Video cards come in many different classes. While the HD4350 graphics card from XFX is indeed better than the onboard video cards that many prebuilt computers ship with its most appealing feature is its low price. Is it really worth it to upgrade an existing system to the HD4350? The answers may be surprising.
HD4350 System Review Specifications
For the purposes of this review the XFX ATI Radeon HD4350 graphics card was placed in an unused PCI Express slot in an Acer Aspire M5640 tower PC. The system had always been rather sluggish, especially when running graphics intensive games and photo editing tasks.
The intent of the new video card was to replace the lackluster onboard graphics processor and allow the user to run games at better quality while still maintaining a decent frame rate. No other modifications were made to the test system, which had 3GB of installed RAM.
ATI Radeon HD4350 Review Results
The user had had a choice between two Radeon cards, the XFX HD4350 and the HD4650 as a part of a special promotion being provided at a local electronics superstore. The HD4350 was chosen in order to avoid the issue of having to also upgrade the power supply to a 400 watt version (the existing system maxed out at 300 watts). In the end that small concession led to a very lackluster and uninspiring result.
While the HD4350 graphics card did make games such as World of Warcraft and others perform better and with much more eye catching resolutions, they did not allow the user to crank up the quality levels past midway before the frame rates dropped to unacceptable speeds.
Even with all of the quality settings set at medium the card still produced an abysmal 8 frames per second. While the HD4350 did provide some benefit it was not enough to justify the cost of the card. The user eventually pulled out the card and returned it to the store in favor of a more impressive card that could also run on a 300 watt power supply.
Radeon HD4350 Bottom Line
The ATI Radion HD4350 as sold by XFX is certainly a capable card for entry level uses. It is not however a card that can hold up and perform more complicated power intensive tasks required by avid gamers and video or photo editing aficionados.
When contemplating whether or not to purchase the HD4350 keep in mind that for around $30 more a user can purchase a far more powerful card that will perform nearly twice as good while also providing additional ports and output options.
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