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The MSI N450GTS Cyclone arrives in a standard sized box, with the front featuring an isolated image of the cooler.
The bundle contains a software disc, power converter, manual, quick start guide and some video converter cables. MSI Afterburner is included, a great overclocking tool based around the Rivatuner application.
The card itself is dominated by the Cyclone cooler, which is almost identical to the cooler on the N460GTX we recently reviewed. The card is 8.25 inches long and has full support for SLI.
The fan is a 9cm unit which is PWM controlled and according to MSI offers 40% more airflow over a reference design. The design is 'rounded' to keep out dust and claims are made than the card will run 17% cooler than the reference design.
The name ‘Cyclone' bears reference to the air flow system incorporated as can be seen in the diagram above.
The card utilises all solid capacitors throughout and runs at lower temperatures with a higher efficiency. MSI also offers the Cyclone card in a non-overclocked state and while we don't have confirmed pricing for this product just yet, we would guess around £100. The standard card will run at 783mhz core and memory at 3600mhz, not 850mhz and 4000mhz as with the OC edition we are testing today. The MSI GTS450 card supports two dual link DVI ports and a mini HDMI connector. It only requires a single 6 pin power connector.
The heatsink is easily removed by removing four screws on the rear of the PCB.
The Fan base is nickel plated copper which offers much better heat transfer when compared with a traditionally designed cooler. The rounded edge on the fins will help prevent dust from ‘holding' on the edge, giving longer fan lifespan. Two heatpipes are incorporated helping to disperse heat outwards to the fins.
Military grade components are used throughout, and the capacitors have Tantalum Cores, which is a rare metal offering high levels of stability. MSI claim the same material is used on space shuttles and satellites, so I guess if you ever wanted to take your PC up to game in space this would be an ideal choice.
Seems ilke a really good little card from nvidida again
performance seems close to HD5770, with these overclocked solutions anyway
seems a little too late to me, with ATIs new range around the corner
seems a little too late with atis new range around the corner
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 !
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.
I am not that impressed with this. 460 is the way to go, still. especially as the prices of 460 have dropped so much.
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.
bit of a non event really, everyone is waiting on the next generation cards now.
Its a good enough card, well priced, but very boring really 🙁
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.
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.
Crossfire X that is, not Quadfire.