14 DAY TRIAL // In the short time that passed since Nvidia introduced the GTX 550 Ti graphics card, an important number of hardware manufacturers have announced their solutions based on the new core design, and Sparkle is the latest to join the list with its own GeForce GTX 550 Ti graphics card.
What is strange about Sparkle's version of the GTX 550 Ti is that the company didn't choose to overclock its card, as most of its competitors have done, and it left it running at the default 900MHz GPU and 1026MHz (4104MHz effective) memory frequencies set by Nvidia.
However, the cooling solution was modified as the graphics card drops the full length shroud that is characteristic to Nvidia's reference solution and instead uses an open design built around an over-sized fan.
This is placed on top of an aluminum radiator that only comes into contact with the core and leaves the 3+1 phase PWM, as well as the memory chips, to rely only on the airflow delivered by the fan for cooling.
Since the card works at Nvidia's reference clocks, its performance should fall right between the AMD Radeon HD 5770 and the Nvidia GTX 460 768MB, but, both of these cards, have a better price/performance ratio, as the HD 5770 is only 7% slower and 36% less expensive while the GTX 460 is 13% less expensive while delivering 15% better performance, according to AnandTech.
At the heart of the GTX 550 Ti lies the GF116-400 core that is comprised of 192 CUDA processors, 32 texturing units, 24 ROP units, and a 192-bit memory bus that is connected to 1GB of GDDR5 video buffer.
The card's TDP is rated at 116W, 10w higher than that of the GTS 450 it's meant to replace, and, connectivity wise, the GTX 550 Ti packs a pair of dual-link DVI ports as well as a mini-HDMI output.
Pricing has not been announced yet, but Sparkle's solution is expected to retail for $149.99, which is Nvidia's MSRP for the GTX 550 Ti.
