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NVidia GeForce GTX550 Ti Video Card Review
Author: Will West
Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Card Uncovered
Here is the GTX550Ti with the heatsink removed and naked for everyone to see. It only takes a total of four screws to detach the heatsink from the card, afterwards it lifts right away..
The heatsink nVidia has chosen is similar to a low profile CPU heatsink and is comprised of radial fins around a solid core. A black coating applied which is likely to hide the heatsink when the card is on display. The entire heatsink is covered in a plastic shroud not only to cover and protect the card but to direct air over the heatsink and surrounding components.
With the heatsink removed we can see that the GTX550Ti GPU doesn't come with the large heatspreader we find on most GTX cards. In a way this is good for cooling since the heatsink will have direct core contact.
The GTX550Ti has a memory controller that can handle mixed densities of ram to allow for more than just 768MB on a 192-bit bus. This is the reason for having only 6 memory chips to allow for a total amount of 1GB.
The GTX550Ti has a memory controller that can handle mixed densities of ram to allow for more than just 768MB on a 192-bit bus. This is the reason for having only 6 memory chips to allow for a total amount of 1GB.
A 6-pin PCI -Express connector is needed in order to power the GTX550Ti. It is recommeneded that your PSU be at least 400 Watts for best results.
