ATI Radeon HD5670

There are many inexorable truths about graphics cards. The first is that they are the upgrade most people desire, and the main bulk of the purchase price when considering a new system.

Secondly, whilst most of us who are technophiles desire the absolute latest and greatest, generally we've got a slightly older card either because we were early adopters and can't justify the expense twice, or because we wait until something that is still a great card comes down to a more reasonable level.

Finally, and this is the important part, for every person who has Crossfire 5870s, there are at least a dozen people who've got a lesser card, and quite a few who haven't got a clue what card they have. Anyone who's spent even a small amount of time on the forums of a recently released title will know how many "can my £300 PC run this" questions there are.

ATI are only too aware that the majority of users are in the mainstream segment and haven't necessarily got the thick end of £500 to spend of graphics and it's to these users who require a performance boost without having to sell their grandmother than today's review card is aimed at.

Thankfully gamers aren't the only people who desire graphics cards. One of the most popular uses for PCs is as part of a home theatre system and once you look at graphics solutions and pricing from that angle it very swiftly makes a lot more sense to go budget.

After all, most modern cards can cope with HD output and so rather than consider something as a poor gaming card, consider it as an HTPC card and that any gaming abilities are cherries on a very nice cake.

As a HTPC solution a card needs to be good value, powerful enough to cope with high bit rate media, and most of all quieter than a church mouse in slippers.

Does the ATI Radeon HD5670 fit these criteria? Let's have a look at the specifications.