PNY GeForce GTS 450 1GB XLR8 Review

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Just Cause 2 (DX10)

Just Cause 2 (DX10)

Just Cause 2 has quickly become known as one of the best-looking games on the market and while it doesn’t include DX11 support, it uses the full stable of DX10 features to deliver a truly awe-inspiring visual experience. For this benchmark we used the car chase scene directly following the Casino Assault level. This scene includes perfectly scripted events, some of the most GPU-strenuous effects and lasts a little less than four minutes. We chose to not use the in-game benchmarking tool due to its inaccuracy when it comes to depicting actual gameplay performance.


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Metro 2033 (DX11)

Metro 2033 (DX11)

There has been a lot of buzz about Metro 2033 which has mostly centered on its amazing graphics coupled with absolutely brutal framerates on even the best GPUs on the market. For this test we use a walkthrough and combat scene from The Bridge level which starts at the beginning of the level and lasts for about 5 minutes of walking, running and combat. Famerates are measured with FRAPS and Advanced PhysX is turned off.


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StarCraft II (DX9)

StarCraft II (DX9)

In order to test StarCraft II performance we recorded a typical multiplayer battle on the Agria Valley map and used it as a replay in order to ensure every run was identical to one another. We used the last 3 minutes of the replay which includes the final assault on the enemy base. MSAA was applied in the NVIDIA and ATI control panels for certain tests.


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Unigine: Heaven v2.0 (DX11)

Unigine: Heaven v2.0 (DX11)

Unigine’s Heaven benchmark is currently the de-facto standard when it comes to simple, straightforward DX11 performance estimates. While it is considered a synthetic benchmark by many, it is important to remember that no less than four games based on this engine will be released within the next year or so. In this test we will be using a standard benchmark run with and without tessellation enabled at three resolutions,


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Temperature & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Core Temperature & Acoustics

For all temperature testing, the cards were placed on an open test bench with a single 120mm 1200RPM fan placed ~8” away from the heatsink. The ambient temperature was kept at a constant 22°C (+/- 0.5°C). If the ambient temperatures rose above 23°C at any time throughout the test, all benchmarking was stopped. For this test we use the 3DMark Batch Size test at it highest triangle count with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled and looped it for one hour to determine the peak load temperature as measured by GPU-Z.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Vista desktop for 15 minutes and recorded the peak temperature.

Due to the variances from one card to the next, slight differences in power consumption are to be expected and this is exactly what we see here. All in all though, these numbers are well within the margin of error.

System Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well.

Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.

PNY’s fan speed profile is slightly more aggressive than that of the reference card we tested at launch. This results in lower temperatures but the difference in RPMs isn’t noticeable in any way. The card is still extremely quiet when compared to higher end products, especially since the GF106 core doesn’t produce much heat to begin with.

 

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Overclocking Results

Overclocking Results

Using the EVGA Precision utility in addition to our usual stability checks, both the core and memory of the GTS 450 1GB were pushed as far as the default voltage would allow.

The PNY XLR8 uses stock speeds regardless of the “Performance Edition” moniker that’s used. Overclocking went extremely well as is usual for GTS 450 cards but its clock speeds did stop a bit short of cards like the ASUS TOP and EVGA FTW which both sport higher than reference voltages.

Unlike past reviews, we use our Folding @ Home benchmark to test overclocked performance.


Final Clock Speeds

Graphics Clock: 918Mhz
Processor Clock: 1836Mhz
Memory Clock: 4224Mhz (QDR)

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

NVIDIA’s GTS 450 did impress us but after the cuts ATI made to their HD 5770, purchasing one at $130 may make very little sense from a performance standpoint. If you look closer though, the GTS 450 really does have its highlights and in certain situations it can compete against an ATI card that carries a 15% price premium. That in itself is impressive.

PNY has come forward with an XLR8 card that proves itself to be a step above a standard GTS 450 from a number of different aspects. Their 5-year warranty is currently one of the best offered on a sub-$150 card and even if you forget to register it within 90 days, the basic 3-year warranty is still a year longer that some board partners' “full” 2-year warranty on the reference card. PNY has also seen fit to include a number of “value added” items such as a mini HDMI to HDMI adaptor, free movie downloads, a StarCraft II trial and a membership to ESEA. These are all completely free as PNY’s card doesn’t cost any more than the reference version’s $129.

Having extras such as the ones which come with the XLR8 can definitely be beneficial but they will only sway certain buyers. If you are one of the four million people who already own StarCraft II or have already gone through most of the 32 movies available with the included voucher, these additions will likely be superfluous. Then again, who can argue with the word “free”?

We don’t like seeing board partners at the mercy of NVIDIA’s pricing schemes but that’s exactly what happens. In this situation PNY’s GTS 450 just can’t compete on a price / performance level with ATI’s HD 5770 and that is unfortunate since the XLR8 could have been a class-leading product. The main issue we have seen with the GTS 450 is that it lacks the consistent performance of the aforementioned ATI card.

As it stands PNY has definitely enhanced the GTS 450’s appeal through an excellent accessory package and their 5 year warranty. We just have to question whether $130 is simply too much to pay for a card boasting the GTS 450’s performance, regardless of what’s included in a board partner’s bundle. It's a highly competitive market and NVIDIA's newest card often finds itself fighting a loosing battle against a $145 product instead of a $120 HD 5750. Nonetheless, PNY has made this particular card infinitely more appealing than a run of the mill GTS 450.


Pros:

- 5 year warranty
- Good all-round performance
- Included movie download offer
- Efficient compared to other NVIDIA cards
- Extremely quiet


Cons:

- Price / performance ratio versus ~$145 HD 5770
- Consumes almost as much power as the HD 5770