All users have long been accustomed to the idea that the budget options for video cards from nVidia are a rejection of a more expensive segment that belongs to the top class. However, this fate does not apply to all video adapters; there are devices that are intentionally developed for an inexpensive niche. For example, Geforce GTS 450, its characteristics indicate that it is a completely independent device.
Expected Replacement
If we study the evolution of video adapters from the well-known manufacturer nVidia, we can see that for several years the Geforce GTS 250 remained without a successor. After all, the 260 series has been replaced by a more productive 460 model, for comparison. Naturally, the market was expecting the appearance of the Geforce GTS 450, its characteristics should correspond to its line, but have better performance.
But the manufacturer acted dishonestly with customers when he started a game with rebranding the Geforce 8800 and 9800 video adapters, changing the process technology, changing operating frequencies and making the corresponding markings (GT, GTS, GTX, GTX +). In fact, over several years the manufacturer has put several variations of the same video card on the market. Many users who understand the characteristics of video adapters were no less surprised after the launch of the Geforce GTS 450, which in fact was only an improved version of the GeForce 8800 GT, though with its own crystal.
Specifications
The GF106 graphics processor, which belongs to the nVidia Fermi architecture, was specifically designed for a new product in the line of low-cost Geforce GTS 450 devices. The technical specifications of this video adapter are almost half the difference from the older Geforce GTX 460:
- GPU supports 192 universal processors, 24 ROP units and 32 texture units;
- the factory-made core operates at a frequency of 783 MHz;
- there are three 64-bit controllers for working with memory, however one of them is disabled, therefore the bit bus of this video adapter is only 128 bits.
Apparently, the game with the Geforce 8800 models had a very positive effect on the manufacturer’s earnings, as the Geforce GTS 450 also had too many modifications. They flooded the market and occupied all the price niches on store shelves, up to the top devices.
About modifications
First of all, we are talking about the type of memory that the Geforce GTS 450 graphics card has. The characteristics of GDDR3 and GDDR5 differ in data transfer speed, which is almost two times higher for a more technological type. But the price of devices with different types of memory differs slightly. And if you recall that the manufacturer intentionally blocked the operation of one 64-bit controller, then everything becomes clear for what purpose it was done. So, the modernized Geforce GTS 450 adapter appeared on the market, with a bus width of 192 bits and a volume of 1536 MB on board.
And if you test and compare all the modifications between yourself and your closest competitors in the price category, you can trace the trend. The most productive video adapter from the entire Geforce GTS 450 line has the same performance as the stripped-down version of the top model GTX 460 768 MB.
Golden mean
In terms of price-quality ratio, the Asus Geforce GTS 450 became the leader in the Russian market. The device’s characteristics are unlikely to appeal to true game lovers, but the price can attract the attention of many buyers. In this video adapter, a well-known Taiwanese manufacturer only slightly increased the frequency of the GPU core, and all other characteristics are no different from the declared parameters by the manufacturer nVidia. Even the cooling system, which looks depressing in the factory version, has not been improved.
As it became known, the manufacturer ASUS has released another device based on the Geforce GTS 450 for some foreign markets. The video adapter was positioned as an office device for creativity. The main features of the video card are GDDR3 memory, low GPU frequency and passive cooling. To find such an interesting video card is quite possible in foreign online stores.
For two hares
Palit’s marketers adhere to double standards . Their brainchild is presented in several versions, focused on different price niches. An expensive device is built on the basis of GDDR5 and has an increased core frequency and video memory, and a budget instance uses GDDR3 chips. But cheap devices can be purchased with different amounts of video memory on board - options with 1 GB and 2 GB are available. True, many experts claim that the increase in memory does not affect the performance in games, and they call the improved modification a marketing move.
All other features for the Palit Geforce GTS 450 are identical. Even the cooling system, which logically should be more powerful for an expensive device, does not have branded copper or aluminum tubes. This is very strange, given that the manufacturer increased the nominal frequency of the graphics core by 10%.
Game instance
But Gigabyte introduced its own vision on the market of what the Geforce GTS 450 1Gb graphic video adapter should look like. The characteristics of the device have a small factory overclocking in the core, which gives some advantages of the video card among competitors. However, the main feature lurks in a proprietary cooling system called WindForce 2X, which has its own radiator with two tubes for heat dissipation. Naturally, there are two powerful fans, their speed is controlled by a controller built into the video adapter.
Judging by the numerous reviews of the owners in the media, with a professional cooling system, the video card is easily overclocked and does not turn off due to banal overheating. So, empirically, thanks to synthetic tests and software overclocking using the nVidia Inspektor utility, a performance increase of 15 percent was recorded.
If you believe the reviews
Synthetic tests and reviews of the device in the media allow you to study the characteristics and see a list of the closest competitors in the performance table. But this is still not enough for many potential buyers, because most of the reviews are sponsored, due to companies promoting their products. Therefore, you can’t do without owner reviews.
The advantages of the video adapter include low cost in the market for the class of gaming devices. A simple cooling system significantly affected the size of the video adapter - in this version it can be installed even in the midi tower building. In the factory version, the cooling system works very quietly, even at peak loads, which is very pleasing to all gamers at night.
The downside is performance. Definitely with a 128-bit memory bus, the Geforce GTS 450 will have underestimated performance compared to competitors in this price category, but with a 192 or 256 bit bus. For a video card using the type of video memory GDDR3, support for DirectX 11 and Nvidia Physx technologies is completely incomprehensible, there is no question of any performance.
Finally
Judging by the numerous reviews, it makes no sense to find fault with a video adapter based on the Geforce GTS 450. The characteristics of the device are initially offered for use in a budget class, respectively, and the price is very low because of this. Those who want to have a more powerful adapter can purchase 460 series devices, which are one and a half times more expensive than state employees. But if the goal of the buyer is the criterion of "price-quality", then the 450 model will be just the right middle ground. In addition, as a bonus, the buyer will receive a small and very quiet device, which will not cause inconvenience to the owner both in work and during installation.