ATI Radeon HD4250

ATI Radeon HD 4250

The AMD ATI Radeon HD 4250 (sometimes also ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 called) is an onboard (shared Memory) graphics chip in the RS880M chipset. It is based on the HD 3400 graphics core and features the UVD 2 video engine to decode HD videos. Compared to the HD 4200, the 4250 offers a similar performance, but the power consumption could be a bit better.

Compared to the old HD 3200, the 4250 supports DirectX 10.1 and features the UVD2 video decoder.

The UVD 2 video engine is able to decode HD videos (H.264 and VC-1 in all stages, MPEG2 only IDCT) and allows the fluent playback of HD videos (e.g. Blu-ray) with a relative low CPU utilization (called Avivo HD). The UVD 2 in the HD 4250 supports the decoding of two video stream and therefore got a full Blu-Ray support.

The graphics core of the HD 4250 stems from the Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series and is therefore DirectX 10.1 capable. Because of the missing graphics memory, the performance of the card is a bit lower than of the HD 34x0. Theroretically, dedicated memory chips can be directly added to the chip, making it a dedicated graphics card (called sideport). Because of pricing it is unclear if any manufacturer will add memory to the chip.

The 3D performance is heavily depending on the used processor. With a fast Phenom II CPU for example less demanding games like Left 4 Dead or Starcraft 2 were playable in low settings and resolutions. With a slow V-Series CPU however, only old games like Doom 3 or Quake 4 should be playable. Compared to older onboad graphic chips (e.g., GMA 4500MHD), the HD 4250 is much faster. The new Intel HD Graphics in the Core ix Arrandale CPUs, offers a similar performance, but the driver support by AMD should be better.

The mobile Radeon HD 4250 should be identical to the desktop version (desktop minimal higher clock rates), although faster processors used in desktop systems may lead to better benchmarks.