AMD's new ATI Radeon HD 5830 is beast of a card. Straddling the line between the HD 5770 and the HD 5850, it manages to deliver most of the performance of the big brother without stomping all over the HD 5770. The full partner customized designs mean a lot of variation in overclocking performance and thermal, too. The HD 5830 is like Hilary Duff - take it off the market and it'll reward you handsomely, but you might want to watch the heat, too.

The increased core voltage over the HD 5850 means it can chug along at ~30% fan speed and 83C - but that's with the reference design cooler on our Engineering sample. AMD suggested that partners use the HD 5870's reference board design, for the extra cooling and power the card can use.

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5830

The partner added value packages look good, with interesting non-reference fan designs and bundled software, too. If the HD 5850 is out of range of your pocket, but the HD 5770 leaves you cold, consider the HD 5830. Continuing to deliver on their Sweet Spot Strategy, AMD has filled a gap in their prodigious 5-series line up with a real enthusiasts card, at an affordable price.

With partner designs coming hot off the griddle, we'll be back soon for a look at retail versions of the HD 5830.  It will be most interesting to see how they differentiate from the AMD's reference HD 5830 design.  Stay tuned!

Rage3D thanks AMD for providing us with the review sample for this review.