ATI RADEON HD5550

Powerclor PCS+ HD5550

Specifications

Gpu Code Name	Redwood
Engine Clock	550 Mhz
Video Memory	512mb
Memory Clock	800-900Mhz for ddr3 900-1000Mhz for ddr5
Memory Interface	128-bit
DirectX	11
VGA	Yes, Max.Resolution-2048x1536
DVI	Yes, Max.Resolution-2560x1600
HDMI	Yes( V 1.3), Max.Resolution-1920x1200
Display-Port	Yes, Max.Resolution-2560x1600
Hdcp Support	Yes
CrossfireX Support	Yes
Shader Model	5.0
Bus Standard	PCIE 2.1 x16
ATI Eyefinity	Yes upto 3 displays
Minimum Power Requirement	400 Watt

Sapphire HD5550 512mb gddr5 with HDMI port

Asus 5550 1gb ddr3

Features

· 627 Million 40nm Transistors

· Terascale 2 unified processing architechture

· DDR3/DDR5 memory interface

· PCI Express 2.1 x16 bus interface

· DirectX 11 support

· OpenGL 3.2, 3.3 and 4.0 support

· Image quality Enhancement Technology

· Ati Eyefinity multi-display technology

· Ati stream acceleration technology

· ATI-CrossfireX multi gpu scaling support

· ATI avivo hd video and display technology

· ATI powerplay power management technology

· Certified drivers for Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Verdict

The ATI radeon HD5550 is mainly aimed towards the budget minded casual gamers, small form factors, home theatre pc and also for some low end professional work. With this card you get to have a small system like a HTPC with minimal noise levels and is mostly preferred nowadays due to their portability. It comes with directx 11 support and shader model 5.0, which are always a plus point for people who want to upgrade from older dying cards. For gamers it is not one of the jaw dropping cards but one can always overclock it and gain a few FPS in games and graphics applications. It is best to use this card with displays upto 22”(Resolution:1280x1024 to 1680x1050) for gaming as it simply cannot handle higher resolutions when anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering are taken into account and it can also be used to watch HD videos up to a resolution of 1920x1200. Finally, when combined with its $70 price tag it becomes a wonderful bargain and at the end of the day it is going to make you feel happy because you have made a great purchase. (NOTE: Do not buy the ddr2 version of this card, as it performs much slower than the ddr3 and ddr5 versions).

Sapphire HD5550 512mb gddr5 with display port

Powercolor 5550 1gb ddr3

Pros

· Price vs performance

· DX 11 and shader model 5.0 support

· Ideal for HTPCS and casual gamers

· Overclocking

· Display-port

· Low power requirement

Cons


· Not for Heavy gamers and lacks performance at high settings

· Low price difference(~$20) to the better performing ATI 5670

NOTE: The features mentioned above may vary according to different manufacturers' models.