This ATI Radeon 9550 video card represents good value for money and has no reported vices.
This 256MB AGP video card is affordable and provides a very good graphics for virtually any game. While this is without doubt a budget priced card, for the novice to mid-level gamer this would be an ideal upgrade to their computer.
For anyone capable of taking the cover off their PC, this board is an easy installation. Taking the usual precautions against static discharge, this just plugs into a spare slot. Load up the ATI Catalyst software included and you’re ready to experience smooth fast graphics. The card also includes an S-video output, which you can use with a suitably equipped TV.
The latest games are increasingly demanding of the graphics, with movie quality effects becoming the norm, and adding this card produces a noticeable improvement in response and smoothness of the video, adding to enjoyment of the game play.
Graphics are very processor intensive, and the Radeon 9550 visual processing unit on this card boasts some of the latest tricks to take care of the complex calculations associated particularly with the creation of 3D images. These include the trademarked technologies of SMARTSHADER 2.0, which allows complex effects at faster speeds and SMOOTHVISION 2.1 which uses the latest anti-aliasing techniques. ATI’s CATALYST control center allows for detailed configuration, and the FULLSTREAM technology helps improve streaming video.
The 8550 chipset on the card takes care of the heavy calculation work associated with providing the best possible graphic output. The memory included, 256MB, is more than on some budget cards, and improves the overall performance.
What does this mean in practice? In use, the card produced very impressive cinematic quality graphics, with a noticeable enhancement of the latest demanding games. This means that game play becomes a more immersing experience, and greatly increases the value of your existing games. The Radeon 9550 chip is claimed to be optimized for the most-demanding 2D and 3D next-generation games and applications, without imposing strain on the existing CPU.
This ATI video card will also improve all the visual output. DVDs can be played with excellent quality. Unlike some other video cards, this one stayed substantially cool in use, which also helps with the longevity of the product.
From a weakness point of view, this card is still running an AGP 8x bus, perfectly adequate for this level of graphics improvement, but bound to be overtaken by PCI Express, at twice the speed, or other new standard in due course. On the other hand, using less than the very latest technology also has some benefits in terms of cost and reliability.
In summary, the ATI Radeon 9550 256MB video card is a nice card and well worth the price. While it’s not the state-of-the-art, some people don’t need the difference in performance of the latest technology found in much more expensive cards. If you’re one of those people, this card is recommended.
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=ATI+Radeon+9550+AGP+256mb
Card in good condition. Shipping : R30 .
