nVidia seems to be throwing out different cards all of the time at the moment - with the GTX460 being better than a GTX465, but a GTX480 being better than both, it can get a tad confusing - so I'll put it simply. At the moment, if you want to game at 1280X1024, the Inno3D iChill GTS450 is a brilliant investment - providing good value for money, and playable framerates for the foreseeable future. However, if you want to game at 1080p or higher, I recommend looking at the Inno3D GTX460 I have reviewed previously - as with a good rig to back it up, It will provide you DX11 graphics for years to come.

Meanwhile - the Inno3D iChill GTS450 can be seen as a cheap way to get into the DX11 scene - if for instance you game on a 1368x768 32" monitor, the Inno3D iChill GTS450 will provide brilliant graphics quality for the cash.

Additionally, whilst the ATI HD4870 may have beaten the Inno3D iChill GTS450 in the 3DMark Vantage GPU test, It won't fair as well in the real world - from personal experience (and going by the results I found in the GTX460 review), the older ATi architecture found in the HD4870 isn't quite up to scratch when it comes to real-world gaming performance, but rather seems to score well in synthetic benchmarks such as 3DMark Vantage.

If you've got an older gen ATi card (such as the HD4870), the GTS450 will add good physx support and DX11 support to your aging hardware. If you've got a recent GPU (such as the GTX275 like myself) you may find the Inno3D iChill GTS450 to be a bit of a down grade in frame rates, however if all you want is to add DX11 - the GTS450 is certainly a cheap way to get there!

Pros

• Delivered playable minimum  frame rates in nearly all our benchmarks
• Good value
• Fermi-Core - which will benefit from support and driver updates along with the rest of the fermi line-up
• Overclocks nicely – giving real world performance increase

Cons

• Not a good choice if you game at 1080p or higher - it may be a little stretched in more demanding games such as BFBC2 and COD:MW2

Reality Check: This card would be ideal for a first-gaming PC or for the casual gamer, however, I would recommend that thorough enthusiasts spend that little extra, and get the Inno3D GTX460. Still a great card at a good price point as well as the ability to overclock quite well. Not a choice for the enthusiast but defo well worth a look if you are a casual gamer.

Review by Snubbsy

Thanks to Inno3D for supplying the card for review.