If we consider the first attempts by NVIDIA to create video cards that support DirectX 11, you will notice that they were not very successful. However, the first experiments were replaced by the products of the next generation, in which, according to the manufacturer, not only the previous shortcomings were eliminated, but also the performance was improved. Is it so? Let's try to figure it out by looking at the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 graphics adapter , the characteristics of which allow us to call it a strong middling.
Factory overclocking
The video card is positioned as overclocked even before the purchase. In a detailed study of overclocking, it turns out that the core frequency is overestimated by 27 MHz compared to standard characteristics, while the memory also received that smaller increase - 8 MHz.
Needless to say, the performance gain from such manipulations will be absolutely useless? However, such a marketing trick allows you to hang a higher price tag on the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. Other characteristics are absolutely identical to the standard sample.
Contents of delivery
The video card is packed in a small colorful box. The front side informs the user only about the model name, memory size and several proprietary NVIDIA technologies. Here you can find a few words about the fact that the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 video card is equipped with an improved cooling system, the core of which is made of copper.
The rear of the package also does not burden the user with a detailed description of the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450: the characteristics here are presented only the most basic. Almost the entire area is occupied by advertising texts about the company's proprietary technologies. Let's say in advance that the system power supply must have a total power of 400 watts, and produce 22 amperes on the 12V line.
In addition to the video adapter itself in the package, you can find:
- A laser disk with some useful utilities for the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450, the driver is also present on the drive.
- Adapters DVI-VGA, miniHDMI-HDMI, as well as a wire that allows you to connect the power of the video card to the four-pin power connector of peripheral devices.
This is not to say that the delivery set is rich, but in such a price segment such a set is considered the standard. For a simple user, all this will be enough for comfortable work. The disadvantages include the lack of an SLI bridge, but it should be noted that such an element is almost always included in the package of the motherboard if it has two PCI EXPRESS slots.
The video card NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 is equipped with a standard number of interfaces for connecting devices (two DVI-I and one mini-HDMI). That is, three monitors can be connected to the GPU simultaneously without unnecessary problems.
Electronic components
The printed circuit board of the video card is no different from most NVIDIA adapters built on the same chip. On its rear side are four memory chips, which deprives them of any cooling. Why engineers chose such a layout remains a mystery, because the front side allows you to install the IC exactly there. Also on the back, the power controller is soldered. As noted earlier, the power provided by the PSI EXPRESS bus is not enough for the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 (video card specifications require the six- pin power connector to be connected).
The central part of any such device is the graphics core. Its name is GF 106, and the manufacturing process is 40 nm. It includes 192 shader processors, there are 16 rasterization units. A 128-bit bus is used to exchange data with memory.
The total amount of video memory is 1 GB, which is achieved by a set of eight integrated circuits. The marking of the chips indicates that SAMSUNG was engaged in their development. Memory access time is half a nanosecond. If you count, then in theory this will allow to disperse them to 4 thousand megahertz. Initially, this parameter was set by the manufacturer at the level of 3.6 thousand.
Cooling system
In addition to the factory overclocking that does not affect the performance in any way, the video card differs from most similar devices made on the same GPU using a non-standard cooling system. It consists of a plastic casing, a fan with a diameter of 8 cm and an aluminum radiator with a copper core. Metal elements are in contact only with the processor, while the memory and power microcircuits are not additionally cooled in any way.
It should be noted that the video adapter is designed in such a way that when the load is reduced, the frequencies are automatically reduced, and this allows to reduce power consumption and heat dissipation. This system works at the BIOS level installed in the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. The driver does not affect the state of affairs.
To evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, the video card was tested by the FurMark utility. Automatic adjustment of the cooler speed at maximum load allowed the core to heat up to no more than 60 degrees. Interestingly, the fan at this time spun no more than 17%. Accordingly, the noise level was minimal. After manually setting the speed to 100%, the temperature dropped slightly, only 2-4 degrees, at the most resource-intensive moments, however, the screw remained as quiet.
There is only one conclusion: the design of the cooling system is simple, but at the same time it copes with its duties perfectly, while demonstrating a low noise level.
Gaming performance
The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450, whose characteristics are not amazing, but classify the video card as strong middles, is expected to demonstrate a low level of performance. Factory overclocking does not affect the number of parrots in benchmarks and the level of FPS in games.
The technical characteristics of the device will be enough to launch any modern game, but a large number of graphics settings will have to be switched to minimum or medium.
Overclocking
You can use the MSI Afterburner utility to overclock the video adapter. With its help, the processor frequency can be increased to 950 MHz, that is, by 15%, and the memory frequency - up to 4690 MHz (30% increase). The most impressive thing is that the adapter works stably after all the changes, although the chips do not cool in any way.
Of course, any increase in frequencies will lead to an increase in heat dissipation and require more power, however, improving performance will allow you to change the graphics settings from low to medium, and sometimes to high.
Output
The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 graphics card , whose technical characteristics cannot be called strong, is an excellent competitor to AMD products, such as the HD 5750 and 5770. It is best suited for users who are not too demanding on the frequency indicators.
The price of a graphics accelerator is a bit overpriced, but due to overclocking potential and a quiet cooling system, this drawback cannot be called critical.
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. Palit and GDDR3 memory
Palit company produces a video card not only with GDDR5 memory chips, but also GDDR3. The price of a similar product is reduced by a third. The idea of installing slow GDDR3 chips on a good adapter is not only strange, but also controversial. After reading the old name on the box, the user can purchase a product whose performance is presented at a completely different level.
Such products are 30-60% behind the full-fledged model in 3D applications. And to compensate for this chasm will not work even with maximum overclocking. The weak bandwidth of the memory chips does not allow reaching the same FPS values, even if the core is overclocked by 30%. The performance difference between the full and trimmed models is 15% in almost all tests.
Such a product is suitable for a user who is not going to run resource-intensive applications, but otherwise, saving money will result in the need to set the settings of most games to the lowest rates.