BF3 Performance on AMD Radeon 6450

[BlastFX]

While I am saving up my money to buy a gaming pc, I have this old crappy Compaq Presario PC SR5710Y from 2008 with an AMD Athlon X2 4450e, 3gb ddr2 ram, windows Vista sp2, and a 250w Psu. On Ebay I saw a Dell AMD ATI Radeon 6450 1gb of vram for 17$. I'm guessing it's a steal at that price for the fact that it's almost sold out in 24hrs. What I want to know is can my crappy pc with this gpu run bf3 at 30fps on lowest settings? If not will it at least speed up my computer and help with general use. Plz reply fast they have only one left in stock.

 

[need4speeds]

I have almost the same computer. I found it discarded and put in a HD-4870 card i had. It had the oem 250watt power supply with molex to pcie power adaptors my card had. Using MSI afterburner i undervolted and underclocked my HD-4870 to 600mhz core and 700mhz memory. It worked and passed furmark+prime 95 testing for 10 mins. Yes the power supply fan was noisy.
I added a extra case fan from the other discarded computer. I later found a discared HP-compaq with a Coolmax 500v and Windsor 5800+. The card now runs at stock 750mhz and 900mhz memory and the cpu at 2.8ghz. The board doesn't officially support the 5800+ but it still is working.

This free computer is used for head to head gaming with my gaming-hptc system mostly when friends come over. Vista upgrades to almost win7 with dx11.

-Google stuff to disable in vista that slow it down. Turn off yellow flag thing that pops up stopping programs to run, any drive recovery, disable hibernate. Some of it needs registry editing. After considerable effort vista can be almost as fast as windows 7.
Mirror your os install to another drive before you do this in case you make a mistake and have to go back, re-mirror it at certain points so you don't have to start fixing it from scratch. Also uninstall any of Compaq's software.

-Install Foobar for music conversion, with lame, and codec pack. Also VLC player as the default player. Firefox. Get rid of all of the bloatware.

If a HD-4870 can run, that was a power hog, it's 180watts stock.

A card like a HD-6770 would work great, or a HD-7770. The new R3 360 would be good too. The HD-6450 has only 80 shaders it wont play BF3.
A used card like a HD-5770, 6770, 6850, 7770,7790,7850,260,270,360,370 is ok. Also a Nvidia GTX 640, 650, 750, 940, 950 would all be ok. The older GTX 450, 550 and even the older 9800gt and 250 would be ok too. Keep in mind some cards like the HD-4870, GTX 260, 275, 280, HD-5850, 5870, 6870, would work but only if you underclocked and undervolted them, most can be using MSI afterburner.

 

[need4speeds]

Lots of games support the AMD X2 cpu like yours and also Vista. We have Gasguzzlers Extreme, cod black ops, Left4 dead2, Prostreet, Dirt2, UT3 running on it. Also at 1080p. A surprising amount of games with decent graphics run well on it.

 

[need4speeds]

The integrated gpu you have now, the Nvidia geforce 6200 is not much slower than that HD-6450 your trying to buy. Go for a larger card.

You will need that molex to pcie adaptor, some cards come with one.

-A HD-4870 is really pushing your luck, i don't recommend that card.

Look up the wattage charts on tom's gpu charts, and benchmarks. If you stay under 150watts you should be ok.

-A upgrade to a real gaming power supply would let you just find a card used and not worry about the wattage. There is a spot to add a 8cm case fan in the rear of the case.
Look locally for parts, many people upgrade and sell the used parts for cheap. A used antec or corsair or OCZ, seasonic 430watt to 650watt or a new 650watt would allow future upgrades.

If you need more room, take out the HDD cage, take the Card reader out, just keep the faceplate for it, put the HDD in the card reader spot. It will make enough room for a full sized card, and even micro-atx board with crossfire cards.

-This varies, some cases have a hdd cage that is in the way, some have it above the dvdrw. A full sized HD-4870 card fits, you only need to ditch the hdd cage when going to crossfire with a new board and power supply.
I have used these cases when people lack money, so i recycle a case.

 

[BlastFX]

Can it not even run bf3 on its absolute lowest settings possible?? I am saving up money for a better pc so I don't want to spend too much and besidesthe lowest settings on pc is still better than ps3. So can it really not run at lowest?

 

[BlastFX]

I have a nforce 6150se graphics... it can't even open youtube on clunky Vista. .. So I know the 6450 will at least speed something else up,...

 

[BlastFX]

Ok, let me mix it up, an I play bf4 720p med settings on this pc with a nvidia geforce gt 730?

 

[need4speeds]

Yes the HD-6450 at least has H264 video support. For gaming it's not much better than the 6150se. This is mostly because the 6150se cheats by using dx9.0c shaders and the hd-6450 gets crippled by dx11 graphics.

on ebay there is shipping and some other fees too so it's not just $17. I will say it's $30.

Also you need to fix vista. Google the speed tweeks people do. It worked for my computer. It boots up about 3x faster.

With amd stick with at least 320 shaders with at least 600 shaders being ideal. With the 9800gt it's 128 shaders are ok, but with the Geforce 260 and newer stick with 260 shaders and more.

Look locally for a used card, try and get one with the molex to pcie power connectors that it needs included. (They should be about $10 each so at that point a new power supply like the antec or corsair or ocz budget ones would be a better choice.)

If you luck out and find a HD-5750, 5770, 6750, 6770, 6790, 6850, 7750, 7770, 7790, 7850, amd 260,270,270x,360,370. Geforce 440,540,550,640, 650, 730, 740, 750, 940, 950. Those cards should run without turning the speeds down as they are 150watts and under.
The old HD-3850, 3870, 4650, 4670, 5650, 5670, 6650, 6670 and geforce 8600gt, 9600gt would also be ok but not the fastest of the bunch.
You want to find a card that is both fast but is not high wattage.

A popular card in the past was the Geforce 9800GT , you might find one for $20. Those cards are dx-9.0c but are fast and should work well, they also don't use lots of power. DO NOT GET THE 8800GT OR 8800GTX OR 9800GTX OR 250 THEY USE TOO MUCH POWER.

The smaller and lower wattage cards are sought after and people tend to hang onto them, so it is likely a larger and faster card will be cheaper.
THESE CARDS ARE NOT IDEAL, BUT IF YOU SEE ONE FOR $20 OR SO, UNDERCLOCKING COULD GIVE YOU A DECENT BUDGET CARD.
The Geforce 260,275,280,285,450,460,550,560 and HD-4870,4850, 5830,6870, could also be cheap but will need to be underclocked and maybe undervolted to work.

Some cards like the Geforce 470, 480, 570, 580, HD-6950, 6970, 5950, 5970 are too large to work and would need extreme things like a bios mod to turn down that much. I would not get something that is too large and too many watts.

Look up the gaming charts on tom's for wattages and fps in games.

 

[need4speeds]

The Geforce 730gt has 384 cores, it's faster than the old Geforce 260 that has 216 cores. That is my point exactly, try and find one like that on sale or used.

 

[need4speeds]

Turn off User account control. It's in Control panel, system and security, action center in windows 7. In vista its at the bottom so google where it is if you cant find it.

Disable any system restore and drive monitoring. Its in system and security, system, advanced.

 

[BlastFX]

Yes the HD-6450 at least has H264 video support. For gaming it's not much better than the 6150se. This is mostly because the 6150se cheats by using dx9.0c shaders and the hd-6450 gets crippled by dx11 graphics.

on ebay there is shipping and some other fees too so it's not just $17. I will say it's $30.

Also you need to fix vista. Google the speed tweeks people do. It worked for my computer. It boots up about 3x faster.

With amd stick with at least 320 shaders with at least 600 shaders being ideal. With the 9800gt it's 128 shaders are ok, but with the Geforce 260 and newer stick with 260 shaders and more.

Look locally for a used card, try and get one with the molex to pcie power connectors that it needs included. (They should be about $10 each so at that point a new power supply like the antec or corsair or ocz budget ones would be a better choice.)

If you luck out and find a HD-5750, 5770, 6750, 6770, 6790, 6850, 7750, 7770, 7790, 7850, amd 260,270,270x,360,370. Geforce 440,540,550,640, 650, 730, 740, 750, 940, 950. Those cards should run without turning the speeds down as they are 150watts and under.
The old HD-3850, 3870, 4650, 4670, 5650, 5670, 6650, 6670 and geforce 8600gt, 9600gt would also be ok but not the fastest of the bunch.
You want to find a card that is both fast but is not high wattage.

A popular card in the past was the Geforce 9800GT , you might find one for $20. Those cards are dx-9.0c but are fast and should work well, they also don't use lots of power. DO NOT GET THE 8800GT OR 8800GTX OR 9800GTX OR 250 THEY USE TOO MUCH POWER.

The smaller and lower wattage cards are sought after and people tend to hang onto them, so it is likely a larger and faster card will be cheaper.
THESE CARDS ARE NOT IDEAL, BUT IF YOU SEE ONE FOR $20 OR SO, UNDERCLOCKING COULD GIVE YOU A DECENT BUDGET CARD.
The Geforce 260,275,280,285,450,460,550,560 and HD-4870,4850, 5830,6870, could also be cheap but will need to be underclocked and maybe undervolted to work.

Some cards like the Geforce 470, 480, 570, 580, HD-6950, 6970, 5950, 5970 are too large to work and would need extreme things like a bios mod to turn down that much. I would not get something that is too large and too many watts.

Look up the gaming charts on tom's for wattages and fps in games.

Your telling me that the radeon hd 6450 plays tf2 at 15fps, because that's what this on board gpu is capable of.

 

[need4speeds]

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2014-vga-charts/16-Battlefield-4-1080p,3608.html

I was wrong, the 730gt is not so good either. 7.5 fps and there is a 96 shader model that gets only 3.9fps.


http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-entry-level-graphics/Crysis-2-medium,2872.html


http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2010-gaming-graphics-charts-high-quality/Battlefield-Bad-Company-2,2465.html

Battlefield Bad Company 2 HD-6430 5.11fps


The HD-6450, 730gt and your onboard 6150 are awesome office gpus that are reliable and quiet but they were not made for gaming.

The 6150 can still play some older games.
Some good games to try out are: FEAR demo, COD1 demo, Prostreet demo, Serious sam2 demo, Tigerwoods golf 2003, midnight club2,
UT3 and games based on it, HL2 based games, Older ubisoft games.

If that fails, try Motoracer2, Unreal tournament 2003 demo and 2004 demo.

 

[need4speeds]

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3D-Power-Draw,2678.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2014-vga-charts/24-Power-Consumption-Maximum,3616.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/24-Power-Consumption-Maximum,3687.html

A better power supply would help. I managed to get a HD-4870 to work with a underclock, as you can see that is a miracle once you look at the charts. The fan did rev lots when gaming. The 250watt power supply BARELY did the job. I think there was maybe less than 5 watts to spare so even opening a dvdrw drive door could have crashed the system. I only did this because it was built for free out of discarded and existing parts.

 

[need4speeds]

If you need to jump from chart to chart, the HD-4870 = the HD-5770 =HD-6770=HD7770.

Fear has a dx8.1b option so it will run on your 6150. Just try the UT 2003 and 2004 demos, the full versions are worth it, its a good game with many levels, the graphics look good even compared with today's games. It uses little power to run.

A game that was included with most ATI-9600 and ATI-9250se cards called "Willrock" is pretty good and works on most older gpus. It has amazing graphics for it's time. It is the game that serious sam HD is based on. It has a raiders of the lost art theme. In the game you start to wonder when you will see Harrison Ford.
It is likely this game is online for download.