Home > Consumer Reviews > Sapphire Radeon HD 100252HDMI 4550 512MB DDR3 HDMI / DVI / VGA PCI-Express Graphics Card
Sapphire Radeon HD 100252HDMI 4550 512MB DDR3 HDMI / DVI / VGA PCI-Express Graphics Card
See it at Amazon.com for $45.42Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Perfect low-profile card for slim tower PCs.
(4 out of 5) by ATS on Aug 5, 2009 (michigan)Product:
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 your PC 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
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 your PC 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
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Home Theatre PC
(5 out of 5) by N. Seal on Jul 4, 2009Purchased this for a home theatre PC. Works perfectly in Windows 7. What I liked the most is the HDMI connector on the board. If you install the full catalyist driver for the card you get up to 7.1 sound in the HDMI connection. One cable to your TV, for audio and video. Fits small form factor and full height exspansion slots. With the low price, HDMI and passive cooling. I don't think you can find a much better Video card for making a HTPC.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Great Card Finally!!!!!!
(5 out of 5) by Tricia B. Weigel on Oct 15, 2009 (Baton Rouge, La.)I own a Dell 531s slimline desktop. And it has been a long process trying to find a video card that would fit into my case and work off of a 250watt PSU. Well this one was the one. With a little modification with the brackets that came with the card, it fit's perfectly in my machine. Installing was a breeze, then I went to the Sapphire site and downloaded the latest drivers and that was it. No troubles. Great card. So if you need a low profile card with low power consumption, this is the one.
Does the job at a good price
(4 out of 5) by Camilla A. Conde on Dec 7, 2009 (Bethesde, Maryland)I am using this card to connect my PC to an Onkyo receiver most for sound. It runs a little hot but it works properly and it was cheap.
Bought this to be compatible with Windows 7 upgrade install
(5 out of 5) by Elec geek on Dec 6, 2009I upgraded a homebuilt computer with Windows 7 64 bit version and there was a compatibility issue during the install. I was not sure which component was at issue, but I took a chance and ordered a new video card which some of the reviewers had said worked with Windows 7. Sure enough, as soon as I installed this card, the rest of the Windows 7 install proceeded without a hitch.
The interesting thing though, is that I then used the problem child card in another computer that I was also upgrading, and the install for Windows 7 went fine with that computer. Message I think is that it is not just specific hardware that is an issue, it is the combination of hardware that can cause the conflict (motherboard, chipset, CPU, videocard, etc).
Anyhoo, I wanted a card with no fan (quiet is my mantra these days installed in my Antec Sonata case) and which also had HDMI out as well as DVI so I could stream netflix directly from this computer. Works like a champ. Cheap price and great performance for my needs (not a gamer, but lot of photoshop type work).
The interesting thing though, is that I then used the problem child card in another computer that I was also upgrading, and the install for Windows 7 went fine with that computer. Message I think is that it is not just specific hardware that is an issue, it is the combination of hardware that can cause the conflict (motherboard, chipset, CPU, videocard, etc).
Anyhoo, I wanted a card with no fan (quiet is my mantra these days installed in my Antec Sonata case) and which also had HDMI out as well as DVI so I could stream netflix directly from this computer. Works like a champ. Cheap price and great performance for my needs (not a gamer, but lot of photoshop type work).