There are many reasons to look at entry and midrange graphics cards first when shopping for your new PC's parts or upgrading. with today's large selection of GPU's from ATI consumers have the benefit of choosing exactly what they need. But what if you could get what you need with an added bonus?
Getting the most for the least is always a shoppers first approach. Quality , performance and value for the dollar. Today we are looking at just that from Sapphire Technology, the new ATI Radeon HD5550 Overclocked Edition graphics card and the HD5670 Ultimate Edition. Both of these products have more than the average features and PCWizKid puts them to the test for performance and value as well.
The new Sapphire HD5550 Overclocked Edition works at 650MHz for the Redwood based GPU, has 512MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 4000MHz effectively and feature 320 stream processors, DirectX 11 support with DVI, HDMI and D-Sub outputs. MSRP $99.99 USD.
The new Sapphire HD5670 ULTIMATE has 400 Stream Processors and has 1GB of GDDR5 memory. With clock speeds of 775MHz core and 1000MHz (4GHz effectively) for the memory, it delivers the same performance as fan cooled models, but with a totally silent heatpipe cooler, making it the fastest silent cooled graphics card on the market today. MSRP: $119.99 USD.
650 MHz Core Clock 40 nm Process Technology 320 x Stream Processors
Memory
512 MB Size 128 -bit GDDR5 4000 MHz Effective
Software
Driver CD SIM HD(Enhance the video quality for IM)-(Full package only)
Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate Edition Specifications
Output
1 x Dual-Link DVI 1 x HDMI 1 x DisplayPort
GPU
775 MHz Core Clock 40 nm Process Technology 400 x Stream Processors
Memory
1024 MB Size 128 -bit GDDR5 4000 MHz Effective
Software
Driver CD SIM HD(Enhance the video quality for IM)-(Full package only)
Test System
- Phenom II X4 965 Overclocked to 4Ghz - Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P Motherboard - OCZ 4GB DDR3 AMD Black Edition (8-8-8-24) - WD Caviar Blue SATA II 500GB HDD - Tuniq Ripper 1000 Watt Power Supply - Cooler Master cout Case - Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler - Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Note: Ambient room temperature is 20C Celsius during tests.
- All tests are performed at 1440x900 and 1680x1050 and 3360x1050 resolutions for consistency in results and comparisons with other system tests an video cards in the same test system. These are benchmarking resolutions which are commonly used.
Video Review
Conclusion
HTPC Setup anyone? Just a perfect no brainer decision for PCWizKid that the Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate is the perfect candidate for a cool and quiet setup. The Sapphire HD5550 OC Edition also had surprisingly low temperatures and overclocked nicely to give it a little boost, however the HD5550 is meant for for the casual PC Gamer, the HD5670 packed more power and gave a great punch in its frames per second scores when tested with today's latest PC games. The options are there for you and Sapphire provides a great choice. Whether you are looking for a simple cost effective upgrade for your existing PC or want to build a home theatre PC these 2 cards give you exactly what you need. PCWizKid was more impressed at the passively cooled HD5670 and would have liked to see what amazing performance you could get with 2 in crossfire connection which not hearing a peep. Temperatures were decent and had we added another cooling fan in the case I'm sure it would have dropped the GPU temperature even further!
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