NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Launch Roundup: Asus, EVGA, Palit, and Calibre Overclocked and Reviewed
by Ryan Smith on September 13, 2010 6:08 PM ESTWrapping up our two part series about NVIDIA’s new GeForce GTS 450, we have our in-depth look in to the vendor cards. As was the case with the GTX 460, NVIDIA’s partners are coming out swinging by offering a wide variety of customized cards alongside NVIDIA’s reference design. Custom PCBs, coolers, and more; you’ll find it all here.
| GeForce GTS 450 Cards | |||||||
| Reference | EVGA FTW | Asus ENGTS450 Top | Calibre X450G | Palit Sonic Platinum | |||
| Core Clock | 783MHz | 920MHz | 925MHz | 850MHz | 930Mhz | ||
| Memory Clock | 902MHz (3.6GHz data rate) | 1026MHz (4.1GHz data rate) | 1000MHz (4GHz data rate) | 950MHz (3.8GHz data rate) | 1000Mhz (4GHz data rate) | ||
| Width | Double-Slot | Double-Slot | Double-Slot | Triple-Slot | Double-Slot | ||
| Length | 8.5" | 8.5" | ~9" | 8.5" | 7.4" | ||
| Overclocking Utility Included? | N/A | Yes, EVGA Precision | Yes, Asus SmartDoctor | No | No | ||
| Warranty | N/A | 2 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years | 2 Years | ||
| Price | $129 | $149 | $139 | $149 | $159 | ||
One thing that is significantly different from the launch of the GTX 460 however is just how far NVIDIA’s partners are overclocking their cards. With the GTX 460 the vendor cards we saw came with a mild overclock. But with the GTS 450 launch the cards are coming with much greater overclocks. Case in point: EVGA launched with a SuperClock (tier 1 overclock) card for the GTX 460 launch – for the GTS 450 launch they’re going with a FTW (tier 3 overclock) card.
As a result there’s a distinctly wider gap between the custom vendor cards and NVIDIA’s reference cards, a beneficial outcome for the vendors as it makes it easier for them to separate and justify their higher-priced higher-margin cards from the army of reference clones. In the case of the GTS 450 these overclocks are especially beneficial as the GTS 450 at reference clockspeeds is a bit of a lame duck: it’s only as cheap as a Radeon HD 5770, but it consistently underperforms that card. With overclocks pushing 20%, NVIDIA’s partners can close the gap left by the reference-clocked GTS 450.
We’ll be looking at 4 cards today, covering the spectrum from reference-based with a strong overclock to a triple-slot monster. 3 of our 4 cards have similar overclocks, coming in at roughly 920MHz for the core and 1GHz (4GHz effective) for the memory. This means the resulting performance for most of these cards is virtually identical, but how each one gets there is slightly different.
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gwolfman - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
When do we get our first single slot Fermi? I'd like one to offload my PhysX. Any ideas?Slash3 - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Looks like an error on the first page's chart, the memory clock box for the reference card should be at a 3.6GHz data rate and not 4.6GHz, correct?anactoraaron - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
And their responce to the bending issue is why they are just the best to work with (and buy from) for anything - including RMA's. They are first in that category (customer service) hands down. Over the course of 7 years, I have had to RMA something (at least one item) to ASUS, HIS (the worst by far), Gigabyte and EVGA. EVGA FTW!Voldenuit - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Warping, like all of life's problems, is just a special case of bending.Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
You guys should simulate 2-3 months of heavy dust collecting inside a PC case. Then run the furmark power consumption and heat tests. Then you might understand why people want a card like the Calibre X450G.HangFire - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
2-3 months does not make for heavy dust in any of my PC cases. 2-3 years would, but none run that long before getting cleaned out.The real market for the Calibre would be the silent PC crowd, who would otherwise pay extra for an Accelero (or other aftermarket GPU cooler), and would be happy to pay a smaller premium for a pre-installed cooler- and keep their warranty too.
tech6 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
Since you can get a 5770 from NewEgg for $125 (with rebate) and GTX460 for $170, I don't see why any of these cards make much sense unless they will be heavily discounted.JPForums - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
<quote>Since you can get a 5770 from NewEgg for $125 (with rebate) and GTX460 for $170, I don't see why any of these cards make much sense unless they will be heavily discounted. </quote>At $130 straight up these GTS450s make plenty of sense (especially if you don't want to deal with the sometimes less than reliable rebate system). They may not be quite as good a value as a $125 HD5770, but they are still a good buy. (particularly if you require an nVidia card) Of course, a GTX460 will net you a healthy performance boost for an equally healthy price bump.
Spazweasel - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
They still do. Look in the part number. If it ends in "AR" it's lifetime warranty, if it's "TR" the warrant is (I think) 2 years. The price difference is generally 10 to 20 dollars, depending upon the base price of the part.shin0bi272 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
Id rather have a gtx470 super overclock from gigabyte. yeah its twice the price but its more than twice the speed. The gigabyte 470 soc out performs a gtx480 but costs 100 bucks less. So why go out and have to buy 2 450's to get halfway decent performance when you could buy 1 470 and spend the same amount?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...