HD 4670 512mb or 1GB for Non gaming

TheCaveman

HI all

I would like to upgrade my GPU, without upgrading my power supple in my Dell Inspiron 545.

I do not play games, but recode a lot of HD material, and watch full HD movies, so DVI and HMDI a must

did a search, and all seem to suggest that I can upgrade to a HD 4670 without the need for external power.

So, as there are so many outipns out there, can you please geve me a sugestion as to what model to get.

Currently running Win 7 Ultimate 64x

PowerColor Radeon HD 4670 "PCS" 512MB - €56
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=449923

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 -€60
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=490454

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 - €61 Silent edition leaning towards this one - Heatpipe
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=426718

or,

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 1GB GDDR3 - €62
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=490455

this one gets good reviews over on Newegg, as it is silent with good cooling

marco_polo

For what you need something half the price like a HD4350 would do you just fine. No need for any memory higher than 512 either, the extra memory in a 1 Gb card (and the cash required) is a total waste at the lower end of the scale.

None of the HD4350s have a fan, so they are very quiet as well.

Effluo

marco_polo wrote: »

None of the HD4350s have a fan, so they are very quiet as well.

+1

They are also a safer bet for the dell psu!

Just make sure that whatever you get, get an ati as most nvidia cards do not support sound over hdmi!

Also check if your case is a low profile case. (If it's thinner than a regular pc) as some cards may not fit it.

The 4350 is prob the best option though

TheCaveman

forgot to post in my first post that i currently have an 4350

did a lot of research, and most people can upgrade safely to a 4670, well alot did

other option is to also upgrade PSU, than get a better card

Normal cards up to 9 inches will fit in my case

Effluo

If you already have one why do you want another card?

marco_polo

TheCaveman wrote: »

forgot to post in my first post that i currently have an 4350

did a lot of research, and most people can upgrade safely to a 4670, well alot did

other option is to also upgrade PSU, than get a better card

Normal cards up to 9 inches will fit in my case

Are you having problems with the card? It is not really an upgrade if it is just for HD viewing as both cards would have the exact same hardware acceleration / decoding capabilities for HD viewing.

Could only reccomend the 4670 if you were intending on doing some gaming at lower resolutions or older games, otherwise I just cannot see the benefits TBH.

marco_polo

The very similar HD4550 is extremely close in performance to the HD4670 for HD playback.

http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Radeon-HD-4550-Budget-DX101-GPU/?page=9


http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-radeon-hd4550_6.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-radeon-hd4550_7.html

TheCaveman

Well, i know i do not need the upgrade, I just want to do it.

AS, i have a Q8300 (2.5), 8Gb ram, gatting the Intel 80Gb Gen 2 SSD for xmas, so, the only thing left to do is the card

So, for a media Pc, it rocks,

marco_polo

TheCaveman wrote: »

Well, i know i do not need the upgrade, I just want to do it.

AS, i have a Q8300 (2.5), 8Gb ram, gatting the Intel 80Gb Gen 2 SSD for xmas, so, the only thing left to do is the card

So, for a media Pc, it rocks,

Fair enough, I know that feeling as well (My 650W Corsair PSU for a single HD4870 is testament to this).

Hellrazer

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 - €61 Silent edition leaning towards this one - Heatpipe
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=426718


I just got one of these off Komplett last Friday.Im kinda a casual gamer and my monitors res is 1280*1024 native.So far this card has ran everything Ive thrown at it at that res with all the details on high/extra with no slowdown--Cod 4 looks amazing and Dragon Rising looks excellent aswell even if the game isnt the best.Cant fault it at all for a 60 euro card.
Reason I picked it up was because of the low power requirements--My psu is the crappy one that came with the pc ie 400w(actually could be 350w) generic branded POS with 16a on the 12v rail.

Will do me until the warranty is up on this machine and then Ill go for a psu/graphics card upgrade together.

Overclocks a bit aswell.Stocks are 750 core and 873 memory.So far I have it stable at 780 / 950 but with a fan added to the passive heatsink these are supposed to hit 850/1.1 ghz which Im hoping to try out later tonight.