Sapphire Radeon HD4550 512 MB DDR3 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card 100252HDMI Review

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Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 512MB Low-Profile Video Card

Computer the part was used in:
Dell Inspiron 531s
AMD Athlon X2 5000+
3GB DDR2 SDRAM
250 Watt PSU
w/Vista Home Premium

Objective:
I wanted to find a suitable video card for my slim-line Inspiron 531s.
LOW PROFILE: Full-size graphics cards are too large for slim cases, which meant the card had to be low-profile.The Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 can be easily converted to low-profile by moving the VGA port from beside the DVI port to below the DVI port.The card comes equipped with everything you need to do this.
POWER SUPPLY: I was also limited by the 250 Watt power supply (most cards require 350w or higher).The 4550 lists a requirement of 300 Watts but even with my PC running full-tilt the total draw should rarely exceed 200 Watts.
PRICE: At ~$50 this card is a great deal for what you pay.

Packaging/accessories:
The card came packaged in an attractive box with plenty of padding for safe shipping.Contents included the video card, two separate metal docks for low-profile cases, and a sheet of basic directions.The directions did not include instructions for converting the full size card to low-profile, but the conversion is relatively simple and easy to do yourself.Still, more thorough directions would have been appreciated.

Performance:
MEDIA: The card performs admirably for all Media Center / Home Theater purposes.Video and photo editing is fast and smooth and the card has no trouble displaying anything at my native resolution of 1440x900.It's also very quiet thanks to passive cooling (no noisy fan), meaning you won't hear yourPC humming along during a movie.The HDMI port is also handy for transmitting HD content and 7.1 channel audio.This is an ideal card for a media center / home theater PC.

GAMING: This card is not the best choice for gamers.As a casual gamer I was satisfied with the cards performance during older games like Half-Life 2, Dawn of War, and Portal, which all ran smoothly with maxed out settings.However later games are more difficult for this card; even Company of Heroes had to be turned down to medium-high settings before the frame rate smoothed out.In order to play games like Crysis or GTA4 the settings will have to be turned down quite low or the framerate will suffer.Once again, this is not a card for serious gamers.

Support:
So far there have been no problems so I haven't sought any technical support.The catalyst drivers are excellent and up to date.

Overall:
Pros: Price is great for anyone on a budget, the low-profile feature is great for anyone with a slim case, modest power consumption, HDMI/DVI/VGA slots are perfect for multimedia
Cons: Sub-par for playing the latest games, conversion to low-profile is not documented in the directions and is somewhat of a tight fit

Conclusion:
The best low-profile video card for the price, and great for any home theater PC.
4/5 Stars
8/05/2009

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Product Description:
Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 Graphics Card ATi Radeon HD 4550 600 MHz - 512 MB GDDR3 SDRAM 64 bit - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - DVI, HDMI, HD-15 - Retail

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