We have always had problems endorsing the sub-$100 video card. Usually, for an amount less than the video game you intend to play, you can get a card that can actually play said game, unless you really don't care about turning the detail setting up, which as far as we're concerned, is the way the developers intended it. And they come with lots of memory and no hardware to drive it, inadequate, bottom dollar cooling, and disappointment. But we're about to tell you that the Radeon HD 4670 isn't a complete waste. We know, weird right? Now, it's just one of many options, which we'll get to in a minute. But for the first time since ever, eighty bucks will let you play Crysis. - TechLounge

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB Video Card Review

Well Crysis, admittedly, not on high. But everything else maxed out, with anti-aliasing, and at your display's native resolution. It's been a long time since PC gaming has been an every man's persuasion, and thanks to ATI, it is again even if you're sticking with NVIDIA. Sapphire's sent us one of their industry redeeming little wonders. It's a stock affair, but you know there's nothing wrong with that. Sapphire's entry is not so unleet that it goes without blue PCB. The heatsink is smallish, but the fan is actually larger than the one on a Radeon HD 4850, even if the heatsink is aluminum and not copper it still does a great job.

This is a single slot card, and there are still two CrossFire connectors at the top, something we're sure won't get used too often. The PCB is barely longer than the PCI Express connectors, and it has no use for auxiliary power. Loaded with the latest features, these Radeon HD 4600 series graphics cards deliver a level of gaming performance previously only found in high-end graphics cards. Redefine the way you play high definition games and enjoy unprecedented levels of graphics realism powered by 320 stream processing units, up to 1GB of memory and support for DirectX 10.1 games which are coming in the near future.

We were able to overclock the memory a clean 280MHz, this serves to add much needed memory bandwidth, and helps close the gap between it and the other cards well. The core on the other hand, only overclocked 28MHz more, or just three percent. This is either a fluke or a bad sign. But it's certainly not the cooling, which is more than adequate. Getting a Radeon HD 4670 isn't a bad decision, but it's also not the only decision. At the time of its release, it was performance at a fraction of the price of NVIDIA's competing cards. Meaning that NVIDIA has taken some corrective actions for their products.

But they have lowered their prices, and for the same number of dollars, you can get a GeForce 9600 GSO which is a faster card. For an extra $20 you can get a GeForce 9600 GT, which is also faster, particularly when playing DirectX 9.0c games. The advantages of getting a Radeon HD 4670 are two-fold. It is better with video playback, and it consumes an insignificant amount of power, like almost half of the GeForce 9600's. For the niche market of home theatre PC's that double as gaming PC's, it's an easy decision, and for the same reason it's a smart buy for anyone concerned about energy costs.

Add to it the number of motherboards that are hybrid CrossFire capable, and the reasons to buy this entry-level video card stack up. But from an apples to dollars perspective, it's not clearly superior. It did at the very least, bring down prices across the board, and that's good for any buyer.