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About LinkBacksRead more.Bringing Radeon 5000-series goodness down to £40, we examine if the GPU is a good buy.
Read more.Bringing Radeon 5000-series goodness down to £40, we examine if the GPU is a good buy.
Interesting review, but I can't help wondering why we didn't see a HD4550 in the mix as a comparison to the previous generation's matching card? Given that the two have an almost identical specification I assume there wouldn't actually be any improvement in 3D performance over the previous generation...?
It'd be nice if the 5570 really does fill the gap between this and the 5670 - I was rather disappointed when the 4550 was identical to the 4350 but with DDR3! Since the 5450 has DDR3 has a memory option already I assume the 5570 has more stream processors? *impatient* grrrr
I can't understand why they would make a low profile card which has such a wide heatsink. If it is designed for use in small cases, taking up an extra pci slot just seems to defeat the objective.
DON'T buy this for a HTPC in the UK if you plan on using DVB-S to record any HD channels in Media Center (Freesat). There is a longstanding issue with ATI cards which produces blocking on HD recordings which has been recognised by ATI and Microsoft, but not fixed:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/352954/a...s-in-windows-7
Until this is fixed, there are many disappointed ATI owners who have been sold these cards on 'multimedia capabilities'
Only really interesting as an silent HTPC card. Looking at it to upgrade the the HD3200 IGP solution (as has UVD 2.0 etc.) but wondering if the 2 can do hybrid crossfire or will the newer features be compromised. Annoying that to get full HD performance (such as vector adapter de interlacing) you probably need to go one step more to a 5670 which is not passive. Hoping the mentioned 5570 will fit that niche.
Yes, I'm sure there are millions of people with that exact problem...Originally Posted by db298
No, they can't.
Problem solved
Sorry. The HD3200 will only hybrid crossfire with 2400 / HD3400 cards.
The feature set of the HD5450 and the HD5670 are identical. The only difference is that this has less stream processors, giving it lower 3D performance.
Last edited by scaryjim; 04-02-2010 at 03:27 PM.
Seems to either be over priced or under powered.
Radeon HD 4670 for £50 seems like a much much better buy than this. Think the 5450 will drop to £30 soonish.
But for those who have shelled out for a freesat dish, a DVB-S card for their shiny new HTPC and an ATI card or IGP (I understand it's a problem across the board with ATI), all hoping to get access to BBC HD, it would be very annoying.Yes, I'm sure there are millions of people with that exact problem...
and yes, I am one of those people who have considered doing this, so I guess I'm biased. With HTPC's, there's no other way to get access to HD TV broadcasts though. I think there are ways to get access to Sky channels if you use a card reader, but as I understand it, it's against Sky's T&C's. That & Sky are continually trying to make it so you can't in an Apple vs Jailbreakers kind of way. So freesat is the only way, just not with ATI hardware.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's incredibly annoying for people who are in that situation. But it's only going to affect a minute proportion of potential customers. It's not good for AMD that the problem exists, but I can understand why it wouldn't be a top priority for them to fix.
Hi,
My first post so forgive if anything is wrong!!
i have a dell 521 (nothing special but hey, we all start somewhere..lol)
I've got a Point of view 8600gt low profile in mine,
would the HD 5450 inprove graphics over the 8600gt?? i know it has direct 11
anyhelp would be good
thanks
JUst Learning
That looks like the ATI reference card to me.
Have a look at a retail card:
That's a single slot heatsink.
Had the Sapphire card in my HTPC for a day now and am impressed. Picture quality is so much better than the onboard HD3200 I used before. Needs a bit of tuning in the catalyst video settings though to really stand out. Does not seem to run too hot for a passive solution in a cramped case with low levels of air-flow.
Short answer... probably not, unless you're interested in the media features - HDMI, audio
passthrough, slightly better blu-ray off-load/decode.
The forthcoming 5570 (I think - due in next couple of weeks, I believe) is also low profile,
fitting in between this card and the 5670. On paper, it looks to be a significant step above
the 5450 all-round, although it will have active cooling in its low-profile form.
Since there are question-marks over the 5450 in terms of its de-interlace/picture quality
capabilities (not enough shading power - see anandtech), the 5570 may be the one to go for.
Here's hoping they do a larger, passive version!
What is it with ATI and reference cooling solutions that hardly ever make it to retail? Remember the big-ass cooler that was alledgedly the original "reference" cooler on the 4770, but then only appeared on one 4770 about 6 months after launch? It seems to be standard ATI policy now that the reference cooler is designed for press photography, rather than to actually cool the graphics card...
It does seem a little underpowered.. but then, that's what the 5550's for, I guess! Or the 5470.
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