| ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Video Cards | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Steven Iglesias-Hearst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saturday, 05 March 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card
Manufacturer: ASUS Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by ASUS. Not everyone can afford to have the most powerful computer with multiple 26" monitors, or maybe you have realised that you don't need a $500 video card to play your favorite game. For those of you that can relate to my previous statement there is the ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card, it comes armed with a overclocked GPU running at 850MHz and slightly overclocked memory frequency of 950MHz (3.8GHz effective). It looks good, it does the job, but you won't be able to turn on all the fancy settings of your favorite game while playing at a high resolution. What's more important is that this is quite possibly the coolest video card I have had on my table, I'm talking 57°C at full load with the fan spinning at 30%. Benchmark Reviews aims to provide you with an unbiased review of the ASUS GeForce GTS 450 DirectCU OC and report back our findings, keeping you informed on the latest technologies available on the market today. Traditionally, overclocked video cards run hotter and have less headroom for a decent overclock, which simply isn't the case here. The ENGTS450 DirectCU OC is a testament to the quality of manufacturing from the ASUS labs. The DirectCU cooler wasn't made for this card but it certainly is a welcome addition, I for sure am glad it was used otherwise I wouldn't have hit the milestone I did in my overclocking adventure.
For this review we will be comparing the ASUS GTS 450 DirerctCU OC to the VisionTek Killer HD5770 and GTX460 video cards in our usual mixture of DX10 / DX11 synthetic benchmarks and current games to get a good idea where it fits in performance and price wise. We also intend to overclock the GPU to its limits and see if the DirectCU cooler has what it takes to cool a GPU effectively, so without further delay let's move on and get stuck in. Closer Look: ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OCLet's take a good look at the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC video card. The PCB is 8.5 inches long and the cooler shroud hangs over another 0.5" and makes the total length 9 inches. Definitely something to consider if space is tight, but I expect most will have no problems.
The DirectCU cooler is very nice and the racing stripes give it extra appeal, it would have been nice if the shroud didn't overhang on the right as there is certainly space on the left. Nothing to be too worried about though, because this face will be hidden once you have installed the card into your system. The fan used on the DirectCU cooler is an 80mm PWM fan, unfortunately there are no specifications for this fan (printed on it, or on the ASUS website). GPU-Z reports speeds of 1600rpm minimum to 4320rpm maximum, it isn't too loud at full speed so I don't know if the reported speeds are true, but the cooling performance is very good all the same.
Looking from another angle on the left we can see that the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC only requires one 6-pin PCI-E power connector, on the right we see only one SLI connector so only 2-way SLI is supported.
The ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC is a dual slot card as we can see from the side view at the top. I included a side view of how the card would look once installed inside your system, we can see that ASUS have added a little extra metal to this side to add to the finished look of the card. Also the ASUS logo is prominent for those amongst us that are loyal to our favorite brands or just like to show off at a LAN party.
As far as connectors go ASUS has pretty much covered all the bases here, we have an HDMI port, a D-SUB connector and finaly a DVI-I connector. The top half of the PCI bracket is vented but the design of the cooler exhausts the hot air inside the case rather than out here.
With the cooler removed we get a good look at the PCB, most of the action is on the right, it is nice to see the VRM section cooled because it gives us that extra confidence when pushing the clock speeds up. It's also good to see that ASUS haven't over done it with the thermal compound, not like in our recent ASUS ENGTX560 Ti DCII TOP Video Card review where we saw excessive use of the stuff. I really like the clean and tidy layout, a well designed board makes all the difference when it comes to thermal management and stability and ASUS has hit the nail on the head here. ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Detailed FeaturesIn this section we shall take an in depth look at the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC and see what is going on beneath the shroud of mystery.
The DirectCU cooler is an interesting design, it seems we have got to a stage where video card partners have realised the need to utilise better coolers on their cards, this isn't good for the aftermarket VGA cooler market but it will save you a few bucks in the long run. The DirectCU cooler uses two 8mm heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU to take the heat into the aluminium fin array where it is dispersed by cool air from the fan, the shroud then channels the air towards the other vital components on board.
Looking at the back of the PCB we can once again see that the layout is nice and clean, all of the action is in the middle (GPU area) the soldering quality is excellent for such tiny components, man loses the war to the machine when it comes to detailed work like this. Those with a keen eye and a curious nature may be wondering what is under that heatsink on the left, those who know there stuff will obviously know...
Under that little heatsink is hiding a uP6206AK 4-Phase voltage controller. Just the mere fact that this is actively cool shows that ASUS means business with this design. Voltage adjustment is advertised on the box so overclocking should be fun.
ASUS have opted for Samsung K4G10325FE-HC05 GDDR5 memory chips, there are eight units in total (four front, four back) for a total 1GB of memory running at 950MHz (3.8GHz effective). The Samsung chips are rated at 4GHz so there is a little play in them yet, all will be revealed in the overclocking portion of this review.
The last chip to point out is the uP6101BU8 memory voltage controller which ASUS have utilized in this design. From the looks of things the board cleaning process could have been better, not that it matters too much, I just like perfection that's all. ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC FeaturesASUS Exclusive Innovation
Graphics GPU Features
ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Specifications
Source: asus.com VGA Testing MethodologyThe Microsoft DirectX-11 graphics API is native to the Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System, and will be the primary O/S for our test platform. DX11 is also available as a Microsoft Update for the Windows Vista O/S, so our test results apply to both versions of the Operating System. The majority of benchmark tests used in this article are comparative to DX11 performance, however some high-demand DX10 tests have also been included. According to the Steam Hardware Survey published for the month ending May 2010, the most popular gaming resolution is 1280x1024 (17-19" standard LCD monitors). However, because this 1.31MP resolution is considered 'low' by most standards, our benchmark performance tests concentrate on higher-demand resolutions: 1.76MP 1680x1050 and 2.07MP 1920x1080 (22-24" widescreen LCD monitors). These resolutions are more likely to be used by high-end graphics solutions, such as those tested in this article. In each benchmark test there is one 'cache run' that is conducted, followed by five recorded test runs. Results are collected at each setting with the highest and lowest results discarded. The remaining three results are averaged, and displayed in the performance charts on the following pages. A combination of synthetic and video game benchmark tests have been used in this article to illustrate relative performance among graphics solutions. Our benchmark frame rate results are not intended to represent real-world graphics performance, as this experience would change based on supporting hardware and the perception of individuals playing the video game.
Intel P55 Test System
DirectX-10 Benchmark Applications
DirectX-11 Benchmark Applications
Video Card Test Products
DX10: 3DMark Vantage3DMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX10 graphics card performance. FutureMark 3DMark Vantage is the latest addition the 3DMark benchmark series built by FutureMark corporation. Although 3DMark Vantage requires NVIDIA PhysX to be installed for program operation, only the CPU/Physics test relies on this technology. 3DMark Vantage offers benchmark tests focusing on GPU, CPU, and Physics performance. Benchmark Reviews uses the two GPU-specific tests for grading video card performance: Jane Nash and New Calico. These tests isolate graphical performance, and remove processor dependence from the benchmark results.
3DMark Vantage GPU Test: Jane NashOf the two GPU tests 3DMark Vantage offers, the Jane Nash performance benchmark is slightly less demanding. In a short video scene the special agent escapes a secret lair by water, nearly losing her shirt in the process. Benchmark Reviews tests this DirectX-10 scene at 1680x1050 and 1920x1080 resolutions, and uses Extreme quality settings with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. The 1:2 scale is utilized, and is the highest this test allows. By maximizing the processing levels of this test, the scene creates the highest level of graphical demand possible and sorts the strong from the weak.
Cost Analysis: Jane Nash (1680x1050)Test Summary: The ASUS GTS 450 falls behind the Killer HD5770 by 1.28 FPS in the Vantage Jane Nash tests but at a much lower cost, it will also take quite a bit of tweaking before it can compete with its bigger brother the GTX460 which leads it by 8.5 FPS. Significant improvements will only be seen when you lower the resolution or double up in SLI mode. 3DMark Vantage GPU Test: New CalicoNew Calico is the second GPU test in the 3DMark Vantage test suite. Of the two GPU tests, New Calico is the most demanding. In a short video scene featuring a galactic battleground, there is a massive display of busy objects across the screen. Benchmark Reviews tests this DirectX-10 scene at 1680x1050 and 1920x1080 resolutions, and uses Extreme quality settings with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. The 1:2 scale is utilized, and is the highest this test allows. Using the highest graphics processing level available allows our test products to separate themselves and stand out (if possible).
Cost Analysis: New Calico (1680x1050)Test Summary: The tables have turned in the New Calico Vantage test, here the NVIDIA cards win outright the GTS 450 leads by 1.72 FPS and the GTX460 by a further 7.97 FPS. The price for performance is impressive as the GTS 450 is the cheapest.
DX10: Street Fighter IVCapcom's Street Fighter IV is part of the now-famous Street Fighter series that began in 1987. The 2D Street Fighter II was one of the most popular fighting games of the 1990s, and now gets a 3D face-lift to become Street Fighter 4. The Street Fighter 4 benchmark utility was released as a novel way to test your system's ability to run the game. It uses a few dressed-up fight scenes where combatants fight against each other using various martial arts disciplines. Feet, fists and magic fill the screen with a flurry of activity. Due to the rapid pace, varied lighting and the use of music this is one of the more enjoyable benchmarks. Street Fighter IV uses a proprietary Capcom SF4 game engine, which is enhanced over previous versions of the game. Using the highest quality DirectX-10 settings with 8x AA and 16x AF, a mid to high end card will ace this test, but it will still weed out the slower cards out there.
Cost Analysis: Street Fighter IV (1680x1050)Test Summary: The Street Fighter IV test comes across a little biased towards the green team, the GTS 450 produces some impressive numbers but the results for the Killer HD5770 are not very good at all, Street Fighter IV is a very fast paced game so 30 FPS just won't cut it, even 50 - 60 FPS on this test can come over as relatively slow.
DX11: Aliens vs PredatorAliens vs. Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter video game, developed by Rebellion, and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, Sony PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Xbox 360. Aliens vs. Predator utilizes Rebellion's proprietary Asura game engine, which had previously found its way into Call of Duty: World at War and Rogue Warrior. The self-contained benchmark tool is used for our DirectX-11 tests, which push the Asura game engine to its limit. In our benchmark tests, Aliens vs. Predator was configured to use the highest quality settings with 4x AA and 16x AF. DirectX-11 features such as Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) and tessellation have also been included, along with advanced shadows.
Cost Analysis: Aliens vs Predator (1680x1050)Test Summary: We once again see that the GTS 450 is falling behind. The Killer HD5770 is starting to flex its DX11 muscle here a little bit leading the GTS 450 by a mere 0.63 FPS, the GTS 450 isn't far behind though and still offers a better price to performance deal, even the GTX460 is struggling to muster a decent FPS result in this test.
DX11: Battlefield Bad Company 2The Battlefield franchise has been known to demand a lot from PC graphics hardware. DICE (Digital Illusions CE) has incorporated their Frostbite-1.5 game engine with Destruction-2.0 feature set with Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 features destructible environments using Frostbit Destruction-2.0, and adds gravitational bullet drop effects for projectiles shot from weapons at a long distance. The Frostbite-1.5 game engine used on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 consists of DirectX-10 primary graphics, with improved performance and softened dynamic shadows added for DirectX-11 users. At the time Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was published, DICE was also working on the Frostbite-2.0 game engine. This upcoming engine will include native support for DirectX-10.1 and DirectX-11, as well as parallelized processing support for 2-8 parallel threads. This will improve performance for users with an Intel Core-i7 processor. Unfortunately, the Extreme Edition Intel Core i7-980X six-core CPU with twelve threads will not see full utilization. In our benchmark tests of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the first three minutes of action in the single-player raft night scene are captured with FRAPS. Relative to the online multiplayer action, these frame rate results are nearly identical to daytime maps with the same video settings. The Frostbite-1.5 game engine in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 appears to equalize our test set of video cards, and despite AMD's sponsorship of the game it still plays well using any brand of graphics card.
Cost Analysis: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (1680x1050)Test Summary: Now is when we see some better looking numbers. The GTS 450 showing again that it is the best value performance wise, and also leading the Killer HD5770 by 4.7 FPS. Playing at either of these resolutions is acceptable in the single player mode, there are some scenes of heavy action where you will notice the lag but overall it is playable. The multiplayer is somewhat different due to the more dynamic nature so some settings such as Anisotropic Filtering and Anti-Aliasing need to be lowered.
DX11: BattleForgeBattleForge is free Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) developed by EA Phenomic with DirectX-11 graphics capability. Combining strategic cooperative battles, the community of MMO games, and trading card gameplay, BattleForge players are free to put their creatures, spells and buildings into combination's they see fit. These units are represented in the form of digital cards from which you build your own unique army. With minimal resources and a custom tech tree to manage, the gameplay is unbelievably accessible and action-packed. Benchmark Reviews uses the built-in graphics benchmark to measure performance in BattleForge, using Very High quality settings (detail) and 8x anti-aliasing with auto multi-threading enabled. BattleForge is one of the first titles to take advantage of DirectX-11 in Windows 7, and offers a very robust color range throughout the busy battleground landscape. The charted results illustrate how performance measures-up between video cards when Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) is enabled.
Cost Analysis: BattleForge (1680x1050)Test Summary: Battleforge with all the settings cranked up looks very nice indeed and even though the FPS results look rather low the gameplay is still acceptable, you will still want to lower your resolution for the best results though. Once again the GTS 450 takes the lead over the Killer HD5770 by 5.2 FPS and the GTX460 outperforms that by another 15.3 FPS.
DX11: Lost Planet 2Lost Planet 2 is the second instalment in the saga of the planet E.D.N. III, ten years after the story of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. The snow has melted and the lush jungle life of the planet has emerged with angry and luscious flora and fauna. With the new environment comes the addition of DirectX-11 technology to the game. Lost Planet 2 takes advantage of DX11 features including tessellation and displacement mapping on water, level bosses, and player characters. In addition, soft body compute shaders are used on 'Boss' characters, and wave simulation is performed using DirectCompute. These cutting edge features make for an excellent benchmark for top-of-the-line consumer GPUs. The Lost Planet 2 benchmark offers two different tests, which serve different purposes. This article uses tests conducted on benchmark B, which is designed to be a deterministic and effective benchmark tool featuring DirectX 11 elements.
Cost Analysis: Lost Planet 2 (1680x1050)Test Summary: Lost Planet 2 is a tough cookie to crack, in our tests we had to use relatively low settings just to get some acceptable numbers. This game wants high level hardware to play maxed out. None of the cards tested could play this benchmark at high settings and deliver an acceptable FPS result so visual quality has to be sacrificed. The GTX 460 only just does a good job and the Killer HD5770 is once again left behind by the GTS 450 by 4.8 FPS.
DX11: Tom Clancy's HAWX 2Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.2 has been optimized for DX11 enabled GPUs and has a number of enhancements to not only improve performance with DX11 enabled GPUs, but also greatly improve the visual experience while taking to the skies. The game uses a hardware terrain tessellation method that allows a high number of detailed triangles to be rendered entirely on the GPU when near the terrain in question. This allows for a very low memory footprint and relies on the GPU power alone to expand the low resolution data to highly realistic detail. The Tom Clancy's HAWX2 benchmark uses normal game content in the same conditions a player will find in the game, and allows users to evaluate the enhanced visuals that DirectX-11 tessellation adds into the game. The Tom Clancy's HAWX2 benchmark is built from exactly the same source code that's included with the retail version of the game. HAWX2's tessellation scheme uses a metric based on the length in pixels of the triangle edges. This value is currently set to 6 pixels per triangle edge, which provides an average triangle size of 18 pixels. The end result is perhaps the best tessellation implementation seen in a game yet, providing a dramatic improvement in image quality over the non-tessellated case, and running at playable frame rates across a wide range of graphics hardware.
Cost Analysis: HAWX 2 (1680x1050)Test Summary: HAWX 2 is a strange game in that you need to look very close to see the difference in quality settings, the main difference is in the terrain but this is easily overlooked as you are busy fighting with the controls just to fly in a straight line. The GTS 450 pummels on the HD5770 beating it 14~15 FPS making the game scenery pleasurable, now I just need to master the controls.
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| Graphics Card | Radeon HD5770 | GeForce GTX460 | GeForce GTS 450 |
| GPU Cores | 800 | 336 | 192 |
| Core Clock (MHz) | 850 | 715 | 850 |
| Shader Clock (MHz) | N/A | 1430 | 1700 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 1200 | 900 | 950 |
| Memory Amount | 1024MB GDDR5 | 1024MB GDDR5 | 1024MB GDDR5 |
| Memory Interface | 128-bit | 256-bit | 128-bit |
DX11: Unigine Heaven 2.1
The Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark is a free publicly available tool that grants the power to unleash the graphics capabilities in DirectX-11 for Windows 7 or updated Vista Operating Systems. 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 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.
The distinguishing feature in the Unigine Heaven benchmark is a hardware tessellation that is a scalable technology aimed for automatic subdivision of polygons into smaller and finer pieces, so that developers can gain a more detailed look of their games almost free of charge in terms of performance. Thanks to this procedure, the elaboration of the rendered image finally approaches the boundary of veridical visual perception: the virtual reality transcends conjured by your hand.
Although Heaven-2.1 was recently released and used for our DirectX-11 tests, the benchmark results were extremely close to those obtained with Heaven-1.0 testing. Since only DX11-compliant video cards will properly test on the Heaven benchmark, only those products that meet the requirements have been included.
- Unigine Heaven Benchmark 2.1
- Extreme Settings: (High Quality, Normal Tessellation, 16x AF, 4x AA)
Cost Analysis: Unigine Heaven (1680x1050)
Test Summary: Unigine heaven is also quite hard on video cards, only the best video cards will be able to run it smooth at the highest settings, certain parts of this benchmark put more work on the GPU than others, those that don't actually look smooth and playable but most of the time it is frame skipping. The GTS 450 beats the HD5770 by a slight margin of 2.2 FPS.
| Graphics Card | Radeon HD5770 | GeForce GTX460 | GeForce GTS 450 |
| GPU Cores | 800 | 336 | 192 |
| Core Clock (MHz) | 850 | 715 | 850 |
| Shader Clock (MHz) | N/A | 1430 | 1700 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 1200 | 900 | 950 |
| Memory Amount | 1024MB GDDR5 | 1024MB GDDR5 | 1024MB GDDR5 |
| Memory Interface | 128-bit | 256-bit | 128-bit |
ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Temperatures
Benchmark tests are always nice, so long as you care about comparing one product to another. But when you're an overclocker, gamer, or merely a PC hardware enthusiast who likes to tweak things on occasion, there's no substitute for good information. Benchmark Reviews has a very popular guide written on Overclocking Video Cards, which gives detailed instruction on how to tweak a graphics cards for better performance. Of course, not every video card has overclocking head room. Some products run so hot that they can't suffer any higher temperatures than they already do. This is why we measure the operating temperature of the video card products we test.
To begin my testing, I use GPU-Z to measure the temperature at idle as reported by the GPU. Next I use FurMark's "Torture Test" to generate maximum thermal load and record GPU temperatures at high-power 3D mode. The ambient room temperature remained at a stable 21.5°C throughout testing. FurMark does two things extremely well: drive the thermal output of any graphics processor higher than applications of video games realistically could, and it does so with consistency every time. Furmark works great for testing the stability of a GPU as the temperature rises to the highest possible output. The temperatures discussed below are absolute maximum values, and not representative of real-world performance.
As previously stated my ambient temperature remained at a stable 21.5°C throughout the testing procedure, the cooler is so efficient that a heavy load from FurMark only raises the temperature from 31°C idle to 57°C load and the fan stayed at the same 30% speed for both stages. Putting the fan on manual and cranking it up to 100% saw the temperature drop dramatically to 41°C and the noise level at max speed is honestly still quite bearable.
I took a screenshot of the GPU-Z sensors tab purely because I could not believe what I was seeing, never before have I seen such low numbers on a highly clocked and loaded GPU, this is a real testament to the ASUS DirectCU cooler. Now that I have tickled your fancy with some low temperatures, I'm sure you are wondering what this means for overclocking... Well the only thing separating you and the good stuff are the all important power consumption numbers...
VGA Power Consumption
Life is not as affordable as it used to be, and items such as gasoline, natural gas, and electricity all top the list of resources which have exploded in price over the past few years. Add to this the limit of non-renewable resources compared to current demands, and you can see that the prices are only going to get worse. Planet Earth is needs our help, and needs it badly. With forests becoming barren of vegetation and snow capped poles quickly turning brown, the technology industry has a new attitude towards turning "green". I'll spare you the powerful marketing hype that gets sent from various manufacturers every day, and get right to the point: your computer hasn't been doing much to help save energy... at least up until now.
For power consumption tests, Benchmark Reviews utilizes an 80-Plus Gold rated Corsair HX750w (model: CMPSU-750HX) This power supply unit has been tested to provide over 90% typical efficiency by Ecos Plug Load Solutions. To measure isolated video card power consumption, I used the energenie ENER007 power meter made by Sandal Plc (UK).
A baseline test is taken without a video card installed inside our test computer system, which is allowed to boot into Windows-7 and rest idle at the login screen before power consumption is recorded. Once the baseline reading has been taken, the graphics card is installed and the system is again booted into Windows and left idle at the login screen. Our final loaded power consumption reading is taken with the video card running a stress test using FurMark. Below is a chart with the isolated video card power consumption (not system total) displayed in Watts for each specified test product:
VGA Product Description(sorted by combined total power) |
Idle Power |
Loaded Power |
|---|---|---|
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 SLI Set |
82 W |
655 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Reference Design |
53 W |
396 W |
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Reference Design |
100 W |
320 W |
AMD Radeon HD 6990 Reference Design |
46 W |
350 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 Reference Design |
74 W |
302 W |
ASUS GeForce GTX 480 Reference Design |
39 W |
315 W |
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Reference Design |
48 W |
299 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Reference Design |
25 W |
321 W |
ATI Radeon HD 4850 CrossFireX Set |
123 W |
210 W |
ATI Radeon HD 4890 Reference Design |
65 W |
268 W |
AMD Radeon HD 7970 Reference Design |
21 W |
311 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 Reference Design |
42 W |
278 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Reference Design |
31 W |
246 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 Reference Design |
31 W |
241 W |
ATI Radeon HD 5870 Reference Design |
25 W |
240 W |
ATI Radeon HD 6970 Reference Design |
24 W |
233 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 Reference Design |
36 W |
219 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Reference Design |
14 W |
243 W |
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 11139-00-40R |
73 W |
180 W |
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 Reference Design |
85 W |
186 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Reference Design |
10 W |
275 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Reference Design |
9 W |
256 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 Reference Design |
35 W |
225 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (216) Reference Design |
42 W |
203 W |
ATI Radeon HD 4870 Reference Design |
58 W |
166 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Reference Design |
17 W |
199 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Reference Design |
18 W |
167 W |
AMD Radeon HD 6870 Reference Design |
20 W |
162 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Reference Design |
14 W |
167 W |
ATI Radeon HD 5850 Reference Design |
24 W |
157 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST Reference Design |
8 W |
164 W |
AMD Radeon HD 6850 Reference Design |
20 W |
139 W |
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Reference Design |
31 W |
133 W |
ATI Radeon HD 4770 RV740 GDDR5 Reference Design |
37 W |
120 W |
ATI Radeon HD 5770 Reference Design |
16 W |
122 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Reference Design |
22 W |
115 W |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Reference Design |
12 W |
112 W |
ATI Radeon HD 4670 Reference Design |
9 W |
70 W |
At Idle the ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC consumes only 14 (133-119) watts at idle and 123 (242-119) watts when running full load using the test method outlined above. ASUS has designed this card to use less power when idle than NVIDIA's reference design but thanks to the overclock it pulls slightly more power when under load. As we can see in the GPU-Z screenshot below the ASUS GTS 450 uses 0.962v when idle, when under load it uses 1.012v.
In the next section we will be discussing our overclocking adventure with the ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC, there is a hell of a treat in store too...
ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Overclocking
Before I start overclocking I like to get a little bit of information, firstly I like to establish operating temperatures and since we know these are nice and low we can quickly move on. Next I like to know what the voltage and clock limits are, so I fired up the bundled ASUS smart doctor utility. I established that vCore was adjustable between 0.962v and 1.175v and clock speeds were limited to 1000MHz max on the GPU (linked Shaders 2000MHz) and 1050MHz (4.2GHz effective) maximum frequency for the memory.
While looking into the settings of the ASUS smart doctor utility I noticed there was an option to enhance overclocking range so I ticked the box and re-assessed the damage. To my delight I found that the limit for the GPU had gone up to 1700MHz and the limit for the memory frequency had gone up to 1900MHz (7600MHz). This is more than enough range to move forward with and I know I can squeeze every last drop of performance out of the GTS 450. My preferred weapons are MSI Afterburner (v2.10 beta 6) for fine tuning while using FurMark to push the GPU.
So there we have it, raising the vCore to 1.175v gave us a rock solid 1GHz GPU (linked Shaders 2000MHz) and 1070MHz (4.28GHz effective) overclock (validation here). I was absolutely blown away by the capabilities of the already overclocked ASUS GTS 450, when we compare to the NVIDIA reference GTS 450 we are looking at overclocks of +217MHz for the GPU and +170MHz for the memory. Of course I am also really proud to have hit the 1GHz GPU speed milestone. Let's see what difference this overclock makes to our test results.
| Test Item | Standard GPU | Overclocked GPU/RAM | Improvement | |||
| AMD Radeon HD5770 | 850/950 MHz | 1000/1070 MHz | 150/120 MHz | |||
| DX10: Street Fighter IV | 88.61 | 102.17 | 13.5 FPS (15.3%) | |||
| DX10: 3dMark Jane Nash | 15.26 | 17.61 |
2.3 FPS (15.3%) |
|||
| DX10: 3dMark Calico | 13.36 | 15.44 | 2.0 FPS (15.5%) | |||
| DX11: HAWX 2 | 54 | 60 | 6 FPS (11.1%) | |||
| DX11: Aliens vs Predator | 17.10 | 19.40 |
2.3 FPS (13.45%) |
|||
| DX11: Battlefield BC2 | 37.34 | 43.5 | 6.1 FPS (16.5%) | |||
| DX11: Metro 2033 | 13.32 | 15.20 | 1.9 FPS (14.1%) | |||
| DX11: Heaven 2.1 | 18.10 | 20.40 | 2.3 FPS (12.7%) | |||
| DX11: Battle Forge | 24.96 | 27.50 | 2.5 FPS (10.1%) |
Armed with a stonking 150MHz GPU overclock (217MHz over reference design) and a 120MHz memory overclock (170MHz over reference design) we went back to the bench and ran through the entire test suite. Overall there is an average 14% increase in scores (at 1920x1080 resolution). We also re ran temperature tests at the overclocked speeds at the same ambient temperature of 21.5°C. The DirectCU cooler on the ASUS GTS 450 once again did not fail to please, at idle the GPU sat at 34°C (30% fan speed). Pushing the temperature up with FurMark saw the GPU load temperature rise to 64°C (42% fan speed) and cranking the fan on manual to 100% saw the temperature drop to 51°C.
ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card Final Thoughts
All I can think to say right now is WOW, the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC really blew me away with its superior cooling and overclocking capabilities. Even with these clocks though it still won't test its bigger brother the GTX 460 but it is certainly closer than it was before. Not only do we have a video card here that looks good but we have a video card that will run cool and quiet no matter what you throw at it.
Significant improvements would be achieved if the screen resolution were lowered from 1920x1080 to 1280x1024 (standard for 17" to 19" monitor), I would also expect to see higher FPS results if the GTS 450 was run in SLI mode. Two of these bad boys in close proximity might warm your case up a bit but nowhere near the temperatures of higher end video cards.
ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card Conclusion
Important: In this section I am going to write a brief five point summary on the following categories; Performance, Appearance, Construction, Functionality and Value. These views are my own and help me to give the ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card a rating out of 10. A high or low score does not necessarily mean that it is better or worse than a similar video card that has been reviewed by another writer here at Benchmark Reviews, which may have got a higher or lower score. It is however a good indicator of whether the ASUS GTS450 OC is good or not. I would strongly urge you to read the entire review, if you have not already, so that you can make an educated decision for yourself.
The graphics performance of the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC is not high end but this card isn't aimed at the high end price bracket. It does however deliver great price to performance out of the box, and then some more when you overclock the hell out of it.
The appearance of the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC is, as I'm sure you will agree, very nice indeed. The side view is given extra attention thanks to a really simple metal piece but it makes all the difference once you install the card into your system. There are some that will surely disagree but thanks to the graphic nature of this review you can easily make your mind up for yourself.
Construction is excellent as you would expect from a company with ASUS' reputation, there was a slight missed spot during the cleaning process but it is nothing major as it only hurts the aesthetics and not the performance. Taking the card to pieces and reconstructing it was a breeze and everything lined up perfectly, the DirectCU cooler is solid and really adds some girth to the card turning what could be a single slot card into a 2-slot monster.
Functionality is very good, I can't help but keep singing praise for the DirectCU cooler, it really is so good. The ASUS smart doctor utility is very handy and has options for fan speed control but you really won't need to use them on this card.
As of March 2011, you can pick up the ASUS ENGTS450 DirectCU OC Video Card for $129.99 at Newegg.com. Throughout our tests the price per FPS of the ASUS GTS 450 DirectCU OC was consistently the lowest of the compared cards, add that to the potential speeds that this card can hit and you have an absolute smoker of a deal.
I have no problems recommending this card to anyone who is in the market for a great budget mid range card. you certainly could do much worse.
Pros:
+ DirectCU cooler is exceptional
+ Fan at 100% is not too loud
+ Very nice looks
+ Excellent build quality
+ Excellent value for money
+ SLI Support
+ Massive overclocking headroom
+ Good power consumption
+ Variety of outputs: D-SUB, DVI-I and HDMI
Cons:
- Cooler shroud makes the card longer
- Board wasn't the cleanest I've seen
- Cooler design makes card take up two slots
- Hot air from GPU exhausted into case
Ratings:
- Performance: 8.50
- Appearance: 9.50
- Construction: 9.50
- Functionality: 9.00
- Value: 9.00
Final Score: 9.10 out of 10.
Excellence Achievement: Benchmark Reviews Golden Tachometer Award.
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Comments
* in the overclocking page, there may be a typo(HD 5770 instead of GTX 460)
The DirectCU cooler in the GTX560-Ti article is a slightly different design and is cooling a much more powerful GPU. That may explain the differences.
Regards.