Nvidia’s GeForce GTX550 Ti Review
Posted by Robert Dow and Jon Peddie on March 25th 2011 | Discuss
Categories:
Hardware Review
Tags:
gpu
nvidia
graphics
aib
3d
report
pmark
geforce
Fastest Midrange AIB
Nvidia has introduced the latest in their new Fermi gen2 products, the GeForce GTX550 Ti, (Titanium. Same nomenclature as the 560 Ti) based on the 193 core Fermi GF116 GPU. Compared to other Nvidia GPUs and the price equivalent AMD part (HD5770), the balance of feature and specifications show Nvidia did some careful selections to hit the price-performance point they wanted.
| GTS 450 | GTX 460 | GTX 550 Ti | GTX 560 Ti | HD5770 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Clock (MHz) | 738 | 675 | 900 | 822 | 850 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 902 | 900 | 1,026 | 1,002 | 1,200 |
| Memory data rate (GHz) | 3.608 | 3.600 | 4.104 | 4.008 | 3.200 |
| Memory (MB) | 1,024 | 768 | 1,024 | 1,024 | 1,024 |
| Memory Bus Width (bits) | 128 | 192 | 192 | 256 | 128 |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) | 57.7 | 86.4 | 98.5 | 128.3 | 51.2 |
| Power Max Watts | 106 | 160 | 116 | 170 | 108 |
| Cores | 192 | 336 | 192 | 384 | 800 |
| Shader Clock (MHz) | 1566 | 1350 | 1800 | 1644 | 850 |
| ROPs | 16 | 24 | 24 | 32 | 16 |
| Transistors (B) | 1.17 | 1.95 | 1.17 | 1.95 | 1.04 |
| DVI DL | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| HDMI | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Display Port | 1 | ||||
| Price | $120 | $170 | $149 | $250 | $135 |
The Nvidia GTS 450 was introduced in September 2010 and has done well in the market place. Therefore, Nvidia is not going to phase it out till next year, it becomes the little brother of the GTX 550 Ti.
The GTX 550 Ti is a Performance segment product priced in the mainstream segment.
In our quarterly AIB report we make the following segmentation classification. The market for graphics AIB's is segmented primarily by price. The price segments are shown in the following tables. (GPU compute AIB's are not included in the list.)
| Segment | Minimum ASP | Maximum ASP |
|---|---|---|
| Value | — | <$90 |
| Mainstream | $90 | $149 |
| Performance | $150 | $249 |
| Enthusiast | $250 | $900 |
| Workstation | $175 | $4,500 |
The workstation category is further segmented and it's price bands range from $175 to $3,000.
So by pricing the GTX 550 Ti at $149 it slips into the mainstream or midrange category.
Our tests were run on an Intel SandyBridge Core i5-2500k at 3.30 GHZ with 4 GB DRAM3. We chose the Core i5 as a midrange computer given that these are midrange AIBs.
We used the GTS 450 as the base line for our testing, and also use the venerable AMD Radeon HD5770 for comparison, at two resolutions; the results are shown in the following charts.
Comparison of two midrange AIBs relative to a GeForce GTS 450 midrange AIB at 1680
*3D Mark 11 was run at 1280 x 720 in the Performance preset mode, which is the one where acceptable (i.e., >30fps) operation is obtainable.
The average performance gain of a GTX 550 Ti over a GTS 450 for the above tests is 15%, and the average performance gain of 10%.
At the higher resolution, where 3D Mark 11 would run but not at acceptable frame rates, the average performance gains of the GTX 550 Ti over the GTS 450 is 25%, and the average performance gain of the HD 5770 over the GTS 450 is 15%.
Pmark
When power consumption, price, and performance are factored using the Pmark, we get a different view of the AIBs.
The average performance of the AIBs for all tests was used with the GTX 500 Ti was 31.8 fps, the HD 5770 29.9, and the GTS 450 26.6. So the GTX 550 Ti give the highest performance. But its Pmark score is dragged down by its power consumption (116 W compared to 108 for the HD 5770 and 106 for the GTS 4540), and its price ($149 compared to $135 for the HD 5770 and $120 for the GTS 450).
Fastest widest and over-clockable
The Nvidia GTX 550 Ti has the highest memory bus width of the three midrange AIBs at 192 bits, and the highest memory bandwidth at 98.5 GB/s which contributes to its performance advantage. It also has the highest core clock speed and that can even be turned up by users who want to experiment with over-clocking.
When the Radeon 5770 (Codenamed Juniper LE), was introduced in the fall of 2009 it sold for at an average price of $185 and today it can be had for $135.
As table 1 shows the Nvidia GTX 550 Ti offers three outputs, HDMI 1.4a, and two dual-link DVI. The AMD Radeon HD 5770 offers an HDMI 1.4a output, two dual-link DVI, and a DisplayPort output, and can support three monitors through its EyeFinity technology.
What do we think?
The Nvidia GTX 550 Ti is a good AIB and offers plenty of performance for the money. It's not good enough that you had a GTS 450 or HD 5770 you'd want to drop $150 and replace them. But if you were bringing up a new system the GTX 550 Ti would be an excellent choice.
Pros
Midrange price, better than midrange performance. Quiet running, multiple outputs, can be run in SLI mode.
Con
Power hungry, at the top in price range, gets a poor Pmark score, no DisplayPort output.
