Over the years, the size of graphics cards continues to increase and at this rate we will soon need PC cases larger than the current ones, at least if the trend continues and continues to focus on offering greater performance leaving aside the size, although we will always find exceptions like the new ASRock chart.
A few days ago we talked about how a YouTuber reduced the size of a Intel Arc A380 dual slot into a low profile that only occupies a single slot, only replacing the cooling system with that of the A310 model with a fan and using a thermal pad that helps dissipate the heat it generates so that it can be used inside a Minisforum mini PC.
Without straying too far from the subject, we must talk about the new graphics card that the manufacturer ASRock has just presented. We are talking about RX 550 low profilea graphics card based on the Polaris GPU that has been on the market for 7 years, just when AMD was already developing the RDNA architecture which we find in the most modern graphics of this manufacturer.
ASRock RX 550 Low Profile Graphics Card
The Radeon 550 graphics card used the GCN 4.0 architecture and was available in 2 and 4 GB versions. GDDR5 memory. This new model uses the same architecture and is only available in a version with 4 GB of VRAM memory, also GDDR5, with a discreet design that occupies two slots and is compatible with DirectX 12.
This model includes a dual fan system and has dimensions of 13.1 cm wide by 17 cm long. As for connectivity options, this includes a port HDMI 2.0 and a port DisplayPort 1.4 supports video output up to 5120 x 2880 at a maximum of 60 Hz, eliminating the DVI connection which was included in this model.
Logic?
This new ASRock model uses a manufacturing process 14 nm, a long way from current 3 nm processes. It really doesn’t offer any appeal that makes it a graphics card that we can currently recommend unless we are talking about older hardware where this graphics card can be useful, as long as the latest generation games are not running.
With the launch of AMD’s RDNA architecture, Polaris architecture graphics have been far behind in terms of performance. Perhaps the only reason why ASRock is making such a risky bet on this model is because it wants to free itself from the inventory it has accumulated and which it does not know how to get rid of, so its price must be more than attractive.
If we seek low profile graphics, Intel offers us the Arc 310 which occupies a PCI slot and offers superior performance to the ASRock RX 550 or the double slot Arc 380. Although Intel graphics cards were not a good option when they launched, as this manufacturer has worked on the drivers, these models have significantly improved their performance, although they still lag behind AMD Yes Nvidia.
