The ATI 5 series Direct-X 11 capable graphics cards are flooding on to the market with numerous versions and models spanning a wide range of price / performance ratios. The 5700 series (5770 & 5750) have bolstered the budget options but ATI have continued to push ahead with the top-end performance cards with the 5970 being the front-runner so far it would seem.

The 5870 was the first card to hit the shop shelves and Sapphire has been keen to include it into their Vapor-X range. Featuring a custom cooler, the card has a 20MHz boost for the RV870 core and a larger 50MHz increase on the memory clock. The tweaked version aims to improve upon the already highly-praised original 5870 released back in the autumn so let's take it for a spin...