Final Thoughts
For a few months now AMD's graphics division has been pushing out one great product after another. The dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970, the Radeon HD 5870 and Radeon HD 5850 all had something going for them; whether it was unrivaled processing power in its respective category, or a great balance between performance and value. Moving down the ladder a little bit, the Radeon HD 5770 and 5750 GPUs gave gamers on a budget a real taste of what the new Radeon HD 5000 series was all about without breaking the bank.
This time around we are afraid it's a different story. AMD aimed too low with the Radeon HD 5670 – especially at this price point. Having slapped a $100 sticker on it, targeting the Nvidia GeForce GT 240 was a big mistake as this is a completely pointless product at the intended price range.
Back when we reviewed the GeForce GT 240 we said the only way Nvidia could make this a worthwhile product was to slash the price. The Radeon HD 5670 will suffer the same fate, as it costs just a little less than the Radeon HD 4770 and yet it is at best 15% slower.
In terms of features, for gamers the Radeon HD 5670 offers no real advantage over the Radeon HD 4770. Support for DirectX 11 is next to useless at this level, and Eyefinity shouldn't be a big selling point either (for workstation use it might be useful). The new Radeon HD 5670 needs to be priced at around $70 to become a feasible option. This is where the Radeon HD 4670 currently sits and we found the 5670 to be only about 20% faster while costing 40% more.
In terms of consumption, both products use roughly the same amount of power. It is a good choice for HTPC due to its single slot design, but there are a number of single slot GeForce 9800 GT, 9600 GT and Radeon HD 4670 graphics cards out there that will be just as suitable.
As far as gaming is concerned, the Radeon HD 5670 will get you by in most games if you are okay with playing at modest resolutions and visual quality settings. For anything more than that we suggest that you look into the Radeon HD 4770 for $10-$20 more, or the Radeon HD 5750 for around $40 more.