XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 Video Card Review

This XFX Radeon HD 5770 sports the good ol’ “Batmobile” reference cooler which is actually what I wanted, as this cooler design performs better in multi GPU setups as the non-reference coolers dump heat inside the case more than outside which really hurts during long use.

Here you can really see how far the cooler extends past the PCB, as well as in the next picture.

The first thing I noticed (aside from the sexy flat black PCB) when I looked at the back of the card was the presence of only a single crossfire connector which really surprised me as the retail version -ZNFC features two connectors for triple of quad crossfireX like nearly every other evergreen card. Again you can see the fan shroud extending roughly a half inch past the PCB, making the total card length approximately 8-5/8″ where the PCB is 8-3/16″.

A quick hop over to the Hynix website and I found the parts number listing, and going right along I found out that these chips are listed as: GDDR5, 1.5v VDD & 1.5 VDDQ, 1GB/8k REF/32ms, x32 Organization, 4 bank, 2nd generation die, FBGA Wire bound package type, and run at 2.5GHz at commercial temperature, normal power. Since the chips are designed to run at an effective 2.5GHz this means that the default 1200MHz speed set is slightly under spec and should get a screaming overclock with little effort.

The standard array of Eyefinity connectors, again being reference spec.

Pulling off the fan shroud entails removing just the four screws on the slim backplate; all the remaining screws fasten the metal bracket/memory heatsink still shown on the card here.

The heatsink itself is aluminum with a thin layer of recessed copper which actually makes contact with the core. I was surprised at the direction air takes as I assumed it would take all its air from the back of the card, but instead the fan is closed off to most of the air inside the shroud getting most air from below the card when positioned in a case. Small vents that are on the bottom of where the fan mounts to the shroud do take in some air from the front of the batmobile, though. Looking at how air has the option to go through the connector plate or the side of the shroud, it must be a backup option if the back of the card gets covered.

Looking at the reference design layout, there is not much out of the ordinary. Let’s take a closer look at what powers this card:

The Juniper XT core is 170mm and is made up of 1.04 billion transistors.