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Today marks the release of the fourth member of the GeForce GTX 400 series, as Nvidia takes the covers off their new mid-range contender the GeForce GTX 460. Based on the previously released GeForce GTX 400 graphics card, this new version sheds a lot of weight, cutting down on power consumption and thermal output without sacrificing too much performance...
Nvidia finally released their latest generation GPU series codenamed Fermi, which was based on the GF100 architecture, on 26 March 2010. The arrival of the GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 graphics cards marked the return of the empire, and while this release saw them take back the performance crown, there were a few casualties. First and foremost the GeForce GTX 480 is expensive, around $100 more than the Radeon HD 5870 which was more than half a year old by the time the Fermi graphics cards arrived. The GeForce GTX 480 also turned out to be a hot and hungry graphics card, sucking down up to 100 watts more power at idle and under full load, while it can operate at around 100 degrees.
 Therefore the GeForce GTX 480 really is a power house, consuming and delivering the highest numbers on all fronts. Given the wait, the anticipation and the eventual price of the GeForce GTX 480, it is fair to say everyone was expecting more than what they got. However recent driver updates have improved performance, cementing its victory over the Radeon HD 5870. Even the GeForce GTX 470 is starting to pick up the slack, though it still suffers from many of the same issues that its bigger brother the GTX 480 faces. With the GeForce GTX 480 priced at $500 and the GTX 470 around $350, there was a massive pricing gap in the Nvidia DirectX 11 lineup that desperately needed to be filled. Therefore two months after the initial launch, Nvidia released the GeForce GTX 465 with a price tag of $280, under cutting the Radeon HD 5850 by around $20. The problem with the GeForce GTX 465 when compared to the Radeon HD 5850 is that it’s much louder and much more power hungry, not to mention slower. Therefore, while gamers stand to save $20, they lose out in pretty much every other category. So then although the GTX 465 helps to fill out the lower end of the pricing spectrum, it does do a pretty poor job of it. What Nvidia desperately needs is a new GeForce GTX 400 series graphics card that can provide gamers with a serious bang for their buck, something they simply cannot refuse. Such a product might now exist, as we unveil the GeForce GTX 460, which is based on the new GF104 architecture. Unlike the GeForce GTX 465 which was just a cut down version of the existing GF100 products and as a result inherited all their weaknesses, the GeForce GTX 460 is a completely new animal. This means the GeForce GTX 460 might not be the power hungry, hot graphics card that we have come to expect of GeForce GTX 400 series. In fact, with a TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating of just 160 watts for the 1GB version, we are willing to bet that it is not, as this makes the GeForce GTX 460 more power conscious than the Radeon HD 5830 should it be true. Before we jump into the benchmark results, here are two new GeForce GTX 460 graphics cards from Inno3D and Palit. |
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Finder |
Posted on: 07/12/2010 03:15 AM
I read the first few pages and then jumped to the overclocking results ... all I can say is OMG those things rock. |
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Russo |
Posted on: 07/12/2010 04:25 AM
Its a joke that they ever released the GeForce GTX 465, seriously Nvidia's naming scheme is BS! |
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Horribleron Posts: 13 Joined: 2010-03-26 |
Posted on: 07/12/2010 04:57 AM
Nice to see the green guys get it right. I suspect that the GTX 465 will be short lived now. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire GF100 based line disappears and is replaced with a dual GF104 based card. I was thinking of getting a 5850 soon but the 1GB GTX460 has my eye now. |
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Zergling |
Posted on: 07/12/2010 09:46 AM
Awesome review well done, one of the best I have read so far! |
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Horribleron Posts: 13 Joined: 2010-03-26 |
Posted on: 07/13/2010 03:15 AM
Another thing..these GF104 products being released now only have 336 of 384 cores enabled. I think we can expect to see a card with all 384 cores turned on in the future. In further reading today I could be wrong in saying the GF100 will disappear but you may only see it in the GTX480 and NVidia's high end workstation products as the GF100 has additional features catering to computing. They stripped the GF104 of features not needed for gaming and made a lean and mean pure graphics card. Due to the GF104's superior clock speeds a 384 core model could likely match the GF100 based GTX470 so I suspect the GTX470 and GTX465 will disappear soon. I think I'm going to hold out and see what the 384 core (GTX475?) card can do. |
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ProX |
Posted on: 07/14/2010 09:53 AM
@ Horribleron - I agree, it will be interesting to see when and if Nvidia will release a new version of the 480 also. I am also keen to see what ATI do as well. |
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Chootia |
Posted on: 07/21/2010 10:09 PM
Wow I just checked out the results and damn those things are fast. When I saw the name GTX 460 Im thought meh, but then I saw the results, very strange. |
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Horribleron Posts: 13 Joined: 2010-03-26 |
Posted on: 07/28/2010 04:15 AM
Read a article today on Fudzilla that confirms that a 384 core version is on the way once they run out of GTX470 models to sell. Likely name is the GTX475. Should be a spankin fast card. But will NVidia be around to support it long? Apple gave them the boot today with all of the new Apple systems and went with ATI. That's a HUGH loss of business. |