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Radeon HD 5450 is the latest addition to the HD 5000 series and it will set you back between €38 and €50 depending on the type of memory and included video outs, here. Naturally, the price dictates performance so the HD 5450 had to sacrifice most of the power that comes with top HD 5000 series cards.
The card is based on the 40nm Cedar GPU, which runs pretty cool and consumes little. Sapphire HD 5450 card is low profile and passively cooled so it should be an attractive buy for HTPC users.
It features dual-link DVI, VGA and DisplayPort outs and the card features ATI Eyefinity support. Eyefinity allows for hooking up three monitors on the HD 5450 but you’ll need to use DisplayPort for the third monitor.
Radeon HD 5450 comes to replace HD 4550 and HD 4650 cards and is the first sub-€50 DirectX 11 card. Unfortunately, the HD 5450 performance won’t do DirectX 11 much justice as demanding games will usually require resolutions like 1280x1024 and lowest detail settings.
If you’re looking to upgrade from integrated graphics or looking to build an HTPC without having to shell out more serious bucks, this is probably a wise choice, but upgrading your HD 4550 for the sake of gaming alone might not be as wise.