On The Bench: EVGA GeForce GTX 460 FTW

[mapesdhs]

(Don, were the Unigine tests really run at 1920x1280 res? Shouldn't
that read 1920x1200 instead?)

S'funny, I starting writing a post about GTX 460 SLI for a different
thread on Dec/22, then before posting had to leave for the xmas break
on the 23rd, the day this article was released. 😀 Never noticed it
until now...

Anyway, here are my results, comparing to 4890 CF and 8800GT SLI (still more
tests to run, it's pretty laborious doing so many tests - empathy, Don!):

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/pctests.html
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/stalkercopbench.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/x3tcbench.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/uniginebench.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/uniginebench2.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/uniginebench3.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/viewperf.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/cinebench.html
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/ptboats.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/callofjuarez.txt

My friend John has contributed the 4890 CF and Palit GTX 460 Sonic
Platinum SLI numbers (he has an X58 i7 930 rig).

Hope this info can be of use to you all! 8)

Next up, Vantage & 3DMark11. Note that I did look at AVP, but wasn't
impressed.

And for those who've commented about it, I do have a Palit Sonic
Platinum (800 core) to test aswell, though only one of them. Also
will be testing with an i5 760 and an i3 540 (I have a feeling the
i3, once oc'd, may perform surprisingly well for CPU-bound X3TC). I
have three systems, all with the same P55 Deluxe mbd (which costs
only 75 UKP btw, for those who've spent a fortune on X58): an 870
for gaming, a 2nd 870 for video work, and an experimental i3 540 for
investigating SGI-related video processing issues with JPEG codecs.
The i5 760 is a 4th system I'm building for my brother (same mbd).
My gaming system is as follows:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/mysystemsummary4.txt

Ian.

PS. Note that these results prove an X58 system is not remotely necessary
for excellent 2-GPU SLI/CF performance.

PPS. Some tests seem sensitive to data loading issues, which can affect
recorded minimum fps scores, eg. StalkerCOP and Unigine. I might rerun
some of these tests once my system is fitted with an SSD.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]mapesdhs[/nom]...Anyway, here are my results, comparing to 4890 CF and 8800GT SLI[/citation]

Wow, that's an impressive body of work, dude. Props!

I look forward to seeing what the SSD does for you!

 

[mapesdhs]

Thanks!! I'm sorting out the SSD atm, just need to SecureErase it
to bring it back to orig performance. I'll do a clean Win7 inst
tomorrow (don't really want to clone my existing setup - it has
a bit too much junk about the place after so much benchmarking).
I do already have a 120GB SSD (OCZ Vertex2 again), but that went
straight into my main desktop (SGI Fuel).

Btw, anyone know if 3DMark11 can correctly exploit SLI yet? Did
the 1.01 update fix the issue?

I've done all the Vantage tests (at least with the CPU at 4270),
just need to type up the data.

Ian.

 

[mapesdhs]

Update!...

Cleeve, the SSD did indeed improve some of the minimums, and also raised averages
by a useful margin at lower resolutions/detail. Averages at higher res/detail also
improved, but not by quite such a large margin. As expected though, the minimums
benefited the most, doubling in some cases, and I'm only using a fairly low-down-
the-scale 60GB Vertex2.

However, in some cases the application itself seems to be at fault, eg. Unigine
Heaven shows a peculiar data loading stutter at two points during execution,
especially during the opening scene (using an SSD didn't help this stutter); a
2nd run produces more sensible/consistent results. Stalker has a similar starting
stutter, though using an SSD reduced its impact considerably.


Stalker showed the best improvement overall. It's possible the speedups might have
been larger still, but the new OS install is Win7/U/64 instead of Win7/U/32, so the
use of 64bit libs, etc. might be slightly reducing potential gains.

Meanwhile, my friend has completed many of his Palit/800 SLI tests, so the tables
are fleshing out slowly.

Also, from now on, an index all the results and other info pages are on my site here:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgi.html#PC

Tests I still need to do include the 460 SLI and all 8800GT runs for Unigine Tropics.
Getting there slowly amidst doing necessary SGI stuff...

Hope this info is useful to other readers! I'll keep an eye on eBay, pick up other
cards when I can (or if anyone's willing to lend something to include then I'd be
happy to cover the return shipping).

Ian.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]mapesdhs[/nom]Also, from now on, an index all the results and other info pages are on my site here: http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgi.html#PCTests[/citation]

Wow, that's a ton of info you've got there. You're not an SGI guy, are you?

 

[mapesdhs]

What makes you think that? 😀 (ok, so I own over a hundred of them, hehe)

Btw, the PC benchmarks link should be: http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgi.html#PC

Ian.

 

[Tesla1483]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but there is another GTX 460 card from evga called the "SSC" edition (it stands for super-superclocked...lame I know.) It falls between the superclocked edition and the FTW edition, but its specs are nearly identical to the FTW. Seriously. The only difference I can find is that the FTW has a slightly faster memory clock (3900 Mhz vs 4000 Mhz effective.) I even checked it out on evga's website and did a product comparison, that is literally the only apparent difference. I just recently received it in the mail after ordering it on Newegg for $199, free shipping, and a coupon for two free games (Mafia 2 and Just Cause 2.) It seems kind of pointless to have a card that is $30 more for practically the same product.

 

[mapesdhs]

Yes, I noticed that on a couple of sites here, though most places
don't have it. Odd that it's appeared so quietly. Scan has it for
170 UKP, with the original FTW at 182. Curious, the FTW dropped
in price for a while, but now has gone up again, though part of
that will be due to recent tax rises here I guess.

There are a couple of other cards at similar price points now
aswell, and the Sonic Platinum is still a good option. There's
also a Sonic with 2GB RAM, but alas the core clock is only 700
(a 2GB card would be ideal for games with high-detail mods like
Oblivion/Stalker).

Looks like US pricing for these cards is pretty sweet.

Ian.