ATI Radeon HD 5670 Review

Performance Analysis

The HD 5670's performance, using either 512MB or 1GB of GDDR5 is hardly stellar, but then we didn't expect it tear up the test systems considering it's such a low power card. Fallout 3 frame rates are some way below that of an HD 4770 512MB or even an ageing 9800GT (aka 8800GT), but are certainly playable at a basic 1,280x1,024 with healthy average and minimum frame rates. At 1,680 x 1,050 with 4xAA though the 512MB card throws in the towel with a minimum frame rate of 11fps making the game unplayable chuggy, while the 1GB version soldiers on with a just able manageable minimum of 20fps.

STALKER Clear Sky is a traditionally a game that ATI cards perform well in, but the hardware limitations of the HD 5670 clearly hold it back. The game in unplayable at the high detail setting even at 1,280x 1,024 thanks to a minimum frame rate of 17fps with the 1GB card and at 1,680 x 1,050 things are no better, with performance someway off that of the HD 5750, 9800GT and HD 4770.

Dawn of War 2 using the "high" detail preset it’s hard going for even high end cards, so it’s no surprise that these mainstream options all struggle during the games very demanding inbuilt benchmark. While average frame rates all look good, with the HD 5670 managing an average of 33fps at 1,680 x 1,050, it's the minimum frame rate that's important and with the HD 5670 512MB managing nothing more than 9 fps at 1,280 x 1024; the limitations of the redwood GPU are clear to see.

Despite being over two years old Crysis is still the benchmark game by which all new GPUs are judged, and sadly the HD 5670 doesn't come off well. At 1,280 x 1,024 an average of 23fps and a minimum of just 11fps for the HD 5670 1GB, it is deeply unimpressive in comparison to the similarly priced HD 4770 512MB. While both Nvidia cards do come off worse than the 5760, the superiority of last years’ ATI's hardware is obvious.

Looking finally to Call of Duty: World at War and again it's a case of the HD 5670 unable is to even come close to the performance of the mid-range cards of 2009, with both the HD 4770 and the 9800GT landing streets ahead. On the upside, the HD 5670 was at least able to post playable frame rates at 1,680 x 1,050 4xAA with the game's maximum detail settings - the only title in our benchmark suite in which the HD 5670 was able to do so.

What's also important to note across all our benchmarks is the inability of the 1GB HD 5670 to post any sort of meaningful performance advantage in comparison to the £20 cheaper 512MB version. Despite possessing double the memory, the 1GB model was only one or two fps faster, and in the majority of tests performed identically to its lower priced compatriot. We're sure the 1GB card will sell more than the 512MB version because of the "higher number" factor on the uneducated mass market, but it's pretty clear that with such a limited GPU the extra memory makes little to no difference.

However, while on screen graphical performance might be something of a disappointment, thermal output and power consumption are both excellent. The single speed cooling fan on the reference model keeps the HD 5670 512MB stable with a peak delta T of just 41°C from the almost silent cooler. While the peak power draw from the HD 5670 isn't too far off of similar cards that utilise six pin PCI-E connectors, a max draw of 180W for our whole high end core i7 system is still evidently excellent.