SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4650 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Ready Graphics Card 100253HDMI

Pros: This was my goal: get a small, quiet PC for the office that can that will handle the light office work and browsing but also be able to play most games well.

Last week I received my Vostro 220s (specs below) and added this card.

* Small size - I needed a low profile card
* Low cost
* Low power - runs great on 250 ps
* Low noise - runs very quiet especially after updating the drivers from the website.

It took my Vista Gaming Graphics from 4.something to 5.3.

I downloaded the BioShock demo to test my Sapphire 4650.

BIOSHOCK - all graphics turned up to high
1680 x 1050: averaged about 25 fps.
1440 x 900: averaged about 30-35 fps.
1280 x 1024: averaged about 35 fps.
1280 x 720: averaged about 40 fps.

So the fps isn't what I would like but even at 25 fps I didn't notice a problem - it still ran smooth with all the graphics turned all the way up.

Cons: I have been unable to use the ATI Overdrive to overclock the card. I've seen several reviews where guys have been able to overclock the full size 4650 to 650 gpu / 100 memory but I was unable to.

It defaulted to 600 gpu / 400 memory. I used the auto tune and it changed to 765 gpu / 485 memory and it seemed to work fine until I started BioShock and the screen went crazy and the computer rebooted. I tried several combinations and sometimes BioShock would run for a few minutes but would eventually crash. So I would up leaving it at the defaults. I'll be interested to see if someone else has better luck overclocking.

Overall Review: For anyone needing a low profile video card with low power needs and that is quiet, THIS is the card to get! There's not another card out there that can meet all these needs that's better than this card.

Here's the specs of my machine I have the card in.

System information: This Computer
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
Number of CPU: 1
Cores per CPU: 2
CPU Type: Intel Core2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz
CPU Speed: 2438.6 MHz
Cache size: 3072KB
O/S: Windows Vista (32-bit)
Total RAM: 2046.3 MB.
Available RAM: 1001.8 MB.
Video settings: 1680x1050x32
Video driver:
DESCRIPTION: ATI Radeon HD 4650
MANUFACTURER: ATI Technologies Inc.
BIOS: 11X-2E109000-02A

Pros: Lots of output options. Card is not excessively thick or long. Drives dual monitor setup with no problem.

Cons: The VGA connector is positioned too close to the end of the metal cover that secures it to the case. I was unable to plug in a VGA cable (tried two separate cables) because of this. PowerDVD 9 Blu Ray advisor keeps saying the card is borderline for blu ray playback.

Overall Review: Kind of wish I sprung for a higher end card.