We will see if NVIDIA’s new GeForce GTX 580 has what it takes to compare to AMD’s Radeon HD 5970 2GB dual-GPU video card. These five apples-to-apples tests will reveal performance differences and memory limitations on the Radeon HD 5970 2GB. The Radeon HD 5970 is less expensive, so let’s where the chips fall.

This past week, NVIDIA debuted its Fermi architecture refresh in the form of the GeForce GTX 580. The GeForce GTX 580 is currently the fastest single-GPU video card NVIDIA has to offer. This champion has set a new bar for single-GPU video card in-game performance. Our evaluation revealed that it greatly surpassed AMD’s fastest single-GPU video card, the Radeon HD 5870 2GB Eyefinity6. The GeForce GTX 580 also offered a better gameplay experience than the GeForce GTX 480 by about 20% on average. The power envelope and thermal factors for the GTX 580 are better than the GeForce GTX 480, yet it provides more performance in games, and thus a better gameplay experience. While the GeForce GTX 580 trounces the Radeon HD 5870, there is another video card from AMD to consider however that is very price competitive.

The Radeon HD 5970 is AMD’s “fastest” video card. This is not a single-GPU video card like the Radeon HD 5870. The Radeon HD 5970 video card consists of two Radeon HD 5870 (down-clocked) GPUs connected via CrossFireX on a single board. While both GPUs retain all the specifications internally as a Radeon HD 5870, the performance has been reduced by core frequency reduction and memory frequency reduction.

• READ MORE (Source): Introduction – Performance – GeForce GTX 580 vs. Radeon HD 5970 2GB Performance | [H]ard|OCP