MSI Radeon HD 5670 1GB Video Card in CrossFire
Video Cards & GPUs
AMD CrossFire Articles
Our second 1GB GDDR5 HD 5670 arrives and we figure it’s time to check out some budget CrossFire action.
Published Feb 2, 2010 8:08 AM CST | Updated Tue, Nov 3 2020 7:02 PM CST
Manufacturer: MSI
11 minute read time
Introduction
I’m always up for a good fight, but over the past few years I’ve realized that there’s two battles that I just can’t win. One is telling people that the video cards they want to buy has more memory than they need and if they want to save a few dollars while getting almost identical performance, go for the one with less memory.
The second is convincing people that budget CrossFire or SLI setups just aren’t worth it, as almost every time you could get a single card solution that’s going to perform slightly better for what is usually a slightly lower price.
High MB video cards of course have their place in the high end segment and so does CrossFire and SLI in that same segment, but these days we seem so content that more is better and we forget to look at the 1s and 0s of the situation.
Following something that I was once told, «If you can’t beat them, join them». I’m here with my second HD 5670 1GB GDDR video card and today we’re going to place it with our other one to see what kind of performance this budget CrossFire setup can get us.
The Package
We never expect much from these mid range graphics cards when it comes to the bundle and this one is no different. We’ve got a bit of paperwork along with a CD that contains a driver and MSI’s own Afterburner overclocking software.
Video Card
The first stand out point for the MSI HD 5670 is the fact that the company has opted for its own cooler. This means that compared to the reference card, we’re looking at another dual slot version of the HD 5670.
The whole design isn’t anything we haven’t really seen before and if past experience is anything to go by, we shouldn’t have any issues when it comes to keeping our GPU cool with this option.
Like the other HD 5670s we’ve looked at, we don’t have any extra power needed like the reference version we looked at, but with the MSI one we do have some CrossFire connectors on top of the card.
In the I/O department we don’t see anything new; a single Dual-Link DVI Port, DisplayPort and HDMI port round off the connectivity. This setup allows us to make use of EyeFinity which for me is quite a nice feature on these more budget orientated cards.
Specifications
Carrying 1GB of GDDR5 like the other retail HD 5670s we looked at, we don’t see anything that we haven’t already seen from the model. The core comes in at the same 775MHz while the memory carries with it a 4000MHz QDR clock.
The piece of information to pay the most attention to here is down the bottom of the GPU-Z screenshot where you can see that we’ve enabled CrossFire and two cards are currently running together.
Test System Setup and 3DMark Vantage
Test System Setup
Processor(s): Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz (190MHz x 20)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (Supplied by Noctua)
Motherboard(s): GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)
Memory: 3 X 2GB Kingston Hyper X PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR CL9 (Supplied by Kingston)
Hard Disk(s): Western Digital 640GB SATA 2. 0 HDD (Supplied by Western Digital)
Operating System: Windows 7
Drivers: ATI Catalyst Redwood Beta, Catalyst 9.12
Since the card carries with it the same clocks as the Sapphire HD 5670 we looked at along with the same amount of memory, we thought it was time to throw this card along with the new MSI one we have here together to see what kind of performance we can get out of a budget CrossFire setup.
Not only will we have a look at how much extra performance a second card adds, but we’ll also see what the difference between the CrossFire setup when compared to a single HD 5750 and HD 5770.
Let’s get started!
3DMark Vantage
Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here
3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.
3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.
Compared to the single card solution, we can see a great performance boost straight away with the CrossFire setup sitting only behind the HD 5770 which sits two models above this one.
Unigine Heaven Benchmark (DX10 & DX11)
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Version and / or Patch Used: 1
Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com
Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/products/unigine
New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.
Note: If a card doesn’t support DirectX 11 the benchmark will be left out. If it does it will be included along with the DirectX 10 results.
Direct X 10
Direct X 11
The CrossFire setup again performs very strong. In this case the extra performance from the second card manages to make it out perform the HD 5770 in all setups.
Benchmarks — CINEBENCH R10
CINEBENCH R10
Version and / or Patch Used: Release 10
Developer Homepage: http://www.maxon.net/
Product Homepage: http://www. maxon.net
CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite that assesses your computer’s performace capabilities. MAXON CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software, CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.
MAXON CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores and is available for Windows (32-bit and 64-Bit) and Macintosh (PPC and Intel-based).
No surprise when it comes to CINEBENCH with all cards lining up next to each other.
Benchmarks — Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5
Version and / or Patch Used: Demo Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www. capcom.com
Product Homepage: http://www.residentevil.com
Resident Evil 5 is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on September 18. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.
Looking at our first real world game, we again see excellent performance with the HD 5670 CF setup outperforming the HD 5770 at both resolutions.
Benchmarks — Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2
Version and / or Patch Used: 1.03
Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com
Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com
Buy It Here
The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.
The strong performance continues to show in Far Cry 2 with the HD 5670 CF setup performing stronger than the single HD 5770. Unlike a single card which is a fair chunk away from that 30 FPS minimum we need, the CF setup just blasts past it.
Benchmarks — World in Conflict
World in Conflict
Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.0.10
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.massive.se
Product Homepage: http://www.worldinconflict.com
World in Conflict is a real-time strategy video game by Massive Entertainment and to be published by Sierra Entertainment for Windows (DX9 and DX10).
The game is set in 1989 where economic troubles cripple the Soviet Union and threaten to dissolve it. However, the title pursues a «what if» scenario where, in this case, the Soviet Union does not collapse and instead pursues a course of war to remain in power. It is an intensive new game that is sure to put plenty of stress on even the latest graphics cards. We use the built-in benchmarking for our testing.
The HD 5670 CF setup is the only one that’s able to break the 30 FPS minimum at 1920 x 1200. You can begin to see how this would be a nice little setup.
Benchmarks — Batman Arkham Asylum
Batman Arkham Asylum
Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.rocksteadyltd.com
Product Homepage: http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com
Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum — Gotham’s psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City’s most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum.
Using a wide range of Batman’s gadgets and abilities, players will become the invisible predator and attempt to foil The Joker’s demented scheme.
Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story penned exclusively for the game by famous Batman author and five-time Emmy award winner Paul Dini, whose credits include Lost season one and Batman: The Animated Series.
Note: With support for PhysX NVIDIA based cards will be tested with the technology on and off, while ATI cards will be tested with the technology off due to it not being supported on their cards.
Without PhysX
Batman AA already performs strong on most cards, but we again see a very impressive bump in performance from the HD 5670 CF setup which gives it a win against the HD 5770.
Benchmarks — Darkest of Days
Darkest of Days
Version and / or Patch Used: 1. 4
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.phantomefx.com
Product Homepage: http://www.darkestofdays.com
Darkest of Days takes the player through time into historic battles in an effort to save key individuals from certain death. The battles range from Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 to fighting in Pompeii as ash and fire rain down from an erupting Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Other locations include the battles of Antietam and Tannenberg, and a German World War II P.O.W. camp. There are different missions in every time period and the game takes about 4 hours to complete.
The game features over twenty weapons, both from the original time period as well as those brought back from the future. In addition, there are artillery weapons from different time periods to assist in battle.
Note: With the PhysX set to Medium or High, Darkest of Days takes advantage of the NVIDIA PhysX abilities. For that reason we will test ATI cards at the Low preset, while NVIDIA based cards will be tested at Low and High.
PhysX set to Low
Darkest of Days is making no use of the CrossFire technology here which means in turn we’re not seeing a performance increase.
Benchmarks — BattleForge
BattleForge
Version and / or Patch Used: Auto Patched at Load
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.ea.com
Product Homepage: http://www.battleforge.com
The Gods have disappeared and the old sun has died, letting a vile twilight engulf the world of Nyn. In exchange for all treasures the mortals possessed, the evil giants agreed to forge a new sun and hurl it into the sky.
But the deal was betrayed, the treasure stolen and now the mortals flee the wrath of the giants. Under the light of a new sun the mortals stumble into a world changed and twisted by an age of twilight. The long journey home has become a conquest of survival.
Note: Supporting DirectX 11, we have separated the graphs for NVIDIA and ATI cards. While the numbers between the two brands can be compared, you have to make note that ATI based HD 5000 series cards are running DirectX 11.
DirectX 11 (ATI HD 5000 Series Only)
A very intensive game in itself, the CF HD 5670 setup is able to break that 60 FPS average we want to see at the lower resolution, making the setup quite impressive.
Temperature and Sound Tests
Temperature Tests
With the TES 1326 Infrared Thermometer literally in hand we found ourselves getting real-world temperatures from the products we test at load (3D clock speeds).
There are two places we pull temperature from — the back of the card directly behind the core and if the card is dual slot and has an exhaust point we also pull a temperate from there, as seen in the picture.
With a card in front, the MSI HD 5670 isn’t getting the same amount of airflow meaning that it’s going to run a bit warmer than a single card setup and the second card in a CrossFire setup.
Sound Tests
Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.
After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).
Noise levels aren’t anything to worry about with it being slightly quieter than the HD 5700 series.
Power Consumption Tests
Using our new PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or «Power Thingy» as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).
There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.
The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum — only a 7,200RPM SATA-II single hard drive is used without CD ROM or many cooling fans.
So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.
While the two card setup does draw more power, 340 Watts at load is hardly anything to worry about.
Final Thoughts
I hate to admit it but budget CrossFire setups are beginning to have a place in the market thanks to aggressive pricing and low-end cards performing quite strong these days. The MSI HD 5670 we looked at today is going to set you back $114. 99, while a HD 5770 with the stock cooler is going to be $169.99 after a $10.00 mail-in rebate.
Now, before you say that two HD 5670s are more expensive than a single HD 5770, let me stop you and say; I know. HD 5670s can be had for under $100, though; closer to the $95 mark. And again, while that setup is slightly more expensive than a single HD 5770, it’s also slightly faster across the board.
Setting up CrossFire is of course going to require a motherboard that supports the technology, but with many people sporting an i7 or i5 CPU, this shouldn’t be a problem. The only other issue that tends to pop up is power requirements, but at just below 350 Watt at load, just about any good quality power supply will handle the setup.
On to the specifics that are part of the HD 5670 from MSI, we discover it’s another good variation from the stock model thanks to its aftermarket cooling option. Performance is as you would expect and this model of course supports EyeFinity which is an important feature.
Overclocking can be done with the Afterburner software, but as we discovered, don’t expect miracles when it comes to the performance increase you get. While some extra FPS can be had, if you’re really looking for something that can game better at higher detail in 1680 x 1050 or higher resolutions, look at the CF setup or a HD 5770 and above.
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Shawn Baker
Shawn takes care of all of our video card reviews. From 2009, Shawn is also taking care of our memory reviews, and from May 2011, Shawn also takes care of our CPU, chipset and motherboard reviews. As of December 2011, Shawn is based out of Taipei, Taiwan.
Radeon HD 5670 Crossfire performance
coltie
Posts: 6 +0
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#1
Hi, I need a little advice..
I’m doing a graphics upgrade on a budget and I’m toying with the idea of a pair of XFX HD5670 1G DDR5 128 bit in crossfire. My cost for these cards puts me in the same price range as a single GTS460 or an HD6850. I’m wondering how the xfire setup would compare performance wise to either of these GPUs on their own. Res is 1920×1080.
Note: I’m set up well for any of the above with a 790FX board 2 @ X 16 lanes and a Cougar CMX700 psu..
Thanks
Relic
Posts: 1,372 +17
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#2
I personally wouldn’t recommend it compared to either of those alternatives. From benchmarks [1][2] I’ve seen the 5670 in crossfire seems to perform around the 5770’s range on average at 1920×1080 which at the time for price / performance was decent. However now, it doesn’t seem like the best investment especially at 1920×1080. I think you’d be better served with a one mid-range card than two lower end ones and even with that you will likely need to turn down some detail depending on the game.
Cinders
Posts: 867 +13
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#3
You know you have an SLI board. If you were considering two video cards you might want to consider two nvidia cards because you’ll only be able to combine them together on your motherboard. Crossfire will not work on your system.
I would choose the GTS460 over two less expensive cards, because in the future you might want to use SLI and a second GTS460 will allow you to do that with the least expense. When I actually looked for a GTS 460 I could not find one. I’m thinking you meant a GTS 450?
I’d buy the GTX 460 if you can afford it. This one includes a nice rebate bringing the price down to $149.99.
Damn! It is a crossfire board please ignore me
coltie
Posts: 6 +0
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#4
Relic- thanks for the helpful reviews, interesting and informative although a little disappointing as I was expecting better performance. I agree with you that I’m much better off pursuing a newer, more powerful single gpu option.
Cinders- yea, it’s an MSI 790FX-GD70 which is actually capable of running 4 ATI cards at once. It was a pretty hot board in it’s day. P.S. GTS was a typo, I was referring to the GTX460.
Thanks to you both for the replies.
Relic
Posts: 1,372 +17
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#5
No problem coltie, good luck with either one of those cards, or maybe even check out the 6870 .
klepto12
Posts: 1,116 +13
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#6
6870 for sure
System configuration for very good performance on the AMD Fusion
platform
Hello friends, in this video tutorial on setting up the new powerful AMD Fusion platform that AMD has high hopes, after all, it seems that their efforts have not been successful, have innovative a platform that works and is especially accessible.
Competition between Intel and AMD is more intense than ever, perhaps 2005 felt the market now.
The new AMD Fusion platform with new processors begins to enjoy the success that AMD has been waiting for since 2006. Thanks to the decision to introduce a discrete class GPU (dedicated graphics cards), it is not a simple IGP (integrated graphics processor), it is the graphics card processor itself, integrated into the processor package, has 400 processor cores for the A8 series and 320 for the A6. AMD calls this new processor «APU» (accelerated processor). The graphics chip works with the processor to hardware accelerate many tasks (web and desktop video, archiving, transcoding, graphics, etc.). Intel has chosen a different path, which does not seem to be producing the expected results. At Intel, to use a CPU with an IGP, you need special support, and developers don’t like it very much.
Another ace on AMD you have your sleeve used in unison to face the graphics in the CPU with a dedicated graphics card from AMD, a kind of CrossFire, the fact is cross-real, recognizable even in the BIOS, and not like SLI where the pairing is done in the operating system and requires special support from game to feature. Interestingly, after installing a video card along with an image processing graphic processor, they get the name Moua and are recognized as a new video card.
In general, AMD comes with a lot of news, all this at a price more than decent, at a price of 1600 lei have a functional system, processor SSD SATA3 with 4 cores motherboard with everything you want on it and consumption for thinner. With this component you can play any modern game, of course a lower setting for better graphics performance can attach a directX11 board (as mentioned below) and have almost doubles the power of CrossFire graphics.
Components used system configuration:
AMD A8-3850, 2900MHz, 32nm, 4MB, FM1 socket
Gigabyte A75-UD4H, FM1 socket
Dual Channel Geil Kit 2x4GB DDR3, 1333MHz, Dragon
Kingmax Flash SSD SMP32 60GB, SATA 3 , 2.5
Delux case MT482, Middletower ATX, 450W, Silver / Black
Hitachi Deskstar HDD 7K1000 1TB, 7200rpm, 32MB, SATA3
Sapphire AMD Radeon HD6570 1GB GDDR3 HDMI, DVI-D, VGA (optional)
Source Corsair CMPSU-430CXV2, 430W, ATX2. 2 (optional case has its own source)
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Overview of Radeon HD 5670
- Introduction
- Architecture
- Test participants
- XFX Radeon HD 5670
- Palit GeForce GT240
- ASUS Radeon EAh4850 Smart OC
- Gigabyte Radeon HD 5750
- Test stand and test method
- Acceleration
- Temperature rating
- Performance testing
- Conclusion
The official plan for the appearance of new ATI video cards of the fifth series («roadmap») has been completed almost completely. We are already well acquainted with the capabilities of the HD 58xx video cards — the high-end models based on the Cypress video processor, and the HD 57xx video cards — the «halves» of the flagship, based on the Juniper GPU. ATI continues to «divide by two» — our today’s hero Radeon HD 5670, in turn, belongs to the lower price segment («low-end») and is essentially a «cut» HD 57xx in half.
This video card is of considerable interest. The power of the HD 5770/5750 is quite sufficient for many modern games, even at the highest picture quality settings. This fact allows us to hope that the «half» of this video card — HD 5670 will not become a useless «gag», but will allow us to get a decent level of FPS at least in a moderate resolution and without using full-screen anti-aliasing. However, first things first.
For the new Radeon, we have selected a worthy competitor from the nVidia camp — the GeForce GT240 video card. This model is also new to the market, and its additional testing is valuable in itself. In addition, this is a good, demonstrative case when products from ATI and nVidia fall exactly into the same price category, and even coincide in some technical characteristics.
Of course, we did not limit ourselves to a set of two cards, in addition, the Radeon HD 5750, which appeared on the market not so long ago, but has already managed to «get a residence permit» in the computers of many of our readers, will also take part in the tests. In terms of seniority, this is the next card in the Evergreen (HD 5xxx) model line after the HD 5670.
As TV show hosts like to say, “But that’s not all, only today you get it completely free of charge …” … test of another video card — the old Radeon HD 3850.
recommendations
Refer to the comparison table:
video card name | Radeon HD 3850 | Radeon HD 5670 | Radeon HD 5750 | GeForce GT240 |
Process technology, nm | 55 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
Core area, mm 2 | 192 | 110 | 166 | 144 |
Number of transistors, mln pieces | 666 | 627 | 1040 | 727 |
Number of Stream Processors* | 320 | 400 | 720 | 96 |
Number of texture units | 16 | 20 | 36 | 32 |
Number of ROPs | 16 | 8 | 16 | 8 |
Core clock, MHz | 669 | 775 | 700 | 550 (shader domain — 1340) |
Effective video memory frequency, MHz | 1656 | 4000 | 4600 | 2000/3400 |
Video memory type | GDDR3 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR3/GDDR5 |
Video memory bus width, bit | 256 | 128 | 128 | 128 |
Memory bandwidth, GB/s | 53 | 64 | 73. 6 | 32/54.4 |
Video memory size, MB | 256/512/1024 | 512/1024 | 1024 | 512/1024 |
TDP, W | 75 | 61 | 86 | 69 |
DirectX | 10.1 | 11 | 11 | 10.1 |
*ATI and nVidia stream processor architectures are different.
So, HD 5670 and GT240, announced by us as direct competitors, really have a lot in common. The graphics processors of both video cards are manufactured in compliance with the 40-nm process technology. The characteristics of the memory subsystems are also the same: 128-bit bus and GDDR5 — a new standard for entry-level gaming graphics cards. In terms of memory bandwidth, Radeon takes the lead, a slightly higher frequency affects, but this difference can easily be negated during overclocking. If you «dig deeper» then you can see the similarities in the configuration of graphics processors. Redwood XT (HD 5670 processor) — in fact, half of the older Juniper (HD 5770), G215 (GT240 processor) judging only by the number of functional blocks — half of the GT200 in a stripped-down version used on the old GTX260 192 sp. In our recent testing, the GTX260 and HD 5770 competed very hard, so we can expect a battle between the «half» newcomers.
Note: the author is aware of the extreme rudeness of such estimates, but they often allow one to get a true general idea of the novelties.
The HD 5750 is almost twice as large as the HD 5670 in terms of the number of core functional blocks. But the memory bandwidth of these video cards differs slightly, due to the use of a 128-bit memory bus and GDDR5 chips on both models.
Now let’s look at the configuration of the «ancient» Radeon HD 3850. Interestingly, compared to the HD 5670, this card has 25% fewer stream processors and texture units, but twice as many ROPs. Thanks to the use of a 256-bit bus, the Radeon HD 3850 manages well with GDDR3 memory.
Based on the information received, let’s determine the priority tasks of today’s testing:
- The main goal is to study the capabilities of the Radeon HD 5670 as a gaming video card.
- Compare «classmates» Radeon HD 5670 and GeForce GT240 in terms of performance and other consumer characteristics.
- An additional task is to compare the new («budget») Radeon with the HD 3850 model, based on the flagship video processor of the previous generation.
The section opens with HD 5670, by right of the «protagonist» of the review. Our laboratory got a video card from XFX, which repeats the ATI reference (reference) sample.
Video card length 168 mm. Thus, this accelerator is somewhat more compact than even the «baby» HD 5750 (length — 185 mm). The installed video card protrudes beyond the PCI-e slot by a maximum of 1. 5 cm, which definitely allows you to place it even in the cramped cases (as long as there is enough height).
The XFX video card (as well as the reference sample) uses a single-slot turbine-type cooling system. On the reverse side of the video card there is a backplate designed to reduce the deformation of the printed circuit board. This is by no means a decorative detail, despite the small overall dimensions and weight of the CO (hereinafter referred to as the “cooling system”). By using a backplate, the designers were able to increase the pressure of the base of the cooling system radiator to the surface of the GPU. We, once again, give a recommendation to be careful when assembling a video card, with such a strong clamp there is a danger of chipping the video processor chip.
The dismantled cooling system is as follows:
After removing the cooling system cover, we can better see the radiator with an interesting shape («accordion»). It’s amazing — even in such a tiny CO, ATI specialists managed to use a heat pipe. Its shape is very unusual, a flattened tube is coiled and located between the radiator and the base. It turned out to be a kind of budget analogue of the evaporation chamber.
In the photo you can see the end of the tube protruding from the radiator near the turbine. Thus, the engineers who designed the CO improved the heat exchange between the base and the radiator, while maintaining the small dimensions of the structure. As you can see in the photo, the metal plate-substrate covers all the memory chips located on the front side of the board, the contact is made through thermal pads («chewing gum»).
Radiator blower is supplied by a tiny turbine. The same one was used at one time on the «reference» HD 4850. In this case, the turbine layout of the cooling system was used rather than to increase efficiency (hot air does not leave the system unit, which is usually a strong point of such systems), but to minimize the dimensions of CO. For comparison, many ATI partners have already presented their versions of this video card, the overwhelming majority of «non-reference» ones do not use a turbine, giving way to a simple design with a fan. As a result, such models «grow» in width up to two slots.
The Radeon HD 5670 PCB is not complex. The Redwood XT video processor is located in the center of the PCB.
The tiny 40nm processor measures just 110mm. Communication with the video memory is carried out via a 128-bit bus. The 1 GB GDDR5 memory is equipped with eight Samsung chips marked K4G10325FE-HC05, which indicates a nominal frequency of 1000 (4000) MHz.
Power consumption in the load does not exceed 61 W, which made it possible to abandon the use of additional power connectors. According to the manufacturer’s recommendations, a power supply unit with a capacity of at least 400 W is required for the operation of the video card.
The rear panel of the graphics card has HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort connectors. When using this accelerator as part of a multimedia center, such a set of connectors will give the user ample opportunities to connect various devices. The downside is that many budget (and simply old) monitors are equipped only with a VGA input, their owners will have to use adapters.
Our lab has already done a quick review of this video card. You can read this material here: Express review of Palit GT 240 Sonic.
In this case, we will highlight several key features of this video accelerator that are interesting in the context of comparative testing.
First, the overall dimensions of the nVidia video card are the same as those of the Radeon HD 5670. The length of the GT240 is still the same 168 mm. So, everything we said about the advantages of a compact card is also true for this adapter. In fairness, we note that Palit, having released its video card, slightly different from the reference one, has increased the «standard». The length of the test accelerator is 175 mm, which is 7 mm longer than the «standard».
Secondly, we draw your attention to the similarity of printed circuit boards. Nvidia also uses a two-phase core power regulator on its video card, and the simplest single-phase memory power circuit.
And the layout of the converter circuits is similar. It is also interesting that the Radeon HD 5670 and GeForce GT240 are equipped with the same memory chips — the already mentioned Samsung K4G10325FE-HC05 with an access time of 0.5 ns (nominal frequency 1000 (4000) MHz).
Our video card has just such microcircuits, however, according to the nVidia specification, they operate at a frequency of 850 (3400) MHz. Where another 150 MHz frequencies have disappeared, which are not enough to the nominal value of the microcircuits, is a mystery to us. We will guess it later, in the «Acceleration» section.
The maximum power consumption of the video card is 69 W, which eliminates the need for additional power connectors. The manufacturer recommends a power supply with at least 300 W power for the correct operation of the video card.