PowerColor AX5770 PCS+ Final Thoughts

The Radeon HD 5000 series revolutionized the GPU market by making DX11 graphics commonplace. The Radeon HD 5770 offered a solidly mid-ranged video card for quite competitive pricing. Compared to NVIDIA competing cards at the time, the Radeon HD 5770 had the same affect that all the HD 5000 series cards had on the competition. The Radeon HD 5770 outperformed the GTS250 and you have seen those results in our tests.

That was over year ago and the Radeon HD 5770 has performed solidly ever since. But a lot has changed in the world of DirectX-11 video cards. NVIDIA released their Fermi series cards as a response to the HD 5000 series, albeit a few months late. NVIDIAs response to the Radeon HD 5770 and the mid-range market was the GTS450. As we were able to see through our tests, the GTS450 does compete right alongside the Radeon HD 5770. In fact, under normal circumstances, I would say the GTS450 likely beats the Radeon HD 5770 in most cases because the AX5770 PCS+ is actually a factory overclocked card. The two video cards are very comparable in price and competed honorably throughout the testing. The DX11 testing proved inconclusive at best to determine a winner between the two cards.

Now AMD has come out with the 6800 series of video cards. A lot of people are comparing the HD6870 series to the Radeon HD 5770 series, but the cards cost quite a bit more. Granted, the release of the GTS450 and the HD6870 both had the effect of bringing down the price of the Radeon HD 5770, but I'm still not convinced that it can be compared to the HD6870 as easily as the GTS450. Either way, the Radeon HD 5770 seems to be moving out as new technology threatens to send it to the "outdated" section of the hardware market. I would argue that the Radeon HD 5770 is still a very viable card and that the recent drop in prices has made it even more competitive.

At this juncture, I would like to submit some other compelling evidence as to why the Radeon HD 5770 is still a very good card to buy. The factory overclocked AX5770 PCS+ costs $144.99 on Newegg.com, but it also comes with a $20 mail-in-rebate. That brings the total price down to $124.99. Granted, the MSI Cyclone GTS450 that we used to test against the AX5770 PCS+ has a $15 dollar rebate, bringing the two to the exact same price. However, through November 10, 2010, the AX5770 has a $15 promotional code (YEGKFH53) on Newegg.com, bringing the price to $110. At $110, the factory overclocked AX5770 PCS+ actually costs less than the GTS250. It also brings down the cost per FPS to a very competitive line. At $145, the AX5770 PCS+ is a pretty good deal. At $110 it's smokin'.

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