XFX 5770

Blistering, seat-of-your-pants speed ahead.

Without a graphics card (and most likely a good one at that), the advent and rise in popularity of 3D games would surely have never happened. Boasting powerful capabilities with specifically designed hardware features, these cards are the lifeblood of gaming - in computers as well as gaming consoles. While the loungeroom counterparts are running cut-down generations-old versions of the technology, however, we're treated to the exclusive ability to upgrade to the latest and greatest in the industry. At the top of that pile is ATI's 5xxx series; perhaps not always the fastest, but certainly one of the best options for the money.

This card from XFX is the 5770 model, based around the RV870 core that has been manufactured on a 40nm process (that aims to cut power consumption and heat while reducing costs). It boasts only half the total amount of shader units compared to the highest-end 5870 model at only 800, but these are running at a fast stock speed of 850MHz. Memory bandwidth is supplied at a decent clip with 1GB of GDDR5 chips that interface through a 128-bit memory bus. It's also fully DirectX11 compliant, with built-in tessellation as well as completely programmable shader units that give a greater amount of flexibility compared to previous generations of graphics hardware.

The manufacturing skill of ATI is shown off admirably here when the card was overclocked, allowing an extra 15 per cent clockspeed (980MHz) and a 27 per cent rise in memory clocks (1525MHz). This improvement was impressive, paying significant increases in both performance and bandwidth; though at a cost of hugely increased heat generation. So pronounced was the heat that we amicably touched the memory chips at the rear of the PCB, and promptly lost our fingerprints. Within a case with high airflow however, this shouldn't affect stability too much, and was more than stable enough to complete a run of 3DMark06.

Stock performance was nice, though it remains quite low compared to the 5850 due to missing shader units. 3DMark Vantage did see a performance level bump, and drivers have changed significantly in such a short space of time, so perhaps some more performance will be added in subsequent updates. It's more than enough power at stock to give you a decently playable hi-res experience in GRID, but you'll have to turn down both resolution and settings to get Crysis running smoothly.

Physically the card is similar to the rest of the 5xxx series ilk, being encased in a black plastic shroud that encapsulates the heat and guides airflow brought in by the fan towards the rear of the case. In fact this cooler is just a reference model with an XFX sticker whacked on the top, showing a sort-of engine. The whole card uses a maximum of 108W of power at stock speeds, which means it needs an external 6-pin PCIe power connector, though at idle this drops to only 18W. This was shown by low temperatures of 40 degrees at idle, rising to 64 degrees under load - but kept in check by a fan that idled at 58dBA and peaked at 60.5dBA. Perhaps not the quietest fan ever, but it's as common as sauce on a meat pie.

For a price just over $200 this card is great value for money, and while it doesn't come with a game to sweeten the deal it remains a good choice for budget gaming.