System Overview & Testing Procedures
We will be installing the ASUS GeForce GTS 450 DirectCU OC into our X58 test system.  This test system is comprised of  the following components…

Processor: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme
Motherboard: Gigabyte X58A-UD5
Memory: 6GB Crucial Ballistix
Storage: 750GB SATA drive
Power: Zalman ZM1000-HP Plus 1000W
Case: In Win BUC Mid Tower

We will be comparing the GeForce GTS 450 to some of the latest video cards we have tested, they include:

Sapphire Radeon HD 6570
Sapphire HD 5830 Xtreme
Sparkle GeForce GTS 450
Gigabyte GeForce GTS 450

Opening up GPU-Z we can see all the information on the ASUS GeForce GTS 450 DirectCU OC.  This card is overclocked up to 850 MHz from the stock 783 MHz.  Also in CPU-Z we can see our system is running at the stock settings.

Before we get in to actual video testing let’s see how the DirectCU cooler stacks up.

As you can see it performed much better than the other 2 coolers on previous GTS 450 models we looked at.

We will be running 2 different types of tests on the card.  The first are benchmarking programs, most of which you should be familiar with.  The second part of the testing is actual game testing.  The programs and games we are using are listed below as well as links where you can download or purchase them.

Video Tests
3DMark 11 (download)
3DMark Vantage (download)
Heaven Demo 2.5 (download)
Stone Giant Demo (download)

Game Tests
Crysis Warehead (Buy)
Alien vs. Predator (Buy)
DiRT 2 (Buy)