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

Hidden Values

We’ve hit the high points of why the HD 4650 and 4670 are so attractive as a budget-oriented option for high-performance video and graphics, but there are more you’ll discover along the way. For instance, in one of our office systems, we used to have an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 420 card, originally valued at $399, for displaying up to four monitors from one card slot. However, as we’ve made the jump to Windows 7 and our apps and usage has evolved, daily work was simply more than the NVS card could bear. We opted to replace the NVS with a two-slot solution: a Radeon HD 4550 and HD 4650 card. This gave us a dramatic improvement in graphics performance, let us keep support for up to four monitors (thanks to having two DVI outputs per card and ATI’s drivers that allow desktop spanning across multiple monitors), and kept the price tag down around $100. With a slightly different configuration, we could have used a motherboard with integrated AMD graphics and a 4650/4670 add-in card to achieve the same results, although we really wanted the extra performance of the 4550 above what an IGP could provide.

Also note that the HD 4670 is one of if not the most powerful graphics solutions that doesn’t require an on-card power connector. All necessary power comes from the PCIe bus. Step into the 4800 series and you lose this freedom. Some people can’t stand cable clutter and some power supplies may not support modern graphics card power leads. The HD 46xx cards help on both fronts.

Around the $60-ish price point, we often talk about graphics cards being “good enough.” Hopefully, we’ve shown by now that the HD 4650 and 4670 go far beyond good enough. For this price, the feature sets and performance you can expect are excellent. No matter what the economy does, we all need upgrades. The industry is continually advancing. But keeping pace and maintaining your satisfaction and enjoyment with your PC doesn’t have to be expensive. These AMD card options can breathe fresh life into an old box or convert a new, bargain-priced system into an entertainment powerhouse.

  • wesleywatson
    I would keep reading, but a giant fucking ad keeps covering half the pages.
    Reply
  • mlcloud
    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.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • tortnotes
    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?
    Reply
  • duckmanx88
    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.
    Reply
  • 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?
    Reply
  • Good thing to see ATI marketing their 4650/4670.

    I was hoping to see more of their mid-range cards.
    Reply
  • WINTERLORD
    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.
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • lien
    +

    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
    Reply