Misc

Review: HIS HD 5770

The 5770 is, in general, an odd prospect right now. On the one hand, you get functionality that supports DX11 and its suite of goodies, such as hardware tessellation and improved multi-threading support. However, as the first mid-ranger with true DX11 capability, we have to remind ourselves that it's just that: a mid-range card. The extra features offered by DX11 require a resource overhead, and when you add in anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, that's an awful lot for a sub £150 card to do.The HIS HD 5770 offers features close to the best of the 5770s, with two DVI ports, DisplayPort and HDMI-out. And like most 5770s, it's a double-width card. Its ATI-reference looks are fairly sleek, providing you're into the red-and-black thing, and it features a bonnet that KITT would be jealous of. That leaves the question of performance, which we'll tackle on the next page.We've tested five HD 5770s from the leading manufacturers against each other to see which hits the price/performance sweetspot when it comes to mid-range and high-end gaming. We also cranked the settings up (HDR, Anti-Aliasing, reflections etc) even at middling resolutions, to see just how capable these cards really are.We tested each card using the following games and settings:Heaven 2.11900x1200, 8XAA, 16XAS, Extreme TessalationJust Cause 2Mid-range: 1680x1050, 8xAA, 16xAF, High settingHigh-end: 1920x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF, High settingsFar Cry 2Mid-range: 1680x1050, 8xAA, 16xAF, High settingHigh-end: 1920x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF, High settingsDiRT 2Mid-range: 1680x1050, 8xAA, 16xAF, High settingHigh-end: 1920x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF, High settings[insert benchmarks table – highlight Gigabyte line]The HIS HD 5770 offers gaming performance that is largely equivalent to the other 5770s we've tested. It performed around as well as any other in our Heaven 2.1 high-end tessellation tests, slightly better than most in Just Cause 2 at 1680 x 1050, although it was the worst performer in Far Cry 2 at 1680 x 1050, which seems odd. However, that performance differential is so marginal – less than a frame per second – as to be negligible. In real-world terms you won't notice the difference.But, like the rest of the 5770s on the market, it's not really cards with the Juniper GPU that are the competition. If we put DX11 aside for the moment, it's Nvidia's last-gen, DX10-supporting GTX 260 that offers the strongest competition. And due to a series of price-cuts to bring it in-line with ATI's 5000-series mid-range offerings, it can now be had for as low as £133, if you cast around the online retailers. You don't get tessellation or that improved multi-threading support, but you do get the kind of grunt that, with historical features such as AA and AF, outperforms the 5770.So it's really down to a question of price and features. Is this the best 5770? Not quite. It underperforms against its peers in some tests – but by an unnoticeable margin. But at £122, it's also one of the cheapest HD 5770s going. So if you're mad-keen on getting a DX11 card, and you're on a budget, the HIS HD 5770 is a pretty good option.
We likedFully-featured in the outputs department, the HIS HD 5770 is well-equipped for three-screen EyeFinity. It's also one of the cheapest 5770s around.We dislikedAs long as you've decided that a Juniper-cored HD 5770 is for you, there's little to dislike here.Related LinksRead more graphics card reviewsTechRadar's Reviews GuaranteeRelated StoriesReview: Sapphire HD 5670 UltimateReview: Sapphire HD 5550 OverclockReview: Asus GeForce GTS 450 TOPReview: Sapphire HD 5770 Flex EditionReview: Gigabyte HD 5770 Super Overclock

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