ATI Radeon HD 5670

The ATI Radeon HD 5670, built on AMD's TeraScale 2 architecture with the Redwood chip, is a long-retired entry-level graphics card from the Evergreen generation. Manufactured on TSMC's 40 nm process, it packs 627 million transistors into a 104 mm² die. The card ships with 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth, and its 400 shading units, 20 texture units, and 8 ROPs deliver a peak FP32 throughput of 620.0 GFLOPS. With an average benchmark score of 273, it sits at the very bottom of the performance hierarchy—its percentile versus all GPUs is 0. The data indicates a card that was modest even at its 2010 launch, and today it is purely a legacy artifact.

Benchmark Performance

The HD 5670's benchmark results are consistently low across every API generation, reflecting its age and limited compute resources. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 717 points, a figure that places it in the same broad neighborhood as much newer, low-end mobile parts. Its Passmark G3D score of 802 is the most representative overall gaming metric, while its DirectX 11 score of 8 and DirectX 10 score of 4 are nearly negligible, showing that the card struggles with anything beyond legacy workloads. The DirectX 9 score of 23 is slightly better but still trivial, and the DirectX 12 score of 0 confirms that the card has no functional capability under modern APIs. Compute performance is equally weak, with a Passmark GPU compute score of 339, and the 2D score of 294 indicates even basic desktop acceleration is underwhelming by current standards.

Comparing the HD 5670 to its nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster of weak performers. The closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile, which scores 274 on average—a delta of -0.4% relative to the HD 5670, meaning the two are statistically indistinguishable in this aggregate metric. This is a remarkable outcome: a mobile GPU from a much later generation is essentially tied with this ancient desktop card. The AMD Radeon HD 6630M is 16.5% ahead with a score of 327, which is a meaningful gap but still places it in the same performance stratum. More surprisingly, the ATI Radeon HD 5750 and ATI Radeon HD 5450 both score 387 and 389 respectively, putting them 29.4% and 29.8% ahead of the HD 5670. That the HD 5450—a card typically considered a low-end OEM part—outperforms the HD 5670 by nearly 30% highlights how poorly the HD 5670 has aged; its position in the lineup did not translate into lasting capability.

The average benchmark score of 273, when weighed against the delta percentages, suggests the HD 5670 is not merely slow but is operating at the absolute floor of usable performance. The 0 percentile ranking means it outperforms essentially no other GPU in the database. In practical terms, the scores indicate that the card can handle only the most undemanding tasks, and even those will be met with sub-30 FPS performance in any 3D application post-2010. The gap to the HD 5750, which is nearly 30%, is particularly telling because that card was only one tier higher in the original lineup; the architectural limits of the Redwood chip are fully exposed at this level.

Who Should Consider It

Given the benchmark data, the HD 5670 is only suitable for users running legacy software from its own era, and even then, only at the lowest resolutions and settings. The DirectX 9 score of 23 and DirectX 10 score of 4 indicate that early 2000s titles might run at playable frame rates, but anything from the DirectX 11 generation will be severely compromised. The 620.0 GFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for any modern game engine, and the 6.200 GPixel/s pixel rate and 15.50 GTexel/s texture rate cap fill-rate-intensive workloads. Users seeking to play games from 2008-2010 at 720p with low detail settings might find the card marginally usable, but the 0 percentile ranking suggests that even integrated graphics from the past decade would offer a better experience.

For resolution-specific guidance: at 1080p, the HD 5670 will fail to maintain playable frame rates in virtually all 3D titles, as evidenced by its sub-10 DirectX 11 scores. At 720p, the card might achieve 30 FPS in very old or highly optimized titles, but the data does not support any confidence in this. The 1024 MB memory buffer, while reasonable for its time, is now a severe bottleneck, and the 64.00 GB/s bandwidth limits texture streaming. The card is best suited for a retro PC build dedicated to Windows XP-era games, or as a display-output-only solution for basic desktop use, where the 294 Passmark G2D score is adequate for 2D workloads. Anyone considering this card for modern gaming should look at the nearest rival data: the RTX 2050 Mobile, which is only 0.4% faster, is itself a low-end part, and the HD 5670 offers no redeeming features to offset its age.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The HD 5670 has no ray tracing capabilities, as indicated by the null rtCores field, and no tensor cores for AI acceleration. Its feature set is anchored to the TeraScale 2 architecture, which supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. It does not support Vulkan, as the vulkan field is null. This means the card is incompatible with all modern graphics APIs that rely on Vulkan or DirectX 12, and its DirectX 12 score of 0 in benchmarks confirms this limitation. For users requiring hardware-accelerated ray tracing or any form of DLSS-style upscaling, this card is entirely unsuitable. The absence of tensor cores also rules out any AI-based features that have become standard in recent GPU generations.

The display outputs are limited to 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x VGA, which restricts modern monitor connectivity. The HDMI 1.3a standard does not support high refresh rates at 1440p or 4K resolutions, and the VGA output is analog-only. This makes the card a poor choice for driving contemporary displays, even for basic productivity. The PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, while physically compatible with modern motherboards, offers lower bandwidth than PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 slots, though this is unlikely to be the limiting factor given the card's compute performance. In summary, the HD 5670 is a product of its time, with no forward-looking features; it is a pure rasterization card for DirectX 11-era software and nothing more.

Power and Cooling

The HD 5670 has a TDP of 64 W, making it a low-power card by modern standards. The suggested PSU is 250 W, which is modest and indicates that the card can run in almost any system with a basic power supply. It draws power entirely from the PCIe slot, as the powerConnectors field is "None", meaning no auxiliary 6-pin or 8-pin cables are required. This simplifies installation in legacy systems, particularly those with older power supplies that lack modern connectors. The single-slot design, with dimensions of 168 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 20 mm in width, ensures compatibility with most cases, including small form factor builds.

Cooling requirements are minimal given the 64 W TDP. A capable air cooler is sufficient to manage thermals, and the single-slot form factor suggests that AMD intended this card for quiet, efficient operation. The lack of power connectors also means that cable management is trivial, and the card will not stress a motherboard's PCIe power delivery beyond its rated spec. For users building a retro system, the 250 W PSU recommendation is easy to satisfy with modern units, and the card's low power draw keeps electricity costs negligible. The 40 nm process node, while old, contributes to the low TDP; however, it also means the card is less efficient than newer parts, although this is moot given its end-of-life production status.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score of the ATI Radeon HD 5670?

A: The average benchmark score is 273, and the card ranks in the 0 percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms essentially no other graphics card in the database.

Q: How does the HD 5670 compare to the ATI Radeon HD 5750?

A: The HD 5750 has an average score of 387, which is 29.4% higher than the HD 5670's score. This is a substantial gap, showing that the HD 5670 significantly lags its higher-tier sibling.

Q: Does the HD 5670 support DirectX 12?

A: No. The card supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4, but its Passmark DirectX 12 score is 0, and the Vulkan field is null, meaning it has no functionality under modern APIs.

Q: What power supply is recommended for the HD 5670?

A: The suggested PSU is 250 W, and the card has a TDP of 64 W. It requires no auxiliary power connectors, drawing all power from the PCIe slot.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the HD 5670?

A: It has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1000 MHz, which translates to 4 Gbps effective.

Q: What display outputs are available on the HD 5670?

A: The card offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x VGA outputs. The HDMI 1.3a standard limits high-resolution and high-refresh-rate connectivity.