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When I reviewed the Radeon HD 5870 back in September of 2009 it was quite difficult to convey just how impressed I was with this product, even after a 700 word conclusion I could have easily gone on. The Radeon HD 5870 was overwhelming for a few reasons, but above all it destroyed the GeForce GTX 285 and it did so at no additional cost. Even today the GeForce GTX 285 costs $400 US, while the Radeon HD 5870 can be had for the same price. Any sane person would purchase the Radeon HD 5870 in a heartbeat over the GeForce GTX 285. It was the same story when the Radeon HD 5850 was released, for roughly the same money it trounced the GeForce GTX 275 and was in fact still faster than the GeForce GTX 285. This is terrific news, however even the Radeon HD 5850 at $300 US is a little pricey for most gamers, and it’s the sub $200 US solutions that end up in the hands of the masses. The Radeon HD 5570 with an MSRP of $80 US is the kind of product most gamers can afford and for that reason it is a very important graphics card, not only for gamers but also for AMD. However the Radeon HD 5570 is nothing like the Radeon HD 5870/5850 graphics cards, and we are not talking about performance here. As I just said, these flagship models are so impressive because they set a new benchmark for $300 - $400 US graphics cards. The Radeon HD 5570 changes almost nothing, and in fact at $80 US it could be considered a little backwards. As an example of what we are talking about, the GeForce 9600 GT which is now a 24 month old product, can be purchased new for $80. The GeForce 9600 GT delivered the same level of performance as the Radeon HD 5570 in just a single game, that game being Company of Heroes, while it was considerably faster in the rest. When testing with Crysis Warhead the GeForce 9600 GT was 59% faster, 21% faster in Far Cry 2, 39% faster in Unreal Tournament 3, 29% faster in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, 26% faster in Street Fighter IV, 19% faster in World in Conflict Soviet Assault and 13% faster in Wolfenstein. Although the GeForce 9600 GT may be an end of life product, we feel this makes the issue even more troubling. For some time now it has been possible to purchase a GeForce 9600 GT graphics card for $80 US. Not only is the GeForce 9600 GT considerably faster than the Radeon HD 5570, but we believe it is also a more efficient product in terms of power consumption. The only advantage the Radeon HD 5570 has over the much older GeForce 9600 GT is just that, it’s newer and therefore sports a few new technologies. However when it comes down to it, these features do nothing to separate the Radeon HD 5570 from the GeForce 9600 GT when gaming. That said, the Radeon HD 5570 does replace the Radeon HD 4670 fairly well, as it comes in at the same price while providing slightly better power consumption levels and a more compact design. The Radeon HD 5570 also supports DirectX 11, though we feel this is not a feature we should make a big deal out of on these low-end graphics cards as it cannot be utilized in games. There is not a great deal more for us to say really, the results along with the MSRP speak for themselves. After the disappointing release of the Nvidia GeForce GT 220 and 240 graphics cards, we honestly thought AMD would come out guns blazing and put away the competition. Sadly, without much competition, they clearly saw no need to do so. Reviewed By Steven Walton |
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