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ASUS EAH4550 Radeon HD 4550 Half-Height Videocard Review
ASUS EAH4550 Radeon HD 4550 Half-Height Videocard Review - PCSTATS
Today PCSTATS is testing ATI's latest entry-level videocard for budget PC builders and home theatre enthusiasts; the leaner, lighter, and less expensive RV710 GPU at the heart of the Radeon HD 4550 video card.
 75% Rating:   
Filed under: Video Cards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: ASUS Mar 09 2009   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Video Cards > ASUS EAH4550

Overclocking, Test Specs & Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage

Overclocking Results:
stock overclocked
gpu (core) speed: 600 750 mhz
memory speed: (400) 800 mhz (500) 1000 mhz ddr
if you're new to Overclocking and not sure what to do, check out these two excellent Guides for some pointers:
Overclocking the CPU and Memory
Overclocking the Videocard
Overclocking mainstream videocards almost always gives you the most benefit for the effort. It's generally not too hard to push a little videocard up a few levels, so it's well worth a bit of tweak time to see what kind of "free" performance there is for the taking. The ASUS EAH4550 ships with it core clock at 600MHz, while its 512MB of GDDR3 memory is running at 800MHz.

As usual, overclocking was done through the ATI Catalyst Control Center and ATI Overdrive which unlocks GPU and memory clock speed. PCSTATS started with the GPU first, pausing to test the results with a quick 3D benchmark before continuing. We take note of any stability problems or the appearance of artifacts, and then list the maximum stable and artifact-free overclocked speed the video card can attain.

Overclocking was done in increments of 5MHz, starting with the core clock. The ASUS EAH4550 was quickly brought from its stock speed up to 700MHz, and then all the way up to 750MHz, without any hitches or artifacting taking place. Memory was then overclocked from 800MHz, and proceeded easily to a maximum of 1000MHz. The sliders wouldn't go any further so that's where we had to leave it.

Not a bad performance boost at all! With some more time and some dedicated tweaking it'd probably be easy to take this videocard to even faster speeds.

Now it's time to put all this into perspective, and see how the ASUS EAH4550 videocard stands in our benchmark charts.

Prelude to Benchmarks

The details of how the ASUS EAH4550 videocard test system was configured for benchmarking; the specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions are indicated below. All benchmarks for the videocard were run in Windows Vista Ultimate, the reference video cards were tested in both Windows XP and Vista for the DX10 benchmarks.

PCSTATS is in the process of making the transition to a Windows Vista and Intel CPU test platform, so keep this in mind as you scan the benchmark results. In the second column are the general specs for the reference cards this Radeon HD 4450 videocard is to be compared against. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results on the next page.

PCSTATS Test System Configurations
test system reference system
processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (775) AMD Athlon64 FX-62 (AM2)
Clock Speed:

15 x 200 MHz = 3.0 GHz

14 x 200MHz = 2.8MHz
Motherboards:

MSI X48 Platinum (Intel X48 Express)

Foxconn C51XEM2 (NF 590 SLI)
Videocard: Palit Radeon HD 4870X2
ASUS Radeon EAH4850/HTDI/512MA
MSI Radeon R3870X2-T2D1G-OC
ASUS Radeon EAH3870X2 1G
Diamond HD 3650 Pe 512
MSI R4830-T2D512-OC

ASUS EAX1900XTX/2DHTV/512M/A
ASUS EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E-HD
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC
MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E-HD-OC
nVidia GeForce 8600GTS SLI
Foxconn
8600GTS-256
MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E-OC
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC
Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H SLI
Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E
Gigabyte GV-NX76GT256D-RH
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS
Albatron 8600GT-256
MSI NX8800GT-T2D512E-OC
ASUS EN8800GT TOP/G/HTDP/512M/A
Palit 9600GT Sonic
Biostar V903GT52-NV1AN *

Memory: Corsair DOMINATOR Twin2X2048-1800C7D (DDR3)

Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C3 (DDR2)

Hard Drive: 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740
CDROM: ASUS BC-1205PT-BD Blu-Ray Drive
Monitor (1080p): ASUS MK241 24" HD LCD
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 750W
Heatsink: Intel E6600 Reference Athlon64 FX-62 Reference Heatsink
Test System Setup:

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Intel INF 9.0.0.1008
Catalyst 9.2

Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit*

Benchmarks:

3DMark06
3DMark Vantage
FEAR
Crysis
Call of Juarez
Lost Planet

Benchmark results are organized by GPU manufacturer first (AMD/ATI or nVidia), then by GPU generation, and then by GPU class (high end, mainstream, value). This approach provides a clearer view of how performance can differ from generation to generation, and class to previous generation. The product being tested is marked with the red colour bar.

On with the benchmarks!

Futuremark 3DMark Vantage 1.0.1 Source: FutureMark

3DMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX10 performance of your graphics card. We’ve been making 3DMark for over 10 years, with each new edition using the latest 3D technology to determine real-world performance. A 3DMark score is an overall measure of your system’s 3D gaming capabilities, based on comprehensive real-time 3D graphics and processor tests. By comparing your score with those submitted by millions of other gamers you can see how your gaming rig performs, making it easier to choose the most effective upgrades or finding other ways to optimize your system.

PCSTATS Benchmark ReportFuturemark 3DMark Vantage 1.0.1
Performance Overall: (P) Points Ranking
Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 9116
ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 8852
ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 5579
MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 5149
ASUS EAH4550 512M 1184
GPU Score: Points Ranking
Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 12983
ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 12252
ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 5905
MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 5269
ASUS EAH4550 512M 932
CPU score: Points Ranking
Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 4814
ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 4830
ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 4786
MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 4821
ASUS EAH4550 512M 6197

3DMark Vantage obliterates this entry-level videocard as we expected it would. This test platform is using a faster E8400 CPU which is why the CPU score is higher than the previous result set. Okay, let's see what 3DMark06 has to say now...

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Contents of Article: ASUS EAH4550
 Pg 1.  ASUS EAH4550 Radeon HD 4550 Half-Height Videocard Review
 Pg 2.  Radeon 4550 GPU and HD Playback Tests
 Pg 3.  — Overclocking, Test Specs & Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage
 Pg 4.  Videocard Benchmarks: 3DMark06
 Pg 5.  DX10 Videocard Benchmarks: Call of Juarez
 Pg 6.  DX10 Videocard Benchmarks: Lost Planet
 Pg 7.  Videocard Benchmarks: FEAR
 Pg 8.  Videocard Benchmarks: Crysis, FEAR AA/AF

 
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