GTS 250 vs GTS 450

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Peskoly

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Aug 19, 2010
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I'm looking to buy a new GPU with CUDA technology because right now i have a 9800GT and the new cards are coming into my price range.

I'm definitely set on either the 250 or the 450 but there are a few questions I have.

GTS250:
CUDA Cores: 128
Graphics Clock: 738 MHz
Processor Clock: 1836 MHz
Texture Fill Rate: 47.2 billion/sec
Memory Clock: 1100Mhz
Standard Memory: 512MB or 1 GB GDDR3
Memory Interface Width: 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth: 70.4 GB/sec

GTS450:
CUDA Cores: 192
Graphics Clock: 783 MHz
Processor Clock: 1566 MHz
Texture Fill Rate: 25.1 billion/sec
Memory Clock: 1804Mhz
Standard Memory: 1 GB GDDR5
Memory Interface Width: 128-bit
Memory Bandwidth: 57.7 GB/sec

As you can see, the 250 has a substantially higher texture fill rate and memory bandwidth, but the 450 rises above it with its 192 CUDA cores as well as better memory technology with the GDDR5. Also the 250 uses 256 bit memory interface while the 450 only uses 128 bit.

Before i make a decision in buying anything i want to know which of these factors out weigh the others.

Thanks
 
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There's nothing wrong with the GTS 450, a solid performer with OC ability. If you want it for CUDA, it can do that with style. There are other Nvidia cards that do it better, but you just have to ask yourself what kind of price you're willing to pay.

If you're looking for gaming performance, the GTS 250 and 450 look roughly similar, as for video encoding or other tasks such as that it's not really my area. It depends on what you want to do!
 
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You cant max those games at that resolution with a stock gts 250, except l4d2 probably (assuming we're talking of >50fps here). I own one, the 512mb version, and it barely maxxes out nba 2k11 in 1440x900. In crysis i could just set it to gamer settings (not enthusiast) with 2xmsaa with average of 40 or less fps.

for 1680x1050 get the 5770 or gtx 460 768mb.
 
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peskoly, just a note here. All those above who recommend the 5770 are not taking into account the fact that it performs about the same as a GTS 450. It makes no sense to me to say forget card A but I recommend card same-performance-as-A. In that case, chose whichever is cheaper really.
 
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you know no i didnt take that into account, because what your saying is completely wrong. the 5750 is a better comparison to a stock gts450, the 5770 is faster than the gts450 in any game that is not nvidia biased.
 
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A stock GTS450 will lose to a 5770. A heavily OC'd GTS450 performs nearly the same as a 5770, but just OC the 5770 to regain the lead.

The 768MB GTX460s have been on sale for the holiday season at around $140. (after rebate of course) This is around the price of the 5770, so perhaps you can find one of these? Here is an eVGA one for $140 after a $20 rebate and counting shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562
 
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Easy there son, I'm just going on facts. The 5770 indeed is a tad bit faster than a 450, but since a 450 is woefully under-clocked it doesn't really mean anything to say "at stock". All 450's OC to 900/1800/2000 out of the box. It seems to me (although I may be wrong) that THAT is the proper specs of the cards.

Still, OC the 5770 and it gains a little lead again. But it really useful to anyone to say "Don't compare the two" when one beats the other by 5 or so frames, and even then not consistently? I think if anyone got a 450 or a 5770 I'd challenge them to see the difference.
 
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the EVGA gtx 460 1gb version is also the same price as what you stated. the link you have says the price is $169 with no rebate so the 1gb version is actually cheaper. unfortunately, the low price of the 768mb version is no longer on newegg. cheapest now is $159.99, the same price as the evga 1gb version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130591&cm_re=gtx_460_1gb-_-14-130-591-_-Product

 
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of mentioned i'd go gtx 450 for cuda but yea the gtx 460 even 768 meg would be better... that said the 450 is an awsome card, i just bought the asus gtx 450 top cu the cooler is awseome and its factory overclocked high enough with a 3 year warrenty to work just fine with my athlon II 640 (95w)

really before i can answer if you'd really want to go above a gtx 450 i'd wanna see the rest of your specs ie PSU , CPU, MoBo, Ram , also how good is the ventilation in your case and would you eventually try sli or no? if so how long before you are planning this . to many data holes to give you a fully informed answer
 
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Buying a GTS450 and expecting to be doing any sort of high ress or high settings gaming for most modern games isn't going to work out well. Going with a 5770 isn't going to be the best thing you can buy with your money so if you can scrape up enough cash I suggest a GTX 460 even if it is the 768mb version. If you go with ATI be ready to live with driver issues and with Nvidia you might not get the best performance but at least they are stable in 98% of the games out there.
 
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Sure but not even I got $500-600 to burn, all I got is two 9800gt, gtx 460, a repaired 8800gtx, and a 3870 along with a few other collectibles. He can get by on a dual core with a GTX460 so long that it is close to or higher than 3ghz and the same goes for any other card suggested here except for the GTX580. Plus the GTX580 is rare at this time with supplies are limited for what ever reason that might be however a lot of us are fairly poor and living off student loans :/
 
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I think what g00fysmiley is saying is quite well thought out.

To the OP: Your final decision is going to be based entirely on the age of your system as to whether you'll see a difference in performance. A weak CPU will hold back the potential of a powerful GPU.

Having said that, if you get a really great GPU such as a GTX 460 then you can carry that forward into a future system upgrade and see its true potential unleashed. If I were in your position I'd consider at least a GTS 450 that has been factory OC'd, as that's going to give you a very good performance boost over your current card. Preferably though, go for a GTX 460 or higher (budget allowing) or their ATI equivalent as you can take them forward into an upgrade as stated previously.

Don't listen to people who say the 450 is not good for high res gaming. All I know is what I can see from my own experience, and I crank up every game I have to max on my monitor's native resolution (1900x1080) and enjoy amazing visuals and super smooth gameplay. I can only speak from my own experience here.
 
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I'd say gts 450 would be a good match, i actually just bought this one , was $120 on sale when i got it, but great aftermarket cooler and high factory overclock

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121393

the 450 will be alot faster than your 9800gt

and fermi will be much better for cuda than the 250 as well, if you can get the asus the overclock is awesome and for about a $10 premium worth it

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTS_450_TOP_DirectCU/32.html

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/36163-asus-geforce-gts-450-1gb-directcu-top-review.html

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=617&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=15


add


can't believe i forgot the tom's review >_<

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gts-450-overclocked-roundup,2762.html
 
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