Customer Reviews

Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 PCI-Express Graphics Card 100287L

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For $65 (after MIR), I can't complain much for the price of this card. I'm hoping that I do get my $15 rebate back in 8-10 weeks time otherwise I'll post another feedback here. If you don't mind paying $2 as a service charge fee (deducted from the total rebate), you can get your rebate money back in 7 days. I'm not in a hurry. Anyway, this has nothing to do with Sapphire product but I thought it is worth mentioning about rebates since most electronic products on sale do require rebate for you to get the best price deal.

I have a Gigabyte motherboard GA-H55M-S2H, Intel core i3 with 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 (2 x 2GB) Corsair memory. The motherboard comes with integrated on board graphics. I'm not a hardcore gamer but do things like photo/video editing, playing HD movies, etc. Connected to my PC are two monitors (HP 2509m 1920 x 1080 and NEC 90GX2 1280 x 1024). The motherboard has one VGA, HDMI and DVI but you cannot connect HDMI and DVI simultaneously (bad). According to Gigabyte technical specialist, you must use the VGA in order to run two monitors. Obviously the VGA quality is inferior to DVI/HDMI. I could have buy a cheap $40+ graphics card but because this card has DirectX 11 and also supporting CrossfireX, it's a good deal (after MIR) for possible future needs and expansion. BTW, my motherboard supports CrossfireX and you need a similar GPU (preferably the same card) to do CrossfireX (maybe in the future). Also this is the best deal that I can find with Radeon HD 5670 GPU with 512MB of GDDR5 (the fastest graphics memory at this time).

Benchmarking: The Windows Experience Index (W.E.I.) for Aero and 3D-gaming went up from 4.9 and 5.4 to 7.0 for both respectively. Awesome! Just to be sure, I tested this on 3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage and the scores went up from 1694 and P341 to 10554 and P5094 respectively. Well, this is good enough if you just want to play occasional games at low/medium setting wihtout those AA, etc setting. You are better off with Radeon HD 5700 or 5800 series for serious gamers or Nvidia GTS/GTX 400 series.

The Sapphire card comes with HDMI to DVI and DVI to VGA adapter. It is handy for the old displays with VGA or even some new display without HDMI but with DVI. I use HDMI for my HP 2509m (so I don't need extra audio cable to my monitor) and DVI for my NEC display. CD is also included but you can get the drivers and utilities from ATI or Sapphire website.

Well, the card doesn't look nice (big fan but quiet and plain looking artic cooler heat sink) but who cares when it is installed in a PC case. Installation can be done in 10 mins. However there are known issues when using HDMI connection to your PC monitor such as signal underscan which causes the viewable screen to be smaller (black areas around the monitor). To overcome this use the ATI CCC (Catalyst Control Center), go to "Graphics" tab, select "Desktop and Displays", right click on the monitor with HDMI and select "Configure". Click on "Scaling Options" and move the underscan/overscan slider bar to 0%. That should work but when you reboot your PC you will see the black areas again so you need to open up CCC again and this time, just click "Ok" to maximize the screen output. I hope ATI comes up with a better solution to this.

The other issue I notice when using two monitors is that the default GPU and memory clock is automatically set to 400MHz and 1000MHz respectively. This causes higher power consumption and increase in GPU temperature (~55°C) during idling. You can again use CCC to create several profiles (together with ATI Tray Tools by Ray Adams if you want to underclock or overclock beyong CCC min/max settings). I created two called "Energy Savings" and the other one "Games Setting". I set the "Energy Savings" profile with GPU and memory clock of 180MHz and 250MHz for web browing, word processing and using non-graphics intensive programs. Idling temperature in the low 40°C. BTW, this is still faster than the on board graphics. The max standard GPU clock speed is set at 775MHz and memory clock speed of 1000MHz but there is still room for overclocking if you are adventurous enough.

Overall, this is a great budget card and certainly not for hardcore gamers.

Got this card for a HTPC build, as it was the most affordable and decent spec'd Radeon 5000 series card. It's pretty small length-wise for a graphics card these days, which is what I needed to fit in the HTPC case. Seems to run games we've played on there no problem, some MMOs and Sims 3.

It doesn't have the juice to give you 100 frames a second in Crysis or anything, but for HTPC usage and light gaming, it's an awesome choice. Exporting 1080P Blu-Ray and high quality audio on it also works with no stuttering or slowdown.

Another plus about it is the cooler on it has some protective plastic bars above the fan which protect it from things getting into the fan. That may not have made any sense, as its hard to explain, but worked great for my cramped case to make sure no PSU wires ended up hitting or blocking the fan.

I have an older computer with limited upgrade capacity and had limited funds to get a new computer, I invested on this card along with memory and turn my computer around greatly. I can now play the latest games with intense graphics. If you have an older computer with limited funds I recommended this product, it gets the job done nicely.

The card work ok, but could not get the AMD ATI Catalyst software to install on a HP Elite Desktop that was upgraded from Vista 32 to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 edition.
You need the AMD ATI Catalyst software to work to set the 3 displays or any multiple displays. Spent 4 hours with AMD ATI Technical Support Downloaded the latest beta test Catalyst as well as versions 10, 11 and version 12 from the AMD website. Downloaded Sapphire's own version of Catalyst as well as the cd rom supplied Catalyst. None would install on my PC. Suggestion was made to do a clean install of Windows 7 not the upgrade. Don't have time for that. All other software/hardware has installed on my PC with no problems. Talked to a sales associate at Frys about this and he said he has had a least 3 customers that have had the same problem with AMD ATI Catalyst software not working on Windows machines that were upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

We all know the cheap amd builds, am3 240 regor w/ a moterboards graphics, leave alot to be desired. It works without a video card, but the memory and cpu are bogged down considerably. My cheap lil regor build has 4gigs ddr3 1333 adata memory and was only getting 5.8 win7 experience rating, after adding this it went to 7.1. Onboard graphics had a 3.4 rating, went to 7.0 after this addition. Cpu had a 6.3, went to only a measly 6.4 after adding this. This card plays L4D2 without any lag whatsoever and w/8x antiA and 8x Filtering on a 22" monitor running 1680x1050. This card is the largest that would fit in my lil miroATX tower case and it really works very very well. If it can play L2D2 this well, I know it will handle call of duty and BFBC2 very easy. It also gave me somewhat of a preview as to how the 5750 will work in another build with a midtower and a micro board, but that runs an AM3 550 with ddr3 1600 at 2x2gigs. I just ordered the Iceburg 5750 today, wheeeee. Just wish it didn't take so long to download the games from steam. I guess I'll take it to the office and download it twice as fast tonite. Get this card if you're into gaming the latest games on a budget. I have two 5850's and did eyefinity, but I'm sure this would have a hard time judging by the amount of resourses the 2 5850s used inorder to play well(amd 955BE), but it sure was fun, especially dirt2. I'm sure these would set a resolution lower then the 5850's can handle, but gaming would probably make you mad with one,maybe even 2 of these. The 57xx would probably be better for that. I'll surely use these cards again for customers and recommend them highly for cheap.

Not the fastest... but I am not willing to spend $500 on the latest card when this one will do JUST fine! Game refresh rates and vid sizes are superb. A good card. I researched this one and for this price... this is the card to buy.

I probably wouldn't have bought this last year when it came out at a little less than $100. But almost a year and a half later it's basically $30 bucks less, so to me this made it a really good value for an entry-level video card for gaming at around 1440x900 or 1280x800 on medium settings for current games. You can even push some games to 1680x1050 (I was playing Crysis 2 at this res, but only on gamer settings, for advanced settings I knocked it down to 1440x900). Source games (like Team Fortress 2) I was able to max everything out, no problem at 1680x1050. This card would also be great for a HTPC. I also like that it came with a DVI to HDMI an DVI to VGA adapter.

I upgraded from a Visiontek HD3650 512MB ddr2. The difference was night and day. Just like the HD3650, this does not need an extra 6 pin power connector from your PSU. It's powered straight from your PCIE slot.

The product specs says a 400 watt PSU is recommended. I'm using a 300 watt and it is working perfectly fine, even under heaving gaming when the total power draw is higher. At idle or basic computing tasks, this thing is pretty energy efficient and sits at 40c or lower at stock speeds (not overclocked).

Another BIG note: The card that I got is a DUAL slot (I was aware that the fan on it made it take two slots), BUT what I mean is the actual METAL bracket. The picture here, AND even on other sites show a single slot bracket. Because of this I had to remove the bracket and install a single slot one from one of my older cards for it to fit. I didn't want to deal with returning and waiting again. It worked for me, so no biggy. But others might get pissed about that. The picture is wrong.

PROS:
- DDR5 - can make a big difference in frame rates!
- Low power usage, no extra power connector needed
- Seems to overclock pretty well (this will vary from card to card)
- The Arctic Cooler seems pretty good so far, quiet
- Has a display port for Eyefinity, but I have yet to use this, good to have though just in case I want to run a third monitor (fyi, running a third will require you to buy a dongle separately)

CONS:
- Really a DUAL Slot card, not a single - This is the sole reason why I knocked off a star
- Cooler doesn't look that nice, but not that bad either

My system is pretty old:
Athlon X2 4200+ @ 2.5 Ghz
4gb PC 6400 ddr2
250gb SATA HD
300 watt PSU
Win7 64bit

Unfortunately I don't have any benchmarks yet, but this card is awesome for what it offers and at this price point

The card has reduced the power consumption over my 8800GTS 320mb; also has lower temps, slightly quieter cooling fan and the ability to underclock when idle.
Included in the package are
.Driver CD
.DVI-I to VGA adapter
.HDMI to DVI-D adapter
The ports on this card are geared towards newer digital monitors, if you are setting up multiple displays; if you have old analog monitors like myself you are limited to using one display from this card unless you buy a Displayport to VGA adapter. That being said I purcased an Accell UltraAV B101B-003B Display Port with VGA Active Adapter to use 2 analog monitors but the monitor plugged in to this adapter suffers from flickering horizontal lines. The other one that is plugged into the DVI-I to VGA adapter has no such problems.(BTW The Display port adapter works well on my Nvidia Quadro FX 3800 at work)
Please note that when 2 or more displays are connected, the card no longer actively switches clock speeds to save power.

For an eyefinity setup on a budget with 3 analog monitors, i would suggest the combination of DVI-I, VGA and Displayport (using a Displayport to VGA adapter and a DVI-I to VGA adapter)
The port combination is available on the 5570

Will update if this flickering problem is sorted out

*****Update 5th July 2011******

Upgraded my review from a 3 star to 4 star
The flickering seems to be caused by the cable being to near to my ups power cable. Strange thing is my direct connection through VGA to the card passes by the same cable and rests on my ups with no such interference.

Upgraded a Radeon 4850. Excellent for light gaming. Requires minimal power. Nice price. What's not to like?

Replaced my son's 8800GT video card that burned out after about five years. He's quite the avid gamer, so I was a bit apprehensive about choosing a new video card. This, coupled with what the cost of a new card would set me back, was a bit concerning. But I did some homework checking online reviews and such, and decided on this card because of ratings and cost.

Installation was very easy - plug and play. Drivers were installed easily as well (via CD). I don't see any difference in performance between his 8800GT and this 5670. In fact, the 5670 appears to be an improvement. But the price was less than half of what I paid for the 8800 GT five years ago. So far I am quite happy with the 5670 video card. More importantly, my son is happy.

Regarding the delivery, I am an Amazon Prime Member, so I automatically get the two day shipping. I ordered it on Saturday, so I was given an arrival day of Wednesday (weekends don't count for 2 day delivery). To my surprise it was delivered today (Monday) via ONTRAC. I've noticed that ONTRAC deliveries are almost always early. Anyway, excellent service as always. THANK YOU AMAZON!