HD5450 any good over HD4200?

gert21445

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Jan 28, 2010
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Hello, so I currently have a OEM HP computer with AMD Athlon ii x4 645 processor, 6GB DDR3-1333 RAM, and an onboard HD4200@stock (500MHz). I mainly use it to watch videos, although I do play FS2004 (which is old). It runs really cool, with case/cpu temps peaking at 30C at max. The thing is, I may also want to use it to do some light gaming (eg. CoD, BF3, NFS, etc) once in a long while (don't have much spare time). I am okay with playing them at 1024x768 with max textures (but with lowest settings for stuff like shadows/reflections, etc), and so I was wondering if there is any point in upgrading to the HD5450 (which is the best card my 250Watt PSU can safely power). I know that it boasts a 25%ish increase over the HD4200, but is it really worth it considering that I have to spend an extra $60 and run the possiblity of a heat issue/PSU failure?) The only settings I care about in games are texture quality so I don't need all that power for shadows, lighting, and all those fancy effects. Thanks! I really don't want to upgrade my PSU, as a bigger card would not fit in the case anyway and thats just more hassle.
 
The 5450 is a really weak card that isn't meant for gaming at all, it's only marginally better than your integrated graphics. If you have a 250 Watt PSU you should be able to power up to a 5570 without much trouble. The 5570 would give you much better gaming performance, and might actually have a shot at running BF3. While CoD and NFS would be playable with the 5450; I doubt you would get playable framerates in BF3, even on the lowest possible settings. BF3 needs more GPU horsepower than a lot of other titles, even on the lowest possible settings.