Roundup: Nine GeForce GTX 460 1 GB Boards Benchmarked

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Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat benchmark shows us that the GeForce GTX 460 is perfectly adequate of playing at maximum settings all the way through 1920x1080, as our own examination of minimum frame rates (not shown) proves that even the slowest card stays above 20 FPS in the most difficult “SunShafts” test.

Palit’s GeForce GTX 460 beats the reference card by 16%.

Results aren’t so pretty at 2560x1600, but if you can afford the big monitor, you can probably afford a second card for SLI.

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Summary
  1. Shuffling Through The Cards
  2. Asus ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5
  3. ECS Black Series GTX 460 NBGTX460-1GPI-F
  4. EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 1024 MB EE (External Exhaust)
  5. Gigabyte GTX 460 GV-N460OC-1GI
  6. Jetway's Exibition Card
  7. MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GD5/OC
  8. Palit GTX 460 Sonic Platinum Overclocking Edition
  9. Sparkle GeForce GTX 460 1024 MB GDDR5
  10. Zotac GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
  11. Test Settings
  12. Benchmark Results: 3DMark Vantage
  13. Benchmark Results: Alien Vs. Predator
  14. Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  15. Benchmark Results: Crysis
  16. Benchmark Results: DiRT 2
  17. Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
  18. Average Performance, Power, And Heat
  19. Efficiency, Price, And Performance Value
  20. Conclusion
About the author
Thomas Soderstrom

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.

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  • Tamz_msc
    I would have liked noise benchmarks.
  • El_Capitan
    This review is trying to tell us what? Higher overclocked cards give better performance? Duh?

    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.

    I read CPU magazine's article comparing the GTX 460's, and same conclusion. Palit is the fastest, but MSI's is the quietest and coolest.

    I've been looking into getting a pair for SLI. Those that don't have extra space between their PCI Express 2.0 slots should go for the EVGA Superclocked because of the external exhaust. Those that do have space like me and prefer low noise would be better off the MSI's. Performance-wise, they're all great overclockers (every card in this review can overclock higher than Palit's factory overclock). Honestly, you really can't go wrong with any of these cards.
    • Other Comments
  • Tamz_msc
    Good article.
  • TheStealthyOne
    I really am a fan of ASUS' DirectCu/TOP cards.

    I can't decide between the 460 and 5850 versions :P
  • Tamz_msc
    I would have liked noise benchmarks.
  • beans4you
    just installed two gigabyte 460 cards in my brothers new setup, they are pretty nice! can't hear them even with the 2 fans on each and they run around 25/29 C idle, this is as far as I've gotten with tests :p
  • falchard
    thestealthyoneI really am a fan of ASUS' DirectCu/TOP cards.I can't decide between the 460 and 5850 versions

    Thats a contemplative choice? Considering its not the 5830, the clear choice is the 5850.
  • Lmeow
    Wow. Jetway's 33 % overclock is nSane... especially on what seems to be nVidia's reference cooler.

    I wonder how many cards can reach that 900 MHz with acceptable noise and voltage levels.
  • El_Capitan
    This review is trying to tell us what? Higher overclocked cards give better performance? Duh?

    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.

    I read CPU magazine's article comparing the GTX 460's, and same conclusion. Palit is the fastest, but MSI's is the quietest and coolest.

    I've been looking into getting a pair for SLI. Those that don't have extra space between their PCI Express 2.0 slots should go for the EVGA Superclocked because of the external exhaust. Those that do have space like me and prefer low noise would be better off the MSI's. Performance-wise, they're all great overclockers (every card in this review can overclock higher than Palit's factory overclock). Honestly, you really can't go wrong with any of these cards.
  • vixiv
    El_CapitanHonestly, you really can't go wrong with any of these cards.


    Basically.
  • void
    I have one gigabyte card and very happy with it. Almost complete silent at idle. and not much noise at 100% fan speed. 50% fan speed is enough to keep it around 60c in games
  • amgsoft
    If you are going to use the cards in PC in your home, the less noisy and the coolest is often the best choice.
  • IzzyCraft
    Quote:
    MSI has become famous for its Afterburner software, but the core voltage adjustment doesn’t work with this particular card


    I'm fairly sure that one does support overvoltage but you have to check "unlock voltage control" and "unlock voltage monitoring" then restart the program, only reason i note this is that only a few 460's support any kind of voltage control, not that it needs it for an impressive overclock.

    It's in the change log afterall
    Quote:
    Afterburner 1.6.1 (2010-07-07)
    Added NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 series and MSI N460GTX Cyclone series graphics cards support (including voltag control!)

    http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm
    also lol voltage is typoed lol

    supposedly msi has a 460 fully custom in the works that will support even memory voltage tweaking
    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?s=6c27407b258f5c35bbf16f63d6405c79&t=326936
  • Onyx2291
    Ah, I'll be using this as reference in the future. Sometimes it's hard deciding between companies haha.
  • Mark Heath
    Nice article.
    Quote:
    Shuffling Through The Cards

    Nice (sub)title :p
  • LordConrad
    I like my "Galaxy GTX 460 Super OC". Factory clocked at 810 MHz GPU, 4000MHz GDDR5. Out of the box it's faster than Palit's Sonic Platinum.
  • nevertell
    I'd still go for the MSI, since I've read that that cooler is the most silent of them all. And it's temps' are the best of all, so more OC'ing potential. Too bad you didn't include "sound" tests, I'd like to see how loud/silent other coolers get under load.
  • Emperus
    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..
  • anthonys17
    MSI/Asus, the hell. .it's still a 460! nice article :)
  • wishmaster12
    I had a nvidia card once, i traded it for a ati card because the nvidia card was giving me headaches. seriously
  • Crashman
    anthonys17MSI/Asus, the hell. .it's still a 460! nice article
    Yes, MSI and Asus are about equal. MSI starts out cooler but has less maximum-speed cooling, Asus starts out warmer but the fan has more room to speed up. They're about the same noise level until you speed things up, in which case MSI tops out before Asus.
  • MechaNintendoMaster
    I like the MSi one.....
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