in place by ATI.
The videos in this were a stroke of genius. It shows perfectly how the card can handle three card gaming. I find graphs helpful but not great to show the overall picture. This card is perfectly capable of playing across three screens so I dont know what some people are saying. I am very impressed with this product.
What a great idea for this review. show the multiscreen capabilities of the card. Really found this helpful in a decision whether to buy it or not.
This will help reveal the least and the best among the options making it relatively easy for you to decide.
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