The Basics:

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the Sapphire Radeon HD5670 1GB graphics card was that I had stepped back in time and was seeing a card from maybe 4-5 years ago. Compared to the typical Radeon (or any card) made today, there are plenty of differences. The PCB is really compact, lacks PCI Express power connections, the cooler is somewhat old-school looking and has no shroud, there are actually memory chips on the back side, and even the blue colored PCB isn't all that typical.



The two images below show the front and back of the HD5670. The Arctic Cooling manufactured cooler isn't all that big, but on such a small card it might appear to be larger than it really is. While the features and specifications may tell you that this is a lower end model, there are still two tabs to allow this card to be used in a CrossFire X configuration.



The connection options on this card make it well suited for use in a variety of environments. You have a DisplayPort connection, an HDMI port, and DL-DVI connection. You can easily configure this card in a multi-monitor setup (Eyefinity is supported) or in a home theater, and with the included display adapters you should be able to connect to at least one of each common display type (DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, VGA).



Taking a look at the card on edge, we can see a bit more detail regarding the cooler. The frame for the 11-bladed fan is clipped to the compact aluminum cooler, which is in turn bolted through the card's PCB around the GPU. The cooler is low profile, but will still block a second slot in your system. The memory modules found on this side of the card do not make contact with the cooler - so all chips, regardless of location - will rely on airflow within the system for cooling.