In September of last year we talked about the potential of a 10-euro computer to become a gaming platform, but the advance of integrated graphics is also displacing many obsolete graphics cards that today sell for pennies in some markets. That brings us back to Steven from the RandomGaminginHD channel, who recently acquired a Radeon R5 230 for just over 60 cents on the Marketplace. What can we play with that hardware…?
The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is (these days) the fastest APU in the world, courtesy of an integrated Radeon 8060S that demonstrates solid performance when its TDP is unlocked. In fact, it is so good that many users already raise questions about the future of low-end graphics cards, but the key has always been to moderate expectations, and once we do that, even the most humble hardware can put on the table an “acceptable” performance. So we arrive at RandomGaminginHD, who paid 50 pence (something like 65 cents) for an AMD Radeon R5 230, and decided to put it to the test…
What can a Radeon R5 230 do in 2025?
To begin with, the card belongs to MSI, with 1 GB of VRAM on DDR3, and passive cooling. Even under those conditions, the hardware had no problem accepting the maximum overclocking possible in MSI Afterburner (both core and memory), and staying stable. The first game in his tests was Skyrim, in the original version with DirectX 9. 720p on Low puts it at the gates of 30 FPS, but 800 x 600 delivers a “PAL experience” of 50 FPS. If we also add the tweaking/modding potential that Skyrim has, the numbers could be even better.
Left 4 Dead 2 didn't need to go beyond 720p Low to guarantee 60 FPS, and the same happens with GTA: San Andreas. On the other hand, GTA 5 requires 720p with everything on Low and upscaling at 50 percent to touch 30 FPS, not to mention the “PlayStation 1 graphics”. The framerate of GTA 4 is a bit better, but the recommended resolution is again 800 x 600. What about more modern games? Well… some things: CS2 registers less than 20 FPS in 640 x 480 Low (it's fascinating that Valve enables that resolution), and Fortnite must drop to 20 percent of 720p Low to generate 60 FPS… but it works.
In summary, it may be an absurd setup at first glance, but if we can't have fun with cheap hardware, what's the point? Now, do you have a similar card? The weekend is approaching at full speed. Don't hesitate to experiment.
