14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that yet another graphics card has been released, in this case an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 which was first customized by Sparkle with a different cooling solution that is both quieter and more efficient.
As end-users know, the GeForce GTS 450 is the main weapon that NVIDIA has on the battlefield known as the mainstream market.
It is powered by the GF106 graphics processing unit, built on the 40nm manufacturing process and based on the Fermi architecture.
Sparkle has now introduced its latest iteration of that card, one which does not stray from the reference specifications in terms of performance but which does bring something new when it comes to cooling.
In other words it has the same capabilities as the original only it enhances immersion and lowers the operating temperature, by 5 % if the official press release is to be trusted.
This means that the GPU runs at 783 MHz, while the 192 CUDA cores (shaders) and 512 MB of GDDR5 VRAM operate at clock speeds of 1,566 MHz and 3,608 MHz, respectively.
It also means that the dual-slot cooler is more efficient that NVIDIA's own model, as well as being able to produce about 9% less noise.
Of course, the board comes with the obligatory support for DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0, as well as NVIDIA's various technologies, including PhysX, CUDA, PureVideo HD and SLI, for multi-GPU configurations.
All in all, Sparkle says that the new GTS 450 offers “unparalleled levels of price/performance to mainstream users.”
Those interested in a first-hand view of all information available on the device need only drop by this page that Sparkle has added to its website.
Unfortunately, no pricing details were included in the announcement, though the card should not end up selling for more than all other GTS 450 models on the market, namely around $120.