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Drew writes, "The new AMD Radeon HD 5870 was released today and my question is simple: should I buy it?"
While I could be a drooling fan-boy and yell "zomg yes buy it now" I'm actually going to caution you ti wait a bit and see how things play out.
Don't get me wrong, the AMD Radeon HD 5870 is a stunning example of how well AMD (formerly ATI) can manufacture power efficient, yet powerful, computing products - it's also a great example of the leaps and bounds technology can make every cycle. The problem is that if you're a hardcore FPS enthusiast, you might want to wait until early November to decide if you're going to pick up this flagship product or not.
nVidia has yet to come out with their latest "next generation" graphics card, and the latest news doesn't give gamers much hope that it's going to launch this year; but, things change, and that's why I encourage waiting a bit: if nVidia is able to release their next-generation graphics card before the end of the year, then the performance crown will most likely go to them, while AMD remains a performance per watt powerhouse.
If you're an AMD fan, or you've just been in the market for a new graphics card for a while, then the AMD Radeon HD 5870 is the choice for you - it's AMD's flagship Radeon product for this graphics card cycle, and we're not going to see a beefed up "X2' version for a while (if ever).
If you have a question, e-mail it to me: lordkat@gmail.com
Be safe,
Jason
The problem still isn't with the card. I have a Crossfire'd pair of 4870's (one 512M, one recently purchased with 1G) and the driver still causes the occasional boot of Windows XP while starting.
Before putting in the second 1G 4870, Windows would occasionally boot when doing things like loading movies or browsing forums. When I put the second card in, I followed forum advise and totally eliminated all references to ATI drivers and software even using a driver sweeper and reg cleaner utility in Safe Mode.
Until AMD gets their head out of their butt and makes sure their uninstaller fully cleans the ATI software off the machine and makes the drivers stable, even a perfect card is just about useless.
Carl
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