Finally a GTX 460 @ 900 core review. Beats both a gtx470 and 5870!

[happy medium]

This is one bad ass 210$ card. Not only does it match both these cards, but beats them rather soundly.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vi...tx460-sonic-platinum-extreme-oc_12.html#sect0

Quote: @1900x1080
"The average performance growth at overclocking is 30% now, the maximum being as high as 43%"

Highs:

•High performance for its price range;
•When overclocked using voltmodding can outperform Radeon HD 5870;
•Wide range of supported FSAA modes;
•Improved CSAA/TMAA quality;
•Minimal effect of FSAA on performance;
•CUDA and PhysX support;
•Fully-fledged hardware HD video decoding;
•High-quality HD video post-processing with scalability;
•HDMI 1.3a support;
•Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support;
•Acceptable power consumption and heat dissipation;
•Low noise;
•Compact size.

 

[Attic]

yea, that's awsome. gotta love that performance out of that price point.

 

[toyota]

I guess you left out the part where it consumes 100 watts more than a stock gtx460.



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[Rifter]

yeah the power consumtion does go way up, i noticed that with my OC, my UPS is telling me im drawing 93 more watts than at stock speeds running furmark.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I guess you left out the part where it consumes 100 watts more than a stock gtx460.

Did you notice that the 5870 uses over 150 watts more then the on package i530 GPU? It is obvious now that the only acceptable graphics option is Intel's on package offerings as they are FAR more efficient then AMD's chips. Good to know

 

[notty22]

The gtx 460 still downclocks/ down volts when overclocked, so it only uses extra power, in gaming at 100% load. IMO, its like the reality of using extra gas when you put your foot to the floor in a car. Whats awesome it can scale in power to that level.

 

[toyota]

Did you notice that the 5870 uses over 150 watts more then the on package i530 GPU? It is obvious now that the only acceptable graphics option is Intel's on package offerings as they are FAR more efficient then AMD's chips. Good to know

troll much? the POINT genius, was that for it to beat a gtx470 it actually had to use over 30 more watts.

 

[SolMiester]

You know, I just dont get the power draw worries, most gamers have 750w+ in there rigs anyway....
Anyone that can afford new games and hardware is just a whinger if they go on about electricity costs....

 

[OCGuy]

Awesome cards.

 

[BenSkywalker]

troll much? the POINT genius, was that for it to beat a gtx470 it actually had to use over 30 more watts.

The POINT is that the ONLY viable choice for optimal power consumption for a desktop PC right now is Intel's graphics. That is the REALITY of power consumption concerns. If you don't like it then you don't get the POINT of how important power consumption truly is.

 

[toyota]

You know, I just dont get the power draw worries, most gamers have 750w+ in there rigs anyway....
Anyone that can afford new games and hardware is just a whinger if they go on about electricity costs....

well if the card performs really well and stays nice and cool than its usually not an issue. most people talk about the gtx470 power consumption yet they buy a gtx460 and overclock it enough to exceed that anyway. what they consider a more efficient gpu really isn't if they push it to level of performance they wanted in the first place.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Yeah, that power consumption increase is obscene.

Still, it's pretty shocking that despite all that extra power, the temperature only goes up 7C (from 72C to 79C). The noise level is only one order of magnitude louder - from 49db to ~53.5db.

Nonetheless, I guess I'm starting to show my age. I'd much rather keep my GTX 460 at stock (and indeed I do keep mine at stock) than overclock and use 100W more power (and pump all that heat into my case/small apartment). Though I guess if I was gaming at 2560x1600 rather than 1920x1200, I might feel differently...

I guess you left out the part where it consumes 100 watts more than a stock gtx460.



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[toyota]

The POINT is that the ONLY viable choice for optimal power consumption for a desktop PC right now is Intel's graphics. That is the REALITY of power consumption concerns. If you don't like it then you don't get the POINT of how important power consumption truly is.

wtf are you rambling about? I had MY point to make and I made it. your comment is ridiculous and completely out of place in this thread. all you were trying to do was be a smartass which you failed at doing.

 

[Tsavo]

well if the card performs really well and stays nice and cool than its usually not an issue. most people talk about the gtx470 power consumption yet they buy a gtx460 and overclock it enough to exceed that anyway. what they consider a more efficient gpu really isn't if they push it to level of performance they wanted in the first place.

I wonder if the 470 would have sold better if its fan wasn't as annoying as my wife when she talks.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I had MY point to make and I made it.

So you are a champion of Intel's graphics offerings. Either that or you really don't care about power consumption that much at all and were just trolling. Take your pick

 

[OCGuy]

Power consumption? Is this an enthusiast forum or did I stumble onto a ELF board?

 

[toyota]

So you are a champion of Intel's graphics offerings. Either that or you really don't care about power consumption that much at all and were just trolling. Take your pick

what the heck are trying to accomplish here? see if you can get this through your head...I was just making a point that for it to beat a card like the gtx470 it would actually have to use more power. that defeats one of the reasons of getting a gtx460 over the gtx470 in the first place. and again I was just surprised by how much the consumption went up compared to a stock gtx460.

I swear anything that gets posted on this forum gets taken out of context and turned into an asinine argument.

 

[notty22]

They showed power numbers taken from Crysis, and then in the article the 460 performed 10% faster than the 470. So, the power #'s might be a wash between the two if the o/c was lowered to slow the card down 10%.
But why ?

 

[toyota]

Power consumption? Is this an enthusiast forum or did I stumble onto a ELF board?

no one is really complaining about power consumption in general. just surprised that it took that much more power for it to run at speeds fast enough to beat cards that use way less. adding 100 watts to a card that only uses 140 watts to begin with is quite large.

 

[happy medium]

what the heck are trying to accomplish here? see if you can get this through your thick head...I was just making a point that for it to beat a card like the gtx470 it would actually have to use more power. that defeats one of the reasons of getting a gtx460 over the gtx470 in the first place.

I swear anything that gets posted on this forum gets taken out of context and turned into an asinine argument.

I'd have to disagree , the point is to save 60$( or even 135$ with a 5870), use the same amount of power as the gtx470, (with the same performance, 860 core?),WHile running cooler and quieter.
Toyota please don't fight over dum sh!t, I know you post with a bad attitude ,but other don't know your posting style. relax bro.

 

[Rifter]

Holy crap guys, get over it. It uses more power but who cares????? it's performannce ramps up fairly well so its worth it. You are getting better than 5870 performance for alot less money, and as mentioned still downclocks to less than 20w while in 2d mode anyways so you only use the power when you need it. The Phenom II's are INSANE power hogs when overclocking, use more power than overclocked i7's but people still reccomend them all the time. The truth is alot of people just dont care about power consumtion as much, they care about performance more, otherwise the 480's would not be selling at all.

 

[toyota]

I'd have to disagree , the point is to save 60$, use the same amount of power as the gtx470, (with the same performance, 860 core?),WHile running cooler and quieter.
Toyota please don't fight over dum sh!t, I know you post with a bad attitude ,but other don't know your posting style. relax bro.

no thats YOUR point not mine. money has nothing to do with what I am saying. many people buy the gtx460 because they think it is very efficient and uses little power compared to its big brothers. if somebody had a borderline power supply for a gtx470 and bought a gtx460 once they overclocked it they would be in the same situation. again I was just surprised that a gtx460 had power usage go up by 68% for a 33% oc and ended up using 34 more watts than a gtx470.

 

[BenSkywalker]

many people buy the gtx460 because they think it is very efficient and uses little power compared to its big brothers.

If you could point these many people out it would be greatly appreciated. I've never met anyone who bought a graphics card in this segment that had power consumption as thier biggest concern. If power consumption is your biggest concern in your video choice, use an i530- it really is that simple. Nothing nVidia or ATi release in the form of a dedicated video card is going to be close in performance per watt. Why not troll some Corvette and Porsche forums and crap in threads with fuel economy ratings? It would be the same thing

 

[BD231]

Looks like some pretty decent hardware is about to become very affordable.

 

[blastingcap]

Not only does it match both these cards, but beats them rather soundly.

Yes because we all know the 5870 can't overclock at all, let alone very well.

And the GTX470 can't oc either.

And that HD6xxx cards aren't coming out for a long, long time, either.

And that you are guaranteed that if you buy a gtx460, your card can oc just as well as the particular card tested. (As one of the comments to the article put it: "Nice review but a lot of people when buying the retail are getting cards that don't oc as well nor have the vrm cooling so I avoided this brand when making my purchase of a GTX 460.")

And I'm sure that oc'd gtx460 was running cooler than its big brothers when oc'd that much.

Is overvolting covered by that company's warranty? Especially since overvolting lengthens the lifetime of GPUs, as we all know.

:whiste:

Someone already commented on the power draw, so I won't comment on that.

That said, if the point of this thread was that a highly oc'd and overvolted GTX460 can, in some games at some resolutions touch a 5870, that's entertaining but not surprising, particularly at lower resolutions in games that run better on NV hardware.

One thing I really like about GTX460s is their small sizing--for those using smaller cases, it's a godsend. They also fold@home well.