ebayaholic:

No, you wouldn't need a processor upgrade.   The video card does all of the audio bitstreaming for you.

Good to know, Thanks!

cigga24:

 your stereo receiver needs to be able to though

Unfortunately this I do know. My Pioneer Elite VSX-82TSX that ran me around $750 (at a very discounted price mind you) is already out dated. 

But this card will do bitstreaming which I thinik my current card won't.

SmoothMole:

Anand has a good review here:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3734

 You appear to be sacrificing a key AVIVO component for video quality (vector adaptive meshing).  I'd recommending sticking with a 5670 or higher, particularly if you're an HD sports fan.

This is a real bummer, I stumbled across this card elsewhere and while I was warming up my wallet another member here told me about this shortcoming 

I guess the 5670's are not passively cooled though?

 This one's starting to look promising...

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5570/Pages/hd-5570-overview.aspx

dduk:

 This one's starting to look promising...

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5570/Pages/hd-5570-overview.aspx

 

The large fan scares me but hopefully another flavour of this card will be passive....here's hoping !!

Nah, forget it.  I just read the full review:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3738&p=14

No Kidding!  Where is the CEC support from these companies?  I want to control volume with digital audio! 

Venting...

-Valkyrie-MT

 Is it possible to do hybrid crossfire with the 5450 and HD3300 IGP? I know it could be done with the 3400 series and i figured this was similar but have no idea where to find this option.

I'm curious what temperature ranges people are getting. I decided to pick one of these cards up, and i am seeing some incredibly high temps; over 100c. Anyone else have any feedback?

chuggy:

I'm curious what temperature ranges people are getting. I decided to pick one of these cards up, and i am seeing some incredibly high temps; over 100c. Anyone else have any feedback?

Impressive, and quite handy if you want to watch a blu-ray whilst frying an egg!!

What case have you got it in?!  Is it passive/actively cooled and does it have good airflow?

I was thinking about getting a passive one for a Shuttle case with limited airflow, but this has just made me thing twice!

 I picked up the Sapphire passive 5450 earlier this week.  I have only had time to play with it for about and hour.  I was seeing temps upwards of 80c.  I was also getting a lot of VPU recoveries and freezes.  I assumed it was because of the temps or the drivers.  I have a low profile case, and this card fits in between two larger Hauppauge 2250 tuners, so it doesn't get a lot of air moving over it.  I am worried about the excess heat affecting the two tuning cards surrounding it.

 I am considering returning it and taking my chances with a different maker that puts a small fan on it.  

 I am also wondering if anybody else is seeing VPU recoveries with this card?  I was running 10.2 cat. drivers.  

I will definitely play around more this weekend.  Maybe I just got a bum card.

I did think the passive cooler on these looked somewhat weak.  I had a 43xx with an almost identical cooler that ran at about the same temps and would crash after about 10 mins of use.

I'm now using one of these with a much larger cooler (whilst still being single-slot) and I haven't had any problems at all - http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=000101&pid=273

I'm hoping someone (Sapphire) will bring out one similar.