Overclocking

As with any new GPU, overclocking options out of the box are fairly limited, but ATI has still added support for its Overdrive utility in the Catalyst driver, allowing you to increase the core and memory clocks a moderate amount. We set about ramping these up and the card had no trouble running stable at the maximum settable clock speeds of 850MHz Core and 1,050MHz (4,200MHz effective) memory clock, representing increases of ten and five per cent respectively.

However, as the HD 5670's baseline performance is already so low, overclocking makes a fairly minimal difference visible frame rates. At 1,680 x 1,050 the 512MB card achieved a 1fps increase to both the average and minimum frame rate, while the 1GB card recorded much the same relative performance boost. Even overclocked though, the HD 5670 remains sedately slow, and unable to play Crysis at high detail level with a playable framerate.

Conclusions

Whether the HD 5670 appeals to you will rely heavily on how much you think is an acceptable amount to spend on a graphics card, hence its “mainstream" tag line. We imagine for the vast majority of our readers, £120 on a graphics card probably doesn't sound unreasonable, especially as for that money you're getting at least a decent return on your investment. The HD 5670 is then clearly not for you.

Selling for around £90 for the almost pointless 1GB version, but just above £70 for the 512MB model, it struggles to play year old and even two year old titles at playable frame rates when you set the detail level above medium at a basic 1,280x 1,024. As the resolution rises one notch (in TFT terms) things get inevitably worse.

To even think about using this card for gaming at reasonable detail levels at increasingly popular HD resolutions like 1,920x1,080, let alone the ultra-resolutions possible with Eyefinity is ridiculous. There'll be added disappointment when you realise that your shiny brand new graphics card can't even handle last year’s games at high detail levels without chugging like a Barney Gumble locked in the beer cellar, let alone the latest and greatest DX11 titles that the card boasts support for.

To its credit though the HD 5670 does at least resoundingly outperform it's GeForce counterpart - the GT 240 - across the board, making it the strongest choice for those looking for an upgrade without the need for a PCI-Express power connector. PSU upgrades can be difficult for some PCs with unique chassis design, or even scary for inexperienced PC users, so we respect that a graphics card without a connector certainly has its appeal.

For the rest of us that know our PCI-Express from our HDMI, there are plenty of far superior options even at this "mainstream" price, not least the £80 Radeon HD 4770 512MB that resounding bests the HD 5670 across the board (albeit without DX11 support). Even then we'd urge you to look towards spending a little more and grabbing an Radeon HD 5770 1GB for a little more than £110, which performs admirably with modern games and which will age immeasurably better.

The HD 5670 then thoroughly lives up to its acrimonious "mainstream" title. This is very much a card aimed at those who don't understand too much about PCs and while it's commendable for bettering the direct competition in this very competitive segment, it just doesn't offer enough performance, even at these low resolutions, to be worth considering for anyone who knows even a little about PCs and enjoys gaming.

• Performance
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• x
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• x
• -
• -
• -
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• 6/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
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• 6/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
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• -
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• 6/10

• Overall
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• -
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• 6/10

Score Guide