XFX 5870 XXX Review

Test Setup and 3D Mark

Test Setup

Graphics cards are generally considered to be something that gets upgraded far more often than any other piece of hardware in our rigs. For our test setup we wanted to use a system with enough power to ensure that the system wasn't too much of a bottleneck, whilst still being around the performance that you're likely to have if considering of this price. 

Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.2GHz
6GB Corsair Dominator @ 1600MHz
Asus P6T Deluxe
Windows 7 64 Bit
XFX HD5870 XXX
Catalyst 10.3 Final

3D Mark 06

What's that I hear you cry. 3D Mark 06? The main purpose of this is actually to demonstrate how far technology has come along, a score of 22000 from a single GPU is amazing even now, but also how so much of today's performance is gained through architectural advances rather than pure clock speed. This is visible in the huge gain from such a small overclock.

3D Mark Vantage

Vantage is a different kettle of fish providing punishment to all aspects of the graphics hardware.

The brutal power available from the XFX HD5870 XXX is apparent when even our fairly middling CPU gives us a P Score of 19000 in stock and nearly 22000 in overclocked trim.

Now you can see why the 3D Mark 06 test is up there, because this card hits 22000 in both 3DM 06 and Vantage. Who needs a Hadron Collider?

Performance

High

If the performance is impressive, the "High" test is stunning. The best part of 15000 points when overclocked is mind-blowing, and you can also see how much extra grunt the GPU has when it has a bit more power available.