| Rating | Where to buy |
 | Amazon.com *Same or similar item |
Sapphire Graphics Card HD 6450 sports the AMD Radeon HD 6450 GPU and 2GB DDR3 graphics RAM. It features AMD HD3D technology for watching 3D Blu-ray movies and supports full HD (1080 progressive scan) resolution and supports 7.1 HD surround sound via its HDMI port. HD6450 is CrossFireX ready for dual-GPU support.
What is in the box?
HD 6450 by Sapphire comes in a nice colorful box. The other box inside is made out of recycled paper. The package contains Sapphire HD6450 graphics card, brackets, a driver CD, a quick installation guide, and a product registration booklet.
Design
Sapphire Graphics Card HD 6450 does not look as impressive when compared to its power and features. It comes with a big heatsink but no fan. Well, the heat sink is big and looks like it can do without a fan. Also, the absence of a fan makes it a noiseless video card and gives you the peace of mind knowing that you’ll never end up with a dead fan.
HD 6450 has three ports: VGA port, DVI port, and most importantly an HDMI port, which supports 7.1-channel HD audio.
Features
Sapphire HD 6450 sports 650 MHz core clock with 160x Stream processors. It comes with 1GB 64-bit DDR3 memory with 1334 MHz effective BUS speed, and it can get hold of another 1GB from your RAM.
It has a few notable features for a video card priced under $50. For instance, it supports the 2nd generation Microsoft DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1, Shader Model 5.0. Also, It supports Dolby TrueHD and DTSHD Master Audio enabling you to enjoy high bandwidth, 7.1 channel surround sound over HDMI.
Performance
Here at AffordableProductReview lab, we used the Sapphire Graphics Card HD 6450 to Build a Customized Entertainment Desktop under $700.
We played games such as Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (2011), The Run, Darksiders 1 and 2, Dirt 2, Silent Hill Downpour, Crysis 1 and 2. To get a decent frame rate (above 30 per second) we had to adjust gaming resolution to 1600 X 900 and tweak game details to medium. We could not play the games in HD resolution (1920x1080p) using the above-mentioned configuration of our PC. However, with 1600×900 the gaming experience was still very nice.
Later, we replaced the dual-core processor with a Core 2 Duo processor, and the DVD drive with a Blu-Ray drive and we experienced significant improvement in the gaming and movie watching experience. With this modified configuration of our PC, we could play the games in true HD resolution (1080p) at a frame rate just over 30 per second. Sapphire HD 6450 enabled us to enjoy Blu-Ray movies in extraordinary details.
Sapphire HD 6450’s core temperature never raised above 80-degree centigrade. We experienced no audio or video lagging of any kind.
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable gaming graphics card, HDMI port. Latest games playable in medium details with full HD resolution at a frame rate above 25. | Can’t play latest games in full details when resolution set to 1920 X 1080. Trying so will drop frame rate below 15 per second. |
Conclusion
If you are looking for a low-profile affordable video card to play the latest games in medium details and at a decent frame rate (above 25 per second), then Sapphire Graphics Card HD 6450 DDR3 2GB could be a good choice for you.
Specifications
Ports:
D-Sub(VGA)
Dual-Link DVI
HDMI (with 3D)
GPU 625 MHz Core Clock
40 nm Chip
160 x Stream Processors
Memory 2048 MB Size
64 -bit DDR3
1334 MHz Effective
Dimensions: 190(L)x22(W)x94(H) mm Size.