Bought a new Radeon HD 4350, does it worth it?

[FerchogtX]

HI there people!!!!

I recentry purchased a new XFX ATI Radeon HD 4350 PCI Express VGA... but I have lil' doubts with it...

1. **Silly me... I didn't read carefully** My PCI Express is 16x, (Chipset MCP61V) but 1.0, is this card compatible as it is 2.0?
2. This card comes with a set of drivers for Windows Vista... I guess I can download drivers for Windows 7 from ATI/AMD site, right? (The "vendor" of the card is XFX as the box labels...)
3. **Forget this one, I found the info **
4. Can I disable HyperMemory on this card to save RAM?
5. What's the worst case if this card is not compatible with either MoBo or Chipset?
6. What is your overall opinion about this model of ATI Chip?

That's all... I'm not planning to play very heavy games, I just going to give a try to play Crankast emulator (Dreamcast games) and Dolphin (Gamecube)

Thanks in advance for your help guys

See ya!!

 

[stormy13]

1. Won't be a problem as that card isn't powerful enough to saturate the slot even at 8x speed. And yes PCI-E 2 is backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.0.

2. Yes.

3. OK.

4. No idea, not only that but ATI doesn't list HyperMemory anywhere in the specs for that card,

ATI Radeon™ HD 4300 Series GPU Specifications

so unless XFX has added it themselves, not sure why they mention it.

5. Shouldn't be a problem either way.

6. Decent low power card good for use in a HTPC or very light gaming. If the intent is as a gaming card, then it isn't worth much.

 

[FerchogtX]

Thanks a lot! as a final... is there any aditional advice for apropiate installing of this VGA? Do I need to uninstall any older VGA drivers? (my old onboard nVidia nForce 405) The MoBo sets the config as "Use onboard if no Ext GPU" I leave it that way or I need to change it to "Ext GPU" to ensure that it will use the ATI?

As for the HyperMemory stuff, the box says that you can get up to 1 GB with HyperMemory... I guess that is added by themselves... I hope I can disable that (I don't need that amount of memory, 512 MB is OK)
Info: http://xfxforce.com/ecms.ashx/849d0...tedGraphicCardModels17/HD4350_PS_Intl_107.pdf

Thanks for your patience XD is my first External GPU...

See ya!!

 

[stormy13]

Yes I would uninstall the old Nvidia video drivers, and yes set it in the bios to "Ext GPU".

As for the HyperMemory have a good look at any manual that came with the card (may have to have a good look on the driver disk for it if no paper manual).

And don't forget to move the monitor cable to the card from the onboard.

 

[FerchogtX]

Thanks a lot man!!!!! Now I can be sure of what I'm doing.

See ya!!

P.S. Forgot to ask if this card can get high temps by itself... I guess it doesn't, but I better ask XD

 

[Lordbob75]

Can I disable HyperMemory on this card to save RAM?

No idea, not only that but ATI doesn't list HyperMemory anywhere in the specs for that card,

ATI Radeon™ HD 4300 Series GPU Specifications

so unless XFX has added it themselves, not sure why they mention it.

I don't know if it does, but if it has onboard memory then it has its own memory, and will use NO RAM at all....

Thanks a lot! as a final... is there any aditional advice for apropiate installing of this VGA? Do I need to uninstall any older VGA drivers? (my old onboard nVidia nForce 405) The MoBo sets the config as "Use onboard if no Ext GPU" I leave it that way or I need to change it to "Ext GPU" to ensure that it will use the ATI?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/80392-graphics-card-install-new-card.html

~Lordbob

 

[FerchogtX]

Thanks a lot, I've finally installed my VGA (the MoBo oly has two options XD... Use onboard if no ext GPU and use always, so I leaved the first), and goes fine... I don't know if this will affect performance but GPU-Z and Everest say that the card is working on x8 PCI-e instead of x16... I don't think it will affect a lot... but who knows... at least Chakast games go perfect now, and I recovered 256 MB of my main RAM XD.

By now I'm using Catalyst Driver version 10.4 for Windows 7 and 8.92 for Win XP (I only use that OS for using those devices that I was unable to install in Win 7)

Thanks for your help guys.

See ya!!!

 

[Faladu]

Just FYI:
Following my 2nd # in the model # theory, it's a throw away card, as soon as you can afford better or need it, you can throw it away. (save as backup in actual scenario)

Until you hit x6xx series for Radeon, they are pretty lousy heavy 3-D Direct-X gaming cards.
As luck would have it? (probably not) the same is case in the x6x Nvidia family, and more like x8xx in the previous models.

So in summary, the 4350 is not a 'good' card.

 

[FerchogtX]

Just FYI:
Following my 2nd # in the model # theory, it's a throw away card, as soon as you can afford better or need it, you can throw it away. (save as backup in actual scenario)

Until you hit x6xx series for Radeon, they are pretty lousy heavy 3-D Direct-X gaming cards.
As luck would have it? (probably not) the same is case in the x6x Nvidia family, and more like x8xx in the previous models.

So in summary, the 4350 is not a 'good' card.

Thanks for the info... by now, with the things I use goes fine by now... this is the last purchase I made for this PC... I will save money so I can change my entire system (all, the rig, monitor, printer, scanner, web camera...) I want to definitely migrate to win 7 (my current devices prevent me for that as I have to have a dual boot with XP ), but by now, I stick with it, works fine.

Thanks for the opinion man

See ya!!!