Upgraded? to HD 5450

[achristie]

I went from a HD 4550 to 5450 with 2gb and my Windows Experience went from 5.0 to 4.0.
Installed the latest drivers.
So what bone headed error have I made?

 

[jyjjy]

First off I wouldn't concern yourself with the "Windows Experience" index. It's pretty much useless.
Second you didn't actual get a better card in terms of performance. The HD5450 is basically equal or very slightly slower than HD4550(for gaming, though neither are really gaming cards.) The 2gb of memory on that card is entirely pointless as cards of this caliber cannot even fully use 512mb of memory. It does have some more current A/V features compared to the HD4550 if you are going to be using it mainly for watching movies in conjunction with a decent home theater setup.
Basically the error you made was posting questions here about your "upgrade" after the fact rather than before.

 

[jaguarskx]

It's actually a downgrade based on the above benchmarks. The only thing the HD 5450 has over the HD 4550 is that it can do DirectX 11 effects. However, DX11 effects requires some additional horsepower and having a little less horsepower in you newer card makes DX11 a non issue.

Return the card for a refund if you can.

Generally speaking in raw performance (DX11 performance excluded) of low end cards:

HD 4350 < HD 5450 < HD 4550 < HD 5550 <= HD 4650 <= HD 5570 < HD 4670 < HD 5670

 

[achristie]

.
Basically the error you made was posting questions here about your "upgrade" after the fact rather than before.

Absolutely!
Let's do it right. I have a quad core processor and a 300w PS.
And I'd like to be able to use the large/huge maps in Civilization V. Even with the graphics options bottomed out it crashes late into the game.

A bigger PS would mean more options, but would like to keep things below $100.

 

[geekapproved]

I went from a HD 4550 to 5450 with 2gb and my Windows Experience went from 5.0 to 4.0.
Installed the latest drivers.
So what bone headed error have I made?

5450 is slower than 4550. You did not upgrade, you downgraded.

 

[jyjjy]

you can grab an ATI 5670 for around $75, it will run on a 300w PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102870&cm_re=sapphire_5670-_-14-102-870-_-Product

^+1
This is what you want with a 300w PSU.

 

[megamanx00]

Return that 5450. Do it right now. Even if you clocked it the same as the 4550 it would actually be slightly slower in DX10 games since AMD did have to sacrifice some DX10 efficiency for DX11 functionality. Doesn't matter with those cards though because slow and slower are both slow ^_^

 

[achristie]

Best answer selected by achristie.

 

[achristie]

Thanks all for the timely advice. Feel better now.
I returned the 5450 and ordered the 5670.
Bonus! - there's a $10 rebate on it.

 

[jyjjy]

Good call. FYI the HD5670 will be a massive improvement. The card is roughly 3 times as powerful as either the HD4550 or HD5450.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey