They are not good for gaming so they are useless outside of mining.
That's what I thought about some 5770's I bought for mining, I put one in my 3 year old's computer to hash in the background (at a low aggression) while he plays games (Just Cause 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Bulletstorm, etc) and that little card surprised me even at stock clocks.
Which means a 5830 would be even better.
It's no GTX580 but it's no slouch at gaming, either.