GTS 450 SLI unbeatable for value?

[Kenny646]

Spent alot of time looking at many, many benchmarks around for every card imaginable, and everytime I come to the same conclusion.

Deciding on a GPU to base a new system around; and $150 - $300 is budget.


Options are:

GTX 460 1GB = $209
6850 = $206
6870 = $289
470 = $286

or the two GTS 450's for $250..which from what I see beat out a 470 most of the time.

Any reasons to not go for such as setup?

 

[graemevermeulen]

Depends on your power supply and the rest of your system. If your motherboard can handle SLI then why fill it up with two GTS 450s (with no option of adding a 3rd) which equal the performance of one GTX 470? You should put the money down for a GTX 470 and leave the extra slot open for a possible future upgrade to SLI GTX 470s. Crossfire 6870s is also a killer!!

 

[plastichairball]

No reason at all. I think it would WHIP ass. Two concerns though:

1) Make sure you have a decent power supply to support SLI
2) Consider getting a GTX 460, then waiting a while and keeping the difference in cash...add to it....and get a second GTX 460! That SLI combo would be insane.

But 2 GTS 450s? With a OC on each? That will be a killer setup.

 

[plastichairball]

Depends on your power supply and the rest of your system. If your motherboard can handle SLI then why fill it up with two GTS 450s (with no option of adding a 3rd) which equal the performance of one GTX 470? You should put the money down for a GTX 470 and leave the extra slot open for a possible future upgrade to SLI GTX 470s. Crossfire 6870s is also a killer!!

I don't know if his MB would support SLI/CF, it's generally one or the other exclusively rather than interchangeably.

 

[g00fysmiley]

yea thats true plastic.. but its possible to xfire on an sli board and sli on a xfir e board... just takes some tweaking..

as for dual 450's if its what you wanty go for it, they sli great, i might ocnsider bumpign it to 460's possibly 768 mb and just getting one to start or waiting for them to go on sale

if you can't wait then see if there are any black friday sales

righ tnow there are 768 meg 460's for 135 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500173


heck you could get a 465 for $150

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500163

sometimes you can flash a 465 into a 470 or even a 480 as its just a disabled chip same as 480-470 (460 and 450 are dirfferent archetecture... but 465-470-480 is a binning process much like athlon and phenom 2-3-and 4 cores

cheapest 460 1 gig if you wanted that route is 169/95 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125332

so you can see your initial guesses at prices are quite a bit off

 

[reccy]

I would personally buy the GTX470, wait until you can afford another 470 and bam! A awesome setup with a decent longevity of life nd to be honest, i dont think much can stop this setup at high settings!

 

[plastichairball]

Going over all this again and trying to stay on topic, a 450 Sli setup would be king for value. That much is certain, but off topic i'd say what we've all said about the other 4 series cards is worth thinking about. Would two 470s be king of value? No, but awesome in performance. So it all depends, if you're going for bang for buck value and a one off purchas then two 450s is a no brainer. But if you're willing to spend more you'll get more in the long run.

 

[g00fysmiley]

forgot to add another link on your pricing...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130572

450's ate like 95 and this one is 95 with a so really it'd only cost you 190 sli 450's not 250 happy shipping... i thin you got your prices at best buy... never shop there complete ripoffs

*add* for brick and mortaor stores thier prices are usually higher but ocationall sales might make them better... however best buy has never fallen in this catagory to my knowlage

 

[nforce4max]

If you want to go with that rout then you better hang onto them for 2-3 years because you are wasting your money going with sli from the start and the same applies with crossfire at this range of hardware. It is mainly an option for those who purchase the first card with the second fallowing months to a year later serving as a low cost upgrade while keeping the original card in use. I suggest either a 68x0/GTX460 or higher and having one good decent card is better in the end for a number of reasons. Such as power and load on the cpu. I have had 3 sli rigs excluding the 3DFX and sitting on a crossfire rig that I am yet to really complete. The GTS450 and the GT430 are under performers compared to their hardware specs and aren't that decent plus build quality has sunk over the past year and a half on both sides. It takes a GTX460 to really be considered a real upgrade over having two tried and tested G92 2 way sli setup.

 

[plastichairball]

Although a lot of what nforce4max says is correct, there are some things i take issue with. An Sli 450 would rock out, for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are indeed under performing cards, but a lot of extra performance can be unlocked from them so easily. Times that extra performance by two, and take into account the almost 100% sli scaling, and you get some serious power. For bang for buck, it can't be beat. Secondly, if you start out with a working Sli setup I can accurately guess you have a decent power supply that will see you well into the future. Thirdly, it also means that in the future you can sell two cards or a two card rig to fund your next upgrade. In addition, if one card fails you stilll run your system on the other until you replace. Man, if i could get a 450 sli setup tomorrow i'd jump on it!

 

[17seconds]

Make sure your motherboard supports SLI first. Just because it has two PCIe lanes doesn't mean it supports SLI. It needs to specifically state that it supports SLI, and it needs to come with an SLI bridge. Also check that you PSU is at least 550 watts, or even better, 600 watts.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gts-450-sli-review/1

 

[Kenny646]

Thanks guys for the amount of responses.

And, for...the guy that mentioned prices. Honestly, I REALLY wish newegg was an option

In Australia you see restricted completely to local retailers. Those are the absolute CHEAPEST prices i can get local


Okay, so it is a good idea then?

Still those points about not being able to..add to it later are a problem

@malmental

Okay, idea is a semi-budget system for LAN gaming that can be retrofitted to sandy bridge or bulldozer after their release, probably the former.

I want to achieve this by getting the absolute maximum gaming performance from all my hardware at the best price. So shifting money away from processor/motherboard towards GPU/Case/PSU etc.


Current idea (open to suggestions)

i3 - 540 = Cheap locally, can barter down to about $99 115 usually.
Just looking at the benches, this thing has great stock gaming performance, and OCed it is awesome

MOBO = MSI-P55-G55 = SLI/Good features for low price : $109

GPU=

GTX 460 = Powerful, OCes crazily, looks nice. Good scaling. $209

GTX 470 = SEXY :O

Radeon 6850 = Can't pick if i'd choose this or the 460, OCes very well.

6870 = "see gtx 470"

GTS 450 = And here we are again, more performance, awesome factor of having two cards, overclocks fairly well, best performance at this price.

The plan is to sell mobo/cpu when new CPU's come out; and just keep using the rest. The problem I foresee, is that if I sell the 2 GTS 450's; I'm looking at ANOTHER SLI setup if I want more performance.... :S
----------------------------

@everyone else.

Alot of benches operate at 1920 x 1200... I'm doing 1920 x 1080...

How much difference does this make?

Its the reason I'm a tad sceptical at going for two 4xx/68xx cards, as it just seems a bit of overkill for a lower resolution.

450's are only viable because of price.

 

[plznote]

LAN gaming huh? Make sure you're game(s) support SLI.
Don't hyperventilate about it most if not all games support SLI

 

[Mousemonkey]

Alot of benches operate at 1920 x 1200... I'm doing 1920 x 1080...

How much difference does this make?

It's less than 200 pixels and makes no difference in the fps numbers from what I've seen, what you'll get at 19 x 12 is the same as what you'll get at 19 x 10.

 

[digvijaysingh]

I am hav ing GTS 450 zotac make and it rocks. Very good card.
with good nvidia drivers. no heating issue .

Thanks guys for the amount of responses.

And, for...the guy that mentioned prices. Honestly, I REALLY wish newegg was an option

In Australia you see restricted completely to local retailers. Those are the absolute CHEAPEST prices i can get local


Okay, so it is a good idea then?

Still those points about not being able to..add to it later are a problem

@malmental

Okay, idea is a semi-budget system for LAN gaming that can be retrofitted to sandy bridge or bulldozer after their release, probably the former.

I want to achieve this by getting the absolute maximum gaming performance from all my hardware at the best price. So shifting money away from processor/motherboard towards GPU/Case/PSU etc.


Current idea (open to suggestions)

i3 - 540 = Cheap locally, can barter down to about $99 115 usually.
Just looking at the benches, this thing has great stock gaming performance, and OCed it is awesome

MOBO = MSI-P55-G55 = SLI/Good features for low price : $109

GPU=

GTX 460 = Powerful, OCes crazily, looks nice. Good scaling. $209

GTX 470 = SEXY :O

Radeon 6850 = Can't pick if i'd choose this or the 460, OCes very well.

6870 = "see gtx 470"

GTS 450 = And here we are again, more performance, awesome factor of having two cards, overclocks fairly well, best performance at this price.

The plan is to sell mobo/cpu when new CPU's come out; and just keep using the rest. The problem I foresee, is that if I sell the 2 GTS 450's; I'm looking at ANOTHER SLI setup if I want more performance.... :S
----------------------------

@everyone else.

Alot of benches operate at 1920 x 1200... I'm doing 1920 x 1080...

How much difference does this make?

Its the reason I'm a tad sceptical at going for two 4xx/68xx cards, as it just seems a bit of overkill for a lower resolution.

450's are only viable because of price.