XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB Single Slot Review

Ever since it’s initial release, ATI’s HD 5770 hasn’t been getting all that much coverage on the pages of Hardware Canucks. Even though there were numerous non-reference versions introduced, virtually none of them made it to mass market release status and our usual prerequisites held firmly in place: we don’t want to review a product our readers won’t be able to go out and buy. Well, several companies are now (finally) coming out with some unique HD 5770 cards that will be widely available or can already be found at most larger retailers. So it’s time we put our noses to the grindstone and start taking a look at some of these new budget-friendly GPUs.

In the last few weeks we have seen a rash of announcements from ATI’s board partners which talk about their new single slot HD 5770 cards. Powercolor was the first out of the gates followed closely by XFX with their own unique design. Naturally, the thought of a single slot, sub-$180 card with high performance aspirations piqued our interest so here we sit with an XFX HD 5770 1GB single slot card.

Most enthusiasts will likely thumb their nose at this card since what they want is the ability to overclock to their heart’s content and not worry too much about high temperatures. Small form factor and HTPC users on the other hand have been itching to get their hands on a single slot DX11 card which offers reasonable performance for some time now. They don’t necessarily care about overclocking nor is there any concern about slightly higher temperatures which makes single slot cards absolutely perfect in this segment of the market. However, for them silence is golden while the framerate junkies out there don’t really care all that much about a bit of fan noise.

Striking a balance between performance, cooling power and noise in a single slot solution isn’t easy but XFX is looking to do just that. They also add in their Double Lifetime Warranty as icing on the cake so if anything, this new HD 5770 is one of the best covered in the industry. It is also important to note that XFX’s single slot version is a good $10 more than most other HD 5770s on the market but there will supposedly be a $15 mail in rebate offered with the first batch destined for retailers.

Like most others, we have some high expectations for this card. It may not set any speed records but we know it should have the chops to provide excellent framerates without breaking the bank.