GTX 480 or GTX 460 1GB SLI?

[Eluros]

Greetings,

I have an x58 motherboard and an i7 920 processor. My PSU is a Corsair 750TX, and I have 6GB of RAM. I will be giving my GTX 285 to my wife, and will be purchasing a new GPU (or GPUs) for myself.

EDIT: My resolution is 1920x1200. My motherboard is an EVGA, so is fully SLI 16x compatible.

I would optimally prefer to maximize price/performance as much as possible. I've read through benchmarks and am still unsure of what my best option would be. There are pros and cons both ways, and I'm having a hard time boiling them down to either a correct answer or a, "If you choose X, you gain Y but lose Z" sort of thing. Anyone have any comments/suggestions/feedback? I appreciate your thoughts. I will be purchasing whatever cards I choose through EVGA for the lifetime warranties covering overclocking (which I moderately implement, although only on air and never anything particularly intense).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Grooveriding]

460 SLI is faster than a single 480, by about 20% or so, it's also cheaper. That said, if cost concern were taken out of the equation, I would choose a single 480. It has the advantage of being a single GPU, more memory, you'll get a smoother gameplay experience in my opinion.

You can overclock the 480 to 800 easily enough if you plan to overclock, it also affords you the ability to buy another 480 later when they get cheaper for SLI.

What resolution ? 1920x1200 ?

 

[Powermoloch]

If you can afford 2 460 GTX, why not start out with a single 480gtx and upgrade in the near future?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I would go with 2 460s. They're faster and cheaper, and even in SLI, they'll probably be cooler and quieter than a single 480.

 

[manimal]

After doing six or seven different generations of multi card setups back to the original SLI I always recommend a single card on anything other than 30 inch monitors or Eyefinity now. Minimum frame rates and smoothness is usually better on the single card. While 460s are quite fast the 480 will give better overall gameplay.

If you play lots of 3d mark and stare at your fraps readout more than you play then maybe the sli setup is better for you. If your like me, set vsync, set everything at max, and play the 480 may be better for you.

 

[dust]

I'd wait for a dual gpu solution, there are signs it might appear soon. If you must upgrade now, you can go either way, depending what you find more attractive, better performance for lower price with two 460, better noise/thermals but live with all the problems associated with SLI/CF or very good performance in case of the 480, but with the draw back of power/heat/noise without any micro-stuttering or scaling problems.

I for one, would go for the 460's in a heart beat, the 480 is a top range card, way overpriced right now.

 

[Mistwalker]

Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't the motherboard be a big consideration? Does it support SLI? Or are we assuming it does?

 

[thilanliyan]

^I think basically every x58 motherboard supports SLI.

 

[FalseChristian]

As long as your mobo vendor paid the obligatory $5 to nVidia it supports SLI.

 

[purefun1965]

480 cqn be found for same price as 2 460s. 2 460s use more power under load than 1 480. plus u lose your upgrade path with 2 460s. you can add another 480 later and if u already have a nvidia card you can pair it with 480 for physics and it will be better gaming with physics games like upcoming mafia2. make no sense to me to buy 2 460s. this is coming from a guy who is now on his 4th sli rig.

 

[BD231]

480 cqn be found for same price as 2 460s. 2 460s use more power under load than 1 480. plus u lose your upgrade path with 2 460s. you can add another 480 later and if u already have a nvidia card you can pair it with 480 for physics and it will be better gaming with physics games like upcoming mafia2. make no sense to me to buy 2 460s. this is coming from a guy who is now on his 4th sli rig.

Welcome to the forms.

I'm going to have to agree with this. If you're going all out you'd be better off with a 480, two 460's are going to suck up some serious power.

 

[Serradifalco]

I am in the process of upgrading from GTX260 sli to GTX460 sli. I game at 1080p and I don't think a GTX480 sli configuration would make that much sense for me now or a year from now. 2 - 480 cards would cost $800-$900 if you got a good deal on them!. I think it all depends on the resolution you are gaming at. People are getting great results with the GTX460 and the drivers are far from mature. With mature drivers, this will be the card to beat. I have had great results with SLI and will keep going this route in the future.

 

[Eluros]

Thanks so much for the feedback so far, everyone! I find it interesting that the poll results strongly indicate the 460 SLI path is better, while the actual posts seem to indicate that the 480 is the better solution.

I edited the initial post to indicate that I game at 1920x1200, and that my motherboard is an EVGA x58, and is fully SLI compatible for two cards at x16.

I will continue reading everyone's posts, and will let you all know what I decide.

 

[Keysplayr]

My vote is for GTX460 in SLI. At least for those willing to go the multi-gpu route.
A single GTX480 has beastly performance and a great card. I have two in SLI.
My best friend is building a new system right now, and thought about the GTX480 especially since prices are coming down. His new mobo is SLI capable, so I suggested he go with two GTX460s. They are quiter, use less power, about the same price as a single GTX480 and offer greater performance where SLI scales (most situations).
As I said, you can't get a better single GPU card than a 480 right now in terms of performance, but for the same money and about the same power consumption with 2 GTX460 1GB cards and more performance, I'd go with dual 460 1GB cards. For those not having an SLI capable board, I'd suggest single 470/480.

 

[Dark Shroud]

I'll throw my vote in with duel 460s. Enabling GPU PhysX on the second card for one of the few games that supports it shouldn't kill frame rates on an SLI rig the way it does on a single GPU card.

 

[A_Dying_Wren]

I've personally got double 460s and they do overclock rather well. 900/2130 is the max I've gotten from them at 1.087V at 1 hour furmark stability testing. I could go higher with a flashed bios but the sound is quite loud as it is.

Haven't got the chance to install any proper games yet though but the trade-off here really is prettier if (supposedly) more stuttery graphics for cheaper vs not so pretty but stable graphics

 

[sgrinavi]

As has been said; the single 480 will be less painful out of the box and will open up the door for 480 SLI in the future.

 

[nonameo]

Why not a 470?

 

[Mistwalker]

^I think basically every x58 motherboard supports SLI.

Ah, thank you for clarifying this. I actually have a P6T Deluxe I bought right at the x58/Nehalem launch, and was fairly certain it didn't support SLI (which is why I asked). After reading the posts here I double checked and found out it does!

On topic, how often do you find yourself upgrading? I think two 460s is the better price/performance target at the current time, the downside being you lose the ability to upgrade them easily later (like adding a second 480, though at that point the heat and power requirements get excessive anyway).

 

[faxon]

i would go with the 2 460s over a single 480. the setup will draw the same if not less power (480 has consistently been shown to overdraw its TDP), run cooler and quieter, and since you're running an EVGA x58 board you can still add a 3rd for 3x SLI or SLI + physX card if you wanted to. in current games at your resolution a single overclocked 460 would be enough to be enjoyable, and 2 would be awesome. the only reason i would get the 480 is if you know FOR A FACT that you would get a second one later. also, as you plan to do a "moderate overclock", most 460s have been shown to be easily capable of 850+ core clocks on stock voltage, which puts them within throwing distance of 5850 performance. some manufacturers are already releasing 800+MHz factory overclock versions (gigabyte and palit, though palit's cards are all defective). EVGA's SC 460 1GB comes with 763MHz core clock from 675 stock, and they have room for a super superclocked and FTW model as well. i wouldnt be surprised if some manufacturers release 900MHz clocked 460s to fill the price gap between the 460 and 480, since i doubt were going to see many more 470s and the 465 is completely pointless with the 460 performing better in every way.

 

[MrK6]

Two GTX 460's in SLI are going to use the same amount of power and put out the same amount of heat as one GTX 480. From what reviews have shown, the GTX 480's will probably be quieter. However, with two GTX 460's you'll have all the issues that come with multi-GPU setups (drivers, microstutter, etc.), which for me ruins the experience. I'd go for the GTX 480 out of those two choices or wait and see what AMD's 6000 series offers.

 

[Ben90]

I voted for the Single 480. But it honestly boils down to your needs.

There are tradeoffs both ways, But personally I cannot stand Alternate Frame Rendering which is why I prefer the Single Card. I am totally anal about framerate/gameplay advantages though which is why I'm still on a CRT running games from 2004 at 800x600 on a 4890.

The 460s however will be better performers at the cost of having near negligible input delay added to the equation, and possible micro-stuttering at times. I would imagine if you are not really that sensitive to latency/unpredictable FPS go 460. If those things do bother you then get a 480.

 

[RussianSensation]

GTX460 OCed to 850mhz = GTX470. GTX470 SLI will mop the floor over the GTX480: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce-gtx470-sli_6.html#sect1

I wouldn't buy a GTX480 in hopes of upgrading to a 2nd one, since you'd need a new PSU. Plus the GTX460s will be much quieter and cooler.

 

[FragKrag]

I would go with the SLI GTX 460 for better performance, less heat, and less power consumption. Your PSU really can't support 2x GTX 480, and I really wouldn't want to deal with heat that comes out of both the GTX 480s (if you ever wanted to upgrade). If you have a large case, and don't mind upgrading the PSU later, I suppose GTX 480 could make sense, but I don't see the need for SLI GTX 480 at 1920x1200.

 

[Eluros]

I wanted to update you all... I snagged 2 EVGA GTX 460s (1GB) from Newegg. I can't wait to check them out!