Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 Ultimate Video Card Review

[Kombatant]

Our resident review monkey, James, has whipped up another review for your viewing pleasure. This time it's Sapphire's 6670 Ultimate offering, sporting passive cooling for those of you who want to use it in an HTPC. How does it fare against the more powerful HD6770? And how about when we pair it with the new APU from AMD, the A8-3850? Here's an small part to get you started:

Sapphire has released a new version of the AMD Radeon HD 6670, the Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 Ultimate. I hear you ask; what makes this card "Ultimate"? It's the cooler; a dual direct contact heatpipe based aluminum fin array that wraps around the card. All this means passive cooling, which also means silent card. We last looked at a Sapphire Ultimate offering a little over a year ago, with the Sapphire Radeon HD 5550 Ultimate and the new HD 6670 Ultimate cooler is very similar to that, with some improvements.

Read more about it here: http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/...6670_ultimate/

[noko]

Very nice review! Too bad my Redwood can't be upgraded with an APU. Basically it would mean new mobo, APU and graphics card in my case. Now if only Sapphire or anyone sold those half-height HD 6670 which where passed around and reviewed when the Turks came out, I would buy it. Passive is nice, full height (while probably pretty much needed for being passive) makes it less usable for a HTPC.

I do recommend 720p testing as a note in the future, from a distance it is virtually the same as 1080p in quality. Very applicable for a HTPC setup. Of course up close 1080p looks better.

OCing? (I don't think is a big deal though for this range of cards)

[caveman-jim]

I do recommend 720p testing as a note in the future, from a distance it is virtually the same as 1080p in quality. Very applicable for a HTPC setup. Of course up close 1080p looks better.

I tested 720p in the Lynx platform article.

[noko]

Yes you did and much appreciated. Many folks do have 720p HDTV sets as a note. Plus at 720p one can turn up the quality features, for my 5570 I rather game Dirt 2 with high settings, 4xaa at 720 then go higher in resolution and med settings with worst frame rates at a lower AA setting. At a distance the 720p and extra rendering features turns out better.

[caveman-jim]

Thanks for your feedback

[infotree]

I just purchased this Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 Ultimate card to go along with my ASUS F1A75-M Pro/AMD A8-3850 and noticed a few issues with a HDTV video connection.

I have to use the motherboard HDMI jack in order to have sound. Using the Sapphire Radeon HD6670 HDMI jack results in no sound.

Would the Sapphire Audio on card be better than the motherboard onboard audio of ALC892?

In checking the Windows Experience Index, I see my graphics/gaming graphics score drops by 0.1 with crossfire with motherboard HDMI jack, increased by 0.4 using crossfire/no crossfire with Sapphire HDMI jack (but with no sound).

I'm guessing WEI only utilizes the primary video output, not combined.

[caveman-jim]

WEI isn't really a good indicator of actual performance, you can safely ignore that.

ALC892 is at least comparable to the integrated HDMI audio inside the card, both are provided by Realtek and I think the ALC892 is actually better (higher SNR, better bitrate support).

If you plug into the mainboard HDMI port, you're still using the HD audio built into the APU in your A8-3850 - same chip as in the Sappihre 6670. To use the ALC892 you'd need to use the analog outputs, or the S/PDIF or optical outputs.

To use the HDMI port on the Sappihre 6670, you'd need to follow the instructions in the mainboard manual for configuring Dual Graphics to use the discrete card as the primary device. This won't gain you anything in terms of audio, as the APU and GPU have the same audio capabilities. It would let you use the improved Render Back End's (RBE's) in the GPU core instead of the older ones in the APU, however I don't think you'll ever notice a difference and you'll use more power.

[infotree]

Thanks alot, caveman-jim!!

My brain neglected to note that HD audio is utilized as you pointed out.

Back into bios, changed primary video output and then crossfire in AMD Vision panel and viola....

Now using the Sapphire HDMI port with HD audio (working now! ) to our HDTV.

Your knowledge and help is appreciated!!

infotree

[caveman-jim]

glad to help, enjoy it!

[infotree]

I'm wondering if you noticed dual graphics activity in crossfire using the AMDSystem Monitor software in your testing/review?

For me while using 6670 HDMI output port it shows the AMD Radeon HD 6690D2 dual graphics processing but only activity for the HD 6600, zero activity for the 6550D. In the APU Resource Distribution bar it shows only CPU use, zero activity for GPU cores.

However, if I use 6690D2 crossfire with the motherboard HDMI outport port, it shows simultaneous activity for both the HD 6600 and the 6550D. Now in the APU Resource Distribution bar it shows activity for both CPU and GPU cores.

Would it be correct to assume that optimal use in 6690D2 crossfire one would be better to use the 6670 DVI-D/HDMI output ports over the motherboard DVI-D-HDMI output ports?

[caveman-jim]

Yes, it showed dual GPU usage for me in both configurations. Depends on the application for desktop use, though.

Depends what you call optimal for which one you want to use, lower power by using the motherboard outputs, but you get the improved RBE's, AF for the dGPU.

[L4dd]

I found this review to be insightful, so thanks!
However, I would spring for a 6770, as it looks as though it is close to a 5770, and 5770s were no slouches.

[caveman-jim]

A 6770 is a 5770.

[infotree]

Thank you.

[noko]

There is a wealth of information in this review, particulary the power draw. 85w APU and 135w with Dual Graphics Mode 6790D2 running 3dMark11 .

This is way with in power requirements I need for custom build and C64x rig. I will be using less power needing ram, hard drive too, simplier motherboard. Also impressed with the performance gained with Dual Graphics mode, when it works it really does increase performance .

My next question since Dual Graphics Mode works in Linux is how well with OpenGL games and programs? Reason why I ask is it appears that DX9 is not supported for Dual Graphics Mode in windows not sure about OpenGL in windows either?