AMD’s Radeon HD 5830: A Filler Card at the Wrong Price
by Ryan Smith on February 24, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Power & Temperature
Since AMD isn’t doing a reference Radeon HD 5830, non-performance data is of limited value. Even with the variety of cards among AMD’s partners, the power draw of the 5830 cards should be within a few watts of each other and vary only with the difference in their fans so long as they use a 5870 PCB. On the other hand temperature data is going to heavily depend on the cooler used, and noise data is completely useless here since it entirely depends on the cooler used.
So we have power and temperature data for you, but please keep in mind that this temperature data is really only useful as a frame of reference – retail cards could be quite dissimilar.
At idle, the power usage is just as AMD promised: it’s a hair under the 5850, by a single watt to be exact. As far as high-end cards go, this is the least power hungry among them when idling.
Under load the story is quite a bit more interesting. We know the 5830 is rated for a TDP between the 5850 and 5870 that’s much closer to the 5870, but the power draw doesn’t reflect that. Here it’s 17W over the 5850, and nearly 70W off the 5870. We’ve double checked and the card isn’t throttling (a very possible situation given the higher voltage used) so we’re not quite sure what to make of these results. The 5830 is apparently more alike the 5850 than the 5870 when it comes to power consumption, which is certainly a good thing since it means it edges out the 4870 and 4890, and is well ahead of the GTX 275.
With an eye on the fact that this temperature data is going to be heavily dependent on the cooler used, for our sample card we certainly have some interesting results. Under idle this is the coolest of our high-end cards, which is no surprise given the use of the 5870’s big cooler and the lower idle power usage of the 5830. On the other hand under load, even with the otherwise minor difference in power draw compared to the 5850 and the bigger cooler it’s 5C hotter, which is actually more in-line with what we would have expected. However it still stays below the 4800 series and the 5870, both of which get warm enough that they really have to rev up their fans.
It’ll be interesting to see just how good the vendor coolers end up being. With the relatively low load power usage, the 5830 doesn’t have to be a particularly loud card.
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philosofa - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
Shutup shutup shutup shutup shutup shutup shutup shutup shutup.BTW - I own a 5870, STFU - just, S.T.F.U.
You clearly haven't read the review, are a fanboi or are paid by ATI. I don't give a flying frack what other reviews have said - you clearly haven't read the facts as this is an overpriced, strangely slow, power hungry card.
Why does there always have to be some muppet with rose-tinted goggles on who feels facts are subservient to his pathetic allegiance to a design house? JUST SHUT UP. God...
Parhel - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
I also thought the 5870 review here was very negative. Anandtech gave it the worst reception of any major reviewer. It was the only time I remember being disappointed by a review on Anandtech in the maybe 8 years I've been a reader.Expecting a $349 MSRP card (at the time) to outperform last generation's $600 dual GPU card across the board is unrealistic. And then, disregarding price, power consumption, heat, noise, and new features, and basing the conclusion solely on FPS isn't the type of thoughtful product review I've come to expect from Anandtech.
Believe it or not, I'm not a fanboy or someone with a huge emotional investment in these products either. Hell, I don't even play PC games.
DominionSeraph - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
Hey, people with no accomplishments of their own have to get a self-image from somewhere.Just sit back and let them be inferior. It's not like there's any other option open to them.
DominionSeraph - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
Needlessly negative? It's 4890 performance for $40 more than a 4890. Where's the upside in paying more for the same performance?This is a new generation of cards. A new generation is supposed to bring a reduction in the price of performance, not an increase.
medi01 - Friday, February 26, 2010 - link
It was actually mentioned in the article.Voldenuit - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
I wouldn't buy it even at $180.Sorry, ATI. NO SALE.
Paladin1211 - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
May be you should get a GTX480 for $810?PhysX, CUDA are waiting for you :)
xeopherith - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
I agree. I just bought two 5770's for $264 from the egg. How can you charge so much for a 5830! To get me to buy the card it would have to be priced around the 5770's current price so that I could run in crossfire. Maybe put the price of two 5830's just slightly above the 5850. Maybe $165.I mean buying the two 5770's saved me a bunch of money over a 5850 and can be better performance in the tests. Why make things look even worse for the higher end.
AznBoi36 - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
You guys are just too spoiled and have short term memories. You can blame the prices on lack of competition from Nvidia.gumdrops - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
oh ok cool