Test System:

• CPU - Intel i5 760 @ 4GHz
• CPU Cooling – Noctua NH-D14 (as supplied by Noctua)
• Motherboard - MSI P55-GD65 (as supplied by MSI)
• GFX Card – on review
• Sound - On Board
• Memory - 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 with Thermal Sensor (as supplied by Crucial)
• Disks – Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB (as supplied by Crucial)
• Optical - Generic DVD RW
• Case – InWin Maelstrom
• PSU - Chieftec Nitro 85+ BPS-850C (as supplied by Chieftec)
• On Review – Inno3D GTS450 iChill Edition

Much like the GTX460, due to its shorter length, the GTS450 was easy to fit into my test rig. In fact, I doubt you’d have trouble fitting it into a mATX case or similar. Additionally, the GTS450 only requires 1 PCI-E power cable – so even the most modest of power supplies should be able to power it.

Overclocking
I didn’t expect much of an additional overclock with this card – since Inno3D have already bumped the core and ram clocks up by 37mhz and 200mhz respectively, however I was pleasantly surprised to find I could push the core all the way upto 950MHZ! That is a whopping 170mhz extra from the reference design, or 130mhz on top of Inno3D’s stock overclock. Clearly Inno3D has done something to keep the core stable and cool – even at high clocks. Meanwhile, I raised the ram to 2100mhz – a good 500mhz leap from reference clocks, and an additional 300mhz compared to Inno3D’s clock. Temperatures didn’t seem to change much at all with this overclock (as no extra voltage was applied).

Benchmarking
Frames per second were recorded using the games built in benchmark (where available) or from a period of playing the game while recording the fps with fraps. The latest drivers at time of testing were used: nVidia Driver 258.96.

The driver provided from Inno3D for this pre-release card is 259.22

Card used for comparison:
Inno3D GTX275 iChill edition (pre-overclocked)

Whenever possible, benchmarks were ran at 1920x1080 (1080p – my monitors max resolution) and additionally at 1280 x 1024.

Also, all games were fully updated before benchmarking

Dirt 2: Since only the GTS450 supported DX11, I ran Dirt 2 in DX10 mode for both cards.

Settings used were a high as they would go, with 8x MSAA.

We can see here that at 1280x1024, the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries delivers perfectly playable framerates - never falling below 64.9 fps. Whilst in DX11 mode, it doesn't fall below 41.2fps - this is a real bonus, as the extra visuals available in DX11 mode are quite substantial, and as such it's brilliant that even a budget card such as this can manage to support it with more than playable frame rates.

We can additionally see that when overclocked, the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries pulls its weight a bit better – achieving a good few extra frames per second in both DX10 and DX11 modes.

Even at 1080p, the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries doesn't struggle - even in DX11 mode. It provides a perfectly playable frame rate with a minimum of 30.9 and an average of 42. Meanwhile, in DX10 mode, it puts out even higher frames - with a minimum of 50.5 - this isn't to be sniffed at.

Much like in the 1280x1024 test, we can see that whilst overclocked, the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries has enough extra power for you to consider turning the MSAA up even further!

Batman: Arkham Asylum: The second game in our benchmark suite is Batman: Arkham Asylum. As MSAA only works on nVidia cards with this benchmark, it was disabled during this benchmark run. Otherwise, all settings were set to max and the benchmark was run at 1920x1080 and 1280x1024.

Here we can see that the Fermi architecture definately helps with more modern games - in this case, the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries is only slightly behind my older (but high-end) GTX275 - yes my card is 1 year old, however I paid more than twice as much back then compared to the GTS450's current price. The Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries provides brilliantly playable framerates - with a minimum of 40, and an average of 73.

When overclocked, the GTS450 actually pulls ahead of the GTX275! This is quite an achievement for such a low-end card.

Again, at 1080p, the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries shows its Fermi foundations - nearly keeping up with my GTX275. It provides perfectly playable rates - just sneaking it in with a minimum of 27fps, however the average of 55fps is a good indication that the GTS450 can handle the game.

At 1080p, the overclocked Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries falls behind the GTX275 – the latter just seems to have more power for dealing with those higher resolutions. However, that’s nothing that a driver update might not improve!

Resident Evil 5: is in our benchmarks as it is a popular DX10 game, and includes its own benchmark – which helps to keep things consistent.

Resident Evil 5 really separates the men from the boys - and here we can see that the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries just can't quite keep up with the GTX275. However, I will again draw you to the price point - the Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries is a budget-end card - at only £110, it's performing better than expected!

The Inno3D GTS450 FreezerXseries OC result shows that when overclocked, the GTS450 FreezerXseries does perform better, however it can’t quite beat the aging GTX275.

At 1080p, the GTS450 FreezerXseries provides playable frame rates of a 66.9 average.

Battlefield Bad Company 2:  This is one of my favourite games at the moment – I have lost more than 30 hours to the multiplayer mode alone. This game was run in DX10 with settings all the way up. For this, I played the “Heart Of Darkness” mission in single player mode.

As I've mentioned in the description of BFBC2 - I have spent many hours on this game, and as such it's playability is important to me! Pleasingly, we can see the Fermi architecture beating the older GTX275 - providing a higher minimum framerate. However, the average framerate is still a bit slower than my GTX275 - but - perfectly playable!

When overclocked, the GTS450 FreezerXseries  nearly matches my GTX275 for performance – only a few frames per second separate the two cards.

At 1080p, the GTS450 FreezerXseries struggles a little bit. It provides a perfectly playable 30fps on average, however it does have a minimum of 18fps - which is below the "optimal minimum" of 25fps or more. However, I didn't notice any jerkiness in any of the 3 runs I did whilst testing this card at these settings. I would therefore suggest it may have only dropped to 18fps at one short point during the game. Never-the-less, I would suggest that if you want to play BFBC2 at 1080p (with all settings on high and 8x MSAA & 8XAF, stretch your wallet a little further and grab the Inno3D GTX460.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: – one of my favourite games this year – it's quite graphically demanding but rather well optimised, and the action is always going, so it should prove a good test of a graphics card.

Here we can see that again - the budget card that is the GTS450 FreezerXseries  - can provide very playable framerates - with all settings maxed out (and 8x MSAA), this card doesn't stumble - achieving a minimum of 36fps, with a promising average of 77.

At 1080p, we can see that the GTS450 FreezerXseries  suffers a little with CODMW2 maxed out, achieving a minimum framerate of 22fps - this isn't too far off the optimum minimum of 25fps, however, it is something to be wary of if you do wish to game at these settings. However, having said that - the average FPS of 56.6 isn't to be sniffed at - clearly, CODMW2 is a little bit of a rollercoaster when it comes to graphical load - looking at the difference between the minimum frame rate and the maximum - it's quite a major difference!

Having said that, when overclocked, the GTS450 FreezerXseries just nudges it’s minimum frame rate into the “playable” zone – falling only as low as 26fps.

3DMark Vantage
3DMark has always been a good test of a graphics card – and the latest – 3DMark Vantage is no exception. 3DMark uses a variety of tests to ensure that your GPU is thoroughly put through its paces, and really separates the good cards from the mediocre.

Unlike the other benchmarks I have carried out today, I was able to provide previous 3DMark Vantage scores due to the fact that these are GPU scores alone - I verified this by retesting my GTX275 which had an almost identical score (like literally 2 points difference).

I was unable to provide other previous benchmarking scores due to my rig being changed to a more modern one - the upgrade was substantial enough to have a noticeable effect on framerates. However, for the foreseeable future, and in future graphic card reviews, I will be keeping this i5 rig as my test rig - as it has relieved the bottleneck that was my older dual-core cpu.

Disappointingly, the GTS450 FreezerXseries didn't fair too well in this benchmark - even beated by the ATi4870. However, given that the 4870 was released as a top-end card only 18-24months ago, we'll forgive the GTS450 for this shortfall. However, when overclocked, the GTS450 FreezerXseries pulls ahead of the HD4870.

Temperature
Just before finishing this review - I decided to run a temperature test (using GPU-Z and MSI's Kombuster). When idle, the GTS450 FreezerXseries stayed at 10c above delta, once under load, this only rose to 21c above delta (checked after 10mins and again after 30mins). This is impressive - the card runs very cool and quiet - and therefore would be suitable even in a media PC.

Next Page - Conclusion