AMD quietly introduced its new Radeon HD 5550 and prepped the Radeon HD 5570 GDDR5 to follow. We examine the performance of these two stealth-launched models to see if they have what it takes to replace a couple of power contenders in the sub-$100 market.
It’s hard not to notice that AMD has a large performance gap between the low-end Radeon HD 5450 and the gamer-friendly Radeon HD 5570. Just look at the specifications. Its Radeon HD 5450 has 80 stream cores, while the Radeon HD 5570 is equipped with 400. The graphics card market abhors a vacuum, and though the space between the Radeons HD 5450 and 5570 has temporarily been filled by older models like the Radeon HD 4650, AMD is filling the void by stealth-launching a new card: the Radeon HD 5550.
Not only can the Radeon HD 5550 be found in DDR2 and DDR3 flavors, but a GDDR5 version of the card is on the verge of release, and we have the chance to put it through the ringer today, as well.

As if the new Radeon HD 5550 wasn't enough for the sub-$100 graphics card market, AMD is also launching another version of its Radeon HD 5570, this time armed with a fast GDDR5 frame buffer. This is especially intriguing since the Radeon HD 5670 is essentially an overclocked Radeon HD 5570 equipped with GDDR5. The newer card should effectively blur the line between the Radeon HD 5570 and Radeon HD 5670.
Let’s take a closer look at what makes these cards tick.
- Enter The Radeon HD 5550
- The Radeon HD 5550 Architecture
- HIS Radeon HD 5550 DDR3 And GDDR5
- PowerColor PCS+ HD 5550 GDDR5
- HIS Radeon HD 5570 GDDR5
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark Vantage
- Benchmark Results: Crysis
- Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2
- Benchmark Results: World In Conflict
- Benchmark Results: Aliens Vs Predator (DirectX 11)
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 (DirectX 11)
- Overclocking Benchmarks
- Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks
- Conclusion: GDDR5-Equipped Cards Show Promise
either you have not heard the terrible news, or you are a far more patient man than I.
either you have not heard the terrible news, or you are a far more patient man than I.
After driver 10.4, in XP, video brightness and other adjustments just don't work. If you want to adjust the video you have to go back to 10.4.
Contrast this with nvidia. As far as I know, their drivers work properly, with Gamma adjustment for video, and video brightness etc. separated from desktop brightness etc.
But, in the last nvidia drivers I tried, there are problems with profiles. While you're in video, you can't save the settings as a profile. You have to go to desktop. Then you can save them. You used to be able to right-click on the tray icon and select your profiles. In the last nvidia driver I checked, you couldn't do that. At least you can do that in the ATI drivers. You can't sort the darn things, though.
So, to select a profile in nvidea you'd always have to open the control panel. In ATI, if you've come upon a dark video and you have several profiles to try on it, it's fast and easy by right-clicking in the tray.
I don't think the programmers actually use the control panels themselves. Such awful logic!
One last thing I'd like to know from the coming article is if the nvidia video section works on flash videos (with the 10.1 flash) in XP. It must in Win 7.
I would say anything under a year is "on the horizon" so a March 2011 street date lines up pretty well with that statement.
-Devin
But what really belongs here is the 5450!
That would show how much MORE powerful the 5550/70 cards are... Yeah I know, about 4x... but still it should be there. Maybe the 5470 will come out
Current pricing of the lower 5000 & 4000 series (Order of performance)
5450 = $40~70 ($55+ = 1GB useless versions)
4650 = $50~80
5550 = $65~90 (DDR2 or DDR3 ver)
5570 = $70~90 (DDR3)
4670 = $70~90
5670 = $85~105
5750 = $125~150 (Ouch - considering they cost less to make that 4670s)
First, when it comes to DX11 games, they are too much for the 5550 and below - but under DX10 - they do pretty good. So for your $70~75, you might as WELL buy the 4670 over the 5550s and 5570-DDR3. Now if the the 5550-DDR5 sells for the same price or less of a 4670, then it maybe worth it.
Considering the age of these cards, the 5670 should be $80~90... as it doesn't touch the $100 4850! But the 4850 & 57xx requires more power/bigger PSUs.
A non-eyeinfinity version of a 5750 for $100 would be a sweat card to get that would hammer the nail into the 4800 series.
The image above this statement has no VGA but does have a DisplayPort. I'm kind of at a loss here as either the statement or the image is incorrect. Also Unlike should be like if the statement is correct having them both without Displayport.
I really dont like the graphs. They are very hard to read. I would like the see best to worst in order graphs.
My suggestion to anyone wanting to buy a $50 - 100 card is wait for specials and rebates because you can often get one well below market rates if you shop around.
I got that same deal and couldn't be happier (ok I could but, for that price the 4670 was a steal)
I can see a price point for this hardware but why upgrade from a NV9800gtx to anything less than a Ati5770.
NV9800gtx newegg $135
5670 newegg $110
5770 newegg $135
I can not see anyone not willing to sacrifice 2 hamburgers or a few beers and rather get a 5770 instead of a 5670 or even a 9800gtx. No one can be this poor or stupid.
IE: what the ??? is the use of these low end mobile phone video cards ?
If AMD stops wasting money on these low end junk and rather have fewer models, spend more time producing useful video card then they can have decent prices for the server headless video card like the 5850 that should be "$150" video card instead of this stupid list of prices and models of uselessness.