Sure, whenever we think of a computer rig, aiming for that higher-range graphics card would be the way to go, especially if you’re thinking about gaming and HD videos. But not all of us could afford something along the spectrum of the Radeon HD 5770 and 5970, powerful as they can be. Thankfully, if we can take time to aim lower can look further, there’s something called the ATi Radeon HD 5450.
The Radeon HD 5450, nicknamed the Cedar Base Pro, is ATi’s most affordable, lower-ranged graphics card in the HD 5000 series. The card takes an incredibly small amount to power, apparently around 19 watts. It doesn’t even require an external power source; just the PCI Express bus alone could power it. The card generates very little heat, and the 512MB card that we have can be passively cooled (the 1GB card, alternatively, sue a small fan). Once you’ve plugged it in and powered it up, it runs silently.
It measures to roughly about 17cm, perfect for a small chassis, with a crimson heatsink taking the bulk of the card. The HD 5450 supports VGA, DVI and surprisingly HDMI inputs, which pretty much covers everything.
Just to drive home with that lower-end spectrum, we also hooked the card up on an older testbed with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB DDR2 RAM. The results were downright satisfactory. Naturally, we weren’t expecting great performances, but what the card is capable of manages to impress. We ran a gaming benchmark on Resident Evil 5 and Left 4 Dead 2, and it runs on a solid 30 fps for both games on medium settings.
The good thing doesn’t just end here; the HD 5450 kept with the HD 5000 series in supporting ATi Eyefinity, meaning that you can have it run up to three monitors simultaneously. Coupled with HD viewing and DirectX supports, it’s offering a lot for its humble status.
To wit, the only problem with the HD 5450 is that it’s not something to be excited about. But the budget-price combined with HD 5000-series features, low power usage and decent performance makes it a recommendable low-range card.
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