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MSI N450GTS Cyclone 1GB Review

Recently we have changed our method of measuring noise levels. We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. We are using a heatpipe based passive power supply and an Intel SSD to keep noise levels to a minimum. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests. Ambient noise in the room is around 20 dBa. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

We experienced similar results with the Cyclone cooler on the N460GTX card, this is a fan design that not only generates good air flow – it also avoids creating a racket in the process.

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13 comments

  1. Seems ilke a really good little card from nvidida again

  2. performance seems close to HD5770, with these overclocked solutions anyway

  3. seems a little too late to me, with ATIs new range around the corner

  4. seems a little too late with atis new range around the corner

  5. It is a very good card to be fair and I think the review shows that. even though these are overclocked boards, it seems that reference solutions with this product are thin on the ground ! I see a few partner cards are clocked at 930mhz core !!

    It just seems to me, and no offense to nvidia that this is just too late, I hear strong rumours that new ATI series might even hit in a months time !

  6. Whats with the GTX460 pricing? some of the 768mb cards this morning dropped to the same price as overclocked 450s?! they are pricing themselves out of the game. total mess.

  7. I am not that impressed with this. 460 is the way to go, still. especially as the prices of 460 have dropped so much.

  8. IT is the biggest issue with the product. the timing is all wrong. 6 months ago, it would have been great. in september 2010? im not sold. its on the tail end of ATI’s last generation really which have been selling all year.

    I hate knocking a company cause the 450 is a very good card with great tessellation performance, as all fermi cards have, but its not the knockout punch in this sector that nvidia would want. I spent all morning reading reviews and while some always will say different things in certain games and tests, the overall view is that the ATI cards are still competitive. thats not really good considering the difference between launch times.

  9. bit of a non event really, everyone is waiting on the next generation cards now.

  10. Its a good enough card, well priced, but very boring really 🙁

  11. Tessellation performance is excellent as expected, but until more games use it, its just a selling point for nvidia. Nothing really uses it right now. metro 2033 a little.

  12. I wonder why nVidia feel the need to restrict SLi on these lower end boards where you can only use the 450/460 in 2xSLi? Compared to ATi, whose 5750/5770’s are still Quadfire enabled. Especially since SLi seems to scale so well at the moment, I wonder if 4×450’s would completely hammer 3 or 4 5770’s? And I’d LOVE to see 3 or 4 460’s in SLi.

  13. Crossfire X that is, not Quadfire.