AMD HD5670 - Bringing DX11 to the $99 price point

INTRODUCTION

When AMD released the HD5850 and the HD5870 end of September 2009 they had a clear plan on how they would bring DX11 to every possible price point. The HD5700 came out in October followed in November by the HD5970. These cards all fitted into various price points from $200 (HD5770) and upwards. Now just 3 ½ months after the first DX11-card AMD presents its first DX11 GPU meant for sub-$100 cards: the HD5670.

The HD5670 is aimed at the mainstream market (sub-$100 video cards) which according to Mercury Research is 66% of the units sold. Even though the income for each sold GPU is lower than for the other more expensive GPU’s it of course is made up for the fact that the volume is so high.

So what characterizes a “mainstream user”? AMD uses Steam as an example. According to the Steam Hardware Survey: December 2009 the majority use cards that cost less than $100 and over 90% use a resolution below 1920x1200. It is quite obvious how important this segment is for the companies.

Let’s move on and take a closer look at the specifications of the HD5670