VisionTek ATI Radeon HD 5550 1 GB DDR PCI Express Graphics Card (900331)

• 1 GB, Engine clock speed: 550 MHz
• Full DirectX 11 support for rich, realistic visuals and HD gaming performance
• ATI Radeon HD 5550 Series GPUs fully support Microsoft DirectX 11
• Watch the hottest Blu-ray movies or other HD content at full 1080p display resolution and beyond.
• With ATI Avivo HD technology, the latest Blu-ray and HD DVD movies play as smoothly as intended: at True HD 1080p
• Enjoy a more feature rich experience with enhanced Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD 2)

I upgraded to this card about three weeks ago and I've been in gaming heaven ever since.

The Pros: with support for DirectX 11 it has no problem playing all of the latest games. In recent weeks I've played Starcraft 2, Civilization V, the Warhammer, Age of Empires and Company of Heroes series and expansions and they all look fantastic and play smoothly.

I'm running this card on a Dell Inspiron 530 with an Intel 2.2 dual core processor and only 2GB of RAM. Not exactly a high powered gaming system but I'm still getting great performance.

On the Windows 7 "Windows Experience Index" my system earned a score of 6.6 in the "3D business and gaming graphics performance" category. That's a pretty decent score for an off the shelf system not specifically build for gaming.

I've had a lot of fun with this card. It has and HDMI output so one day I hooked it up to our 55' Sony TV/Monitor via it's HDMI input and experienced Starcraft 2 like never before.

Outstanding performance running Windows 7 and everyday non-gaming applications like Office 2010, MSN Premium, Norton, Nero and Roxio.

The Catalyst Control Center (CCC) is the software/utility which installs and manages the card. If you like, you can use CCC to tweak the card and can be used in either basic or advanced mode. I've experimented with the CCC to overclock this card using the AMD Overdrive utility. If you enjoy tweaking computers to get maximum performance you'll love this utility.

I haven't read the small print but the box says Lifetime guarantee; I have nvidia cards on other computers on our home network and love then but none come with a lifetime guarantee.

Cons: none yet. If there are problems down the road the lifetime guarantee should cover it unless my overclocking voided the guarantee.

Summary: I researched the other cards in this price range and hands down this card tops them all. Gaming performance is very good and everyday word processing, email, CD burning, netflix streaming etc., is fantastic. I'm really enjoying this card and the boost it gave my system. The overall performance of my PC improved noticeably.

Buy VisionTek ATI Radeon HD 5550 1 GB DDR PCI Express Graphics Card (900331) Now

This video card certainly offers some great features for the price. While it may be mainly marketed to gamers, its dual monitor support is a feature that can increase its appeal to high productivity users. This card is fully Direct X 11 compatible so there won't be any issues with new games that may be coming out soon.

The fan on the card is pretty small, however the heat sink covers close to half of the card, so over-clocking is not recommended for it. No adaptors were included with this card, but you won't need them since the card has a DVI port, a VGA port and a HDMI port. So you can easily use which ever one suit you best.

The HDMI port allows an easy connection to newer model TVs this allows you to enjoy gaming at a whole new level. This is a good video card investment.

Read Best Reviews of VisionTek ATI Radeon HD 5550 1 GB DDR PCI Express Graphics Card (900331) Here

Just what I needed to up grade a new computer. Needed this card to play more games.I ask my son who works with computers and he said this would work well for me. So far it is great.Update, it's one year later and we are having great times playing Deus Ex HR and the missing link. This card is great.

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I've hd no problems with this card so far. Drivers loaded wth no problem. I use a 23 Dell monitor & have no complaints. I have not used the HDMI hookup as of yet, due to my new T.V. is on Back order. I anticipate no problems in this area either.

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After much research on line in all the sites that sell this item and reviews from indipendend researchers I decided to buy this Card for an older Inspiron 530s, with 2 GB of RAM and Replaced the power supply with a 400w PS with a 22A 12V rail. The card requires at least 300 watts and an 18Amp 12V rail according to manufacturer. Did all the steps on the accompanying booklet Installation Guide and initially installed the drivers from the disk provided and later updated from AMD website. this Card is for my sons computer and he likes to play high end games. Games he had not been able to play played great and realistic and no hangups. I could go on and on but will suffice to say that the installation went like clockwork with no hang ups and the the drivers from AMD ATI Catalist are simply outstanding. I do not hesitate to recommend this card for upgrading of an older cumputer. It will provide a few years of improved service at little expense. A little irritation it did not come with low profile brackets could bo better. I paid $6.00 for a set. it would cost prably 1 or 2 $ to manufacturer and a bunch of good will, In spite, Thanks Visiontek,AMD,and Amazon for quick and free shipping.There is no other place as most on line vendors charge shipping fee and often a higher price. Will follow up if problems develop. but I do not anticipate any.