5870 Gddr3

I just purchased a new iBuyPower on eBay. My specs are:

i5 430m 2.26Ghz
hd 5870 w/ GDDR3
4Gb RAM
500Gb 5400rpm harddrive

Unfortunately, I didn't notice the GDDR3 vs GDDR5 performance issue until after I had decided to purchase (at the time I thought a 5870 was just a 5870). Does anyone know of any concrete comparisons of the card with these two different memory types? If not, I would be interested in doing some, if there is anyone with a GDDR5 version that would be willing to compare FPS on a few games with me. For instance:

Crysis Warhead, the "Frozen Paradise" level, where you and several other nanosuit wearing soldiers battle the gargantual multi-legged alien, I average about 24 FPS at 1280x800 and everything set to Enthusiast. How about you?

 

I get better frames on my envy 15 with its ati 5830

 

Could you be more specific--your exact settings, resolution, and level?

 

There's no such thing, as a GDDR3 Mobility 5870.

Please confirm with a GPU-Z screenshot.

 

Mobility HD5870 doesn't use GDDR3.

You should check your card's specs using GPU-Z.

 

Amd doesn't officially recognize the 5870 with a GDDR3 memory interface..Does the core clock speed run @ 700mhz? You're effectively halving the memory bandwidth going from GDDR5 to GDDR3 memory in the 5870 since it only has 2 memory controllers, so that would be a very odd combination, as well as being a first, since no GDDR3 5870 exists.

 

It's entirely possible that you have a 5870 with GDDR5 and the person selling it just made a mistake/is clueless.

 

thats what im thinking as well, like others have said once you get it use gpu-z and I bet it shows ddr5

 

agreed, ibuypower computers are clevo's.. so there's just no way he has some mystery GDDR3 clevo 5870.

 

Whoops, for some reason subscribing to my post only alerted me of the first response. Anyway, I just independently found out about GPU-Z and learned that I do in fact have GDDR5 on my card and it was the seller's mistake, as Lozz postulated. I came back here to let any future viewers know that I'd resolved the issue, only to see your responses. The thing which originally led me to believe that the 5870 could ship with either type of memory was the notebookcheck review Notebookcheck: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 You'll notice that it seems to suggest that both exist and that there is a significant performance difference between the two. I think it may be because they write the information before the card actually starts shipping in laptops, and the 5870 is capable of taking GDDR3, but ultimately no manufacturers actually implemented this since the performance hit wouldn't be worth whatever they might save on the memory.