Page 2: Parts
Sapphire includes a piece of software called Arcsoft SIM HD IM. This is a plug-in for instant messager software that provides enhanced video support (higher quality). Since the test system we're using is running Linux, we couldn't try this feature. We'll have more information when we do a full review of the card later. This bundle includes two low profile brackets that allow you to change the card to fit into a low profile case. Many HTPC cases are low profile and there aren't many low profile graphics cards on the market so it is always good to see new ones come on. Along with the card is the standard driver CD and a case badge.
This is the Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 in all its glory. The card is perfect for a HTPC since it is passively cooled and it is a single slot design. The card is certainly not a massive design which shows how scalable the 5000 series GPUs can be.
The card supports PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots which are backwards compatible with PCI Express 1.0 x16. The card is very minimalistic which is fine for the target market.
Consuming only 20 watts of power at full idle and being RoHS certified, this card is very "green" (if that floats your boat). Needless to say, in a tight case, this card should put out minimal heat for the power it provides. In our testing, the card didn't produce a large amount of waste heat, which is good.
This version of the HD 5450 supports VGA, Display Port, and DL-DVI-I. It is good to see Display Port being used on cards like this as that is the future of display interconnects. Display Port offers higher bandwidth than HDMI and is royalty free so anyone is free to implement the specification on their own.
Here we have the 1Gb DRAM chip being used on the card. There are four of these chips on the board for a total of 4Gb (512MB).