MSI Radeon HD 4350

[Pentium4]

I forgot that I had this thing sitting in my closet. I bought it in July, 2011 and it probably only saw around 3,000 hours of running time. My current HTPC setup in my room was dead silent, minus the GT 220. The GT 220 is a great card, but it's pretty loud even with the fan speed set on the lowest.

So I dug this out of the closet and saw that it had some nasty caps on it, KZG and G-Luxon. The G-Luxon cap is general purpose, but I thought I should replace it anyways with a KY cap. The KZG were replaced by nichicon HN. As you can imagine, this cards runs hot, especially under load. So I wedged that heatsink that came from the primary of an old PSU in there, and the idle temps dropped 4C, and the load temps dropped 7C

[mariushm]

Re: MSI Radeon HD 4350

Almost not worth the cost of replacing capacitors. You probably won't get more than 10$ if you try to sell it.

The gpu chip can run for sustained periods of times at up to 85c so really no point in beefing up the heatsink.

[Pentium4]

Re: MSI Radeon HD 4350

Yeah, but I already had it, and the thing runs hot, so I didn't trust those KZG caps at all. At idle, the exterior of the KZG caps was 42C, didn't check under load. I know it can handle the heat but I figured "why not!" I don't plan on selling it, I'll just keep using it in my HTPC. It can handle streaming 1080P through HDMI which is good enough for me. The highest I've seen it get with that additional heatsink is 74C

[momaka]

Re: MSI Radeon HD 4350

The gpu chip can run for sustained periods of times at up to 85c so really no point in beefing up the heatsink.

The GPU may be okay, but the BGA under it will tell you a different story over time.

I'm surprised that card didn't come with a fan, though. The reference ATI cards all do because they do kick out some heat under load.

Yeah, these cards aren't very expensive. I got 5 for $10 with shipping included. DMS-59 connector and low-profile, though. But I don't mind. Good enough probably for HTPC due to built-in hardware H.264. Not so great for gaming, of course. Probably on par with a 7600GT more or less (at least that's what I've seen people say online on random websites).

[Pentium4]

Re: MSI Radeon HD 4350

That's why I'm using it, cause it also sends sound through the HDMI. I hate how inefficient Netflix/Silverlight is. When this computer is streaming Netflix in 720P, the GPU usage stays in the range of 90-96% never maxes though. After having it up and running with me using it daily for 9 days, the highest the GPU temp got to was 76C according to MSI Afterburner

[momaka]

Re: MSI Radeon HD 4350

I'm surprised that card didn't come with a fan, though. The reference ATI cards all do because they do kick out some heat under load.

Yeah, these cards aren't very expensive. I got 5 for $10 with shipping included. DMS-59 connector and low-profile, though.

Just realised something... I though this thread was about the Radeon HD 3450 and not the 4350 . Oops. Oh well... They are still quite similar more or less .