With 4770 series, ATI introduced GDDR5 to mid range graphics cards, and with 57XX series that tradition is continued in form of 1GB GDDR3 memory present on 5770 and 5750. Thanks to this feature, even higher resolutions shouldn’t be too much of a trouble problem for these models. It is obvious that ATI had to differentiate mid from high range graphics cards, and, unfortunately, they narrowed memory bus from 256-bit to 128-bit. With 4770 and 4850 models was the same case, but performance differences were smaller since 4850 had GDDR3 while 4770 model had GDDR5. With new series, both cards have GDDR5 so we can expect bigger performance differences. This move by ATI is understandable if we count in the whole story and the price tag for 57XX that should be around 120€ up to 150€. Except narrower memory bus, 57XX has less ROP, texturing and shader units. Model 5850 has 256-bit memory bus and with lower price than 5870, it is expected that it will become best buy in high range. All tests were conducted under Windows 7 64-bit. The rest of test configurations consists of: Core i7 overclocked at 3.4GHz and 6GB DDR3 memory at 1360MHz, since we didn’t want our CPU to become bottleneck. Benchmarks were run in DirectX 10 mode were it was possible, while BattleForge was run in DirectX 11 mode. We used latest 9.10 RC drivers (8.660) so slightly elevated scores should be expected once official drivers are available. ATI stated that new series has lover power consumption, especially in IDLE, so we paid extra attention on those results.

PowerColor 5750

This card arrived in our test lab in rather Spartan packaging, which included graphics card (obviously), disc with drivers, short manual and DVI/D-Sub adapter. Since its price will be low, this shouldn’t surprise you, but absence of PCI-e 6-pin power adapter can be a problem for owners of older/weaker power supply units. There are two DVI, one HDMI and one DisplayPort, which is absolutely enough and expected from this series. Cooling solution is signed by Arctic Cooling (Accelero L2 PRO) which offers nice cooling performances. This cooler maintained low GPU temperature and low noise levels during all test, so if you plan to build quiet rig this should be important. It is obvious that 128-bit memory bus influenced results in high resolution.

Since amount of ROP units is also lowered, lower results in 1920x1080 with AA and AF shouldn’t surprise you, except in case of DX9 games like X3 Terrain Conflict. Even in these resolutions games had decent fps so gaming on this card is possible and can be enjoyable experience. If you plan to play extra demanding games like Crysis in high settings and 1680x1050, some problems will occur. This card can be perfect for users on a tight budget or as upgrade solution for owners of 2XXX or 3XXX models.

PowerColor 5770

This card came in slightly “richer” packaging, and besides usual accessories, there were two DVI/D-Sub convertors, CrossFire bridge and BattleForge game. This model also came without PCI-e 6-pin power convertor. This time PowerColor decided to leave default cooling system, but for some reason we noticed that plastic quality was lower than on, also default, Sapphire 5850 cooling profile.

During testing this card also didn’t reach high temperatures, but was accompanied with higher noise levels than 5750 model. Also similarly to 5750 model, performances in higher resolutions and AA and AF modes were lower. Compared to 5750, 5770 has for 15-20% higher scores overall, while price tag is higher for around 30€, which makes this card good choice for users with slightly bigger budget. BattleForge is just another additional bonus.