HIS H365F512ANP Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail

Glass half empty

Reviewed By: Barely on 11/1/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Nice way to stretch the life of your windows machine with an AGP slot. Good resolution and performance for older games. Does O.K. with WoW at lower - medium settings. Great card for older machines only using windows.

Cons: The confusion people have with the driver install (I used the CD's provided and haven't had any issues, install went without a hitch, I even avoided installing Catalyst, just the drivers). If you're a linux user, avoid all ATI cards like the plague. Not only do they provide some scetchy driver support for windows users, but they provide nearly zero support for linux users. I got this card to TRY and stretch the life of an older dual-boot system. Catalyst for linux is worthless and the hours wasted on trying to find a work around to end up with a usable desktop is time I would have saved if I would have spent a few extra bucks on an Nvidia card. ATI should have all vendors / card manufacturers who use their chipsets place huge red labels on their boxes like cigarette warnings --If you use linux, you should never buy an ATI card--, just to save consumers the money and frustration, and to salvage some of the demolished reputation with the linux crowd.

Other Thoughts: If I knew what I kind of nightmare I was getting into with the linux side of things I would have bought an Nvidia card. However, if used strictly for windows XP or newer, this card helps breathe new life into an older machine that requires an AGP card.

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Reviewed By: on 10/30/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Drivers installed without any problem ON WINDOWS XP. Quick clean installation. I feared the worse because all the bad reviews I read but I had no problem. Good price.

Cons: HDMI is not working properly. Screen is not taking full landscape but I might have to play with the settings. A few .wmv videos that I had saved play with a distortion in color now, streaming hd videos still lag. (Have not tried a game)

Other Thoughts: Overall I expected a little more from this card. I know AGP 4x is old technology but I had a higher expectation I feel like I'm at the same place that I was before with my ooollllldddd graphics card. If you want quality upgrade your board and get PCI-E!

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Win 2K NOT supported

Reviewed By: Still like 2K on 10/30/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Looks nice, hardware install was a breeze.
I should like the card once I jump through the flaming hoops to get it to work.
Gave 2 eggs because no clear indication that card was not Win2K compatible.

Cons: Will not install drivers for windows 2000 (SP4, latest patches). There was no indication by Newegg that this was an XP-Win7 card. The AMD/ATI site listed the driver download as Win2K/XP, but wouldn't load even with .net update. The box did list XP-Win7 as a requirement, I wish Newegg had it in caps "XP OR NEWR O/S!". No customer support available from AMD for ATI: it's like "take your driver and go". No forums that I could see. Too bad, I used to swear by ATI, now I swear at them.

Other Thoughts: My machine is a P-IV 2.4GHz with 133FSB - max 333DDR mem at 2 GB. It has a 4x AGP, and this card is a 4-8x AGP. You would think that if you're making a 4x AGP compatible card you would support Win2K. I know it's an old O/S, but AGP 4x is just as old as Win2k. So, either I try to hack the driver or upgrade the O/S to XP.

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