ASRock has launched one of the smallest desktop graphics cards on the market, taking only a single slot. This little thing doesn’t require any power cables, thus making it perfect for old Dell/HP office PCs that need a little graphic uplift.
Be it for home theatre or as an upgrade to ageing compact office PCs, low-profile graphics cards can come in handy often, yet they don’t get as much spotlight as the big and shiny models, like ASRock’s Radeon RX 7800 XT Phantom Gaming OC. Today, the company is fixing things with its Radeon RX 6400 Low Profile 4GB. This tiny card packs 768 Streaming Processors clocked at 2,039MHz base and 2,321MHz boost frequencies, alongside 4GB of GDDR6 VRAM running on a 64-bit bus. The card connects to the motherboard via an x16 interface that is electrically wired for PCIe 4 x4, all in a 150mm x 68.9mm single-slot design.
Due to its low-profile nature, this card has room for only two video outputs, and ASRock chose one HDMI 2.1 plus one DisplayPort 1.4a to fill that role. It’s also added a 0dB mode to keep the fan silent under low load, which is nice. Lastly, the card doesn’t consume much power, allowing it to be supplied entirely through the PCIe slot. This is fantastic for office machines that may lack dedicated 8-pin cables.
Needless to say, you won’t beat any world records like you could with the best graphics card, but it should serve you well if you only need more display outputs. Furthermore, while not the most recommended model for gaming, RX 6400 is still an OK chip for 1080p at medium settings. Its performance is just slightly lower than GTX 1650 Super 4GB or RX 570 4GB. So, nothing to scoff at if your budget doesn’t allow for better, or your PC doesn’t have enough space or power headroom.
That said, if you are into making video content, keep in mind that this GPU doesn’t include a video encoder. You’ll need to offload those kinds of tasks to the CPU.
ASRock hasn’t shared any pricing yet, but you can expect around £110. This is relatively acceptable if you only need a video output or light gaming.