Nvidia GeForce GTX 460: The Fermi We Were Waiting For
Power Consumption And Temperature
At idle, all of these cards do fairly well. The only outliers are the two GF100-based boards, which use about 10W more than competing GF104- and Cypress/Juniper-based cards.
Under load, however, it’s painfully obvious that the highest consumers of power are GF100-derived boards. AMD’s Radeon HD 5830 interestingly comes in third, followed by Nvidia’s first GF104-based card, the GeForce GTX 460 1 GB. The 768 MB version of the card uses 18W less under load. And of course, AMD’s Juniper-based Radeon HD 5770 is quite power-friendly.
Not surprisingly, there’s a relationship between power consumption and maximum temperature. Somewhere in there, also, is a maximum tolerable fan speed that each company can use to keep temps down.
The really surprising thing here is that, even though the GF104-based cards aren’t the lowest-power in our review, they operate at the coolest temperatures and do so using remarkably-quiet fans. In fact, there wasn’t much difference between the acoustics at idle and under load. AMD’s Radeon HD 5770 is comparable in that way; however, its load temp is notably higher.
Compare the GF104-based cards to the GF100-based boards—the difference is fairly staggering.
Current page: Power Consumption And Temperature
Prev Page Benchmark Results: Just Cause 2 (DX11) Next Page ConclusionStay on the Cutting Edge
Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.
-
Tamz_msc At last, Nvidia has impressed me(to a certain extent).But where's power consumption in SLI?Reply -
thedreadfather Tamz_mscAt last, Nvidia has impressed me(to a certain extent).But where's power consumption in SLI?Did you even read the whole article?Reply
Page 5 "Sneak Peek at SLI"
"Again, this is just a teaser. We’ll be following up with a full exploration of these cards in SLI, comparing them to a GeForce GTX 480."
Great review as always, Chris. -
cangelini thedreadfatherDid you even read the whole article? Page 5 "Sneak Peek at SLI" "Again, this is just a teaser. We’ll be following up with a full exploration of these cards in SLI, comparing them to a GeForce GTX 480."Great review as always, Chris.Reply
Much thanks, sir! -
guid_aaa000001 I have never waited for this... It's not "we", it must be "some people".Reply
Note: That is if you consider "me" in that "we". -
cangelini guid_aaa000001I have never waited for this... It's not "we", it must be "some people".Note: That is if you consider "me" in that "we".Reply
We, as in Tom's Hardware ;-) -
lashton the 5830 i think is a better card, hell you can get a 5770 super-clock it and thats the same speed as a GTX460 for a fraction of the price!Reply -
Tamz_msc thedreadfatherDid you even read the whole article? Page 5 "Sneak Peek at SLI" "Again, this is just a teaser. We’ll be following up with a full exploration of these cards in SLI, comparing them to a GeForce GTX 480."Great review as always, Chris.Might have overlooked that line, but I'm wondering how the 460 would perform when overclocked.Reply
Most Popular
By Matt Safford
By Ross Rubin
By Matt Safford
By Mark Tyson