This $20 GPU Dominates Cards Twice The Price

One budget GPU keeps showing up in comments as the ultimate hidden gem, so I finally grabbed an R7 450 to see whether it really lives up to the hype. This breakdown compares it directly against four other ultra low-end cards to find out if a $20 GPU can actually outperform hardware that costs twice as much:

We’ve tested many low end GPUs on this channel, everything from 15 year old classics straight up to modern entry level graphics cards. With all the great comments and requests that we get, one card keeps being touted over and over again as one of the best overall values at the extreme low end. Luckily, we happen to have one of them. This is the AMD Radeon R7 450, and we’re going to benchmark it. Not only that, but we’re going to put it up against four other ultra low end cards to see if it really can hold its own.

So let’s run through the lineup and take a look at what the R7 450 is up against:

Our first challenger is the Nvidia GeForce GT 730.

Next up is the AMD FirePro V4900.

Next is the Nvidia GeForce GT 640.

Finally, to give our other cards something to look up to, it’s the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030.

Now let’s put our promising contestants through five different benchmark tests to see how they stack up. First up is 3DMark running the Fire Strike test at default settings. Looking at the results, the R7 450 does impressively well and takes a solid second place behind the GT 1030. The GT 640 edges out the GT 730 to take third, while the V4900 trails behind.

Now let’s take a look at some of the other benchmarks and see if the results stay the same. Next up is GraphicsBench 5 running the Aztec Ruins test using DirectX 11 mode. Looking at the results shows a slightly different picture from the first test. The R7 450 still takes second, yet inches a bit closer to the GT 1030. The GT 640 remains in third, while the V4900 edges past the GT 730 to take fourth position.

Next up is Unigine Superposition running at the 720p Low preset. Looking at the results, the GT 1030 dominates this test. The R7 450 takes a distant second, yet remains significantly ahead of the GT 640. The GT 730 regains its fourth place position, pushing past the FirePro V4900.

For the next test, it’s the CS:GO Benchmark map running at 1080p and the lowest settings. Results here show the GT 1030 once again leaping out far ahead in terms of frames per second. The R7 450 holds onto a strong second place, while the rest of the pack bunches up in the mid to high 70s.

Next up is Shadow of the Tomb Raider running at 720p and the lowest preset. Some interesting results here, as both the GT 1030 and R7 450 push well ahead of both the GT 730 and GT 640. The R7 450 nearly doubles the performance of the GT 730, which finally manages to edge out the GT 640 by just over one percent. The FirePro V4900 struggled to complete this test at all. The one gigabyte of memory on this card is a big limiting factor and will only become more of a problem with newer titles going forward.

So there you have it, an impressive job by the AMD Radeon R7 450. Four gigs of GDDR5 memory, a low profile, and using only 65 watts of power, this little card can pack a punch.

Know of something better on the ultra low end for GPUs? Let us know in the video comments, and thanks for watching!

Programs used for benchmarking:

https://benchmark.unigine.com/superposition
https://store.steampowered.com/app/223850/3DMark/
https://gfxbench.com/result.jsp
https://store.steampowered.com/app/750920/Shadow_of_the_Tomb_Raider_Definitive_Edition/
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=500334237