14 DAY TRIAL // With various NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 cards already out in the open, makers of video boards are experimenting with new designs, and Gainward appears to be on the verge of matching Palit's low profile offer with one of its own.
The GeForce GTS 450 video board that NVIDIA released recently is the company's DirectX 11-capable, Fermi-based offer for the bulk of the mainstream market.
Essentially, this card, based on the 40nm GF106 graphics processing unit, should replace the popular GeForce GTS 250.
Not long ago, Palit even went as far as to cut the size of the board in half, unveiling a low profile GTS 450.
Now, Gainward has matched that offer with a low profile GTS 450 of its own which, though it has not yet been made official, has been pictured by the Brainbox.kr team.
For the most part, low profile cards are aimed at HTPCs (Home-theater personal computers), but this model does not exactly have any performance handicap to prevent it from acting like any other mainstream board.
It comes with reference specifications, the GPU, shaders and memory being clocked at 783 MHz, 1,566 MHz and 3,600 MHz, respectively.
Of course, the video controller has the 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM that all such cards come with, as well as 192 CUDA cores and a memory interface of 128 bits.
Finally, the product is equipped with a dual-clot cooler made of an aluminum heatsink for the GPU as well as one for the VRM area, plus a 50mm fan.
Those intent on seeing the board in all its splendor need only stop by this page, though the official announcement shouldn't be too far off either.
Unfortunately, the price tag has not been disclosed, but it can be assumed that the model won't move too far away from the $130 mark.