At the time of AMD’s introduction of the ATI RV770 graphics processor and Radeon HD 4870 videocard back in mid-2008, it was also secretly working on plans to transition the same graphics processor technology into a stripped down mid-range part. The subsequent Radeon HD 4850 and the Radeon HD 4830 videocards born of that effort, each offered competitive mid-range performance and outstanding value. Today PCSTATS is testing ATI’s latest entry-level videocard for budget PC builders and home theatre enthusiasts; the leaner, lighter, and less expensive RV710 GPU at the heart of the Radeon HD 4550 video card.

The ASUS EAH4550 is a half-height entry level videocard suitable for small form-factor, book size and home theatre PCs users that desperately want a dedicated HDMI jack on the cheap. To be frank, the only reason PCSTATS is devoting pixels to this $50 dollar, PCI Express videocard is because it offers very affordable HDMI video and audio which is fully HDCP compliant. That’s something a DVI-to-HDMI adaptor will not do. Not everyone can afford $600 monster videocards after all.

The RV710 GPU that powers the ASUS EAH4550 has a 600MHz core clock speed and is paired with 512MB of GDDR3 memory running at 800MHz. While this videocard has inherited some of the Radeon HD 4870′s graphical processing technique and is built on the same 55nm manufacturing process, the Radeon HD 4550 has just 80 stream processors and a 64-bit memory interface, so this videocard clearly isn’t meant for serious 3D gaming.

(…)

• READ MORE (Source): ASUS EAH4550 Radeon HD 4550 Half-Height Videocard Review – PCSTATS.com