XFX HD 5570 Review

Although the HD 5570 is not a gaming powerhouse, it is a very capable graphics card. This was clearly evident during the benchmarking process, as once the in-game settings were reduced, the HD 5570 continuously achieved playable frames-per-second in most of the games. This is an impressive feat for a graphics card that retails for $80. Still, there was a performance issue that just can not be overlooked. This is that where most manufacturers use DDR3 memory - XFX is using slower DDR2. This greatly reduces the GPU bandwidth and creates a situation where the on-board memory is limiting the graphics cards performance. In fact, in test after test it repeatedly fell behind the cheaper HD 5550.