Now that the ATI Radeon HD 5870 has been released to mixed reviews, focus is now turning to it’s little brother, the 5850. Whilst it only has 1,440 stream processors and a GPU running 125Mhz slower than it’s bigger brother, it is built with the same 256bit memory interface to 1Gb GDDR5 memory. Memory speed is slightly slower but the ROPs are the same as the 5870. As a result of this, power usage is lower at only 151watts maximum.

ATI Radeon HD 5870 specifications:

• Stream Processors: 1,600
• GPU frequency: 850MHz
• ROPs: 32
• Memory: 1GB GDDR5
• Memory frequency: 1.2GHz (4.8Ghz effective)
• Memory interface: 256 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 128GB/s
• Outputs: 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
• Dimensions: 9.5inch x 5inch
• Power Input: 2x 6pin PCIexpress
• Maximum power usage: 188watts
• Idle power usage: 27watts

ATI Radeon HD 5850 specifications:

• Stream Processors: 1,440
• GPU frequency: 725MHz
• ROPs: 32
• Memory: 1GB GDDR5
• Memory frequency: 1.0GHz (4Ghz effective)
• Memory interface: 256 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 128GB/s
• Outputs: 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
• Dimensions: 11inch x 5inch
• Power Input: 2x 6pin PCIexpress
• Maximum power usage: 151watts
• Idle power usage: 27watts

The 5850 is expected to be released this October for between £200 and £220. As the specifications are only a little less than the 5870, and coupled with a lower price, could this be the more popular card in the range?

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ATI will finally release the new generation of Radeon video cards this Wednesday, starting with the 5870 card. This will be a full DirectX 11 card with 1Gb of memory, with 2Gb versions coming later this year. No exact specifications have been released yet but early indications show that this card outperforms the NVIDIA GTX285 significantly.

A member of the Overclockers UK forum released information stating that Overclockers will have “60 1Gb 5870 cards in stock this Wednesday for around £280 including VAT”.  The card will ship with a coupon for Dirt2 when released and a full copy of Battlestations Pacific.

Edit: We’ve been hearing numourous uncomfirmed rumours that the 5850 will retail for around £235 inc VAT.

Edit: Some pictures of the Sapphire cards have been released:

Update: Gigabyte presentation on the 5850 and the 5870 have been leaked.

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