XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1 GB DDR5 PCI-Express Card HD587AZNF9

My previous card was the XLR8 Nvidia 9800 GT 1024mb ddr3. it would play crysis on very high spec with no anti-aliasing about 15-20 fps on my 40" tv. I can now play it on very high spec with 8x anti aliasing and maintain 30-40 fps. However, if you start a game without AAx8 on then switch it on, it will drop fps to about 10-15 for about a minute while it catches up, it's best to just start with AA already on. if you have a monitor that shows resolutions up to 1600p i couldn't tell you if this card can hit those resolutions with the same performance, but 1080p works like a charm. it comes with the ati catalist program that allows you to overclock it. all this performace is without overclocking.

WARNING: it does take two slots on the back of your computer. it only takes one pci express slot, but the card is so thick that it has 2 metal brackets instead of just one, where you connect your monitors. also it is 11 inches long. make sure it will fit before buying...Read more

Insanely fast, overclocking "out-of-the-box" is ok, goes to 900/1250.
After applying ASUS Bios and using MSI Afterburner, can get the GPU all the way to 1100-1200Mhz stable (can go to 1400 but good luck trying it), however no luck with the memory going over 1250.

Pros:
- Fastest video card on the market, can run anything with full details on my 24" at 1920x1200
- Can use an MCW-60 to watercool it (uses standard Ati holes/plate) and go to even higher clocks with low noise ;)
- Looks great on the case, a big card with a nice design on it (other brands place a girl/axe/other stuff on the side of the card that IMO looks ugly)
- Ati has the only DX11 cards on the market right now
- Display Port finally!
- Eyefinity with 3 monitors

Cons:
- A bit more overclockability from the memory will be nice.
- Over 1000Mhz the standard hsf can become noisy
- Eyefinity with 3 monitors (a con since it makes me think...Read more

I am an avid Nvidia fan. I have been using Nvidia cards even when I did not realise it, back with the 3DFX "Voodoo cards" which was bought by Nvidia. I was wanting to turn my system into a dedicated Gaming machine for about a year now. But was waiting to see the next installment of the Intel CPU's and the new Cards from Nvidia.

Well after seeing the release of the GTX 470 and GTX 480 I was not completly impressed with the cards, as I and many thought it was going to be better. After hours and hours of thought I decided to go with the ATI HD 5870's in crossfire. This was a hard decision to make since I was an Nvidia boy.

But since I already had a high end PC which I built, plus since after reading review after review and seeing that my setup was onpare with some of the Core I7 PC's and added to that, the fact that my Gaming motherboard only supported dual ATI cards, I went with ATI and I am very happy indeed.

For someone who never used ATI cards...Read more