Roundup: Nine GeForce GTX 460 1 GB Boards Benchmarked

Efficiency, Price, And Performance Value

Our previous page showed that added performance generally requires added power, though the performance differences were far greater than power differences. Let’s see how the overclocked cards compare to the reference-clocked card by way of efficiency.

Overclocking improves efficiency by allowing much more “work” to be done at similar power levels. The most likely reason for Palit’s huge lead is a reliance on GPU voltage that’s similar to Nvidia’s reference design voltage.

Jetway drops out of the retail price chart for two reasons: First, its sample is non-retail. Second, even if Jetway had sent its retail KN460EW1GV-A, a lack of availability in the U.S. market would prevent us from assigning a Web price to the chart. We hope to see Jetway graphics products reach U.S. vendors in the near future.

Ignoring added-value items like extended warranties and in-box games gives us a simplified value chart above. Of course, that chart will be meaningless to overclockers, as GPU temperature is a better metric for judging how far they might be able to push these cards.

That is to say, we’re not willing to completely dismiss added value, especially when it comes to warranties and support. So, which card would we pick?

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • Tamz_msc
    Good article.
    Reply
  • TheStealthyOne
    I really am a fan of ASUS' DirectCu/TOP cards.

    I can't decide between the 460 and 5850 versions :P
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    I would have liked noise benchmarks.
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • falchard
    thestealthyoneI really am a fan of ASUS' DirectCu/TOP cards.I can't decide between the 460 and 5850 versionsThats a contemplative choice? Considering its not the 5830, the clear choice is the 5850.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • vixiv
    El_CapitanHonestly, you really can't go wrong with any of these cards.
    Basically.
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply