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Newegg has the Sapphire 100292DDR3L Radeon HD 5450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card for $33 - $15 rebate [Exp 12/31] + $0 shipping = $18 shipped. Features HDMI, D-SUB, and DVI ports, 80 stream processing units and a 650MHz core clock speed.
$18
Wouldn't a 6450 based card provide better performance? Newegg has a MSI 6450 card for $15 AR...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127584
MSI R6450-MD1GD3/LP Radeon HD 6450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready
Video Card
Low Profile Brackets Included
4 out of 5 eggs (43)
160 Stream Processors
1GB 64-bit DDR3
PCI Express 2.1 x16
Better value, but it has a fan. That's a deal breaker for my uses, but many others should jump on that. Thanks for the comparison.
Fan is a deal breaker for me too. Been there, done that, not again (too noisy + another point of failure).
I would think that by the time the fan on a new video card wears out there will be another $15 video card that is more powerful... Fans are part of computers/computing, like it or not. In this case, a fan is used in place of a bulkier heat sink..
Newegg will also have a EVGA 01G-P3-2611-KR GeForce GT 610 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 for $15 at 3pm pst time.
There are differences in them... the 6450 wasn't just a rebadge. The 6450 has 160 Sp's, and 24 texture units against 80sp's/8tex. While that sounds impressive it's not going to produce huge difference in the seat of the pants.
But yes I’d normally say no fan. What I like to do anymore is go for the new tech part, but then I'll pop that fan cooler off and switch it with nice passive ones I have in the parts bins. Although then especially if a SFF type enclosure which normally are chocked on airflow, I'll mount a small quiet fan (or run a Fanmate controller, or 3-Pin Fan Speed Reducer Cable). Mount it so that it promotes airflow into the chassis, while directing the flow towards the HS on the card. I find promoting an overall better airflow within the chassis is more beneficial than one of those small VGA fans, which seem to build more dust-bunny’s than a standalone fan.
That GT 610 will be a good option, but that is a straight-up rebadge of the existing Fermi GT520 GPU. So, it's not got the power efficiency advantage of the 6450.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_radeon_hd6450&num=1