With the launch of AMD’s next generation of graphics cards looming, most everyone’s eyes are on the upcoming HD 6000 series. Today, however, we turn our attention to the NVIDIA camp. While it’s still unclear what NVIDIA is preparing in response to this new generation, it’s worth pointing out the GTS 450 is just barely a month old. As we witnessed in our last GTS 450 review, the overclocked variants can easily keep up with the HD 5770 and will still have a role to play in the mainstream segment for the foreseeable future.
With the new release of the GeForce GTS 450, Nvidia has targeted a specific segment of the market with a suggested MSRP starting at $129, which makes this a very budget-minded card. They went after, or as they say “laser targeted”, the gamers who don’t play everything on max settings with super high resolutions. Instead, their focus was on the people who play with resolutions of 1280×1024 through 1680×1050 on monitors of 17″-22″. The GTS 450 is the replacement for the GTS 250 GPU and is aimed at competing with the ATI Radeon 5700 series GPU’s. The 450 we have for our review today is the EVGA GTS 450 FTW Edition, representing their ‘top bin’. They also have SuperClocked and SuperSuperClocked models as well. The GTS450 employs the new Fermi GF106 architecture, which is an updated version from the GTX460’s GF104. As this GPU is geared toward a budget-oriented market, we will be sure to test the resolutions recommended when using this card as well as some that may be more of a stretch for it.
The EVGA GTS 450 FTW Edition is a top of the line factory overclocked GPU that delivers blazingly over-the-top DirectX 11 performance out-of-the-box . EVGA GTS 450 FTW cards have handpicked chips which are guaranteed to remain stable while gaming, despite clocking in at a significantly higher rate, compared to cards with stock settings. If you are a gamer that has been holding out for an upgrade since the last two GPU architectural changes, the EVGA GTS 450 FTW just might be the card you are looking for to make the leap into DirectX 11 gaming.
Looking at the latest pricing on Newegg, the EVGA model is also a bit more expensive than the ASUS. At roughly $148, it’s one of the more expensive GTS 450′s on the market right now. As I mentioned, though, an overclocked GTS 450 can compete directly with an HD 5770. So, while it may face some pressure among other GTS 450′s, the EVGA GTS 450 FTW is fairly competitive with the HD 5770 series, which tend to range from $140 to $160. Now you could buy it from Amazon Here.
For a GTS 450 1GB, there is no denying the FTW edition does cost quite a bit. However, it comes backed by EVGA’s truly excellent customer service and Trade Up program which give buyers piece of mind long after the initial purchase. However, for whatever reason EVGA decided to deck this card out with a meagre 2-year warranty. All in all, it should be interesting to see if this card is worth the price premium it demands.
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