ATI Radeon HD 5450: Eyefinity And HTPCs For Everyone?

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead And H.A.W.X.

With shaders set to medium and all other details set to high, Left 4 Dead is one of the most beautiful games on the market, requiring remarkably little power from graphics hardware. Even the GeForce 210 delivers playable performance at this setting. The new Radeon HD 5450 shows an alarming deficit compared to its predecessor. Despite this fact, both of these cards handle 1680x1050 quite well. The Radeon HD 4650, on the other hand, doesn't even drop below an average frame rate of 70 at this higher resolution.

H.A.W.X. is another game that looks gorgeous, despite relatively low graphics requirements. But none of the lower-end cards fare well here. The Radeon HD 4650 is the only card that really owns this title. Note that the GeForce 9500 GT doesn't have DirectX 10.1 compatibility and is therefore only benchmarked in the game's DirectX 10 mode. The advanced mode doesn't seem to offer much benefit to the cards that do support it, however.

Don Woligroski
76 Comments Comment from the forums
  • popaholic
    For the all the idiots out there, yes it can run Crysis, slightly.

    Whats the point of releasing a new graphics card thats worse than older cards? It runs Dx11 but there's no way it could even run a supported game.

    Reply
  • The links to the article pages are either missing or directed wrongly. For example, the "Power and Temperature Benchmarks", "Conclusion" pages are missing or directed wrongly.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    serokichimThe links to the article pages are either missing or directed wrongly. For example, the "Power and Temperature Benchmarks", "Conclusion" pages are missing or directed wrongly.
    Try refreshing the page. Should be working correctly now!
    Reply
  • robertking82881
    well those that are not gameing but want direct x11 can pick this up
    Reply
  • acasel
    a crossfire config with this video card + overclock will make this article much better in a gamers point of view...
    Reply
  • cleeve
    acasela crossfire config with this video card + overclock will make this article much better in a gamers point of view...
    Not really, look at the specs. In CrossFire these cards would cost $100 for a total 160 shader cores. They still wouldn't hold a candle to a single $100 5670 when gaming, which has 400 shader cores all by itself.

    CrossFiring the 5450 would be a total waste.
    Reply
  • masterjaw
    Passively-cooled 5450 in crossfire = fail

    How do you expect it to handle the increase in temps? Even if you got some good airflow inside the case, that won't be sufficient.
    Reply
  • footsoldier
    Kinda failed product, ATI..focus on price drop plssss! But still, ATI rocks
    Reply
  • skora
    How selfish you all are thinking THG only does gaming cards!!!! When ATI cuts the hardware (shaders/ROPs) to the bone, its not about gaming. Its for the HTPC and multi-monitor office crowd and thats it. It's a niche card and looks to do that admirably.
    Reply
  • shubham1401
    Lol...
    They needed a i7 and 1200W PSU to test this card... :)

    Useless...Either get a good card or stick with integrated.
    Reply