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Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I Radeon HD 4350 Half-Height Videocard Review
Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I Radeon HD 4350 Half-Height Videocard Review - PCSTATS
The Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I is a half-height PCI Express x16 videocard designed for small form factor and home theatre PCs that need a bit more horsepower, HDMI output, or both.
 68% Rating:   
Filed under: Video Cards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Gigabyte Jul 08 2009   J. Apong  
Home > Reviews > Video Cards > Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I

Radeon 4350 GPU and HD Playback Tests

AMD Radeon HD 4350 Technology

The AMD Radeon RV710 graphics processor at the heart of the Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I videocard is directly descended from the RV770 from AMD's flagship Radeon HD 4870 and 4870 X2 graphics card, although much of the original card's complex microarchitecture has been stripped down or removed to make the RV710 GPU much less expensive.

While the RV770 launched with a 256-bit memory interface and 800 stream processors, the RV710 has a 64-bit memory interface and only 80 stream processors, which means that while the Radeon 4350 does have entirely new architecture behind it, it's processing power will likely be on par with videocards like the Radeon 3650 and 2600 from last generation. The Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I has a core clock of 600 MHz, paired with 512MB of GDDR2 clocked at 1000MHz.

The RV710 GPU is also DirectX 10.1 and PCI Express 2.0 compliant, although these standards still only exist for the sake of future-proofing cards for later compatibility and haven't been required in any major software or hardware revisions so far.

PCSTATS Benchmark Report Blu-Ray 1080p High Definition Content Playback Tests


With the success of Blue Ray, today's mainstream media center PCs need HD decoding acceleration like never before. Normally PCSTATS runs these HD playback tests in our IGP motherboard reviews, like the ASUS M4A78T-E, but today we'll toss them at the Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I since it is being sold as a quick and cheap way to bring HDMI into an older media PC system.

Blu-Ray High Definition content demands a lot of PC processing resources during playback, if CPU load becomes too high that can lead to jittery video quality or other artifacts. Many integrated graphics processors now feature Blu-Ray and High Definition H.264, VC1 and M-PEG2 content acceleration decoders to offload this processing from the CPU, freeing up system resources for other tasks.

The PCSTATS Blu-Ray HD content playback test scenario monitors average CPU utilization. Lower CPU utilization values are best, provided video playback remains smooth and stutter free.

How PCSTATS Tests: Each IGP graphics chip or videocard is connected to an ASUS MK241 wide screen 1920x1200 (1080P) resolution LCD display with an HDMI cable.

The Blu-Ray movie "10,000 BC" (VC1 encrypted) is then played back from Chapter 22 on an ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray combo drive, using WinDVD Platinum software and the average fluctuation of CPU load recorded.

Motherboard

Core Logic IGP

Blu-Ray Playback
CPU Utilization

Video Playback
@ 1080p Quality

Intel DG45ID (Intel G45) Intel GMA X4500HD 32% - 38% No issues
ASUS P5Q-EM (Intel G45) Intel GMA X4500HD 38% No issues
Biostar Tpower N750 (nVidia nForce 750a) Nforce 750a 18% - 20% No issues
ASUS EAH 4550 Videocard AMD HD 4550 7% - 10% No issues
Gigabyte GVR435OC-512I AMD HD 4350 6% - 10% No issues
ASUS M4A78T-E (AMD 790GX) AMD HD 3300 6% - 9% No issues
ASUS M3A78T (AMD 790GX) AMD HD 3300 6% - 9% No issues
Foxconn A7DA-S (AMD 790GX) AMD HD 3300 14% - 24% No issues

The ATI Radeon HD 4350 handles HD decoding just fine so there is no significant load on the CPU during Blu-Ray playback at 1080p.

Hard Drive 720p/1080i Video Playback

Playing high definition content on current generation PCs can bog down even the fastest processors because there is more data to handle. To test the integrated graphics processor's capabilities at HD content accelerating capabilities, we played the High Definition video clip, "The Discoverers" at 720P and 1080i from the hard drive while monitoring the percentage of CPU utilization through Task Manager. Lower CPU utilization is best.

PCSTATS Benchmark ReportHDD 720p/1080i Video Playback (Discoverers Video Clip)
720P (Avg): Percent CPU Utilization Ranking
Intel DG45ID (Onboard G45 ) 17
ASUS P5Q-EM (Onboard G45 ) 9
ASUS EAH 4550 Videocard 12
Gigabyte GVR435OC-512I 17
ASUS M4A78T-E (onboard HD 3300 video) 17
ASUS M3A78-T (onboard HD 3300 video) 17
Foxconn A7DA-S (onboard HD 3300 video) 30
ECS A780GM-A (Onboard HD 3200 Video 30

Foxconn A690GM2MA-RS2H (X1250 video)

35
Biostar Tpower N750 (onboard nF 750a video) 24
Biostar TF8200 A2+ (onboard GF 8200 video) 60
1080i (Avg): Percent CPU Utilization Ranking
Intel DG45ID (Onboard G45 ) 20
ASUS P5Q-EM (Onboard G45 ) 12
ASUS EAH 4550 Videocard 19
Gigabyte GVR435OC-512I 20
ASUS M4A78T-E (onboard HD 3300 video) 20
ASUS M3A78-T (onboard HD 3300 video) 22
Foxconn A7DA-S (onboard HD 3300 video) 49
ECS A780GM-A (Onboard HD 3200 Video 53
Foxconn A690GM2MA-RS2H (X1250 video) 49
Biostar Tpower N750 (onboard nF 750a video) 18
Biostar TF8200 A2+ (onboard GF 8200 video) 64

Again, there's not much system load when playing back HD content from the hard drive. The ASUS EAH 4350 manages to equal the HD3300 IGP by a few points in these 720p/1080i playback tests.

Prelude to Benchmarks

The details of how the Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I videocard test system was configured for benchmarking; the specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions are indicated below. All benchmarks for the videocard were run in Windows Vista Ultimate, the reference video cards were tested in both Windows XP and Vista for the DX10 benchmarks.

PCSTATS is in the process of making the transition to a Windows Vista and Intel CPU test platform, so keep this in mind as you scan the benchmark results. In the second column are the general specs for the reference cards this Radeon HD 4350 videocard is to be compared against. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results on the next page.

PCSTATS Test System Configurations
test system reference system #1 reference system #2
processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (775) Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (775) AMD Athlon64 FX-62 (AM2)
Clock Speed:

15 x 200MHz = 3.0GHz

14 x 200MHz = 2.6GHz 14 x 200MHz = 2.8GHz
Motherboards:

ASUS P5E3 Premiun (Intel X48 Express)
ASUS Striker II NSE (nF 790i SLI)*
MSI X48 Platinum
(Intel X48 Express)

MSI X48 Platinum (Intel X48 Express)

Foxconn C51XEM2 (NF 590 SLI)
Videocard:

Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I
ASUS EN9400GT/DI/1G(LP)
ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A
Gigabyte GV-N26OC896H-GA
ASUS ENGTX260 MT/HTDI/896MD3
Sparkle GTX260 Core 216
ASUS ENGTS250 DK (SLI)*
ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A
Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI

Palit Radeon HD 4870X2
ASUS Radeon EAH4850/HTDI/512MA
MSI Radeon R3870X2-T2D1G-OC
ASUS Radeon EAH3870X2 1G
Diamond HD 3650 Pe 512
MSI R4830-T2D512-OC

ASUS EAX1900XTX/2DHTV/512M/A
ASUS EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E-HD
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC
MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E-HD-OC
nVidia GeForce 8600GTS SLI
Foxconn
8600GTS-256
MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E-OC
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC
Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H SLI
Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E
Gigabyte GV-NX76GT256D-RH
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS
Albatron 8600GT-256
MSI NX8800GT-T2D512E-OC
ASUS EN8800GT TOP/G/HTDP/512M/A
Palit 9600GT Sonic
Biostar V903GT52-NV1AN *

Memory:

Corsair DOMINATOR Twin2X2048-1800C7D (DDR3)

Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C3 (DDR2)

Hard Drive:

74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740

CDROM:

ASUS BC-1205PT-BD Blu-Ray Drive

Monitor (1080p):

ASUS MK241 24" HD LCD

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 750W
Heatsink: Intel E8400 Reference Intel E6750 Reference Athlon64 FX-62 Reference Heatsink
Test System Setup:

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Intel INF 9.0.0.1008
Catalyst 9.3
Forceware 185.85
nVidia 15.23

Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit*

Benchmarks:

3DMark06
3DMark Vantage
Far Cry 2
STALKER Clear Sky
FEAR
Crysis
Call of Juarez
Lost Planet

Benchmark results are organized by GPU manufacturer first (AMD/ATI or nVidia), then by GPU generation, and then by GPU class (high end, mainstream, value). This approach provides a clearer view of how performance can differ from generation to generation, and class to previous generation. The product being tested is marked with the red colour bar.

On with the benchmarks!

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Contents of Article: Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I
 Pg 1.  Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I Radeon HD 4350 Half-Height Videocard Review
 Pg 2.  — Radeon 4350 GPU and HD Playback Tests
 Pg 3.  Videocard Benchmarks: 3DMark06
 Pg 4.  Videocard Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage
 Pg 5.  DX10 Videocard Benchmarks: Call of Juarez
 Pg 6.  DX10 Videocard Benchmarks: Lost Planet
 Pg 7.  Videocard Benchmarks: FEAR
 Pg 8.  Videocard Benchmarks: Crysis
 Pg 9.  AA/AF Videocard Benchmarks: FarCry 2, Crysis
 Pg 10.  Onboard HDMI Output for High Definition Video

 
Hardware Sections 


 
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