NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Review

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Just Cause 2 (DX10)

Just Cause 2 (DX10)

Just Cause 2 has quickly become known as one of the best-looking games on the market and while it doesn’t include DX11 support, it uses the full stable of DX10 features to deliver a truly awe-inspiring visual experience. For this benchmark we used the car chase scene directly following the Casino Assault level. This scene includes perfectly scripted events, some of the most GPU-strenuous effects and lasts a little less than four minutes. We chose to not use the in-game benchmarking tool due to its inaccuracy when it comes to depicting actual gameplay performance.


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Lost Planet 2 (DX11)

Lost Planet 2 (DX11)

Lost Planet is a game that was originally released on consoles but in its port over to the PC, it gained some highly impressive DX11 features. For this benchmark, we forgo the two built-in tools and instead use a 2 minute gameplay sequence from the second level in the first chapter. The reason we use this level is because it makes use of three elements that are seen throughout the game world: jungles, water and open terrain.


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Metro 2033 (DX11)

Metro 2033 (DX11)

There has been a lot of buzz about Metro 2033 which has mostly centered on its amazing graphics coupled with absolutely brutal framerates on even the best GPUs on the market. For this test we use a walkthrough and combat scene from The Bridge level which starts at the beginning of the level and lasts for about 3 minutes of walking, running and combat. Famerates are measured with FRAPS and Advanced PhysX is turned off.


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Unigine: Heaven v2.0 (DX11)

Unigine: Heaven v2.0 (DX11)

Unigine’s Heaven benchmark is currently the de-facto standard when it comes to simple, straightforward DX11 performance estimates. While it is considered a synthetic benchmark by many, it is important to remember that no less than four games based on this engine will be released within the next year or so. In this test we will be using a standard benchmark run with and without tessellation enabled at three resolutions,


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Temperature & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Core Temperature & Acoustics

For all temperature testing, the cards were placed on an open test bench with a single 120mm 1200RPM fan placed ~8” away from the heatsink. The ambient temperature was kept at a constant 22°C (+/- 0.5°C). If the ambient temperatures rose above 23°C at any time throughout the test, all benchmarking was stopped. For this test we use the 3DMark Batch Size test at it highest triangle count with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled and looped it for one hour to determine the peak load temperature as measured by GPU-Z.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 15 minutes and recorded the peak temperature.

*Note that the GTX 460 1GB SE is a custom cooled card by Gigabyte.

Temperatures are about what we expected considering NVIDIA uses the cooler found on this card on quite a few other cards in their lineup. Basically, it's extremely quiet and does a very good job of keeping temperatures in check.

System Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well.

Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.

TDP numbers don't usually tell the whole story when it comes to actual power consumption. However, the 10W difference between the GTS 450's TDP and that of the GTX 550 Ti seems to have translated over to a nearly identical gap in overall efficiency.

When you consider the overall performance increase the new card features, it seems like NVIDIA took the right steps here as they have significantly improved performance per watt over the GTS 450.

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

Over the last few months, NVIDIA’s revised Fermi architecture has been met with rightfully glowing praise so expectations were high for the latest member of the 500-series family. The GTX 550 Ti does boast some forward thinking technology in the form of mixed memory allotments running alongside some high clock speeds but there are numerous challenges it still has to overcome.

Let’s start with some positive points before proceeding any further. When compared to the GTS 450, the GTX 550 Ti really is a step in the right direction since it offers substantially higher performance while keeping power consumption well in hand. In addition, at $150 it acts as a good bridge product between the aforementioned GTS 450 and the slightly higher priced GTX 460 cards. This along with low power consumption and a nearly inaudible fan also makes the GTX 550 Ti an excellent choice for HTPC users who are looking for some extra gaming muscle.

Ultimately though, it is a combination of price, overall performance and market positioning that combines to dull some of the GTX 550’s initial appeal for budget-conscious gamers. One of the main issues mentioned throughout this review is the steady availability of GTX 460 cards below the $159 mark. It's understandable that something was needed to compete in what amounts to be popular market segment but the GTX 550 Ti really does have a tough time keeping up with similarly priced yet higher performing GF104-based cards. Indeed, NVIDIA’s wild success with the GTX 460 may ultimately prove to be their worst enemy as they try to roll out more cards to compete with AMD’s HD 6800-series.

While the GTX 550 Ti has a bit of an identity crisis against other cards in NVIDIA’s stable, things aren’t any easier when it’s pitted against AMD’s current lineup. Let’s put this into perspective for you. The HD 5770 was released in October of 2009 with a price of $159 and but the reference-clocked $150 GTX 550 Ti fails to substantially move the goal posts even though it is being shown off a whole 17 months later. Granted, framerates with AA enabled were superior to those of the HD 5770 but in many ways it maintains the status quo for entry level graphics cards without being much of an evolutionary step forward in terms of in-game performance.

All of the points made above shouldn’t give you an overly negative view of the GTX 550 because NVIDIA’s board partners have taken a unique approach this time around. Even though reference-based products will be everywhere, there should be plenty of overclocked versions at launch and some like EVGA’s FPB Edition won’t even come with a price premium. To us, this fact alone warrants a closer look at the GTX 550 Ti and we've done that in a four-way roundup.

For the OEM market, the reference GTX 550 Ti makes perfect sense but for the time being it will likely be the overclocked versions that individuals rightly gravitate towards. As post-release prices come into effect and the cost of the GTX 550 Ti inevitably falls, there is no doubt in our minds it will become the go-to product for entry level gamers. But until that time, there are several more appealing options currently on the market in the form of NVIDIA’s own GTX 460 series.

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