Gainward GeForce GTS 450 GLH 1GB Video Card in SLI

Introduction and Package

Introduction



We're not far at all from the launch of the new AMD cards, but there's one thing we know; the two models launching this week won't carry a price tag as low as the GTS 450, so it continues to be a very real model for NVIDIA. Instead, the new models will be launching to compete around the GTX 460 it seems. We'll know more about it soon enough, though.

Instead of just looking at the Gainward GTS 450 by itself, we'll be comparing it with its almost identical twin brother, the Palit GTS 450 Sonic Platinum, and see what happens when we pair two 930MHz clocked GTS 450s together.

Before we get into the performance side of things, we'll first look at the package that Palit are giving us and also take the time to have a closer look at the card itself.


The Package







Having a look at the Gainward package, there's not a whole lot going on. We've got a driver CD, a discount voucher for some software, a manual and a dual Molex to 6-Pin PCI-E connector.

Card and Specifications

The Card



Checking out the card, you'll notice that it's very similar to the Palit Sonic Platinum we looked at a short while back. The main difference is of course the logos on the card, but also the fact that Gainward use a red fan instead of a green one which we've got to say does look better.







Looking around the card some more, we've got a single 6-Pin PCI-E connector across the top, while closer to the front we've got a single SLI connector and connectivity is offered via two Dual-Link DVI connectors, VGA port and a HDMI port.


Specifications

The Gainward GTS 450 GLH carries with it a mean clock setup. The core comes in at 930MHz, and this boosts the Shader clock up to 1860MHz. As for the 1GB of GDDR5 memory, that's rounded off to a nice 4000MHz QDR.



As we mentioned already, we'll be running this card with the Palit version in SLI since both carry the exact same clocks and cooler. Having a look at the bottom of GPU-Z, you can see that we've got SLI up and running.

Test System Setup and 3DMark Vantage

We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASRock, Kingston, Mittoni, Noctua and Corsair.

Today we'll be looking at the Gainward GTS 450 GLH in SLI against the Palit card carrying with it the same clock by itself. We'll also see how performance is against other single GPU cards including the HD 5750, HD 5770 and GTX 460.

Let's get started!


3DMark Vantage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here




3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.

3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.



Straight away we can see the performance on offer from this SLI setup with it performing very strong in both presets.

Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Version and / or Patch Used: 2
Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com
Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/press-releases/091022-heaven_benchmark//



New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.



Checking out Heaven, we see some very strong performance again. We can see just how good SLI scaling is here with performance being almost double when compared to the single card.

Benchmarks - Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5

Version and / or Patch Used: Demo Benchmark
Developer Homepage: www.residentevil.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.residentevil.com/




Resident Evil 5 is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on September 18. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.



Playable numbers across the board. You can see a single card setup isn't playable at the highest resolution, while this SLI setup is. For gamers wanting to make use of a 120Hz 1080p monitor, you can also see we're got the numbers you need.

Benchmarks - Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Version and / or Patch Used: Benchmark Demo
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/UK/default.aspx
Product Homepage: http://www.hawxgame.com/





Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X is an arcade-style flight simulator video game developed by Ubisoft Romania and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and iPhone OS.

The fundamental gameplay mechanics are similar to those of other console-based flight series. Players take on enemies with over 50 aircraft available. Each mission is at real world locations in environments created with commercial satellite data. A cockpit, first person, and third person view are selectable. The third person view gives the player an external view of both their plane and the target.

Set above the skies of a near-future world, increasingly dependent on private military companies with elite mercenaries who have a relaxed view on the law. As these non-governmental organizations gain power, global conflict erupts with one powerful PMC attacking the United States.



Like RE5 we can see that the SLI setup gives us playable numbers at the highest resolution. As for the lower ones, we can see a single card gets only just over that 60 FPS we need, and the SLI setup smashes it.

Benchmarks - Mafia II

Mafia II

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.2kczech.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.mafia2game.com/
Buy It Here




Mafia II is a third-person action-adventure video game, the sequel to Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. It is developed by 2K Czech, previously known as Illusion Softworks, and is published by 2K Games. The game is set from 1943 to 1951 in Empire Bay (the name is a reference to New York's state nickname "The Empire State"), a fictional city based on San Francisco and New York City, with influences from Chicago and Detroit. The game features a completely open-ended game map of 10 square miles. No restrictions are included from the start of the game. There are around 50 vehicles in the game, as well as licensed music from the era.



You can see the single card setup doesn't reach the 60 FPS average we need under Mafia II and while the SLI setup still falls at the highest resolution, we've got very good numbers at 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050.

Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Benchmark Demo
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark - Test A Scene 1
Developer Homepage: http://www.capcom.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.lostplanet2game.com/




Lost Planet 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition which is also made by Capcom, taking place ten years after the events of the first game, on the same fictional planet. The story takes place back on E.D.N. III 10 years after the events of the first game. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The plot begins with Mercenaries fighting against Jungle Pirates. After destroying a mine, the Mercenaries continue on to evacuate the area, in which a Category-G Akrid appears and attacks them. After being rescued, they find out their evacuation point (Where the Category-G appeared) was a set-up and no pick up team awaited them. The last words imply possible DLC additions to the game, "There's nothing to be gained by wiping out snow pirates... unless you had some kind of grudge."



LP2 brings a lot of our setups to their knees, but you can see, we're able to break the 60 FPS barrier here while we're only a few FPS away at 1920 x 1200 which is impressive.

Benchmarks - Aliens vs. Predator

Aliens vs. Predator

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.rebellion.co.uk/
Product Homepage: http://www.sega.com/games/aliens-vs-predator/




Aliens vs. Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter video game, developed by Rebellion Developments, the team behind the 1999 original PC game, and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. The game is based on the Alien vs. Predator franchise, a combination of the characters and creatures of the Alien franchise and the Predator franchise. There are three campaigns in the game, one for each race/faction (the Predators, the Aliens and the Colonial Marines), that, while separate in terms of individual plot and gameplay, form one overarching storyline.

Following the storyline of the campaign modes comes the multiplayer aspect of the game. In this Multiplayer section of the game, players face off in various different gametypes in various different ways.



Again AVP2 brings a lot of pressure to our cards, but we see again that we're able to break that 60 FPS average we need at 1680 x 1050.

Benchmarks - Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark - Elezen (Male)
Developer Homepage: http://www.square-enix.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/




Final Fantasy XIV, also known as Final Fantasy XIV Online, is the fourteenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. The game is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and is developed and published by Square Enix. The game takes place in a land called Hydaelyn, mainly in a region named Eorzea, which will have a contemporaneously aesthetic blend of science fiction and classic fantasy elements.

The battle and job systems will be different from the one previously used in Final Fantasy XI, which utilized experience points and level-based progression. Final Fantasy XIV is being designed to utilize a skill-based progression[15] system similar to that of Final Fantasy II. Character races will resemble and allow players to create avatars similar to ones in Final Fantasy XI. Group play has been de-emphasized, and now solo and group play have been balanced. Weapon use will alter "character development".

Note: Final Fantasy XIV gives us a score and not a normal FPS rating, our understanding is that anything around 2000 points or above is considered playable.



Performance is strong under FF XIV, but it's clear that the game doesn't make the best use of SLI; we've seen similar issues in Crossfire.

Benchmarks - Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.capcom.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.streetfighter.com/




While Street Fighter IV features models and backgrounds rendered in 3D, the gameplay remains on a traditional 2D plane, with the camera having freedom to move in 3D at certain times during fights, for dramatic effect. Producer Yoshinori Ono has stated that he wanted to keep the game closer to Street Fighter II. A new system called "Focus Attacks" ("Saving Attack" for the Japanese version) has been introduced, as well as Ultra moves. The traditional six-button control scheme returns, with new features and special moves integrated into the input system, mixing classic gameplay with additional innovations.

All the characters and environments in Street Fighter IV are rendered as 3D models with polygons, similar to the Street Fighter EX sub-series Capcom produced with Arika. However, there are a couple of key differences. Art director and character designer Daigo Ikeno, who previously worked on Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, opted for non-photorealistic rendering to give them a hand-drawn look, with visual effects accented in calligraphic strokes, ink smudges and ink sprays during the fights.



Big numbers across the board at all resolutions. This game's not a problem for most cards and this setup of course doesn't have an issue.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01
Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/
Buy It Here




The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.



Across the board we're seeing very good numbers. More importantly we're above that 30 FPS minimum at the highest resolution; 2560 x 1600.

Benchmarks - Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman Arkham Asylum

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com/





Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum - Gotham's psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City's most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum.

Using a wide range of Batman's gadgets and abilities, players will become the invisible predator and attempt to foil The Joker's demented scheme.
Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story penned exclusively for the game by famous Batman author and five-time Emmy award winner Paul Dini, whose credits include Lost season one and Batman: The Animated Series.



At all resolutions we can see we're well above the numbers we need.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF

High Quality AA and AF

Our high quality tests let us separate the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls. If the cards weren't struggling before they will start to now.









Mafia II performance is close to what we need; AVP2 is way behind, while SF IV and Far Cry 2 numbers are very good.

Benchmarks - PhysX Tests

PhysX Tests

Here we're able to find out when PhysX is turned on in games that support it what kind of frame rates we're able to get. We always set PhysX to the highest possible in game settings while also keeping detail at its highest.





With PhysX on we see Mafia II really struggles. Batman AAA is a different story and while we're a little behind that 30 FPS minimum at the highest resolution, we're above it by a good few numbers at the lower resolutions.

Temperature Test

Temperature Tests



The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run off 3DMark Vantage and the Performance preset.



Gainward chose to opt for a quieter fan at the cost of more heat. What was surprising compared to the single card only Palit GTS 450 Sonic Platinum setup, heat doesn't get too high. I was worried that since the single card hit 71c, in SLI we could be tipping closer to 90c but you can clearly see that doesn't happen.

Sound Test

Sound Tests



Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).



The good news is as well that the cards aren't running super-hot because the fans are spinning faster. Instead the setup continues to be quite peaceful.

Power Consumption Tests

Using our new PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum - only a SSD hard drive is used with a single CD ROM and minimal cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.



Power draw is one of the higher setups, but the numbers aren't anything to worry about. You don't need too meaty of a power supply to run the setup which is good news for people wanting to save some dollars.

Total Performance Rating (TPR)

Total Performance Rating

The TPR graph is a combination of all our benchmarks in which NVIDIA and ATI are on an even playing field.

The TPR number is a combination of:

3DMark Vantage, Heaven Benchmark V2, Resident Evil 5, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., Mafia 2 (PhysX Off), Lost Planet 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Final Fantasy XIV, Street Fighter IV, Far Cry 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum (PhysX Off) and our four High Quality tests which include Mafia 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Street Fighter IV and Far Cry 2.

All of the benchmark results achieved are then combined into a single number. As this graph will grow over time and cards won't be re-tested, next to each model you'll find the driver version that was used when the card was benchmarked.



Overall performance is very strong. It's better than the Galaxy setup we overclocked which carried a higher memory clock. We can also see it's stronger than the HD 5870, but does fall behind the GTX 480.

Total Value Rating (TVR)

Total Value Rating

The TVR graph is the TPR score divided by the price of the video card. The price of the video card is based on the list price of the model on Newegg.com. In the event the card isn't listed, it will be based on the U.S. $ MSRP given to us by the manufacturer.

In the event we can't source a price from either, the product will not receive a TVR rating. As with our TPR graph, the amount of video cards on the list will grow over time and the price of the model won't change from what it was when first reviewed. For this reason the U.S. $ price that the card is based off will be included next to the name of the model.

In the event you want to find the TVR rating yourself based on the current price, all you have to do is simply divide the TPR number by the list price.

TVR numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number; 100.3 will be 100; 100.8 will be 101 and 100.5 will be rounded down to 100.



Value on the setup is good; it's not the best which is to be expected from an SLI setup, but its low cost and good scaling makes overall value strong.

Final Thoughts

To be honest, come the launch of the new 6000 series the single card performance is going to paint only half the picture when it comes to comparing the setups to NVIDIA ones. You can see across the board SLI performance is very strong. You can see even in our most intensive games with in game settings maxed out we're able to get playable numbers at 1920 x 1200 and below with playable numbers being seen at 2560 x 1600 in places here and there.

By itself the Gainward GTS 450 is going to be a strong performer; we already know how the card performs by itself at 930 / 4000 since we've already tested the Palit. Ultimately the model continues to be a very strong performer and we know for a fact that the new AMD cards getting released will carry with them a higher price tag than the single setup. It'll be interesting to see what happens when compared to this $320 SLI setup.

Like most cards we look at these days, the bundle is a little on the light side, but Gainward let the card do the talking here and the aggressive clocks they've opted for make it a standout version of the GTS 450.

The $150 price point is an important one for both NVIDIA and AMD. At the moment the card to buy at that price point is from NVIDIA and if you're not interested in doing the overclocking yourself, a highly pre-overclocked version like the Gainward one we have here today could be the perfect version for you.

Gainward give us another GTS 450 that manages to stand out. As usual the card is deserving of that Goes Like Hell tag; clearly it's above a standard OC model.