Roundup: Nine GeForce GTX 460 1 GB Boards Benchmarked

[thillntn]

evga for me, it just looks like a nicely designed card!

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]DSpider[/nom]I read some Newegg reviews on the EVGA card and most said it was cheaply built and noisy as fυck because of the turbine exhaust design. Is this true ?[/citation]
It's noisier than the ones that spew heat into your case/CPU. Get a decent case to cut the noise, and enjoy that the two "turbine" cooler cards blow the heat out of the case.[citation][nom]americanherosandwich[/nom]I heard the same thing. If you look at the pictures on some of these cards, you can see the MSI having the biggest fan and heatsink. Gigabyte has two fans, and the other cards just seem to have the stock fan.[/citation]You forgot ECS's triple-slot cooler. And Asus' cooler has more peak cooling power than MSI's, though its cooling-to-noise ratio is lower.

 

[LORD_ORION]

Possibly the worst conclusion I've ever seen on Tom's.

What is the quietness, performance, warranty, price ratio for each card? Then you would know what the winner is.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Good article. Just a suggestion but next time include one card lower on the ladder (GTX 260?) so users can see how much perfromance gain there is if they upgrade to those tested and then include in the benchmarks a card higher on the performance ladder (GTX 470 or HD 5850?)...

 

[scook9]

These are neat cards. I have been considering a GTX 460 to replace the 4890 in my HTPC but cannot justify the increase just yet

I want a fermi though! (And my desktop is already CF 5870s)

 

[Humans think]

[citation][nom]El_Capitan[/nom]It would have been better to see each card overclocked to it's most stable overclock first, then test the cards with all the benchmarks. [/citation]

Overclocking can vary from chip to chip, so you cannnot come to a conclusion by overclocking GPUs from different vendors. The chip batch and other factors cannot be checked by end-user. What vendors can ensure though is for example a 15% overclock to all their product type, chips that fail to meet the requirements are used in less expensive versions with stock speeds and/or lower overclocks.

 

[Guest]

Jetwat's GTX 460 is like a monster. It's like another graphics card, that is faster, not a GTX 460.

 

[El_Capitan]

[citation][nom]Humans think[/nom]Overclocking can vary from chip to chip, so you cannnot come to a conclusion by overclocking GPUs from different vendors. The chip batch and other factors cannot be checked by end-user. What vendors can ensure though is for example a 15% overclock to all their product type, chips that fail to meet the requirements are used in less expensive versions with stock speeds and/or lower overclocks.[/citation]
Of course overclocking can vary from chip to chip, but that doesn't stop Tom's Hardware from reviewing CPU's and GPU's and seeing how well they overclock. It's not like they get 20 different samples of an i7 980x from different batches, they get one from Intel and there you have it. Same can be applied here.

 

[nforce4max]

Personally I would like one that has a all copper cooler instead of just copper heat pipes and flimsy aluminum fins. To many run hotter than they would with a copper cooler. As for the EVGA I am willing to live with the noise so long my rig doesn't become a toaster oven. I hate internal exhaust that raises the temps of my cpu and drives. My cpu is close to it's max as it is with my overclocking.

 

[rwmunchkin12788]

[citation][nom]Roffle[/nom]Jetwat's GTX 460 is like a monster. It's like another graphics card, that is faster, not a GTX 460.[/citation]

I'd be interested to see just how long a card like that would actually last. I know one of the biggest values for me is longevity. To me, it seems the ASUS or MSI has the capability of keeping the GPU in the best shape for the longest time because of the better cooling. To me, the added price for the ASUS seems worth it to me, even if the performance value is slightly negative. It has the second best performance, as well as the lowest GPU temp at high fan speed.

Granted, this may not be as cut and dry as we all hope it would be, but that's my 2 cents.

 

[Slakeon]

ALL GTX 460 CARDS HAVE 336 UNIFIED SHADERS!! GPU-Z IS INACCURATELY REPORTING THE SHADER COUNT!!

 

[was3000]

I remove the grid from the rear exhaust - its easy with clippers - This allows for greater air flow out the rear end and doesn't transmit the heat as much into the frame of card and computer. Much less back pressure. It may void warranty if they are hardcore about it. Seriously I think it covers 30% of the aperture.

No good reason for the grid I can think of - maybe kids and cat paws?

 

[liquidblue]

As much as performance goes it's not always that. Companies build reputation and base their products around that for being reliable. For the short time I had palit as a 'like' on FB, almost everything coming out of that page was cocky. Just look at barry bonds, he may be a powerhouse but that doesn't mean everyone likes him. I'll stick with EVGA.

 

[niknikktm]

ARRHHH!!! I've been waiting for this roundup/shootout to done since the first GTX test a few weeks back and one of the most important parameters for anyone using it in a media pc or htpc was ignored. NOISE LEVELS!

WHERE ARE THE NOISE LEVEL TEST RESULTS???!!!

Once again a Toms review fails.

 

[CrazeEAdrian]

Some of these companies really need to get their customer service/satisfaction areas in check... If I'm dropping ~$300 on a graphics card (or more for that matter) the warranty better be at LEAST 2 years.

 

[mattmock]

It's a nice article, but noise tests really are critical for gpu's.

 

[palitusa]

Palit offer 2 years warranty for US/Canada.

 

[Notleh]

460's are decent cards on their own, but where they really shine (and beat the snot out of AMD) is in SLI. So it would be awesome to see an SLI round-up as a follow-up article.

I also wish galaxy would have sent a card, as they are the only top-tier gpu maker I do not see listed.

 

[doubleflo7]

Great article. I just ordered the Gigabyte card. I chose that one mainly for the low noise the reviews talked about. My 8800 GTS is by far the noisiest thing in my case.

 

[Guest]

Considering the variety of cooling solutions, analysis of the fan noise would have been welcome. It is also worth noting that the MSI solution keeps the case hotter, so analysis of how the cards affect the case temps would have been interesting too.

 

[zinzan]

[citation][nom]Emperus[/nom]How safe is it to get the cheapest out of the lot.? Very safe i guess.. How much value is it to get the costliest.? Pretty good i guess.. So the consumer is basically safe with any choice made.. That's always a good thing.. This just may be one of those cases where one can pick a card more based on its aesthetics.. Nice huh..[/citation]

Or which one is on sale when you're buying?

-Z

 

[duk3]

That's weird.
I was just thinking about how nice an article about this would be yesterday.

 

[ra3tonite]

[citation][nom]Tamz_msc[/nom]I would have liked noise benchmarks.[/citation]
yes, i'd like to base my decision on my next vidcard upon the amount of noise it makes during games. thx

 

[Alvin Smith]

Very well written.

My main gripe remains the same ... Total focus on games while completely dismissing graphics and multimedia rendering benchmarks.

And, of course, again, not a peep, regarding noise levels at idle and load.

I really do think that there are a whole lot of us, out here, who are bloggers and video editors, motion graphics artists and electronic musicians, who would really like to know how these cards perform with CS5 and VEGAS and many of us add much weight to the relative noise level (Live Recording, V.O., etc.).

Once again, what I already might have guessed is laid out in explicit detail while, what I really want to know, has been completely ignored.

Happy Gaming !!

= Alvin =

 

[Kumitsu]

This is good, but i was looking for maximum overclocks on each card, that would definetly drive up interest in this article.