Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Review

Results Analysis

We’ve re-tested every card against which the GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB; following feedback from the bit-tech community we’ve also taken this opportunity to construct a new Arma II test that is more consistent than the previous one we had to retire. This means that ludicrous fun-fest Just Cause 2 has been removed from our testing suite. We’ve also updated the Call of Duty: Black Ops test to use its multiplayer component, as the singleplayer game is moronic this is what most owners of Black Ops actually play.

We’ve also decided that just as high 16x AF performance is a basic requirement of new graphics card, so is the ability to use 4x AA. This might seem a tough stance, but we’re interested in getting the best playing experience and you only get that by eliminating jaggies, pixel creep and pixel shimmer via AA. We’ve replaced the usual 1,920 x 1,200 resolution that we used to use for 1,920 x 1,080 – it’s a slightly easier test (by 11 per cent), but more representative of the screens that most people use and can buy.


The GTX 550 Ti 1GB’s performance in Dirt 2 was reasonably strong. Even if you remember that we’ve only included cards costing up to £200 or so, the GTX 550 Ti 1GB pumped out some pleasantly high frame rates, eclipsing even AMD’s much more expensive Radeon HD 6950 2GB at 1,920 x 1,080 and 1,680 x 1,050 (both with 4x AA, as explained above). Even at the ludicrously high resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 the GTX 550 Ti 1GB was able to play the game smoothly, with a minimum of 40fps.

In Black Ops the high 900MHz GPU core frequency of the GTX 550Ti 1GB meant that it just managed to best the GTX 460 768MB at 1,680 x 1,050 and 1,920 x 1,080. At the former resolution it was only a lead of 1fps on the minimum frame rate, while the extra pixels of a Full HD screen gave the GTX 550 Ti 1GB a more convincing lead with a minimum of 71fps rather than 63fps. At all three resolutions, the GTX 550 Ti 1GB was marginally quicker than the HD 5770 1GB.

Arma II: Operation Arrowhead is very tough game to run, and while the GTX 550 Ti 1GB isn’t designed to run such a demanding game at its full detail settings, it still performed reasonably well at 1,680 x 1,050 with a minimum of 23fps. This is still too stutter for comfort, so you’ll need to dial down some detail settings, but the card was 2fps faster than the HD 5770 1GB. However, a GTX 460 1GB can play the game at our high detail settings at 1,680 x 1,050, so you don’t need to break the bank for Arma II fun.


The GTX 550 Ti 1GB performed strongly in Bad Company 2 at 1,680 x 1,050, managing a smooth 26fps minimum frame rate. Meanwhile the HD 5770 1GB was woefully underpowered with a jerky minimum of 18fps at the same resolution. The GTX 550 Ti 1GB couldn’t manage the game at 1,920 x 1,080 – the 22fps minimum was too stutter for our liking – but you’d have to sacrifice less image quality than if you opted for a HD 5770 1GB instead as its comparatively poor level of performance continued: a minimum of 15fps is terrible. Poor AA performance is an endemic issue for AMD cards in Bad Company 2, meaning that the £200 GTX 560 Ti 1GB dominated the charts.

Looking at power consumption and thermal numbers for the GTX 550 Ti 1GB is difficult, as Nvidia is giving partners such a wide scope to custom-cool and overclock cards. For the figures in the power consumption and thermal graphs we used the Zotac GeForce GTX 550 Ti Amp! Edition clocked down to stock-speed levels. As the Zotac actually uses a basic heatsink under that fancy shroud, these numbers are likely to be indicative of basic GTX 550 Ti 1GB cards. As such, the mid-level amount of power consumption and heat that we saw was fine.