Introduction
Several months ago ATI took the performance lead from Nvidia when they launched their 5800 series of GPUs and then launched a mainstream range (the 5700 series). Some may be puzzled by the launch of the 5670 now but it fits in nicely with ATIs product differentiation strategy and fulfils two key criteria. Firstly, the Radeon 5670 comes in at below the crucial $100 mark which is very significant psychologically and also presents a viable upgrade path to users with older systems as it does not require additional power from a PSU other than that supplied by the PCI-E motherboard slot. ATI are also quick to point out that less than 10% of PC users have 1920x1080 or higher displays and tat 66% of the market have graphics cards costing less than $100 making this a significant contributor to profitability. Next month will see the launch of the 5500 series and the 5450 (low profile with passive cooling - ideal for HTPCs) giving ATI a complete range of DirectX 11 solutions across all market segments.
ATIs strategy has been so successful that low end success has allowed them to challenge at the high end and now ATI graphics cards offer the best performance as well as the cheapest entry points. Nvidia have no answer until their much speculated “Fermi” product is released some time this year. ATI now have come full circle in an attempt to sweep away any vestiges of resistance from Nvidia based on price in certain categories. Will this be the final nail in the Nvidia coffin?
The back is very plain and the cooler does not extend to a back plate.
Here we can see the reason why air is not vented out the back of the card - there is simply no room in a single slot card with 3 connectors! ATI have not skimped in this area and the 5670 has the same connectors as cards in higher ranges, including Eyefinity support for 3 displays.
Test Configuration | ||
System Hardware | ||
CPU | AMD Athlon 2 X4 630 (2.8 GHz, 2MB Cache) | |
Motherboard | ASUS Maximus III Gene | ASUS M4A79T Deluxe |
CPU Cooler | Corsair H50 | Corsair H50 |
RAM | Kingston KHX2133C8D3T1K2/4GX 4GB 2133MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL8 (Kit of 2) Intel XMP Tall HS CAS 8-8-8-24 | Kingston KHX1600C8D3T1K2/4GX 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 T1 Series Non-ECC CL8 DIMM (Kit of 2) XMP CAS 8-8-8-24 |
Graphics | ATI Radeon 5670 HD | ATI Radeon 5670 HD |
Hard Drive | Maxtor 300GB SATA-2 | Maxtor 300GB SATA-2 |
Sound | SupremeFX X-Fi built-in | Realtek® 1200 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC |
Network | Gigabit LAN controller | Realtek® 8112 Gigabit LAN controller |
Chassis | Antec 902 Midi Tower Case | Antec Sonata Elite Ultra Quiet Case |
Power | Antec TruPower 750W | Antec TruPower 750W |
Software | ||
Operating System | Windows 7 Professional | Windows 7 Professional |
Graphics | ATI Catalyst 9.11 | ATI Catalyst 9.11 |
Chipset | Intel P55 | AMD 790 |
Applications |
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Firstly we will start with DX10 testing and move onto DX11 in the next section (the range of DX11 games is still limited at present although many are in the pipeline for release this year).
Moving on to DX11 testing we will see how it compare with DX9, DX10, DX10.1 and what sacrifices have to be made to activate the new features of hardware tessellation and contact hardening shadows.
The Radeon 5670 is not just about playing faster and ATI want to emphasize the quality benefits their new technology brings to the mainstream. One of these is hardware acceleration in video playback and they illustrate this with Adobe's upcoming Flash player with support for hardware acceleration.
The difference is startling and shows how important this feature can be if widely implemented. Let's hope that ATI keep pestering the relevant software developers until they all have this level of support by default.
The real purpose of this review is to see DX11 and the benefits that are unique to the ATI 5XXX series. It’s tricky to test to see how much of a speed difference DX11 makes as there are few reliable DX11 benchmarks but as a showcase of DX11 quality the situation is much better. We used Unigine’s Heaven Benchmark and can only convey the quality to our readers via YouTube.
This next video shows the effects of Hardware Tessellation. The technical white paper on this feature is enough to send the most avid technophile to sleep but there's no denying the benefits of the end result.
If you have a DirectX 11 card then you can download the demo for yourself at http://unigine.com/download/
Another key milestone has been reached by ATI and they now have a DirectX 11 offering in the largest graphics card market segment, much to the chagrin of Nvidia who seem to have taken a dive and are waiting for the count to reach 8 before standing up - a dangerous strategy considering that any miscalculation may result in them being counted out before they can respond.
So how does the Radeon 5670 fare? It wins hands down against the Nvidia GT240 which is its competitor at that price point and it remains the only DirectX 11 solution in its category. The 4670 can be picked up for around the $70 mark at present (while stocks last) and will be an option for those unable to afford the 5670 until the 5570 is released in a few weeks time.
More significantly, a Radeon 4850 can be picked up for $99 and is actually faster than the Radeon 5670 which presents a bit of a conundrum for buyers. Do they go for performance alone or should they opt for the cutting edge feature set? Ultimately it is a choice of personal preference but studies are already showing that the rate of adoption of DirectX11 over DirectX10 far exceeds that of DirectX10 over DirectX9 so if something more than a stop-gap solution is required then we would recommend the Radeon 5670.
The Radeon HD 5670 is an important step in ATI's top to bottom marketing strategy and is a powerful force on its own merit but given the fact that it has no competition (other than perhaps some ATI cards reaching their end-of-life) it really is the only logical choice for new budget systems and for upgrades to older systems. Most importantly, it brings DirectX11 to the masses and serves the consumer by tipping the balance in the "chicken and egg" situation that stifles software developers from taking advantage of new features until they become mass market.