NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 – An Even More Affordable Version of Fermi

A computer gamer would always keep his or her rig up-to-date to keep pace with the latest video game releases. Graphics card is one of the key components that must be upgraded regularly if we are to experience the full graphical marvels of modern computer games. But what if there isn’t that much money lying around to be spared for, say, a high-end graphics card? Can we, the vast majority of computer user, get a reasonably fast graphics card that doesn’t require us to drain our wallet? NVIDIA seeks to answer such need by releasing the GeForce GTS 450, a new Fermi GPU that promises satisfying game performance at a relatively low price.

The GeForce GTS 450 was released just months after the official announcement of NVIDIA’s previous mainstream Fermi offering, the GTX 460. It is almost as if NVIDIA does not want to wait for too long before releasing new products to fill in the different price segments in the market. From their designated names, we can assume that the GTS 450 is positioned a step below the GTX 460, in both performance and price. Interestingly enough, the Geforce GTS 450 sells for around US$ 129. That’s quite affordable by most standard these days, but it also means that the graphics chip won’t compete with other Fermi GPUs in terms of technical prowess. What will you get for that price then? Let’s take a look at the technical specs!

GF106 at a Glance

The GeForce GTS 450 is not based on the GF100 or the GF 104 chip. Instead, NVIDIA developed a new chip under the codename “GF106”. At 1,17 billion, there are fewer transistors in this chip compared to its two predecessors. The overall architecture, however, remains similar with other Fermi GPUs, and so are the supported features.

Specification

	NVIDIA GTX 460 1GB	NVIDIA GTX 460 768MB	NVIDIA GTS 450
Codename	GF104	GF104	GF106
Fabrication Process	40 nm	40 nm	40 nm
Transistors	1.95 Billion	1.95 Billion	1.17 Billion
Die Size	320 mm²	320 mm²	–
Core Clock	675 MHz	675 MHz	783 MHz
Stream Processors	336	336	192
Shader Clock	1350 MHz	1350 MHz	1566 MHz
Texture Units	56	56	32
ROPs	32	24	16
Memory Type	GDDR5	GDDR5	GDDR5
Memory Size	1024 MB	768 MB	1024 MB
Memory Clock (effective)	3600 MHz	3600 MHz	3608 MHz
Memory Interface	256-bit	192-bit	128-bit
DirectX Version	11	11	11
Shader Model	5	5	5
Power Connectors	2x 6-pin	2x 6-pin	6-pin
Min Recommended Power Supply	500 W	500 W	400 W
Bus Support	PCIe 2.1 x16	PCIe 2.1 x16	PCIe 2.1 x16

From the above table, you can notice significant cuts here and there when comparing the GTS 450 with its months-older brother, the GTX 460. Perhaps such reduction is necessary to position each GPU securely in its intended price and performance level. Nevertheless, judging from the technical details, the GTS 450 should still pack enough punch to run most of today’s latest titles without too many slowdowns.