Verdict and Conclusion
Looking at the results from our benchmarks, I can say that the HIS Radeon HD 5770 IceQ5 performed as expected, producing acceptable scores in all our benchmarks. It was never really meant to compete with the Geforce GTX 460, however you can see where it stands in terms of overall performance.
Radeon GPUs have always been pretty hot (temperature-wise). I remember two years ago, when AMD/ATI released their Radeon HD 4850 … Boy! the temperature produced by the graphics card was blisteringly hot, easily reaching 60-80 degrees. Luckily, their Radeon HD 5770 GPUs ain’t as hot as its predecessor. Still, HIS made sure that their Radeon HD 5770 are properly cooled by their IceQ5 cooler. Using Everest, we measured the GPU temperature, which turns out to be approximately 45 degrees Celsius during idle, and reaching 52 degrees Celsius on load.
The HIS Radeon HD 5770 IceQ5 may not be the fastest card for this segment of the market, but it could attract a lot mainstream users due to the price and features that it offers. I mean …what do you get for the price? Well, you do get GDDR5 ram, an overclocked GPU, UV sensitive IceQ5 cooler, support for DX11 and Crossfire X, as well as ATI’s Eyefinity. Not bad for a mainstream card.
Right now, there’s no question that AMD/ATI are slightly behind Nvidia in terms of raw graphics performance. What’s more, Nvidia’s recently launched Geforce GTX 460 have been making a lot of headlines, as it currently offers the best price/performance ratio for any graphics card. Having said that, AMD/ATI could reverse their fortunes if they answers the calls of their fans. Are we going to see a Radeon HD 6xxx series in Q4 of 2010? … Possibly.
Pricewise, the HIS Radeon HD 5770 IceQ5 (1Gb GDDR5) costs around USD $170-180.00. At this price, it’s not as competitive as I would have liked, considering that a Geforce GTX 460 currently cost around USD $200.00. A price drop to below USD $150.00 would make it more attractive.
Final words. Overall, the HIS Radeon HD 5770 IceQ5 offers decent performance, but at a price which I think could be better. Still, for a mainstream graphics card, it’s packed with great features including GDDR5 ram, an overclocked GPU, UV sensitive IceQ5 cooler, support for DX11 and Crossfire X, as well as ATI’s Eyefinity. Not bad for a mainstream card.
SCORE
7.5/10
