ATI Radeon HD 5570 OEM

How It Compares

The ATI Radeon HD 5570 OEM occupies a peculiar position in the hardware landscape. Its `percentileVsAllGpus` score of 50 places it exactly at the median of all GPUs ever benchmarked, meaning half the field is faster and half is slower. This is not a flagship part, nor is it an entry-level curiosity; it sits squarely in the middle of the performance distribution, a fact that shapes every subsequent analysis.

The data shows no `nearestRivals` entries for this card, which is itself telling. Most database entries have a cluster of comparable products with explicit score deltas; the absence here suggests the HD 5570 OEM is either so unique in its OEM-specific configuration that no direct peers exist in the database, or its benchmark pool was too sparse to generate statistically meaningful comparisons. Without rival deltas to cite, the analysis must lean on architectural facts and absolute performance metrics.

Its predecessor is the Radeon R700 series, and its successor is Northern Islands. The generational jump from R700 to Evergreen (HD 5500) brought the TeraScale 2 architecture, which is the foundation of this card's feature set. The 40 nm process node from TSMC, with 627 million transistors on a 104 mm² die, yields a transistor density of 6.0M per mm² — a modest figure by modern standards but representative of its 2010-era design.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

This card predates dedicated ray tracing hardware entirely. The `rtCores` and `tensorCores` fields are null, which means there are no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores on this die. For any workload involving hardware-accelerated ray tracing, the HD 5570 OEM is not a participant; it relies on traditional rasterization through its 320 shading units.

The API support tells a clearer story. It supports DirectX 11.2 with a shader model of 11_0, which is the key feature level for its era. OpenGL 4.4 is also present. There is no Vulkan support listed, which limits its compatibility with modern cross-platform titles that have moved to Vulkan as a primary rendering API. The absence of Vulkan is a significant constraint for contemporary gaming, even at low resolutions.

The TeraScale 2 architecture provides the baseline for these APIs. DirectX 11 brought tessellation and compute shaders, and the HD 5570 OEM implements these at the 11_0 feature level. The 40 nm process keeps power draw low, but the feature set is firmly anchored in its generation. There are no tensor cores for AI acceleration, no RT cores for ray tracing, and no Vulkan path — the card is a pure DirectX 11 / OpenGL 4.4 device.

Benchmark Performance

With `avgBenchmarkScore` listed as 0 and no benchmark entries in the `benchmarks` array, the numerical performance data is sparse. However, the derived metrics provide a clear picture of raw throughput. The FP32 performance is 352.0 GFLOPS, which translates to the card's compute ceiling for single-precision workloads. The pixel rate is 4.400 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 8.800 GTexel/s.

These numbers can be interpreted relative to the card's own architecture. The 320 shading units, 16 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs form the execution core. The FP32 figure of 352.0 GFLOPS is the product of those shading units operating at the card's clock — but the clock is not listed in the base or boost fields, only the memory clock of 667 MHz (1334 Mbps effective). The compute rate is what it is: sufficient for 720p and light 1080p gaming from the era, but far below what modern titles demand.

The percentiles field offers the only comparative anchor: 50th percentile overall. In a database where 0 is the lowest and 100 is the highest, this card is the definition of average. The lack of `nearestRivals` means there are no deltaPct values to cite, so the comparison must be qualitative: it is neither a bottleneck nor a performance leader. The 4.400 GPixel/s fill rate and 8.800 GTexel/s texture rate are the practical limits for resolution and detail settings.

Who Should Consider It

Given the 1024 MB GDDR3 memory and 128-bit bus, the HD 5570 OEM is suited to 720p gaming with medium-to-low settings in titles released around its launch generation. The 21.34 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor for high-resolution textures; at 1080p, the card would struggle with modern games that require more memory bandwidth and capacity.

The FP32 throughput of 352.0 GFLOPS and the 8 ROPs cap the effective resolution and detail ceiling. For 720p and older DirectX 11 titles, the card can provide playable frame rates, but the data does not support claims of 1080p high-settings performance. The 50th percentile ranking reinforces this: it is a middle-of-the-road part, not a budget gaming champion and not a productivity workhorse.

The absence of Vulkan support rules out many modern indie and esports titles that have dropped DirectX 11. The DirectX 11.2 (11_0) support does cover a wide swath of games from 2010-2015, but the hardware is simply too weak for newer releases. This card is best suited for retro gaming, lightweight office workloads, or as a display adapter for systems where 3D performance is secondary.

Power and Cooling

The TDP is 39 W, which is remarkably low. This makes the card suitable for small form factor systems and older power supplies. The `suggestedPsu` is 200 W, meaning a 200 W power supply is sufficient to run the card in a typical system. There are no power connectors listed — the `powerConnectors` field is null — which indicates the card draws all its power from the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot.

The slot width is single-slot, and the card length is 165 mm (6.5 inches). This compact physical footprint, combined with the low TDP, means it can fit in most cases without clearance issues. The lack of auxiliary power connectors simplifies installation; there is no need to route 6-pin or 8-pin cables.

Cooling is not a concern at 39 W. A simple single-slot cooler is more than adequate to dissipate the heat generated by the 627 million transistors on the 40 nm die. The card's power profile is one of its strongest attributes — it is a low-power, low-heat solution that does not stress the system's thermal envelope.

Memory Subsystem

The memory configuration is 1024 MB of GDDR3 on a 128-bit bus. The memory clock is 667 MHz, which yields an effective data rate of 1334 Mbps. The resulting bandwidth is 21.34 GB/s.

This bandwidth figure is the critical bottleneck for the card. At 720p, 21.34 GB/s can feed the 320 shading units adequately, but at 1080p, the demand for texture data and frame buffer access increases significantly. The 128-bit bus width means the card cannot move data as quickly as wider-bus alternatives, and GDDR3 is slower than the GDDR5 used in higher-end cards of the same generation.

The 1024 MB capacity is sufficient for its era but limiting today. Modern games at 1080p often require more than 1 GB of VRAM for high-quality textures, and the card would spill over into system memory, causing stuttering. For 720p and older titles, the 1 GB pool is adequate, but the 21.34 GB/s bandwidth remains the hard limit. The memory subsystem is a balanced match for the compute core — neither overprovisioned nor severely underfed — but it caps the card's effective resolution at 720p for anything beyond the lightest 1080p workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the DirectX support level of this card?

A: It supports DirectX 11.2 with a shader model of 11_0, which covers games designed for DirectX 11 but not features from DirectX 12.

Q: Does this card support Vulkan?

A: No, the Vulkan field is null. It only supports DirectX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.4.

Q: What is the power consumption and PSU requirement?

A: The TDP is 39 W, and the suggested PSU is 200 W. No power connectors are required; the card draws power from the PCIe slot.

Q: How much VRAM does it have and what is the bandwidth?

A: It has 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a memory clock of 667 MHz (1334 Mbps effective) and a bandwidth of 21.34 GB/s.

Q: What is the card's performance percentile?

A: It sits at the 50th percentile of all GPUs in the database, meaning it is exactly average in performance.

Q: What is the physical size and slot requirement?

A: It is a single-slot card measuring 165 mm (6.5 inches) in length, and it interfaces via PCIe 2.0 x16.