Sapphire Radeon HD5570 1GB DDR3 Single & Crossfire Review

A Closer Look at the Sapphire HD 5570 1GB pg.2

We did notice a slight difference in the heatsink design between the Sapphire card and a reference sample we were provided. From what we can tell, the Sapphire HD 5570 makes use of a solid aluminum-based heatsink that covers the GPU core but not the full die as opposed to the copper-based full coverage unit used on the ATI reference sample. While it may look like the Sapphire heatsink has a cut-down design, we believe it to be slightly superior due to the fact that it can draw in additional cool air from the back of the assembly.


The backplate shows us one of the reasons we are a bit disappointed in this particular card and indeed ATI’s reference sample as well. Basically, it forgoes an HDMI output for Eyefinity support and a legacy VGA output. We know that there will be some Sapphire HD 5570 cards released with HDMI outputs but we just wish this was one of them.


The length of this card is the same as the HD 5670 and HD 5450 which is about as short as a graphics card can get while building within the limits for the PCI-E slot. One way or another, you WILL be able to fit this card into your case…length-wise.