Windows 7 - HD4850 > HD6450 > Worth it?

I'm not a gamer, but I do like my multiple screens.

At the moment I have a Palit HD4850 'Sonic' Radeon, as per the attachment. It's factory overclocked to 685Mhz.

It lacks HDMI, but has twin DVI-D ports.

I've recently noticed that I can lay hands on a Sapphire HD6450 with the same ports, plus HDMI.

Clock speed is slightly lower at 625Mhz as it's a passively cooled card. It has 1Gb DDR3, which is double what I have right now. It supports Direct-X 11 and is Windows 7 certified (the Palit only supports DX10 and was built for Vista, but runs well under Windows 7 anyway).

I don't want to significantly lose performance but also don't want to spend a fortune - and re-emphasise that I am not gaming but will doubtless use it for video quite a bit.

Both cards support multiple displays at 2560 x 1600 pixels (my monitors are not capable of going that high anyway as they're 23" E-IPS Dells).

Bear in mind I'm on a LGA775 platform and don't believe it's worth spending lots and lots as I doubt I will upgrade the mainboard for some time.

The question is, would this be a productive upgrade?

Any opinions welcome

Bazzin.co.uk Online Catalogue, 11190-12-20G,Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 Graphic Card,625 MHz Core,1 GB DDR3 SDRAM,PCI Express 2.1 x16,Low-profile,1600 MHz Memory Clock,2560 x 1600,CrossFire,Passive Cooler,DirectX 11.0, DirectCompute, OpenGL 4.1, OpenCL,H

A 6450 would be a major downgrade from a 4850. (The 4850 was a high-end card of its generation. The 6450 is low-end for the 6xxx series, although not the lowest.)

I doubt that the DX11 support of the 6450 is significant for most applications. The most significant plus of it would be lower power consumption, and lower heat generation.

That's what I feared... albeit I've never taxed the 4850 in truth... thanks for your thoughts...

What kind of budget are you dealing with?

I'm looking for something passively cooled. Prefer Radeon over Nvidia. Dual DViD. Either HDMI, or DP, as 3rd port. Don't really want to exceed 100GBP or necessarily exceed the capability of the HD4850 I have now - excepting the addition of a 3rd port.

Something like this?Newegg.com - PowerColor Go! Green AX6750 1GBD5-NS3DHG Radeon HD 6750 (Dirt3 Edition) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

New Egg doesn't ship to the UK but this will give you a ideal about what to look for

Nice one, I will check out prices over here as most IT stuff tends to be much more expensive than in the US... thanks for taking the trouble... good find...

Not bad.

128 bit memory bus rather than the 256 bit one for the 4850, but it's clocked a bit higher.

Newegg lists a 6770 (slightly better) for the same price:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R677SL-1GD Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

For more money, there's even a fanless 6850:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R677SL-1GD Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Impressive for fanless.

Neither are dual DVID

Oops. Forgot that bit.

However, HDMI to DVI adapters are cheap. (I'm using one on my desktop at work.)