Conclusion
Conclusion
There is no denying the fact that the XFX HD 5830 is an interesting product that is marketed towards mass market acceptance. It doesn’t carry the price of the higher end HD 5850 and its performance does surpass that of the HD 5770 which is exactly what ATI set out to accomplish. This should make it an answer to the prayers of many consumers looking for something ATI’s lower-end HD 5700 series cards just can’t deliver. Unfortunately, while it does bridge an extremely large price and performance gap, it flirts close to the performance of the much less expensive HD 5770 all too often. That doesn’t stop the HD 5830 from really shining in certain games and if you really take a close look at the raw data, you will see a card that has quite a bit of potential.
The main problem ATI had to solve with the HD 5830 was one which started and stopped with a careful balance of pricing and performance. This all needed to be done within the constraints of the current architecture but it just seemed they went a bit wild when it came down to cutting. Basically, all of the high expectations for the HD 5830 went flying out the window when we saw its specifications. Board partners really haven’t helped its case either by installing the cores onto overly large PCBs that look completely out of place in this price bracket.
Weeks have passed since the HD 5830 was introduced and from its first day on the market, many were hoping to see the usual release day price premium would eventually fade away. For the most part, it hasn’t. No matter where we look, the cards are still retailing for around $260 USD which is actually more that we originally predicted. Some sales have brought prices down to the $230 mark for short periods of time but those have been few and far between. Let’s be honest, at $260 the HD 5830 shouldn’t be appealing to anyone but $230 makes it much more palatable, especially if there is a game included.
XFX gives their version of the HD 5830 extras that actually make it vastly more interesting to us than most comparable cards. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that XFX includes what we call “value added” items which allow their product to stand out. Their Double Lifetime Warranty not only keeps you covered in the event of hardware failure but it also adds to the resale value of your card since whoever buy it from you will also be covered. The inclusion of the eagerly-anticipated (and quite fun) Aliens versus Predator game also means a $50 game is included within the $250 price of this card.
While the HD 5830 isn’t exactly high on our “recommended” list, XFX’s version does seem like a much better value than any competing product due to its warranty and included game. Unfortunately, those two aspects just can’t make up for the fact that the HD 5830 in general is priced too high in relation to its performance.
Pros:
- Good performance in some situations
- Amazing cooling performance
- Included game
- Double lifetime warranty
Cons:
- Poor price / performance ratio
- Efficiency should be much better
- Inappropriately sized
