GIGABYTE GV-R465D2-1G1 Radeon HD 4650 Review :: Card

Card

11-fin 80 mm fans

2 slots

Rear of PCB

The GIGABYTE card is a little longer than the reference PCIe version of the card. GIGABYTE ships the card on a purple PCB with a dual-slot cooler. The cooler has an 11-fin 80mm fan to cool the graphics chip. The heatsink that surrounds the fan covers about ½ of the card front, centered on the graphics chip. GIGABYTE decided to use an all-aluminum heatsink. This card should be sufficiently cooled.

AGP connector

Rialto bridge chip

Top view

Card

The Gigabyte card uses a 1.5V AGP connector. As noted earlier a 1.5V card won't on a 3.3V AGP Slot and vice versa card due to the voltages being different and the connection being incompatible with the older standard. Assuming you have the correct interface on the motherboard installation should be the same as any other graphics card, just push it down into the AGP slot, screw it in and it should be installed.

6-pin power

Circuitry

The HD 4650 has no need for additional power beyond that provided by the PCIe slot, meaning that there is no need for additional power connectors when the PCIe version of the card is installed. This card however is designed for the AGP slot which provides less power to the card than a PCIe slot does. GIGABYTE outfits this card with a single 6-pin PCIE power connector. ATI lists the minimum power requirements for the HD 4650 to be a 400W PSU.

The HD 4650 is a native PCIe chip, meaning it is designed to work with PCIe systems. The card uses a Rialto bridge chip to work with the AGP interface which is located on the back of the board below the mounting screws for the graphics chip. The rear of the card also has a part number and a serial number sticker. The card has 1GB of GDDR2 memory split into 8 chips, 4 on the front of the card and 4 on the rear of the card.

Head on view

I/O

GIGABYTE has really gone all out when it comes to connectivity on the card. There is a Dual-Link DVI connector, a VGA connector and a HDMI connector on the rear I/O of the card. You can attach two DVI, two VGA or a DVI and HDMI monitor to the card if you use adapters. The top of the card has two connectors for the CrossfireX bridges. Note that to use two HD 4650 AGP cards in CrossfireX mode you need a motherboard with two AGP slots which is not available and the Crossfire support is holdover from the PCIE version of the card which does support it.