Final Thoughts

It's crystal clear past now that AMD has managed to deliver the fastest and second-fastest single-GPU graphics cards money can buy over the past month. At $260, information technology doesn't have a great bargain of greenbacks to become your hands on a Radeon HD 5850, and the performance you lot'll get is zero brusk of amazing. Moreover, there doesn't seem to be a Nvidia counterpart effectually the corner, giving the new Radeon series launch an extra edge.

We expected the Radeon HD 5850 to be at to the lowest degree 20% slower than the HD 5870 based on the specifications that were given to us only a few weeks ago. Still, in reality the carte works out to exist but ten-15% slower while costing a little over xxx% less. You could say the Radeon Hard disk drive 5850 offers the best value proffer of the two, while the Radeon HD 5870 certainly remains the all-time performer.

The more affordable HD 5850 also offers a few other advantages, including lower power consumption, reduced estrus output and quieter performance; not to mention its size allows it to fit in whatever standard estimator case.

There is a long list of cases out in that location that cannot fit a full size graphics bill of fare, like the Radeon HD 4870 X2 or whatsoever of the GeForce GTX series boards. This gives AMD a tangible advantage as the Radeon Hard disk 5850 is far from being your run of the mill mainstream graphics card.

The real kicker here is that the Radeon HD 5850 currently sells for considerably less than any GTX 285 carte. Even if Nvidia decided to cut prices in the most future, as we imagine they will, when you add the fact that the Radeon Hd 5850 supports DirectX xi and consumes considerably less ability, the GeForce GTX 285 starts to go irrelevant.

Nvidia would have to drop the GTX 285 to a toll point of ~$220 to go a viable pick once more, which means slashing current pricing past around 45%, while adjusting pricing for the GTX 275 and 260 in the process.

Outstanding product: HIS Radeon HD 5850 Graphics Card

It'due south an interesting scenario that AMD had been unable to create for a while. We cannot wait to see how Nvidia reacts. The company's next generation GeForce series is at best a few months away. With the holiday flavor upon ourselves, AMD has a groovy opportunity to capitalize on its first-to-market status and proven functioning -- if simply they tin can sort out their short supply issues in fourth dimension.

Furthermore, with limited availability, manufacturers like HIS will exist unable to release their more desirable "upgraded" versions featuring improved cooling and PCB designs. That said, if you're able to become your easily on the standard HIS Radeon HD 5850 right now, you'd still be buying the best value graphics card bachelor today.