The PowerColor PC++ 5770 was used in the following test system:

• Mainboard – MSI 890FXA-GD70
• CPU – AMD Phenom II x6 1090T @ 4.12GHz
• GFX – On Review
• CPU Cooling – Custom Water cooled setup
• Memory – 4GB DDR3 – 1600mhz OCZ
• Disks – 2 x WD RE3 1TB in Raid
• DVD burner - Stock DVDRW
• Case – Silverstone TJ10
• PSU – Silverstone 1000W
• On Review – PowerColor PCS++ HD 5770

Installation
Installation was easy as pie - especially since its quite a small card also due to its low power consumption ideal if you want to upgrade a system without having to buy a updated expensive PSU.

Overclocking
Overclocking was a bit of a mixed bag with this card with the core clock able to handle 950Mhz which is a very impressive increase of 75Mhz over the standard 875Mhz, I was able to push this out to 968Mhz but after half an hour things would go wrong, the memory was a different story though and on this sample with the aid of riva tuner I was able to push it out to 1525Mhz which is a cool 300Mhz over the standard card.

With the memory clocking it was possible to go a bit higher but at 1600+ there were issues, one thing to point out is that you should really increase memory clocks in a small steps to find your sweet spot on your card, but say up in 30Mhz steps, then if you get Artifacts back down 10Mhz at a time.

Still I was quite impressed with the overclock of the card, and for the price things were pointing already that this was a good bang for buck card, anyway onto the benchmarking.

Benchmarking

Frames per second were recorded using the games built in benchmark (where available) or from a set period of time while playing the game and taking the fps with fraps. The latest drivers at time of testing were used: nVidia Driver 258.69, and Catalyst 10.7.

Benchmarks were ran at 1920x1080, the most common resolution used in today’s games.

Dirt 2:

Well when you consider there is not much in it and the PCS++  HD5770 can be picked up a ¼ to a 1/3 less than the GTX 460 it is starting to impress, at the time of writing I spotted the PCS+ HD 5770 for just £128 in the UK which is a big chunk less than the £160 plus we see the 460 coming in at.

Resident Evil 5:
This is in our benchmarks as it is a popular DX10 game, and includes its own benchmark – which helps to keep things consistent.

Well this was the first benchmark to bring up a bit of a shocker, on this test it seems (DX10) the PowerColor PCS++ pulled ahead of the much more costly GTX460 which surprised me quite a bit if I am honest.

Sadly, this benchmark does not include minimum FPS, so although the PowerColor PCS++ 5770 had a better average than the 460 GTX the min may be lower.

Battlefield Bad Company 2
This is my favourite game at the moment along with MW2– I have lost quite a bit of time to this game, but it does make benchmarking fun..

Again another surprise here, although the PCS++ 5770 did not quite pull the same avg FPS (or no were near max) as the GTX460 it came mighty close considering the difference in the overall price. If you’re wondering why we don’t list maximum no more, it is simple Max FPS is only reached occasionally.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Another top game that well, in single player mode is excellent, multiplayer is good too but the lack of dedicated servers has increased the hackers and spoil sports on this game which is one of the reasons Mulitplayer on the PC has been exceeded by BF bad company 2.

After this test I have to say the PCS++ 5770 is really impressing me and is performing quite close to its more expensive GTX rival, I was not expecting this at all.

Crysis 1.2.1
This is a game nearing 3 years of age, and yet it still beats the latest and greatest graphics card. As always – the question needs to be asked – but can it play Crysis?

All in all Crysis was almost impossible to play on both cards at full everything at this resolution and I could notice this as well. At lower res it was possible (1200x800) and played well.I should point out though that both cards overclocked handled the game, a lot better.

3DMark Vantage
3DMark has always been a good test of a graphics card – and the latest – 3DMark Vantage is no exception. 3DMark uses a variety of tests to ensure that your GPU is thoroughly put through its paces, and really separates the good cards from the mediocre.

In the simulated 3Dmark test we can see the PowerColor PCS++ 5770 lags behind the GTX460, I half expected this, but should point out in the PCS++ 5770 defence that in the real world game tests it was pretty close.

Next Page - Conclusion