Reviews - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1,024MB and 768MB: Fermi done right

[Speed]

There's a bit of a difference in opinion in the nVidia and ATI camps right now - nVidia seem to have bet big on tessellation and ATI haven't (although the 5890 does a good job all things considered). Will the next ATI part have a different feature set? Probably. Effectively we're talking early next year for it to come and I'm sure ATI have been busy (although not really needed to push out anything new because nVidia's pricing has sucked) and they know nVidia will probably be a lot stronger with it's next cards too (performance/feature set/pricing/fab size). I think it's fair to say, as a general rule, that we get feature set jump followed by refresh and then rinse and repeat.

The better question is will games pour out that make massive use of DX11 and things like tessellation? Right now - no. And that's why the 480 isn't all that great (despite being the fastest single gpu and yes, ignoring it's desperate need for a shrink [just like my 280 was way back] to fix the heat/power). In six months? Dunno. And what will be out then and how much will it cost?

Whats this 5890 I'm hearing so much about?

[dangel]

Whats this 5890 I'm hearing so much about?

I didn't even need to open your system spec..

[j.o.s.h.1408]

There's a bit of a difference in opinion in the nVidia and ATI camps right now - nVidia seem to have bet big on tessellation and ATI haven't (although the 5790 does a good job all things considered). Will the next ATI part have a different feature set? Probably. Effectively we're talking early next year for it to come and I'm sure ATI have been busy (although not really needed to push out anything new because nVidia's pricing has sucked) and they know nVidia will probably be a lot stronger with it's next cards too (performance/feature set/pricing/fab size). I think it's fair to say, as a general rule, that we get feature set jump followed by refresh and then rinse and repeat.

The better question is will games pour out that make massive use of DX11 and things like tessellation? Right now - no. And that's why the 480 isn't all that great (despite being the fastest single gpu and yes, ignoring it's desperate need for a shrink [just like my 280 was way back] to fix the heat/power). In six months? Dunno. And what will be out then and how much will it cost?

ATI cards dont have physiX and if you like mafia 1 and very excited about mafia 2, then NV is the way to go

[dangel]

ATI cards dont have physiX and if you like mafia 1 and very excited about mafia 2, then NV is the way to go

PhysX doesn't move me [no pun] (as a buyer) - and as a developer it just looks like a poor lock-in implementation that's doomed to failure because of said. This has been done to death but effectively it's a dead technology the moment MS push directx-physics or an open standard is established because it rules ATI (and any one else) out of the picture. I buy graphics cards for graphics. There is no game (in so far as i'm ware) that's AAA that relies on physx for it's central mechanics and plenty that use simple cpu-based physics that easily work well enough for what's actually required.

And for the record I hated Mafia 1

One point I'd like to reinforce: I do not live in either camp - I'm a gamer, not a follower of any particular corporation. I absolutely abhor such behavior..

[j.o.s.h.1408]

i just want a card capable of destroying arma 2 oa and 480gtx looks like its the one to do so

[Speed]

I didn't even need to open your system spec..

But you did anyways!

[dangel]

But you did anyways!

Internet Guru Awards You 100 Internetz Pointz!!!

Just messin - but seriously if (other than correcting my typos) you've got something to add to the discussion then please do I don't pretend to have worked out my own choice on which card to go for next, only that right now i'm not in great need of one!

[Syllopsium]

That's really not too bad - better than I expected. Still won't be buying due to Nvidia's ridiculous PhysX lockout, but at least it'll provide some pressure on ATI to reduce prices..

[danroyle]

out of interest as the 460 is just about on a par with the gtx 465, Does that mean the card to buy for those wanting a 1gb card now the gainward gtx465 that scan have in this weeks scanshot for £193 with just cause 2, Not interested myself but thats a couple of pound more or is there something else i am missing.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Raw performance numbers aside, there were some differences in the character of gameplay that I would like to address here. None of this is uncommon with SLI (or even CrossFireX), but I think it is worth repeating. Though the GTX 460 SLI setup gave us higher framerates across the board than the GTX 480, the GTX 480 in some places we experienced a more fluid gameplay quality. With SLI, there is a certain amount of overhead involved in managing the two video cards, dividing workload, and copying data between them. At the worst of times, this can result in diminished potential. It was most noticeable in Singularity, wherein there was noticeable input lag with the GTX 460 SLI setup. It wasn’t particularly severe, and it did not render that configuration unplayable, but it was there and you could "feel" it. Of course, Singularity had another performance anomaly as shown in our graph above, so it could be related. Metro 2033 and BFBC2 were affected somewhat as well, but it was less severe. Framerates are not the end all be all to performance when playing with SLI and CrossFireX, you truly have to pay attention to fluidity, responsiveness and consistency of the game as you play.

Nail on the head on why its best to go with a 480gtx

[Tarinder]

Nail on the head on why its best to go with a 480gtx

We've played through games with both the GTX 480 and GTX 460 SLI and the 'smoothness' factor doesn't come into play. Take a look at the minimum framerates and you will see that the SLI combination does better.

NVIDIA's SLI is mature enough to offer you a decent games-playing experience, we feel, and it's going a little far to say that it's sub-optimal.

[Speed]

Hi,

We were advised by EVGA that the product ships with a two-year warranty that can be extended to three years upon registration. The product's code, ET, doesn't fit in with any listed on the warranty page, so we have sought further clarification from EVGA just now. We will update you accordingly.

Edit: 16:55. We've been advised by EVGA that the GTX 460s will ship with a three-year warranty as standard.

Not quite sure what is going on here and if you have been provided with duff info. Maybe the new warranty info has just not filtered down?

Scan confirm that it is a 2 year warranty and I e-mailed EVGA EU support, they also stated 2 years.

[miniyazz]

We've played through games with both the GTX 480 and GTX 460 SLI and the 'smoothness' factor doesn't come into play. Take a look at the minimum framerates and you will see that the SLI combination does better.

NVIDIA's SLI is mature enough to offer you a decent games-playing experience, we feel, and it's going a little far to say that it's sub-optimal.

Well the minimum framerate doesn't tell the whole story. As I'm sure you're aware (and I think I've got this right but I'm no expert so feel free to correct), one of the issues with multi-GPU setups lies with the GPUs rendering alternate frames. At 40fps with a single GPU, each frame is generated at approximately 0.025s intervals. However, with two GPUs, optimally you'd have 80fps - each frame from each card at 0.025s intervals with 0.0125s separation. But in a worst-case scenario, you could have the first frame at 0.0125s and the next at 0.0126s, the next at 0.0375s and the next at 0.0376s, etc - depending on the characteristics of the frames being rendered, I presume. This would give a minimum frame rate of 80fps, but an effective frame rate of ~40fps, which is what you'd actually perceive.