Friday, December 9th 2011
Sapphire provides Eyefinity on the cheap with the Radeon HD 6450 FleX
If all you want this Christmas is an Eyefinity setup but can't afford to invest much in a graphics card then you may be interested in Sapphire's latest creation, the Radeon HD 6450 FleX. This card comes with a sub-60 Euro price tag and is able to power three DVI monitors right out of the box.
Sapphire's HD 6450 FleX takes up two PCI slots, comes with a blue PCB and features a passive cooler, 160 Stream Processors, a GPU clock of 625 MHz, a 64-bit memory interface, 1GB of DDR3 memory set to 1600 MHz, UVD (Unified Video Decoder) 3, and three display outputs, a single-link DVI, a dual-link DVI, and a HDMI 1.4a port (a HDMI to DVI adapter is included in the box).
The Radeon HD 6450 FleX can be found on pre-order priced as low as 54.37 Euro.
Sapphire's HD 6450 FleX takes up two PCI slots, comes with a blue PCB and features a passive cooler, 160 Stream Processors, a GPU clock of 625 MHz, a 64-bit memory interface, 1GB of DDR3 memory set to 1600 MHz, UVD (Unified Video Decoder) 3, and three display outputs, a single-link DVI, a dual-link DVI, and a HDMI 1.4a port (a HDMI to DVI adapter is included in the box).
The Radeon HD 6450 FleX can be found on pre-order priced as low as 54.37 Euro.
31 Comments on Sapphire provides Eyefinity on the cheap with the Radeon HD 6450 FleX
Well if you need multi-monitor support for a SFF (with the use of the included half-height bracket) and/or a silent system, here's a good choice.
What kind of performance could we expect out of this passive GPU? Would it serve as a useful side-grade for older machines...
I've always liked Sapphire stuff. Makes for a good entry level benchmark.
Lets say you had 4 screens running security cams. Or two or more videos running on separate monitors, e.g. video editing. TWO cards will survive this task, whereas one card would struggle.
You would probably get better compatibility if you wanted to run one screen DirectX while keeping the others at the desktop. Or indeed running a wall-of-maps, or financial tickers.
So you DO get better performance running two cards. Just not for single screen gaming. Unless of course there is a "software workaround" crossfire-concept driver.
I understand the approach, but you can't do ANY triple-monitor gaming with that.
This is STRICTLY for non-gaming.
I wish there was something in the middle.. but eventually there will be so it's ok.
Or just buy any old HD 5xxx/6xxx with eyefinity, and an active DP->DVI adapter for ~$30 and be done with it.
You know those other things you do on your PC? You know, like, when you're not gaming? Yeah. A lot of that can be done better on multiple screens. Who'd have thought? An especially big market is those into stock trading, but really more desktop real estate is useful on a day to day basis.
If they had made this a single slot card, then it might have been more interesting and worth looking at.
It actually amazes me how many people think that more than 2 monitors wasn't possible before eyefinity. Eyefinity isn't the ability to use more than 2 monitors, it is the ability to use them as a single display. Which actually isn't ideal for most multi-monitor setups outside of gaming. It is Yogurt being silly. Trust me, he knows.
Also, I'm pretty sure nobody in this thread implied that >2 monitors was impossible pre-eyefinity. I don't see how one would arrive at that conclusion.
Niche market for sure, but certainly a valid market.