Best in Class: Video Cards

Video card manufacturers have never been boring to watch compete against one another. The epic battles between NVIDIA and ATI (now AMD) have filled history books. Yet, for some reason, most of the 2009 product year passed by without any major events worth noting... at least that was the case until ATI launched their Radeon HD 5800-series. Timed very well to piggy-back the Microsoft Windows 7 launch, AMD released the industry's only DirectX-11 compliant graphics accelerator. That in and of itself was monumental, but the real headline was that NVIDIA had nothing to answer back with for many months (the still yet to be released Fermi GeForce GTX 380 and GTX 360). In this section, Benchmark Reviews praises video card products in three categories: Enthusiast Gaming Graphics, Value Graphics, and HTPC Graphics.

Enthusiast Graphics

Awarded: Sapphire HD5870 Vapor-X

Reigning as the most-power single-GPU video card for an entire calendar quarter (Q4-2009) is quite an accomplishment, and one the Cypress-XT GPU handles very well. Benchmark Reviews tested the Sapphire Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X 100281VXSR against a wide variety of modern video cards not long ago, and the Radeon HD 5870 was the frame rate performance leader by more than 30% against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 in DirectX-10 comparisons. When DirectX-11 API's were tested the Sapphire HD5870 Vapor-X jumped to 125% or better performance. Temperatures were slightly lower than reference designs on the Sapphire HD5870 because of the Vapor-X cooling solution, and electrical power consumption was extremely efficient with only 23W consumed at idle and 220W under full 3D load. For the time being, Selling for $409.99 at NewEgg, the Sapphire's Radeon HD 5870 is the most powerful single-GPU product available and the one of the few graphics cards capable of playing DirectX 11 games. These accomplishments are more than enough to earn the 2009 Benchmark Reviews Editor's Choice Award for enthusiast gaming graphics.

Honorable Mention: Sapphire Radeon HD5850

Benchmark Reviews was highly impressed with the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850, and depending on the benchmark the Radeon HD 5850 often times matched performance with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 in DirectX-10 video games. Unfortunately, this video card has been a rare find on store shelves. The Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 sells at NewEgg for $309.99 and other retailers online for around $300, which might explain its popularity. The other reasons include native HDMI output along side two DVI and DisplayPort interface, making it nearly identical to the HD5870 in all ways except FPS performance.

Value Graphics

Awarded: XFX Radeon HD5750

Everyone likes to play video games, even gamers on a budget. This is what made the XFX Radeon HD5750 so attractive when we reviewed it, and one of the reasons it earned our Silver Tachometer Award. For only $139.99, the XFX Radeon HD5750 (model HD-575X-ZNFC) shares similar performance to the ATI Radeon HD 4850 or GeForce GT 250 in DirectX-10 video games. The real advantage comes in the form of DirectX-11 video games, native HDMI 1.3a and DisplayPort interfaces, and Radeon HD CrossFireX Performance Scaling. That's right: put two of these together in CrossFire and you've got yourself top-level performance for about $260. In terms of value, the Radeon HD 5750 allows the cost-conscious consumer to spend a little now and then upgrade to a CrossFire setup when the time is right. It's a inexpensive mighty-mite, which is why the XFX Radeon HD5750 earns our Editor's Choice for value graphics.

HTPC Graphics

Honorable Mention: Sapphire Radeon HD4650

No, the Sapphire 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 was not released in 2009... It's almost two years old. However, for all of 2009 there wasn't another low-profile PCI-Express video card released with native HDMI and DVI connectivity. Needless to say, slim HTPC buiilders wanting modern 1080p High Definition connectivity to their HDTV have had very few options to choose from. Hopefully AMD will see fit to announce a low-profile version of their ATI Radeon HD 5000-series, making all of dreams come true. Until then, the $63.99 Sapphire 100253HDMI receives our nod as the defacto low-profile video card for the PCI-Express interface.

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