Lower power / good quality

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ottozylch46

Weaksauce
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Oct 7, 2009
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As I do not keep up with the video card sector like I should, am looking for suggestions for replacing the power hungry 4870 I am currently using with something much more energy efficient without sacrificing much in picture quality.
I am not a gamer but do watch DVD's/Blu-Ray movies somewhat often. Otherwise, just working on applications, web etc.
The 4870 I currently have I bought from someone at work for a steal, but it uses way too much power for what I do. Would like to know what newer cards are out there that will still give a great picture without using a tremendous amount of electricity.
Thanks very much.
 
Radeon HD 5650/5670. You could get by with the lower-end 5300 to 5500 series cards when they're released.

The HD 4350 would also be a sufficient choice, though it will be less power-efficient it will still be a low-power card all-around. But I recommend holding out for the 5300/5500-series cards as they have premium onboard HDMI.

Alternatively on the other side of the camp the GeForce GT 220 (or 240 if you choose) is a good choice at the present time for your needs.

There will be no drop in 2D image quality.
 
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Since you don't play games then I would get a HD 5650. I would peg it at about the same performance as the HD 4670 since the more powerful HD 5670's performance is somewhere between the HD 4670 and the HD 4770. Power consumption should be low, I haven't seen any measurements yet, but it should draw no more 35w and probably no less 25w under load.
 
ATI 5450

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch_v3.asp?scriteria=BD11227

Not going to get much lower power than this. But not ideal for gaming but great for watching movies. On a whole the 5000 series of is much more efficient than the 4000 series of cards. As for what's equivalent to the 4870, the 5770 is very similar performance wise and will run you $170 - $180.The 5750 is slower about the same speed as the 4850 and the 5850 is about as fast as the 4870X2 but at twice the price.

Bunch of websites comparing them performance and power consumption.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/10/12/amd_ati_radeon_hd_5770_5750_review/
 
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