HD 6450 vs. R5 230 - basic needs

[pdirt]

Hi Everyone - I'm hoping to get some feedback on the two cards we have. This is for a non-gaming business computer. Mostly will be used for Photoshop (PS3) and some basic video editing (5-45min videos), watching DVDs or streaming.

This is for a Dell Optiplex 7020, 255W power supply, I5-4590 (Quad Core, 3.30GHz Turbo, 6MB, w/ HD Graphics 4600), 12GB ram.

Dell was supposed to send us an R5 240 1GB, but long story short, they didn't. Instead they sent us two different, lesser cards to choose from.

* HD 6450 1gb
* R5 230 1gb

From reading the very limited reviews online (most reviews are geared toward the high end gaming GPUs) and spec reviews, it seems the HD6450 would be a better choice because it has GDDR5 memory instead of the 230's DDR3:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R5-230-vs-Radeon-HD-6450

So is either of these cards slightly better than the other? Is the R5 240 really all that much better (would we ever notice a difference) that we should harp on Dell a bit more to finally send the 240? It's very unlikely that we will upgrade the GPU in the future.

We have both cards still in the FedEx boxes, haven't opened or installed either. I'm hoping to finally decide which card is slightly better so we can return the other.

Thanks much, this is the first desktop we have bought in many years and I am totally out of touch with the tech specs involved in these things now.

 

[SPBHM]

230 is a rebranded hd 5450 as far as I know, so the 6450 is always faster.

 

[Enigmoid]

The HD4600 integrated graphics processor will be stronger than either card and you will be able to trim some power usage off the system.

Just try the motherboard display output and see how it works. Chances are if you need more power neither card is sufficient.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The HD4600 integrated graphics processor will be stronger than either card and you will be able to trim some power usage off the system.

Just try the motherboard display output and see how it works. Chances are if you need more power neither card is sufficient.

^^ This

 

[pdirt]

Thanks everyone for your quick replies.

Currently, we are using the integrated HD4600 graphics. Haven't yet tried video work, but Photoshop runs just fine.

We paid for the R5 240, but by some glitch of Dell's they sent the machine without any dedicated card. They later sent a bunch of free stuff (fancy wireless card/antenna, a couple other things, all overnighted Fedex, separate shipments). We asked for none of those things or the overnight shipment, but they were generous with them anyways. The story I tell myself is Dell is stammering at sending the 240 (which isn't much better, from what I can tell) because they don't have it in stock (probably would need to ship separately from China) and they've also given us a bunch of stuff for free.

So it's a case of trying to get what we paid for, in this case, a dedicated video card. But from some of the comments, it sounds like we might just be better off sending back both dedicated cards and just use the HD4600. Not sure yet if that is what we'll do, but really appreciate the feedback.

 

[Enigmoid]

If it turns out that you need more power the 240 is significantly more powerful than the 230

230 - 160 VLIW @ 625 mhz, 8.5 GB/sec memory bandwidth
240 - 320 gcn 1.0 @ 730 mhz, 22 GB/sec on DDR3, 56 GB/sec on GDDR5

The 240 is probably 2.5-3x faster.

The 230 is a downgrade from the HD 4600. The 240 is a nice upgrade though you may not need this much power.

 

[pdirt]

If it turns out that you need more power the 240 is significantly more powerful than the 230

230 - 160 VLIW @ 625 mhz, 8.5 GB/sec memory bandwidth
240 - 320 gcn 1.0 @ 730 mhz, 22 GB/sec on DDR3, 56 GB/sec on GDDR5

The 240 is probably 2.5-3x faster.

The 230 is a downgrade from the HD 4600. The 240 is a nice upgrade though you may not need this much power.

Thank you, this is very helpful. This will be very useful talking with Dell. They've been great on everything else.

So I take it, the 6450 would equally be an downgrade from the HD 4600?

 

[Enigmoid]

Thank you, this is very helpful. This will be very useful talking with Dell. They've been great on everything else.

So I take it, the 6450 would equally be an downgrade from the HD 4600?

Yes

 

[Charlie98]

I have a HD6450 in my HTPC, it's marginally better than the Intel HD2000 graphics of my i3 Sandy Bridge, but I wouldn't be running it if I had a Broadwell chip.

Unless you can get a 240, I'd just send them back...

 

[sheh]

Regarding the 6450, there are various versions. Some lower clocked, some faster, some DDR3, some GDDR5.

 

[therealnickdanger]

You didn't mention a price range, but I assume you're looking for something really cheap. Based upon your use case, have you considered going with an entry-level Quadro or Fire card? Most professional cards offer significant performance boosts for professional software, such as CAD and video/image editing software. It's worth looking into maybe.

 

[digitaldurandal]

You didn't mention a price range, but I assume you're looking for something really cheap. Based upon your use case, have you considered going with an entry-level Quadro or Fire card? Most professional cards offer significant performance boosts for professional software, such as CAD and video/image editing software. It's worth looking into maybe.

1) read thread <- start here
2) give advice and share knowledge
3) ????
4) profit

OP can you get cash back for the 240?

 

[cbn]

230 is a rebranded hd 5450 as far as I know, so the 6450 is always faster.

Actually the R5 230 is a rebranded HD6450. (both have 160 stream processors).

HD5450 has 80 stream processors.

 

[Seba]

OP can you get cash back for the 240?

That would be the best option in this situation.