ADVERTORIAL: ATI Radeon HD 4650/70: Top Value for Bottom Dollar : Finding Gold in the Old

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ADVERTORIAL: ATI Radeon HD 4650/70: Top Value for Bottom Dollar

1:20 PM - 10/11/2009 by Bestofmedia Team

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1 – Finding Gold in the Old
2 – Generation Gap
3 – Going Beyond Integrated
4 – 4650/4670: Basic Specs
5 – 4650/4670: Visual Quality

All right, so the AMD ATI Radeon HD 5000-series graphics generation has arrived and quickly swept the field in performance tests. If you want the whole story backed up by benchmark tests and deeply technical explanation, see our recent coverage here (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5870,2422.html). We love a great come-back story as much as anybody else, but the fact remains that a lot of buyers can’t spring $350+ for the latest dream card, much less two of them to run in a dual-card configuration.

In reality, there are two kinds of graphics enthusiasts: those who will buy the latest and greatest no matter what and those who stand ready to pounce on yesterday’s must-have technology at freshly (and deeply) discounted prices. There’s nothing like a little recession to help boost the ranks of the latter group, so we thought we’d turn the spotlight just a bit and revisit AMD’s former mainstream stars, the 4670 and 4650. Why? Because while cards based on the new HD 5870 may be selling for $379, HD 4650 and HD 4670 cards start at about $55 and $67, respectively.

If you feel like getting 80% of the ATI bang for only 20% of the flagship’s bucks, then read on. We think there’s still a very persuasive case to be made for going a little retro.

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wesleywatson 10/11/2009 9:03 PM

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I would keep reading, but a giant fucking ad keeps covering half the pages.

mlcloud 10/11/2009 9:19 PM

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At least give us the links to some of the 4650/70 benchmarks... Other than that, great read, great recommendations, looking to upgrade my pentium 4, 1.4ghz 256mb (ddr). Was looking at using the HD4200 on the 785g series from AMD, but if I can make a true gaming computer out of it ... hm... tempting.

Anonymous 10/11/2009 11:30 PM

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I'm waiting for a HIS HD4670 1GB to arrive soon. It even has HDMI output.

Got it really cheap from newegg. It'll do fine with my Intel E5200. Nothing like a super gaming machine, but hope to play TF2 and L4D with good gfx. That's all i play atm.

tortnotes 10/12/2009 2:50 AM

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Advertorial? How much did AMD pay for this?
Not that it's not good content, but come on. Doesn't Tom's make enough from normal ads?

duckmanx88 10/12/2009 3:00 AM

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mlcloud :
Was looking at using the HD4200 on the 785g series from AMD, but if I can make a true gaming computer out of it ... hm... tempting.

on their gaming charts the 4670 is listed. plays FEAR 2 pretty well. i assume it can than handle all Source games as well but at lower resolutions, medium settings, no AA, the usual.

Anonymous 10/12/2009 4:30 AM

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Assuming I'm assembling a new system and the HD 4650/4670 is the most cost-effective graphics card... what then is the most cost-effective processor to pair with it?

Anonymous 10/12/2009 4:52 AM

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Good thing to see ATI marketing their 4650/4670.

I was hoping to see more of their mid-range cards.

winterlord 10/12/2009 5:51 AM

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great article these are some nice cards for the price, i wonder though if you got 2 of them and tried to put them in a crossfire config. since they dont require a power source, other then the pci-e slot, would 2 of them cause any problems drawing all that current through the motherboard? kinda wondering if there would be any impact there.

Anonymous 10/12/2009 11:18 AM

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-1

Ati making great job. In my office there was need to meka PC with 6 individual monitors. Solution - mainboard asus p5q-e + 3 ati 3650 video cards with vga+DVI outputs. Great working very cheep in cost. Tried to meke the same with nvidia 8400gt - no result 4 monitors individual maximum. Ati - rulezzz

lien 10/12/2009 3:50 PM

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+

Installed an Sapphire 4650 AGP on a backup system in August.
Overclocked it & almost pissed myself on how good the image quality was on that system.
Article confirms....

value based articles are refreshing

jtt283 10/12/2009 5:02 PM

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I absolutely agree. The Ferrari / Focus analogy is particularly apt. If I didn't already have a 4850 in my primary system, another 4670 like the one in my secondary would have been fine (I don't play Crysis).
As far as running two of them on mobo power, some mobos have an auxiliary molex power connector on them to help with this.

winterlord 10/12/2009 5:52 PM

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anyone see the charts for the 4650? i went to the link (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards,1.html and looked everywhere, like 3 times over and even used the find on page , feautre in internet explorer and could not find it anywhere.

cinergy 10/12/2009 7:33 PM

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Nice article. Here is a benchie against nvidia's latest: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?a [...] pert&pid=3

winterlord 10/12/2009 8:12 PM

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they have a great article that is up today on toms homepage. just noticed. and it has the 4650 and 4670. thanks
here is the link. but im sure everyone seen it alrdy on homepage since its new
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2445.html

ryanegeiger 10/12/2009 9:08 PM

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"Advertorial"... this is a result of the new legistlation requiring all 'bloggers' to disclose whether or not they're paid for their articles.

stardude82 10/12/2009 10:59 PM

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falkner :
Assuming I'm assembling a new system and the HD 4650/4670 is the most cost-effective graphics card... what then is the most cost-effective processor to pair with it?

I guess it depends what you want to use it for really. For watching high-def video, it doesn't matter much since all the processing is done on the GPU. The new dual-core Celerons/Athlons are great for this. For gaming, Toms has a pretty good monthly "Best Gaming CPU for the Money." Though again, it won't matter much since the GPU will be the bottle neck, though the ~$80 E6300 and Athlon II x2 250 are both phenomenal overclockers.

cangelini 10/13/2009 9:56 AM

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ryanegeiger :
"Advertorial"... this is a result of the new legistlation requiring all 'bloggers' to disclose whether or not they're paid for their articles.

No, this is a result of an editorial department that cares about its readers by drawing a clear line between editorial and advertorial content, and still trying to make the advertorial educational/worth reading.

Anonymous 10/13/2009 7:40 PM

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As a HD 4650 GDDR3 user i totally agree with this article.

Gintok 10/13/2009 9:32 PM

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Quote :This approach also works with Hybrid CrossFireX, which teams a compatible discrete Radeon card (including the 4650 or 4670) with a compatible IGP.

I'm confused, I thought Hybrid CrossFireX only supported 3 desktop card, the ATI 2400, 3450 and 3470 NOT the 4650 or 4670. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Honis 10/14/2009 9:32 PM

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They need to mark Advert even if they weren't directly paid. Any gift, like letting Tom's keep the video cards, counts in this legislation. Tom's could write an article absolutely crushing a product but still be required to mark it as advert because they get to keep the company's product.

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