Board Analysis

GeForce GTS 450 reference design

The GTS 450 looks nearly identical to the GTX 460; it is the same length at 8.25”, has the same number of display outputs, and shares the same style of dual-slot cooling. Upon closer inspection, though, you will find that there are a few differences.

First off, it has only one 6-pin power connector at the rear of the board, compared to two on the GTX 460. That alone is evidence of the reduced power consumption, in case you didn’t believe the specs on the previous page.

Secondly, the aforementioned cooling solution looks the same as that on the GTX 460, but it actually isn’t. While it shares the same full-length enclosure, extruded aluminum heatsink, and 75mm fan, it doesn’t have the copper heatpipes coming off of the graphics core. This cuts costs, for sure, but it turns out those just aren’t necessary to keep the GTS 450 running cool and silent.

Sample GTS 450 Temperatures
	Idle Temp.	Load Temp.
Stock Speeds	33	66
Overclocked (925/1100)	35	72

It does have the three display outputs in common with the GTX 460: two DVI and one mini-HDMI. Even at this lower price point, the GTS 450 supports Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio through HDMI. Combined with the ability to play Blu-Ray movies in 1080p 3D, that makes it an uncompromising, yet cost-effective addition to a home theater PC.

The SLI connector is also present on the GTS 450; as you’ll see in the benchmarks, the performance scaling when using two of them is quite impressive, at upwards of 90%. Of course, if you had the extra money to spend, it would be wiser to go with the GTX 460 1GB or even the GTX 465. However, the GTS 450 would net you respectable performance now, and then allow you to nearly double it once you’ve got the money for another one later on.

Retail Availability

The GTS 450 should be widely available by the time you read this (September 13th). Several have been listed on Newegg for a couple days now, though at one point they were marked as unavailable. The MSRP is $129, but you can expect variations in pricing among the different SKUs that board partners come out with. Ones with custom cooling or higher clocks will of course cost a little more, but it’s possible there may even be barebones models that will run you a little less.

NVIDIA GeForce 400 Series
Pricing as of GTS 450 launch
GTS 450	GTX 460 (768MB)	GTX 460 (1GB)	GTX 465	GTX 470	GTX 480
$129	$169	$219	$229	$299	$499