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On the test bed to my right is a pair of Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire graphics cards churning out over 100fps in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat using maximum in-game quality settings. Then to my left is a similar configured test bed with a single Radeon HD 5450 rendering what can only be described as a medium quality slide show of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. Of course we are making an apples to oranges comparison here, or as I prefer, an apples to a lemon comparison. Although my extreme comparison may be pitching a pair of $400 US graphics cards against what will likely be a $50 US product, the fact that they are both members of the Radeon HD 5000 series troubles me. I would say that the new Radeon HD 5450 goes as far as to tarnish the good name of the Radeon HD 5000 series. Of course I am sure AMD is just trying to use the strong reputation of the Radeon HD 5000 series to flog their latest low-end product. I’m just not sure if this is an intelligent move on their behalf. Our issue with the Radeon HD 5450 is not so much that it is unbearably slow, but more the fact that we see no real purpose to this product. Looking at the current market position, we have the GeForce GT 220 retailing for $60 (512MB) - $70 (1GB), while the Radeon HD 4650 is priced at $50 (512MB) - $60 (1GB). Both graphics cards are considerably faster than the Radeon HD 5450.  The Radeon HD 4350, which the Radeon HD 5450 looks to be replacing based on the performance we saw, is priced at just $35 (512MB) - $45 (1GB). Therefore we expect that the Radeon HD 5450 will enter the market at these price points, depending on capacity. Should the Radeon HD 5450 immediately become available at $35 then it will replace the Radeon HD 4350 nicely. Update: We just got word from AMD that the Radeon HD 5450 will launch at $50 (512MB) and $60 (1GB) which based on the results we saw is far too expensive for this product. However the question still remains as to what to do with such a gutless DirectX 11 graphics card. Clearly gaming is off the table, as the Radeon HD 5450 really is unfit to play anything released within the last 5 years, at least with any kind of respectable visual settings enabled. Essentially the Radeon HD 5450 does nothing the older Radeon HD 4350/4650 graphics cards cannot. Though having said that, the possibility to use Eyefinity does exist, well at least on certain cards anyway. AMD has informed us that their new Eyefinity technology, which is exclusive to the Radeon HD 5000 series, will be supported by select Radeon HD 5450 products. As we understand it, premium Radeon HD 5450 models will offer triple monitor support. Therefore, if this is a feature you require, then an Eyefinity enabled Radeon HD 5450 will likely be the cheapest way to get your hands on this technology. Bottom-line, the Radeon HD 5450 does not feel like a step forward for low-end graphics cards, it offers the same lackluster performance and it will likely do so at the same price. It really does feel as though AMD are letting Nvidia off the hook here. Instead of smashing the GeForce 210/220/240 graphics cards with quality budget Radeon HD 5000 products, AMD is simply matching what is already available. The end result is a new graphics card with a new model name that essentially has nothing new to offer. Reviewed By Steven Walton |
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Threefeet |
Posted on: 02/16/2010 03:12 AM
I actually really enjoyed reading that review, weirdly enough. Why on earth did they send it to you Steve?! |
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Steve Posts: 76 Joined: 2010-02-08 |
Posted on: 02/16/2010 10:07 AM
Well we cover all new products, even the unexciting ones  |
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johnMarsh Posts: 2 Joined: 2010-02-19 |
Posted on: 02/20/2010 05:29 AM
If you've been paying attention to the recent Radeon launches, then you know there's a lot more to like than just gaming performance: the Eyefinity multi-monitor support and Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Master Audio over a protected audio path features mentioned above actually carry over across all members of the 5000-series seen thus far. Anyone excited by those value-adds thus far will be happy to see that they are once again exposed on today's replacement of the Radeon HD 4350 and 4550 cards. Let's take a closer look at the new Radeon HD 5450 and draw some conclusions about how well it serves that low-end discrete audience. We know it's not a gaming card, but we cant help ourselves; we'll even check out gaming performance for the sake of being thorough. |
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Steve Posts: 76 Joined: 2010-02-08 |
Posted on: 02/20/2010 07:00 AM
Thanks for the feedback John. I have been paying attention to the recent Radeon launches as I have covered them all and will be covering the new Radeon HD 5830 this week in fact. The conclusion did discuss the benefits of the ATI Radeon HD 5450 such as Eyefinity on certain models. While both Eyefinity and Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI are nice features I still felt that the Radeon HD 5450 was far too expensive. I give my honest opinion to try and protect the reader/potential buyer. |
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Gayle |
Posted on: 04/07/2010 12:26 AM
It would be good if you could include benchmarks for the current onboard graphics when doing these low end card reviews. It would be usefull to get a baseline - what do you get for your $50-60 over the onboard graphics. Otherwise good review. |
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Mel |
Posted on: 05/22/2010 12:59 PM
I'm shopping for a new home computer. I'm not a gamer, but I am looking at computers which have one of these low end graphics cards included as part of the preassembled package. I found your review helpful because it confirmed what I had expected, that these cards are too slow for today's games but probably won't add much of anything to a non-gamer's experience. I suspect including these cards is more of a marketing tool, to suggest to buyers that they are getting a more sophisticated computer because it has a seperate graphics card rather than integrated graphics. Anyway, thanks for the review. It was very useful to me. |
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Dave |
Posted on: 06/29/2010 10:33 PM
I just bought this 5450 card for my new Dell. I bought a splitter for the monitor but for some reason I can't get it to *spread the screen* over both of them. It simply outputs the same on both monitors. I can't find any help anywhere. Any thoughts, since you guys seem like experts? Thanks. |
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Supacon Posts: 1 Joined: 2010-07-14 |
Posted on: 07/14/2010 07:32 AM
I'm really curious as to weather the card that you reviewed (with VGA, DVI, and HDMI) actually can support three displays. I know that officially, only models with a displayport support Eyefinity, but I just want to connect three independent monitors for office use - not for gaming. I'd like to pass audio through from the HDMI port to an HDTV, while using a DVI and VGA monitor at the same time. Thus far NOBODY that has reviewed one of these cards has tested this! |
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Steve V |
Posted on: 10/14/2010 03:16 PM
I bought the ati radeon hd 5450 and i can say im quite happy with it. I play alot of video games that i have purchased off of steam. It runs borderlands, left for dead 2, street fighter 4 ,star wars the force unleashed, and mass effect 2 all with no problems what so ever ..I wouldnt call this a crappy gaming card, maybe not the best out there but damn good for the cash and if u would want to go bigger you could always crossfire! |