ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review
ATI divides its products into segments based on price, power requirements and performance. The complete breakdown is as follows:
- Ultra Enthusiast: 5970, Eyefinity 6 and CrossFireX
- Enthusiast: 5870, 5850, 5830
- Performance: 5770, 5750
- Mainstream: 5670, 5550, 5450
To date we have benchmarked and reviewed the products in the Ultra Enthusiast and Enthusiast segments, along with the Performance and Mainstream segments. I tested the Eyefinity6 in CrossFireX during its review. Here, I am testing CFX performance of the original 5870, 5850 and 5770.
Architecture & Specs
Below is a spec block with comparing outlining the 5870 E6 through the 5770:
| Card | GPUs | Transistors | Max Memory | Shaders | Clock (MHz) | TDP (Watts) | MSRP* | ||
| Core | Mem | Idle | Max | ||||||
| ATI Radeon HD 5870 E6 | 1 | 2.15B | 2GB | 1600 | 850 | 1200 | 27 | 188 | $479 |
| ATI Radeon HD 5870 | 1 | 2.15B | 1GB | 1600 | 850 | 1200 | 27 | 188 | $399 |
| ATI Radeon HD 5850 | 1 | 2.15B | 1GB | 1440 | 725 | 1000 | 27 | 151 | $324 |
| ATI Radeon HD 5770 | 1 | 1.04B | 1GB | 800 | 850 | 1200 | 18 | 108 | $174 |
| As these cards have been on the market some time, price is based on current average | |||||||||
The original 5870 and the 5870 E6 have identical specs - outside of the RAM and power draw. The 5850 reduces the shaders and both clock speeds. The 5770 reduces shaders further, but returns the clock speeds to that of the 5870.
Notes on Benchmarking & Data
There are a number of instances where moving from a single card to CFX produces strange performance comparisons. These instances occur in the most demanding tests, where the single card either fails to run the test or barely runs the test. When the single card posts 1fps, and the CFX combination posts 5fps, this is mathematically a 500% improvement. In reality this is a 4fps improvement, and still unplayable. When the single card won't run the test at all (effectively 0fps), it works to an infinite improvement mathematically.
In the instances either of these circumstances occurs, I have left the percent improvements out of the charts and analysis. The raw improvement is still in the graphs, but will not play into our overall analysis.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Benchmarking
The HD 5770 and HD 5850 contain the same connections as the original HD 5870 - 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort and 2x DVI. As with the HD 5870, each card was connected with a DP-DVI-DVI configuration. The 5870 E6 has six mini-DP connections. I used three mini-DP>DP cables. Configuration of the Eyefinity group within the Catalyst Control Center works as previously outlined. Bezel Compensation continues to work in the same manner. Both of these features are software based, and not dependent on the individual card. For all 16:10 benchmarks I used my existing three Dell U2410 monitors. The 10.6 driver was used for all cards. The original E6 benchmarks were updated with the new driver, though there were only changes in a few places. My testing rig remains unchanged (except for driver updates and monitor configurations). It currently stands at: Note: I do not have two original 5870 cards. I paired an E6 card with my original 5870. This effectively produces the same results as a pair of original 5870s in CFX, as only 1GB of VRAM is used on the E6 card. I initially tested at 1920x1200 and 1680x1050, along with the respective 3x1-L iterations of 5760x1200 and 5040x1050. These are the most common resolutions for single screen and Eyefinity. Setups based on 1920x1080 or 1600x900 panels are becoming popular as well. In my review of the HD 5870 Eyefinity6, I looked at any performance difference between 16:10 and 16:9 screens. The differences were minimal, if any. I wanted to choose games that covered a variety of genres (action, FRP, RTS and racing), and a variety of technologies (DX9, 10 and 11). Some games are older and well known titles such as Half-Life 2 and Far Cry 2. Half-Life 2 chews through video cards at lower resolutions and even 3x1-L, but how does it scale to five and six monitors? Far Cry 2 is still tough on systems (at Ultra settings). Will it even be playable at these new configurations. I also wanted to test games that were new and demanding, so that we can begin "aging" them over time. I chose titles such as Battle Forge and the new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. demo for these reasons. I chose games that had a built-in benchmark tool. This allows for repeatability and a relative "hands off" testing. Finally, all games must exhibit Hor+ behavior in widescreen and Eyefinity. The games I ended up testing were: System Specs
Resolutions Tested
Games Tested
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Batman: Arkham Asylum
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 62% | 69% |
| EF | 38% | 41% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 58% | 67% |
| EF | 35% | |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 75% | 82% |
| EF | 44% | |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82% | 88% |
| EF | 68% | |
Batman: Arkham Asylum is the well received action title by Rocksteady. The game offers very detailed environments with a great visual style and high quality. There are known issues with AA using ATI cards. You cannot set the AA level from within the game, and have to force it with the Catalyst Control panel. All settings within the game were maxed out. I used 4xAA with Adaptive Multi-Sampling (the balance between Quality and Performance) from within the CCC.
The AA implementation produces a greater than expected impact on the performance. I know there are ways to tweak the game to use the AA from within the game itself. However, I believe finding the information and implementing it is beyond the average gamer. While an enthusiast (i.e., target market of both the WSGF and this card) might go through the trouble, many mainstream gamers will not. My testing actually ran all the way down through the Radeon HD 5450, and using the "native" options provided the most consistent platform for testing.
The games runs like a demon in normal widescreen on any of these cards, with 4xAA. The HD 5770 almost cracks 60fps at 1920x1200. However, performance takes the expected hits in Eyefinity, and this is what we are really here to test. At the native resolutions of 5760x1200 (3x1920x1200), the game literally crawls with 4xAA on any card. You will have to make some adjustments for playable frame rates, and dropping to 2xAA gives massive speed improvements.
Batman:AA (pun actually not intended) is a unique title. It is made well, and plays well, but technical issues can really hamper performance. The impacts are so great that 5760x1200 is simply unplayable with any card.
The four cards offer strong scaling in widescreen - but it is overkill for all except the 5770. CFX continues with noticeable improvements in Eyefinity, but the AA performance hits overshadow the scaling. For better performance in Batman, the first step is to reduce the AA. All of the configurations perform and scale better when the AA impact is removed.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Battle Forge
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 81% | 87% |
| EF | 77% | 73% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 79% | 87% |
| EF | 95% | 67% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 89% | 87% |
| EF | 73% | 50% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 89% | 88% |
| EF | 85% | 50% |
Battle Forge is the free-to-play RTS from Electronic Arts. It offers a steampunk/fantasy RTS experience, where armies are build based on "decks" of cards similar to the Magic: The Gathering card game.
Battle Forge is one of ATI's spotlight (my terminology) games for the HD 5000 series cards, as it offers both DX11 and proper Eyefinity support. The game offers a number of DX11 features, and a wealth of options for tuning performance. Specifically, Battle Forge uses DX11 and Shader Model 5.0 to compute HighDefinition Ambient Occlusion (HDAO). For our tests we maxed out all of the settings and forced DX11 through the config.xml file.
The test is actually quite strenuous with the number of objects, effects and particles on the screen at one time. In most instances, the scaling is averages 80%. The two instances with considerably lesser scaling are the HD 5850 and 5770 at 5760x1200.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - DiRT 2
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 50% | 62% |
| EF | 57% | 58% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 50% | 59% |
| EF | 55% | 57% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 53% | 64% |
| EF | 61% | 63% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 71% | 68% |
| EF | 67% | 70% |
Dirt 2 is the latest iteration of the Dirt rally racing series from Codemasters. Like Battle Forge, Dirt 2 is a spotlight game for ATI with the HD 5000 series. Like Battle Forge it offers proper Hor+ gameplay in Eyefinity and DX11 support. Unless the user goes into the "hardware_settings_config.xml" file and forces DX9, Dirt 2 runs in DX11 mode. Unfortunately Dirt 2 does not offer a DX10 mode. This is unfortunate, as many games show improved performance when running in DX10 vs. DX9.
The true (noticeable) DX11 features come in to play based on the user settings in the in-game graphics options. Several key features are the "Hardware Tessellated Dynamic Water" (achieved through "Ultra" quality water), "Hardware Tessellated Dynamic Cloth" (achieved through "High" quality cloth), and DX11 Accelerated HDAO (through "High" quality HDAO).
The DX11 water and cloth offer more realistic geometry and movement. The DX11 water produces actual waves in deep puddles (as the player drives through), rather than simple "swirls" in the texture surface. The DX11 cloth offers more realistic ripples and waves in the cloth material over the DX9 version. On the other hand, the DX11 HD Ambient Occlusion (HDAO) offers an accelerated computation path.
DX11 doesn't necessarily provide earth-shaking changes to gameplay. But, it provides more realistic "movement" in the world's objects - cloth, water, grass, etc. While a DX9 or DX10 game is perfectly enjoyable, the DX11 technology offers better immersion by making the "little things" more lifelike. Additionally, it offers better computation paths through increased parallelism (and better computation paths for DX10), much like DX10 offered better performance (over DX9) in games such as Far Cry 2.
The scaling is not quite as good as in Battle Forge, but the fps were higher to start with. Slight adjustments would still be needed at the ultra-high end to hit 60fps consistently. The 5800-series cards scale between 50%-60%. The 5770 scales on average 70%, but the numbers start out much lower.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Far Cry 2
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 65% | 70% |
| EF | 70% | 69% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 62% | 68% |
| EF | 57% | 58% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 76% | 78% |
| EF | 72% | 66% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 80% | 73% |
| EF | 79% | 70% |
Far Cry 2 (and the whole Cry/Crysis series) has long been considered a system killer. If not a killer, then at least a good strong test. As always, we run our test at max settings with 4xAA. The benchmark tool within Far Cry 2 offers settings for High, Very High and Ultra. We chose Ultra with 4xAA.
While once a true system killer, Far Cry 2 shows that hardware catches up to software. Even a sub-$200 card provides an easily playable experience (though not always at the highest settings). CFX scaled well, and offers solid performance boosts across the line. The pair of 5870 cards scale at 70% and 60%. The 5850 offers 70% scaling on average, and the 5770 offers 75%.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - H.A.W.X.
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 67% | 77% |
| EF | 60% | 50% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 67% | 71% |
| EF | 39% | 40% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 79% | 78% |
| EF | 63% | 68% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 78% | 79% |
| EF | 71% | 69% |
H.A.W.X. is one last title that ATI has been showing off with regards to its Radeon 5000 line. While the other titles are Hor+ and offer cutting-edge DX11 features, HAWX is quite the opposite. While it is a Hor+ title, it is only a DX10 title and runs quite well on a wide variety of hardware. While you can't hit 60fps on a 5700 or 5600 card with any great detail, 30fps is rather easily attainable.
The well running and scalable title makes it a natural fit when showcasing both lower-end hardware pushing three panels, and high-end hardware pushing six panels. It also comes as no surprise that the additional VRAM largely goes unused, considering the title runs capably on lower hardware.
One note in the HAWX benchmark. Above 1920x1200 the game simply would not allow 4xAA. While the scores provide that the title could handle it, the option simply is not available. Though it isn't our norm, we chose to accept 2xAA so that we could get consistent readings across the spectrum of hardware.
Like most games before, HAWX scales exceptionally well at widescreen (though it's not needed). In most instances the cards scale very well. Widescreen scales in the 70% - 80% range. Eyefinity scales slightly less well. The 2GB 5870 scales at 50%-60%, while the 1GB cards only improves by 40%. The two lower cards are in the 65% - 70% range.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Heaven Demo
The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package.
- Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
- Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
- Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)
The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for the DX9, DX10 and DX11. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are only the DX9 scores. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Heaven Demo (DX9)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82% | 84% |
| EF | 73% | 70% |
EF is DX9 only for below cards
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82%% | 83% |
| EF | 57% | 59% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 89% | 103% |
| EF | 67% | 57% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 87% | 86% |
| EF | 64% | 63% |
The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package.
- Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
- Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
- Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)
The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for the DX9, DX10 and DX11. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are only the DX9 scores. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Heaven Demo (DX10)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82% | 84% |
| EF | 73% | 70% |
EF is DX9 only for below cards
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82%% | 83% |
| EF | 57% | 59% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 89% | 103% |
| EF | 67% | 57% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 87% | 86% |
| EF | 64% | 63% |
The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package.
- Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
- Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
- Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)
The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for the DX9, DX10 and DX11. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are only the DX9 scores. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Heaven Demo (DX11)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82% | 84% |
| EF | 73% | 70% |
EF is DX9 only for below cards
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82%% | 83% |
| EF | 57% | 59% |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 89% | 103% |
| EF | 67% | 57% |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 87% | 86% |
| EF | 64% | 63% |
The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package.
- Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
- Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
- Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)
The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for the DX9, DX10 and DX11. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are only the DX9 scores. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat is the new Crysis.
Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for all four tests. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are not posted. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance. The overall scaling averages 75% improvement for the areas reported.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Daylight)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 71% | 71% |
| 77% | 70% | 70% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 66% | 67% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 78% | 75% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 79% | 78% |
| EF | ||
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat is the new Crysis.
Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for all four tests. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are not posted. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance. The overall scaling averages 75% improvement for the areas reported.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Night)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 71% | 71% |
| 77% | 70% | 70% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 66% | 67% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 78% | 75% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 79% | 78% |
| EF | ||
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat is the new Crysis.
Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for all four tests. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are not posted. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance. The overall scaling averages 75% improvement for the areas reported.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Rain)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 71% | 71% |
| 77% | 70% | 70% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 66% | 67% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 78% | 75% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 79% | 78% |
| EF | ||
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat is the new Crysis.
Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for all four tests. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are not posted. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance. The overall scaling averages 75% improvement for the areas reported.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Sun Shafts)
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 71% | 71% |
| 77% | 70% | 70% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 66% | 67% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 78% | 75% |
| EF | ||
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 79% | 78% |
| EF | ||
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat is the new Crysis.
Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.
For the widescreen scores on the right side, I averaged the scores for all four tests. They were also averaged for the Eyefinity scores on the 5870 2GB Eyefinity6 card. The remaining Eyefinity scores are not posted. The percentage gains in the DX10 and DX11 scores (i.e., 1fps vs. 3fps - 300% increase) throws off the averages and isn't indicative of playable performance. The overall scaling averages 75% improvement for the areas reported.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Scaling in Eyefinity
Like the widescreen performance, CFX scales will in Eyefinity as well. Though the scaling is slightly lower, 50% - 70% improvement isn't bad considering you're pushing between 5.3M and 6.9M pixels. While CFX is overkill for widescreen, it can provide a significant performance boost for Eyefinity. Putting a 5870 or 5850 in CFX often means the difference of moving above 60fps in Eyefinity (at max settings).
While there is little to no difference between the 1GB 5870 and the 2GB 5870 E6 in widescreen. However, there is a measurable difference in CFX performance for the 2GB card. And, this observation goes beyond the issues with Batman, Heaven and STALKER - where the 2GB card is needed to simply launch the game at 5760x1200. The 2GB card offers smoother play (i.e., fewer stutters), as we saw in Far Cry 2. It also appears to loosen an Eyefinity bottleneck with 1GB cards in CFX.
The 5850 often performs close to the 5870 - except STALKER and the Heaven demo. I would love to see two of the custom HD 5850 2GB cards in CFX. Those run close to the 5870 1GB card in price, but the two I found were overclocked in addition to sporting the 2GB of VRAM. The 5850 2GB runs about $100 less than the 5870 E6, and would pull lower power and heat.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Scaling in Widescreen
These four cards scale very well in widescreen, with most results showing improvements between 60% - 80%. The scaling "falls" on the lower end cards in widescreen. The truth is that those cards are often hitting exceptional frame rates in widescreen, and don't have much room for improvement. Additionally, the CFX scaling starts to run into CPU limitations. In reality, CrossFireX is overkill for widescreen users.
Most every game we tested hits 60fps at max settings on a single card. There are a few exceptions - Battle Forge, STALKER and the Heaven benchmark. All in all, any single card will give you solid frame rates. You can't expect to play every game at max settings on a 5770 and hit 60fps (though you will hit it on many). However, you will hit 30fps on most other games. With tweaking the settings, you get past 30fps and work towards 60fps.
If you're considering 5770 CFX for widescreen, I would point you to a single 5850 instead. While the 5770 CFX performs better than the single 5850, you're not beholden to a good CFX profile for solid performance. The single 5850 is almost always more than enough for widescreen.
The 5850 is cheaper than a pair of 5770 cards, draws less power, and performs better in Eyefinity (if you're looking to go that route at some point). If you are cash strapped, the 5770 is a great option for widescreen, and you can always add a second card at a later date. This would make the overall cost lower, when you pick up the 2nd card once prices fall. This will allow for the CFX implementation when more demanding games are released, or you want to jump into Eyefinity. You can pick up that second card knowing that it carries solid performance improvements.
ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Conclusions
Conclusions
CrossFireX support was not initially available for Eyefinity users. That was added in Catalyst 10.2, along with the new driver structure that allowed for easily updatable "CrossFireX Application Profiles." Since that time, ATI has improved the stability and performance of CFX for Eyefinity with updated drivers and improved application profiles.
CrossFireX is basically overkill for a widescreen user, but is a valuable tool for Eyefinity users. Widescreen CFX offers 60% - 80% improvement, but your initial framerates are probably well past 60fps. Eyefinity CFX offers 50% - 70% improvement, and is beneficial in many instances.
What's Next?
Until ATI comes out with new hardware, or gets Tri-SLI to work with Eyefinity, I'm basically done benchmarking. The one caveat will be benchmarking in 5x1-Portrait, but that will only be on the Eyefinity6 and E6 in CFX. I'm working with NVIDIA to get some Fermi cards to test in 3DVS. I'm really excited about competition in the multi-monitor space, and want to put some numbers to the NV offerings.
If I can get World in Conflict working properly, I will run some tests on that. I wouldn't run the whole gamut of cards, instead focusing on some of the key SKUs. Same with LOTRO. I've got a rather automated horse run mapped out. I'd like to do it in DX9, DX10 and DX11.
With testing wrapped up on the 5870, 5850 and 5770 in CFX, I will be producing charts that compare performance to total price. This will be the backbone of our forthcoming Eyefinity Buyers Guide.
Final Thoughts
Looking at entire product line, it's difficult (if not completely impossible) to make simple recommendations. If you are solely a single widescreen gamer, I can't recommend a CFX configuration. The ATI Radeon HD 5800 and 5770 perform so well, it's simply not needed.
Eyefinity certainly benefits from CFX. The 5770 is hard sell if you're buying both cards at once. My recommendation would be to go with a single 5850, versus the 5770 in CFX. If you are stepping into Eyefinity on a budget, then staggering the purchase of a pair of 5770's is a viable option.
The 5800 series has similar performance from the 5870 E6 to the 5850. All of the cards perform admirably in a single configuration, but see significant performance boost in CFX.
For ultimate performance, the Eyefinity6 in CFX is the way to go (a "regular" 2GB 5870 is basically the same cost as the E6). In my single card reviews on the high end, I recommended the E6 due to it's options for expandability and the 2GB framebuffer. I still see the 2GB of VRAM as an advantage, and that plays out in the CFX performance between the original 1GB 5870 and the 2GB 5870 E6.
The 5850 and 5870 offer similar performance in many areas. You can save considerable money in looking at the 5850 in CFX, versus the 5870 in CFX - while maintaining a very healthy performance. While I haven't had the chance to test it, I believe the sweet spot for CFX will end up with the 2GB 5850 cards in CFX. The 2GB 5850 will offer the benefits of the additional frame buffer, without the additional cost of the six monitor support in the Eyefinity6.