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Many people might be discouraged when they see the ‘HD5670' moniker on this latest FleX Edition card from Sapphire, after all it is classed as the ‘last generation' by AMD. Why would you want a HD5670 today?
As a low cost means to enter into multi screen productivity however it is difficult to beat. You don't need an expensive DisplayPort monitor for three screen configurations, which can often mean a saving of over £200. Many 24 inch DVI based monitors are selling for £150 inc vat right now, so for £450 you can end up with a 5680×1080 tri screen workstation. Factor in this card at around £100, and the Fusion system at £400…. then the whole package would cost under £1,000. If you are not interested in gaming and simply want a quality, hardware accelerated experience, then this seems to be one of the best low end choices available on the market.
Sapphire's partnership with Arctic Cooling means that this card not only sips power, but it is basically silent, even when loaded. The fan speed remains within 28 percent and 36 percent at all times, even when loaded with Furmark. It barely registered on our equipment peaking just over 30 dBa. This means that for all but the most highly sensitive ears, it will not intrude when you are working.
The Sapphire HD5670 FleX Edition really comes into its own when partnered up with a low power system, such as the Fusion motherboard we used today. It can not only control a single large surface display environment at 7280×1080 resolution but it can help reduce video encoding times by over 200%. When watching MKV 1080p content the CPU had to handle a third of the work when hardware acceleration was enabled. Obviously, if you have a powerful processor then these benefits will decrease exponentially.
KitGuru says: If you are in the market for a low cost business system and want to drive three or four panels, then this is one of the best solutions you can buy. If you are a gamer, then be sure to check out the Sapphire HD6970 FleX Edition.
Even a 3 screen setup is a pipedream for me, but I can see this card behind used in a lot of design studios.
I like the idea of the flex cards but why on earth aren’t AMD doing this without Sapphire having to make customised products? Is there additional circuitry involved? obviously there is, but it seems like such a weird thing for AMD not to include. displayport monitors are a lot of cash.
Well I wont be buying this card, but its just made me part cash with cyberlink power dvd 10 ultra. my system might be more responsive with it running instead of crappy WMP.
Well its good to see they went to arctic cooling for the cooler. wish more companies would do that.
This is exactly what I want. I spend most of my working life video editing and ive already persuaded the boss to get me two more screens. Shall make sure we order a couple for the offices.
Decent enough card, but will anybody buy a card from the last generation in 2011? might be hard for Sapphire to sell this as people all want 6 series cards.
I agree that AMD need to do a card like this themselves, clearly isnt that difficult,.
I liked the flex 6870, decent gaming performance and you can add three screens. This would be ideal for workstations in a design or editing environment. I think you sold it well Zardon considering the relatively weak gaming performance,. certainly worked well with the fusion mobo.
Id actually get this for my workstation. I dont game on it, and id like the out of the box screen support. I opted for an ilyama screen at 200 quid, another 2 wouldn’t cost that much for the deskspace.
Wonder why they opted for a 5000 series card? Why not aim for the 6970 or even 6950? 6870 isnt a bad card, but even it can struggle, especially with 3 screens.