NVIDIA continues to flesh out their GeForce GTX 500 series line-up, this time with a new GPU targeted at more mainstream, budget conscious gamers. The new GeForce GTX 550 Ti which is being introduced today, like the other members of the GeForce GTX 500 series, is based upon a refinement and update to a GeForce 400 series GPU (in this case the GTS 450), but there's more going on under the hood here than a respin and a new transistor mix. More on that a little later, though. The new GeForce GTX 550 Ti improves upon the previous-gen GTS 450 in a number of ways, all of which enhance performance, but the GTX 550 targets a price point and performance level below the GTX 460. The branding of this new card is sure to result in a few confused consumers. We'd expect most people to assume a GTX 550 outperforms a GTX 460 based on the model numbers alone, but as the market clears out of older GeForce 400 series parts, NVIDIA's line-up will also be more clearly defined. With that said, let's move on to some of the particulars and see what makes the new GeForce GTX 550 Ti tick.

OverclockersClub

03/2011

MSI N550GTX Ti 1GB Review

Today is the official launch of NVIDIA's 550GTX series, which is essentially the replacement for its previous 450GTX series. Of course, these cards aren't the powerhouse of graphic processing like you can find in the high-end video cards. For the price, however, you can expect a lot of bang-for-your-buck when it comes to the highly important price to performance ratio. MSI states that, in this generation of GPU, the PhysX performance is twice that of older cards, which is an impressive feat! This is due to a technology called "GigaThread scheduler", which is said to allow for up to ten times faster switching between graphics and physics processing. One big thing that MSI has begun to bring out is its cooling design. The "Cyclone" cooler, which is provided on this card retail, is said to allow for 23 C cooler temperatures over the reference design. Another direction that MSI is heading is the use of solid, aluminum core capacitors and solid-state chokes, which boast silent operation and ultra long lifetime. The MSI N550GTX Ti is also provided in a pre-overclocked version, which I will be testing in this review.

Prices

Information	Prices
MSI N550GTX-Ti-MD1GD5 Graphics Card	$124.99	See it
MSI nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti 1GB DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTX-TI M2D1GD5/OC	$129.99	See it
MSI N550GTX-Ti-MD1GD5 Graphics Card	$132.28	See it
MSI nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti 1GB DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTX-TI M2D1GD5/OC	$132.64	See it
MSI N550GTX-TI-M2D1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 550 Graphic Card - 950 MHz Core - 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 4300 MHz Memory Clock - 2560 x 1600 - SLI - Fan Cooler - HDMI - DVI	$133.99	See it
MSI nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti Cyclone OC 1GB DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTX-TI CYCLONE OC	$136.87	See it
MSI nVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti Cyclone OC 1GB DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTX-TI CYCLONE OC	$136.99	See it
MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone OC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Graphic Card - 950 MHz Core - 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 4300 MHz Memory Clock - 2560 x 1600 - SLI - Fan Cooler - HDMI - DVI	$136.99	See it
MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone OC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Video Card - 1GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), Mini HDMI, Dual DVI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Overclocked	$139.99	See it
MSI N550GTX-Ti-MD1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Graphic Card - 900 MHz Core - 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 4000 MHz Memory Clock - 2560 x 1600 - SLI - Fan Cooler - DirectX 11.0, OpenGL 4.0 - HDMI - DVI - VGA	$140.99	See it
1GB MSI nVIDIA GeForce GTX550 TI DDR5 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTXTIMD1GD5	$141.39	See it
1GB MSI GeForce GTX550 TI DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N550GTXTIM2D1GD5OC	$146.94	See it
MSI Video N550GTX-TiM2D1GD5/OC Graphics adapter - 1 GB - GDDR5 SDRAM	$175.18	See it
MSI Video N550GTX-TiCycloneOC 2.0"x16 "Ti Cyclone OC GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card	$179.48	See it