Final Thoughts

When it comes to performance the first thing we have to say is that the only time the GTX 285 is able to get a leg up on the HD 5870 is in Far Cry 2 with 8x AA on. Now, what is worth noting is that the numbers that we see out of the GTX 285 are still lower than the 30 FPS minimum that we need to see. The only card able to get over 30 FPS there was the GTX 295.

On the topic of the GTX 295, for the most part it's able to outperform the HD 5870 in just about every test; the only times it doesn't get a win is under CINEBENCH which for a lot of people won't matter. The other time we see it come out ahead is Clear Sky which has always favored the ATI offerings.

The bundle is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the HIS offering. We like the fact that they've chosen to include the cool little 7-in-1 mini tool kit, but we're annoyed that at the moment it's exclusive to Newegg.com customers only. With that said, though, we did ask HIS about it and they said they're working with more retailers and e-tailers to get it included in the bundle which we're happy about.

The HIS HD 5870 for the most part performs as you would expect a HD 5870 with stock clocks to perform; very well. If the HIS HD 5870 is the only HD 5870 you're able to get a hold of, there's nothing wrong with it and bar an extra game or something similar you're not going to be missing out on much.

What we're looking forward to is HIS taking the HD 5870 to the drawing board and giving us a Turbo or iCooler model that moves away from the norm. The HD 5870 is only going to get better and we have faith that HIS is one company that is going to make it better in the coming months.