MSI Radeon HD 6450 1GB DDR3 PCI Express Low Profile Ready Video Card (R6450-MD1GD3/LP) $15 after $25 rebate + Free Shipping

Quote from menocheapo : I have a gaming computer that's been handed down to me from my bro and it was used for wow at least 6 yrs ago. I was told from my bro I have to replace almost everything in the computer besides the power supply and the RAM. I will use the computer for gaming (League of Legends) I don't need it to be amazing and I'm comfortable with the one I use right now. But this videocard is only 15 bucks. Please let me know thank you!

I never played LoL but I am a heavy DOTA 2 player. I use the 512RAM video card and it's plenty enough...I assume LoL is the same. However, I recently bought $350 card to play AAA games and it definitely improved DOTA 2 as well. It had much smoother FPS and detect more details on the map. But! It does not help in gameplay at all. Anyways, I believe this card should be more then enough.

Quote from beowulf7 : Thanks for the input. Did your Windows Experience Index change for graphics? How about in terms of sound and power usage? The 6450 is a more efficient card (smaller manufacturing process) and according to GPU Review, uses 7W less than a 4550. Did you measure the noise or power consumption of it, the latter with a Kill-A-Watt? I realize if I spent $15 AR on the 6450, even if I saved 7W of power, I wouldn't recover that $15 within the lifespan of my HTPC. I'd probably save a couple cents/day if I ran my HTPC 24/7, which I don't. But if it makes it quieter, I'd still consider it.

I don't recall the exact WEI numbers, but I do remember that it wasn't a big change between the 4550 and 6450, both were 5.x for 2D... 6450 was a bit higher for 3D, but it's not like you're buying the 6450 for heavy 3D lifting. If there are some games that are borderline unacceptable on the 4550 but acceptable on the 6450, it might make a difference, but that's a very small chance. And when I said more efficient, I meant the 3650 compared to the 6450. The 4550 and 6450 are both pretty power efficient, despite the 4550 being a slightly larger manufacturing process... like you said 7W difference, and that's probably at full load. At idle, I doubt there is even that much of a difference. Sorry, no Kill-A-Watt.

There are some newer video processing features on the 6450 and DX11 vs DX10.1. If any of those interest you at all, it MIGHT be worth a look, but bottom line, if I didn't do the middle "upgrade" to the 3650, I wouldn't have switched from the 4550.

How much of upgrade from this to the 6570?

Quote from pdp76 : I don't recall the exact WEI numbers, but I do remember that it wasn't a big change between the 4550 and 6450, both were 5.x for 2D... 6450 was a bit higher for 3D, but it's not like you're buying the 6450 for heavy 3D lifting. If there are some games that are borderline unacceptable on the 4550 but acceptable on the 6450, it might make a difference, but that's a very small chance. And when I said more efficient, I meant the 3650 compared to the 6450. The 4550 and 6450 are both pretty power efficient, despite the 4550 being a slightly larger manufacturing process... like you said 7W difference, and that's probably at full load. At idle, I doubt there is even that much of a difference. Sorry, no Kill-A-Watt. There are some newer video processing features on the 6450 and DX11 vs DX10.1. If any of those interest you at all, it MIGHT be worth a look, but bottom line, if I didn't do the middle "upgrade" to the 3650, I wouldn't have switched from the 4550.

I see, that's what I figured. How about the noise factor, do you remember it one way or the other between the 4550 and 6450? I think I'll hold off for now. My 4550 works well for what I need it to do, that is, play 1080 YT videos and use it as a DVR to play recorded 720p and 1080i TV shows. I don't game on it at all. I have another computer for that (my "daily driver" computer). So the new DX doesn't really appeal to me. If this video card drops a bit more, say $10 AR for Black Fri., then I may pick it up and then make the 4550 as a backup video card. I've learned it's not a bad idea to have backup computer components.

Quote from beowulf7 : I see, that's what I figured. How about the noise factor, do you remember it one way or the other between the 4550 and 6450? I think I'll hold off for now. My 4550 works well for what I need it to do, that is, play 1080 YT videos and use it as a DVR to play recorded 720p and 1080i TV shows. I don't game on it at all. I have another computer for that (my "daily driver" computer). So the new DX doesn't really appeal to me. If this video card drops a bit more, say $10 AR for Black Fri., then I may pick it up and then make the 4550 as a backup video card. I've learned it's not a bad idea to have backup computer components.

Sorry, both my 4550 and 6450 are silent ones, only heat sinks so no noise on either.

I upgraded a asus m3a78-em on board graphics (hd 3200), a sempron 140 (45w), 2gb ddr2 memory , a corsair 430w psu to a $15 ecs ic780m-a2 board with an athlon 2 255 (65w), 8gb ddr3 memory, 6570 graphics card with a antec 400w psu and my wattage increased 20 (60 to 80) watts idle using a kill a watt meter. I don't know what the power usage is a 9600 gso is you can still get them for $15 AR sometimes. WIE graphics went from 3.3 to 6.7.

Radeon HD 6450
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net...0HD%206450

radeon HD 6570
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net...on+HD+6570

9600 gso
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net...SO&id=1309

low end and slow card

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net...450&id=267

I just received this card and installed it. I used to just use the integrated graphics of my FAR ECS mobo. The WEI graphics score was 4.3, and this card upped it to 4.7. Very "meh" at best. Probably should have dropped a few more bucks and gotten something better.

Quote from chuckywang : I just received this card and installed it. I used to just use the integrated graphics of my FAR ECS mobo. The WEI graphics score was 4.3, and this card upped it to 4.7. Very "meh" at best. Probably should have dropped a few more bucks and gotten something better.

I picked up the MSI R6570 for $45AR from Newegg; I just couldn't wait for the $30 price point. Graphics WEI went from 4.3 to 6.7.

Quote from chuckywang : I just received this card and installed it. I used to just use the integrated graphics of my FAR ECS mobo. The WEI graphics score was 4.3, and this card upped it to 4.7. Very "meh" at best. Probably should have dropped a few more bucks and gotten something better.

Did you get the PCI 2.1 version of this card. I bought this card from Newegg and I unfortunately received the PCI 2.0 older version of this card. Newegg is replacing it for me hopefully with a current item. Must of had some old stock laying around. Box even said ver 2.0 on it and did not look like the box pictured on Newegg, so I new something might be up. No big deal. Just need to wait a few more days

Quote from berniez : Did you get the PCI 2.1 version of this card. I bought this card from Newegg and I unfortunately received the PCI 2.0 older version of this card. Newegg is replacing it for me hopefully with a current item. Must of had some old stock laying around. Box even said ver 2.0 on it and did not look like the box pictured on Newegg, so I new something might be up. No big deal. Just need to wait a few more days

Thanks for the info. Repped! I will check and see which version I got. Does the newer version have better performance?

Quote from berniez : Did you get the PCI 2.1 version of this card. I bought this card from Newegg and I unfortunately received the PCI 2.0 older version of this card.

Interesting; did not even spot the difference. Based on this, I looked at mine and can confirm I received the PCI-e 2.0 version of the card.

However, according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], there shouldn't be much difference for consumers - the changes seem to be more for enterprise use:

"PCI Express 2.1 supports a large proportion of the management, support, and troubleshooting systems planned for full implementation in PCI Express 3.0. However, the speed is the same as PCI Express 2.0."

In fact from reading online, the PCI-e 1.1 bandwidth limit shouldn't be a problem yet for most current generation video cards.

Quote from pdp76 : Sorry, both my 4550 and 6450 are silent ones, only heat sinks so no noise on either.

Thanks for that info. I'm not sure if there's a "7" series video card yet that is quiet and efficient but slightly faster than this 6450 for a similar price. I'll do a little research and see what deals come up for BF.

Quote from berniez : Did you get the PCI 2.1 version of this card. I bought this card from Newegg and I unfortunately received the PCI 2.0 older version of this card. Newegg is replacing it for me hopefully with a current item. Must of had some old stock laying around. Box even said ver 2.0 on it and did not look like the box pictured on Newegg, so I new something might be up. No big deal. Just need to wait a few more days

i received my order and it is also 2.0, newegg site said 2.1 did you call them and they said they'll send you the actual card? thanks.