GTX 460 SLI or Wait for Southern Islands

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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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So with the release of the GTX 460 SLI I have to say I think Nvidia has a real winner on there hands considering that having a near 80% efficiency with new games is really impressive to me. I've been considering upgrading from my paltry 8800 GT to this beast. I feel the 768 MB is the way to go considering the price difference to performance ratio (Keep in mind set price budget is between 400-500) when SLI & OC'ed (feel free to correct me if I'm off base).

However I have a couple of nagging questions, while I know Southern Island is more than a refresh but less than moving to a new process, would it be worth it to wait for these parts to release rather than going straight to the GTX 460 SLI.

If the answer is to upgrade will my PSU be able to handle the load, It's an Antec Earthwatts 650, and it only has 2 PCI-E connectors although I could buy adapters to get two more. In terms of wattage I'm sure it's save, but not so sure for the amperage.

I appreciate any help on the matter
 
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faxon

Platinum Member
May 23, 2008
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if you are going to be going for SLI, the resolutions where you would really need that level of performance will benefit a lot more from the extra memory and ROPs. i would say if you feel you can utilize that level of performance then wait for the 1GB models to release. if you are playing at 1680x1050 or lower however, you probably dont need more than a single 460 anyway for most games. whatever you do i would definitely upgrade your PSU though, since it would be an honest waste not to overclock these cards considering how easy it is to get a huge OC on em
 
taltamir

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
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you should not SLI with the 768MB version, only with the 1GB version. (and that is still a bit low for SLI).

I wouldn't SLI at all... get a single GTX460 and keep it for a year / year a half and then upgrade. The fact you are still stuck with a single 8800GT shows that value is of great importance to you.
 
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v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
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Beast isn't quite the right word for it. Remember that these guys are about the performance level of a GTX260 or 4890, and you didn't find that level of performance compelling enough of an upgrade when they were $130 last year.

It'll be a nice 50% upgrade, to be sure. But hardly worth it. If you held out this long you can make it to fall. I know I can (also packing an 8800GT).

If you needed a card *TODAY* then the 460GT 1gb is unquestionably the best value available to you. As an upgrade, meh.
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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Well I put beast in in terms of it's SLI scaling rather than it's individual power being around 20% ish more than the 260. However you are correct on the gaming resolution I play, was looking to finally be able to play games on the absolute max, without a care in the world and have a bit of future proofing for it.

Main game I'm looking forward to is Final Fantasy 14, and in terms of the benchmarks for 1920 play a 5850-5870 seem to score 3-4.5k if I recall for a single GPU, so I figured if a GTX 460 SLI, was competitive to the 600 dollar+ solutions, that I could get some amazing graphics in it.

Though at least from opinions seems like it's still not a great route to go, I was just pricing the Southern Islands at around a 30% performance jump at around the price the 5850 is to it's MSRP, so I thought it be a good deal to jump onto the 460 with the SLI Scaling.
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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That's kinda what I got from the reviews and how the oc'ed 1gb version got less than a 10% benefit usually more toward 5%, so I figured going for the 768 MB version to drop the price around 400 which would put it in the 5870's price bracket, but as said I could still be totally off base. Though if I do go the route I'll definately take the advice of upgrading the PSU.
 
Ika

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
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Wreckage said:
The GTX460 competes well with the 5850 while costing around $100 less. In DX11 it can even top a 5870. I guess people don't think much of the 5xxx series if they think the 460 is not much of an upgrade.

As for Southern Islands, that won't be a true next gen chip so I would not hold my breath on it. ATI's next gen chip has been delayed until next year.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/..._Different_Suppliers_Hybrid_Architecture.html
Click to expand...

wat? A quick look through Anandtech's review shows the 5850 ahead of the 460 by 15-20% in all games. That may not be 50% better like the price dictates but it's significant enough to not be called "competes well".

EDIT: ah, I see. Wreckage.
 
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v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
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It competes well in 2 artificial benchmarks. If all you do is play the Heaven benchmark, then the difference between 14 fps and 18 fps may make or break the deal.

For people playing games at mainstream settings, yeah, a 460 is probably "good enough" if it's significantly cheaper than a 5850. Pretty much the same exact statement we've been making 5870 vs 480. Wouldn't "upgrade" to it from a 4890, for sure. And even an upgrade from a 8800GT is a stretch.
 
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Voo

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2009
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Aflac said:
wat? A quick look through Anandtech's review shows the 5850 ahead of the 460 by 15-20% in all games. That may not be 50% better like the price dictates but it's significant enough to not be called "competes well".

EDIT: ah, I see. Wreckage.
Click to expand...
Actually the 5850 is on average 8% faster than the 460 at 1920x1200 settings in the AT review.
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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Well I've thought on it and looked at some more articles (liked this one the best http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/07/12/nvidia_geforce_gtx_460_sli_performance_followup)and it seems to support how amazing for top end performance it is.

So if I can snag the $175 deal for the 768 MB (I feel the 1 Gig version doesn't justify it's cost in SLI at a 30-40 premium x2 for less than 10% performance on avg) I will go ahead and buy it.

The only question is back to the psu, I'm sure my system uses less than 300 (probably closer to 250-260) watts even when overclocked, and I know the video cards use at max 300 and 24 amps (at least till overclocked). So the question comes back can my 650 Watt Power supply with 45 Amps, support them both and if it can, would it be possible to overclock.
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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While as stated before that I have no doubt that the single ATI are still solid performers the main thing I noticed with just about review concerning support for he modern games, is the CF performance of the 5000 series seems to be around 50-65% verse the SLI performance hovering around 80% or higher on just about every benchmarked game, when extrapolating that especially when factoring overclocking (essentially able to match a stock 5850), the gains are very impressive at 20-30% more performance on avg than a stock crossfired 5850.

Now I understand you can overclock a 5850 but as far as I can see it just can't compete, especially when you start factoring in prices 400 vs 560 etc. Of course, feel free to completely riddle my argument with holes if it's completely off-base (prefer to have a correct answer, than to believe I am correct on the matter)

Now if only I could a completely good answer on the PSU matter, this would probably end all my questions.
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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Oh cool thanks Happy ^^, and yeah that's my psu. Now I just got to get those video cards ordered before that $175 deal disappears.
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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Don't really see why not in almost all the benchmarks the performance hit seems to be no more than 10% (and that's taking the most extreme examples), so a 20% price premium for a less than 10% performance hit, seems like a pretty fair trade off.
 
happy medium

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
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Skurge said:
You really should not be SLI'ing the 768mb version at 1920x1080.
Click to expand...




I thought he said 1650x1050?

Faxon said 1650x 1050 in the second post and he said he was correct in the 5th post.

I think?

The 1gb gtx 460 is back up on Newegg by the way. 230$
 
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happy medium

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
480
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Blitz1776 said:
Don't really see why not in almost all the benchmarks the performance hit seems to be no more than 10% (and that's taking the most extreme examples), so a 20% price premium for a less than 10% performance hit, seems like a pretty fair trade off.
Click to expand...

Skurge is right if you game @ 1900x1080 768mb of memory is ok for now but, it will come back to haunt you later.

A few years back there were 2 great 8800 series cards one had 320mb of ram the other had 640mb of ram. I cant tell you how many dissapointed people I heard from about how "THEY WISHED THEY BOUGHT" THE 640mb model.

Look at the difference in Minimum framerates from the 768mb model in sli to the 1gb model going from 1650x1050 to 1900x1080. AT 1900x1080 the 1gb model has 20% better minimum framerates then the 768 model.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/6

23705.png


23706.png
 
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pjkenned

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Jan 14, 2008
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www.servethehome.com
I just ordered two GTX 460 1GB OC cards to replace my GTX 285. I was on the fence about it, but the min FR's of the GTX 285 are just starting to get a bit low on 1920x1080. Plus, if I find I don't need the extra horsepower, I have a pretty easy way to split the cards and make a second rig (I have tons of LGA1156 hardware sitting around).
 
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Blitz1776

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Jun 18, 2010
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And yes I do have a monitor 1680x1050, but figured that 1920x1080 is a possible path (although pretty unlikely), suppose I"ll go back to thinking on which one to spring for (didn't see the part on the minimum frame rates).
 
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dust

dust

Golden Member
Oct 13, 2008
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pjkenned said:
I just ordered two GTX 460 1GB OC cards to replace my GTX 285. I was on the fence about it, but the min FR's of the GTX 285 are just starting to get a bit low on 1920x1080. Plus, if I find I don't need the extra horsepower, I have a pretty easy way to split the cards and make a second rig (I have tons of LGA1156 hardware sitting around).
Click to expand...

Another 285 might have done the same job
 
james1701

james1701

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2007
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I am curious, why in the new card reviews, when review sites use Warhead, they only use Gamer Quality, with Enthusiast shaders. Why not use Enthusiast settings for everything for their benchmark?
 
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ebolamonkey3

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Dec 2, 2009
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I would definitely get the 1gb versions, for the reason happy_medium showed. The GTX 460 is a great card, but if you can wait till November ~ish, even if Southern Islands don't come out, general GPU prices should drop and you'd be able to score some good deals at Black Friday, which is what I'm going to do :D
 
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