Introduction

Practically on the eve of the release of AMD’s next generation of Radeon graphics, NVIDIA is still playing catch-up. With the newest addition to the GTS family of GeForce GPUs, they continue to propagate the 400 series across the market spectrum and build upon their own momentum.

The GeForce GTS 450 (code-named GF106) comprises the latest offering from NVIDIA as they adapt the Fermi architecture to various price points. This time, they’re focusing more toward the budget-minded gamer, those who would have previously opted for the 9600 GT or GTS 250 in years past. It is essentially half of the GF104 used in the GTX 460, and as such shares many of the same attributes – energy efficiency, low heat output, etc. – in a less expensive package.

In marketing this new chip, NVIDIA has made a big deal of the fact that, according to the Steam Hardware Survey, the majority of gamers play at medium-sized resolutions. These include dimensions between 1280x1024 and 1680x1050 on displays no larger than 22”. The GTS 450 has been designed to offer the best possible combination of price and performance for those 57% of users; as they say, it’s “laser-targeted at budget-minded gamers.”

The GTS 450 is replacing the GTS 250 at $129, and is a direct competitor to the similarly-priced Radeon HD 5700 series. If you’re curious to see how it stacks up to its rival, as well as other GPUs in the sub-$200 price range, read on!