Introduction

Normally we would get our reference ATI product in time for the launch, but I think with holidays and the fact that we already had a retail version ready for the NDA lift, along with the fact that the model probably doesn't draw the same attention as some of the higher end ones, it came a little later than normal.

It did arrive, however, and that is ultimately what matters. It's just a matter of deciding what we're going to do with it. Having already looked at one HD 5670 and being impressed with what the model is able to do for its $99 price tag, we'll have to see how the ATI reference one looks.

While reference cards tend to be a bit boring in many ways, it's good to look at them all the same; they set a base point of which each variant of the card can be compared against. It's good to know how much better companies coolers are when compared to a reference one along with performance numbers when comparing to an overclocked version.

We'll decide what to do with it in just a few moments. Before we do that, we'll have a quick look at the card itself and the specifications. Since the model is a reference one, there's no package to look at this time around, so let's get stuck into the card.