![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , January 14, 2010
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5670 Review
AMD brings DX11 down to the sub-$100 level today with the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 5670. This new video card marks DX11’s entrance into the low-end realm, but does it have the performance needed to use the special DX11 features like Tessellation in games? We run this video card through its paces and use DiRT 2 to find this out. We also compare to the GeForce GT 240 and Radeon HD 5750.
DiRT 2
DiRT 2, the first DX11 game title released is here. Check out our thorough Gameplay Performance and Image Quality evaluation for information about this new game. We are using the full version today. Our run-through is detailed on page three of our Gameplay Performance and Image Quality evaluation. In order to benefit from DX11’s Tessellation you have to run with the "Ultra" settings.
Right off the bat the two AMD video cards here support DX11 whereas the GeForce GT 240 does not. When in DX11 mode, one in-game option becomes available "Ambient Occlusion" which provides better shadows using HDAO, the two values you can choose between are "Low" and "High" or "Off."
Ambient Occlusion is one among many DX11 effects used in this game. In order to benefit from Tessellation one must use the "Ultra" settings. However, as you can see, neither AMD video card here had the muscle to pull it off at any respectable resolution. We set about to find what it would take to run DiRT 2 with the highest "Ultra" settings possible in every option on the ATI Radeon HD 5670. We discovered that you’d have to run the game all the way down at 800x600 to receive playable performance with all "Ultra" settings in this game. That’s right, in order to run with full Tessellation, DX11 HDR, and every other feature this game supports at the highest levels you’d have to run this game at a butt ugly resolution. Therefore, DX11 is simply unplayable in DiRT 2 on the ATI Radeon HD 5670.
Backing off to all "High" settings (but "Medium" post-processing and "Low" AO) allowed us to run this game at 1680x1050 with acceptable performance on the ATI Radeon HD 5670. This is at least slightly advantageous to the GeForce GT 240 in the respect that we have DX11 Ambient Occlusion enabled, and who knows what other DX11 related calls going on as well. The performance is higher on the GT 240 because it is not running AO or any DX11 effects at all.
The Radeon HD 5750 allowed an even better experience, letting us play at 1920x1200 with 2X AA which made the most positive visual impact. We were also able to turn Ambient Occlusion to "High" on the Radeon HD 5750. Therefore, dropping below $100 means sacrificing resolution and aliasing sadly. However, you could actually play at 1920x1200 with the ATI Radeon HD 5670, but you would have to drop a few of the settings to do so.