AMD Radeon 6670, 6570 & 6450 Review - Benchmarking

Submitted by skipclarke on 8 November, 2011 - 15:31

Article Type: 
Article

Setup & Installation

Each of these reference cards offer a consistent set of connections - 1x VGA, 1x DisplayPort, and 1x DVI. Due to the small form factor of the cards, they can fit in tight spaces. None of these cards require an external power connection.

Paradox Solved


System Specs

Tests were done with the 11.10 Driver, on my existing test bed. The E-350 was tested with 4GB of RAM (with 1GB allocated to the GPU). The A8-3850 had 8GB of RAM (with 1GB allocated to the GPU).

  • Windows 7 SP-1
  • EVGA X58 Tri-SLI Motherboard
  • Intel i7 920 at 4x2.67GHz
  • 12GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM
  • 2x Samsung 320GB T-Series HDD (one for the OS and games; one for swap file and FRAPS)
  • LG Super Multi Blu (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Player)
  • Onboard audio
  • Corsair HX1000
  • My Open PC Doma Pro PCI Case
  • Logitch K340 Keyboard & Performance MX Mouse
  • Ergotech Heavy Duty Triple Desk Stand
  • Dell U2211H IPS 16:9 1920x1080 Display

Hardware Tested

I only have AMD hardware tested for comparison in this review. This is not for lack of wanting to test NVIDIA hardware in Surround, but NVIDIA has not yet decided to support the WSGF with hardware for review and benchmarking. Considering that the WSGF is a hobby that just supports itself, I cannot justify spending the money needed to test NVIDIA cards.

Most of my time is spent working on the site (or other projects), and much of my "play time" is spent benchmarking. Cards would basically only be used for testing, and I cannot reconcile purchasing cards that would only be used for testing. It's simply not a good ROI.

Resolutions Tested

I tested both 1600x900 and 1920x1080 in widescreen.


Games Tested

My game selection remains unchanged since the HD 6990 benchmarks.

  • Aliens vs. Predators
  • Battle Forge
  • DiRT 2
  • F1 2010
  • Far Cry 2
  • HAWX (only at 2xAA)
  • Heaven 2 (DX9, DX10 & DX11)
  • Just Cause 2
  • Mafia II
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat Benchmark Tool

As always, all games are tested at max settings (unless otherwise noted), with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled. We tested some of these titles as part of our review of the Mainstream 5000-series cards. Where available, we include these numbers as well.

I have simplified the graphs to only include cards of similar performance. It really doesn't do any good to see the massive performance increase in a Radeon HD 6990 as it's not comparable to any of the Mainstream cards we are testing here.

Simplifying the graphs made them much more readable and user friendly.


Future Testing

I am finishing a full test and review of the AMD A8-3850 APU, and that should be posted within the next week.