AMD launches Radeon HD 4550 and 4350

Posted at: 5:17pm 30th September 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

£33 will buy you 512MB of DDR3 memory, 80 stream processors, an HDMI output and a TDP of less than 20W

With the Radeon HD 4800 cards covering the top-end, and the 4600 cards covering the mid-range, AMD has now decided to complete its plan for graphics domination with two new 55nm chips at the lower end of the scale; the Radeon HD 4550 and 4350.

Let’s start with the 4550, which AMD claims has extremely low power requirements and heat output, with a TDP of less than 20W at full load. This means that the chip doesn't need an external power connector, and it can also be passively cooled, which could make it appealing to those looking to build a quiet media centre PC, particularly as the 4550 can also output to HDMI with 7.1 audio. There will also be low-profile cards available for smaller media cases.

Interestingly, the 4550 appears to be picking up from the Radeon HD 3650, as the newly released 4670 has similar specs to the Radeon HD 3850. While the 3650 had 120 stream processors, the 4550 only has 80, although it makes up for this with support for DDR3 memory, while the 3650 came with DDR2 as standard. The result, according to AMD, is that the 4550 is actually a bit faster than a DDR2-equipped 3650.

As standard, a 4550 card will come with 512MB of 800MHz (1.6GHz effective) DDR3 memory, with a core clock of 600MHz. Of course, with just 80 stream processors, this chip isn’t going to be one for gaming enthusiasts. However, AMD claims that it can get an average of 35fps in Call of Duty 4 when running on a 2.6GHz Athlon 64 X2 5200+ test rig, although the company hasn’t revealed the settings the game was running at, or the minimum frame rate. Meanwhile, the 4350 will come with just 256MB of memory, but will also be able to output to HDMI with 7.1 audio.

AMD ‘s vice president and general manager of its Graphics Products Group, Rick Bergman, said that the new GPUs are ‘the final pieces of the puzzle in rounding out the highly successful ATI Radeon HD 4000 series family.’ He also added that ‘AMD set out to lead performance at every price point and today we offer a complete family of graphics cards that delivers on our commitment of winning performance in each market segment.’

AMD says that it expects both GPUs to be available in October, with a 256MB 4350 costing less than $39 US (£21.89), and a 512MB 4550 costing less than $59 US (£33.11).