Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 512MB DDR3 Review

HD Video Decoding Performance

In order to test the high definition video decoding capabilities, we loaded up CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra 9.0.2320 and played high definition 1080P media with three different types of HD codecs, namely VC-1, H.264/AVC, and WMW HD. Hardware acceleration was enabled in PowerDVD to take advantage of the accelerated decoding capabilities of our GPUs.

Chapter 18 of the Batman Begins Blu-ray DVD was our source for VC-1.
Chapter 14 of the Transformers Blu-ray DVD was our source for H.264/AVC.
The entire clip of Magic of Flight from Microsoft.com was our source for WMW HD.

Remember, in these tests our CPU was running at 3.33Ghz which is quite fast for even the best dual cores currently on the market. As such, the CPU usage you experience on these tests will most likely be much higher. CPU usage was once again logged by the Windows 7 Performance Monitor.

Also note that we used a REFERENCE HD 5450 to run these tests and NOT the Sapphire HD 5450 due to the fact that the product we were sent is not equipped for HD playback through HDMI.


VC-1 Playback


Here we see all of the discrete GPUs having roughly the same performance with the HD 5450 slightly edging out the GT 210 yet trailing the GT 220 by a narrow margin. Honestly, as long as you have a good CPU or dedicated GPU, you should be fine for VC-1 playback.


H.264 / AVC Playback


H.264 decoding is a bit harder on the system than VC-1 but nonetheless, all of the products we tests passed with flying colors. Things do change around a bit though with the HD 5450 now leading the way with the least amount of CPU usage.


WMV HD Playback


Here we see that the HD 5450 and ATI’s AVIVO HD seems to be much better at WMV HD decoding than NVIDIA’s PureVideo-equipped GT 200-series. The difference really is much more than marginal here but once again all of these GPUs should provide you with more than adequate WMV playback.