NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 460: The $200 King
by Ryan Smith on July 11, 2010 11:54 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- GeForce GTX 400
- GeForce GTX 460
- NVIDIA
The Test
For our test we are using NVIDIA’s latest 256-series drivers, currently at version 258.80. As far as performance goes these drivers are virtually identical to earlier 256-series drivers on the GTX 400 series, so performance has not significantly changed since the launch of the drivers alongside the GTX 465. As the 256-series drivers did improve performance across a number of games for the GTX 480 and GTX 470, numbers have been updated where applicable.
As for our Radeon cards, we are continuing to use the 10.3a drivers. Radeon 5000 series performance has not changed for the games in our suite since those drivers were released.
Included in our test results are our vendor cards from Asus, Zotac, and EVGA. You can read the full review for those cards in Part 2 of our launch coverage.
For testing the GTX 460 in SLI, we used our 1GB reference card in SLI with Zotac’s 1GB card. This is suitable for performance but not for noise testing. Testing the reference 768MB GTX 460 in SLI was not possible due to the lack of a suitable matching card; however we do have the EVGA GTX 460 768MB SuperClock in SLI.
| CPU: | Intel Core i7-920 @ 3.33GHz |
| Motherboard: | Intel DX58SO (Intel X58) |
| Chipset Drivers: | Intel 9.1.1.1015 (Intel) |
| Hard Disk: | OCZ Summit (120GB) |
| Memory: | Patriot Viper DDR3-1333 3 x 2GB (7-7-7-20) |
| Video Cards: |
AMD Radeon HD 5970 AMD Radeon HD 5870 AMD Radeon HD 5850 AMD Radeon HD 5830 AMD Radeon HD 5770 AMD Radeon HD 5750 AMD Radeon HD 4890 AMD Radeon HD 4870 1GB AMD Radeon HD 4850 AMD Radeon HD 3870 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB Zotac GeForce GTX 460 1GB Asus ENGTX460 768MB EVGA GeForce GTX 460 768MB SuperClocked |
| Video Drivers: |
NVIDIA ForceWare 197.13 NVIDIA ForceWare 257.15 Beta NVIDIA ForceWare 258.80 Beta AMD Catalyst 10.3a |
| OS: | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
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jfelano - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
I've already seen 5830's at $170 after rebate. So there goes that short lived Nvidia advantage.itsmekirill - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
IMO the most important story here is not that it beats the HD 5830 or GTX 465, but that the SLI configuration is trading blows with 5870 CF and 5970.For ~450 dollars you can get comparable if not superior performance to an $800 CF setup or a $650 dollar 5970.
tcnasc - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
Yes, that's what got me too!My 5870 feels so expensive right now
Should I sell it and buy 2 GTX 460?
fausto412 - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
i didn't miss that...i got my 5870 3 weeks ago and i was like "wtf...this is a 200 dolalr card, it shouldn't do that well!"VIDYA - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
good review but a bit partial towards the new born child(gtx 460, cant hold that kind of joy).......its pretty much still oranges and apples .....both are good and differ at a few games. Nvidia shouldn't have sold 480, 470, 465 and instead should be waiting back to mature the chip into 104gf.....think about the owners of gf100 chip reading this and cursing themselves for not holding back for a month. But all said and done from both sides, we all know that Nvidia is still no:1 when it comes to drivers and software support updates.SongEmu - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
The quality and depth of these articles is exactly why I keep Anandtech bookmarked.Also, it's good to see nVidia with its headon straight. I was afraid I'd have to give up CUDA and all those other goodies on my next upgrade, because there was no way in GF100-hell I was going to buy a GTX470 toaster.
sparkuss - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
I thought I looked at all the charts and I also didn't see any mention in the conclusion of 5850 CF vs the 460 1GB. Then again I'm old and senile so I have that going for me!I know the price differences but I would still like to see the comparison, especially if this could actually cause AMD to lower 5850 prices.
7Enigma - Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - link
Agreed. That would probably be the most common CF setup and certainly the most applicable from a cost-comparison standpoint. Sure it would be $600 vs. $400 but why have the 5870 CF which is even more crazy at $800 vs. $400?rocky12345 - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
I read the review & it was pretty good & well written. It is good to see Nvidia get their act together somewhat. I am not a Nvidia fan any more lost faith in them when they started rebranding the 8800 series over & over again & I switched to ATI after that. I still have a 9800GT 1GB in one of my systems which I rebadged myself from a 8800GT 1GB & clocked it at 755Mhz core & 2200mhz memory it is fast enough for my secondary system for when friends come over to game.This new chip from nvidia makes a lot more sense than what they released a few months ago. Would I own on hell no. I already have enough money tied up in video cards in my main system as I own 2 4870x2 2GB cards highly over clocked crossfired until ATI comes out with a single card that can beat my 2 beasts in quad GPU I am fine with what I have.
Belard - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
Right on, the GTX 460-768 should be a 455, its so NOT the same card.For the most part... why is idiot-Nvidia even bothering with the "GTX" part since their model numbers don't collide? ie: there won't be a GTX 460 and a GTS 460 or a GT 460... well, maybe... who knows.
The two 460's is designed EXACTLY to do what its going to do. People will buy the cheaper junk card and not get the performance they should get if they only spent $30 more.
Considering the age of the ATI 5000 series... it really should be EASY for ATI to reduce the prices of the line a bit.
The 5850 should be a $200 card by now. 5830 at $150, 5770 at $125... perhaps soon. 6000s come out just before Christmas?