It does not matter which of the world's manufacturers introduced the laptop to the market, as practice shows, the purpose of the device is determined by only one component - the video adapter. In game solutions, a powerful graphics accelerator is installed, and an integrated video card is enough for a business . However, there is another segment - mixed. Trying to please the buyer with price and performance, the manufacturer creates excellent low-cost solutions.
In this article, the reader will get acquainted with a very interesting video adapter presented on the world market. It's about the Radeon HD 8330G chip. For several years, mobile devices with this graphics accelerator have already gained fans, which means that there is something special in this video card.
Market positioning
Better to start with the fact that a laptop with such a video adapter is present in the segment of business devices and occupies the lower and middle price categories. This looks very strange when you consider the fact that the AMD Radeon HD 8330G is not a gaming device.
The current situation is explained quite simply: a modern chip was created using modern technologies, but it has no gaming potential. In fact, this is not a discrete graphics card, but a kind of symbiosis of an integrated solution with its own graphics core. It remains only to understand whether it makes sense to purchase laptops with such a video adapter.
Declared Specifications
Fans of demanding games at the first meeting with a graphics accelerator do not look at the amount of memory, but at the core clock frequency and the data transfer bus, because only these two indicators affect the overall performance. The graphics accelerator operates at a frequency of 500 MHz (in Turbo mode - 550 MHz) and uses a 64-bit bus to "communicate" with the processor.
Yes, the performance characteristics of the AMD Radeon HD 8330G are poor. Naturally, you will have to forget about resource-intensive games or play at the minimum settings. To top it off, it is worth noting that things are quite strange with the memory. On the chip itself there is a module with a capacity of 512 MB, but the graphics accelerator can use the RAM of the laptop, taking up to 1 gigabyte for its needs. Naturally, the future owner of the laptop needs to rely on the fact that the amount of RAM declared by the manufacturer will be less.
Graphics Card Features
But with the support of modern technologies, the Radeon HD 8330G video adapter is in full order. The characteristics of the software will delight people of creativity, businessmen and programmers. The graphics accelerator fully supports the DirectX 11.1 API instruction set. However, for the full implementation of the functionality it is required to install a full package of additional programs (Net Frame Work, C ++) if the user is the owner of a laptop with the operating system Windows 8.1 and higher.
As for the support of various interfaces for video output, there are no questions about their implementation. As in modern video cards with DirectX 11, monitors or TVs with Display Port, VGA, DVI and HDMI interfaces can be connected to the laptop. True, the board is limited to only two ports. Fortunately, there are a lot of adapters that will save users from problems. The manufacturer also announced support for 3D-visualization, but users in their reviews advise potential buyers to refrain from buying for these purposes.
Virtual opportunities
Judging by user reviews, a video decoder built-in at the hardware level is a rather strange solution in this graphics accelerator. The fact is that the chip's performance is quite low and the laptop will transfer all work on processing video streams to the central processor. From here all questions arise from users.
In the lower price segment with such strange characteristics, there are only two Radeon HD graphics accelerators: 8330G, 8470. You can understand the negative feedback from users regarding video processing. Very often, to attract customers, the manufacturer goes to deception, as in this case.
CPU Integration
The future owner should know that all mobile devices based on low-cost AMD solutions are highly dependent on processor power. Therefore, at the time of purchase, you should focus on the main device of the system. For office tasks, it is better to pay attention to a lower cost by choosing a processor with a single core. But fans of uncomplicated games, which will be under the power of the Radeon HD 8330G graphics card, should take a closer look at dual-core platforms.
As for the expensive segment of notebooks based on AMD and Intel crystals with four cores, then experts in the field of IT technologies recommend not to rush. After all, such parameters for demanding games will still not be enough. Productivity is enough only for creative tasks.
Double punch
Many users have already noticed that in the mobile market over the past few years, laptop manufacturers have been promoting the use of SLI and CrossFire technologies by installing a discrete video adapter and an integrated device in portable devices. Yes, such a system can solve many problems of the owner related to the performance of gaming applications, but this works in the case of using a discrete productive graphics card.
The graphics accelerator Radeon HD 8330G and here there is no way to demonstrate high power. In fact, this video adapter itself is a kind of integrated product. In terms of performance, many users in their reviews compare it with the Intel HD 4000 chip.
Tankers and their friends
You can achieve decent performance with the Mobility Radeon HD 8330G video adapter in simple online games (DOTA 2, WoT and others) with a dual-core chip. Complex, at first glance, applications do not need a powerful graphics accelerator. Here everything is decided by the processor and the amount of RAM. Therefore, fans of such games, a laptop with a cheap video card will surely like it.
But with complex applications (FarCry4, Fifa 16, DIRT and other games), something will happen. At the hardware level, the toy will start, but the chip's performance is not enough for full work. Therefore, the owner of the device will only have to observe the dynamic image, which will be drawn at 5-7 frames per second.
Overclockers and enthusiasts
All players have long known that the performance of any platform can be increased, whether it be a personal computer, laptop or smartphone. However, such a solution will only help in cases where the graphics accelerator has high bandwidth and is limited in core frequency. As practice shows, the Radeon HD 8330G is simply not designed for overclocking. The maximum is an increase of 5-7%, which in a resource-intensive game will affect 1-3 FPS.
Experts recommend optimizing the operating system itself and applications running in the background. In their reviews, many owners note the increase in gaming performance that they received with the help of specialized utilities that make their changes to the laptop. So the CPU-Control application is able to distribute all running processes between the cores (all resources should be given to the toy). The Game Booster program is able to suspend unnecessary processes, freeing the processor, memory and video card from unnecessary load.
Feedback
Finding positive reviews on the Radeon HD 8330G is pretty difficult in the media. The fact is that inexpensive graphics accelerators are not successful among most laptop owners. Feedback can be found only by studying reviews of inexpensive and fairly productive laptops designed to work, not games.
The graphics accelerator does not overheat, and accordingly, it does not require additional cooling. Hence the complete silence in working with a laptop and reducing the cost of cleaning the device from dust. On the other hand, due to the peculiarity of the video adapter, taking the resources from the laptop (talking about RAM), the owner will have to worry about installing an additional RAM module, which will expand the capabilities of the mobile device.
Finally
There is only one conclusion: there is no difference in performance or price between the Radeon HD 8330G graphics card and modern integrated Intel solutions (HD 4000). Therefore, we can conclude that this video card cannot be considered by a potential buyer as a separate component of the system that affects overall performance. It is easier to attribute the graphics accelerator to the display elements that are responsible for image output. But for creative people who are more interested in the technologies supported by the video card, this device will certainly be liked.