Optimizing Radeon HD 5450

[magmag]

I built my system in mid 2010 so it's like 6 years old but I'm still satisfied with the general performance of my hardware (GA P55A UD3P + core i5 750@stock cpu and voltage + 8 GB DDR3 + Samsung SSD 500 GB on SATA2 + Windows 7 x64) except, possibly my graphics board which is a fanless Radeon HD 5450.

My main issue is when browsing the internet via firefox (main browser), I've always noticed lagginess/slowness of rendering of web pages. This is with different versions of that browser and not just 1 particualr version. i.e. Rendering pages is not fluid or smooth, feels laggy and also videos sometimes flick randomly whether they are videos on facebook or youtube. I use the latest official driver 15.7.1 and I can't update to newer versions as AMD dropped support for the 5xxx series

My question is: Is there any tweaked/modded driver version of 15.7.1 that can squeeze the maximum perfromance of this card for better browsing and video playback? (P.S. I don't play games)

If this card represents a real bottle neck in my machine, will I get away with buying this card? i.e. will I see a nice difference if I swapped my card with the newer one? or it's just a waste of money as long as I don't do games? (Unfortunately, I'll have to wait for some months until I travel myself and get this card as it is not sold in my country & I can't have it shipped either)

Many thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
You might look a little deeper using resource monitor and the Overview section to see what is really going on as far as cpu usage
There have been so many reports of extremely high cpu usage lately this could be why your browsers are slow

Also use RealTemp it shows the temperatures plus the cpu load
Download Real Temp 3.70 | techPowerUp

 

[Mellon Head]

There isn't much to be had in terms of performance with a 5450. It's a basic card meant for browsing and home theatre use. I know of no tweaked driver that will help either, unfortunately.

The card you linked would be a slight improvement, but you would be better off with a more sophisticated card, such as the Radeon 7770 or 7850 or 7870. An R7 series card would be even better as it's newer.

Nvidia users can advise on what Nvidia card would work best for you. I'm not too familiar with them and can't really comment intelligently.

 

[AddRAM]

Go nvidia

But first things first, how much money do you want to spend ???

EVGA - Intelligent Innovation - Official Website

https://us.msi.com/Graphics-cards/#?category=GeForce TITAN Series&category_no=1042

This card is beautiful

https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/GTX-970-GAMING-4G.html#hero-overview

 

[SCANNERMAN777]

Radeon 5450

I own this card. Actually, my 4 year old owns this card. I opted for a Sapphire 7770 on the old system (which my wife now owns) and all I can say is that I'm glad I did. There are likely a few tweaks out there for a 5450 but to be honest I don't think it's worth the effort. Sooner or later you'll be wanting a better card regardless of what you do with it and that is why it is in my 4 year old's Dell duo core.