Today GeCube announced its range of HD3450 and HD3650 products. While the standard products don't yield any surprises, GeCube clocks its HD3650 DDR3 OC Edition at least to HD3670 levels.
The HD3450 comes in 256MB and 512MB flavors, and compared to other companies GeCube is using active cooling, which is not all that quiet. At least their cards feature a native HDMI port, which will make them suitable for HTPC machines. Forget about gaming, the 64-bit memory interface is crippling the card, but maybe Hybrid Crossfire with an onboard graphics chip will help. The core is clocked at 600MHz with the DDR2 memory at 400MHz (800MHz effectively). The card also features one DVI port and with the full height bracket you get an extra VGA port.
The HD3650 DDR2 Edition comes with 512MB and even in a 1GB flavor. We are not sure who will need 1GB of slow DDR2 RAM on a mainstream card, but marketing likes a lot of memory. The GPU clocks in at 725MHz and with the DDR2 memory at 500MHz (1GHz effectively). Both cards come with two DVI ports and TV-out.
The most interesting product is the HD3650 OC Edition with 512MB GDDR3 memory, which is clocked all the way to 1GHz (2GHz effectively), while the GPU comes factory overclocked to 800MHz. There is also a lower cost version with 256MB GDDR3 with same clocks. Both cards come with two DVI ports and TV-out. Of course, ATI did not expand the memory interface, so don't expect miracles, as the 128-bit memory interface is crippling the card.
Most cards are already online on our favorite price-comparsion Website in Europe,
geizhals.at. The
HD3650 OC Edition is only €88,- the
DDR2 versions are slightly cheaper, causual gamers should always go for the DDR3 editions. The
HD3450 with 512MB should be available for under €50,- which is a good price for a graphics-card with a native HDMI port for HTPC machines. We wouldn't recommend such a card for casual gamers.