New Nvidia - Sub $200 card

[VirusType2]

GeForce GTX 460

Nvidia on Monday introduced a graphics card priced at US$199 that will bring high-end gaming and Blu-ray 3D movie playback to desktops.

The GeForce GTX 460 is Nvidia's most inexpensive desktop graphics card based on the company's Fermi architecture, which provides better multimedia performance than its predecessors. The card includes 336 processing cores and 768MB of graphics memory.

It is also Nvidia's cheapest graphics card to support DirectX 11, a set of tools to bring realistic images and sound when playing games or watching movies on Windows 7 PCs. The hardware will decode Blu-ray 3D movies for playback, provided PCs have the relevant drives.

The card will likely compete on price with Advanced Micro Devices' ATI Radeon HD 5830, which was priced under $250 on launch, but is now priced at $199 on retail sites like Newegg. The Radeon card, announced in February, is compatible with DirectX 11.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/200886/nvidia_introduces_sub200_directx_11_graphics_card.html

Cool, I'm actually considering buying ATi's new HD 5830. Now I get choices, and competition is always good for customers.

 

[Krynn72]

Too little too late for me. I got a 5850 awhile back after hearing that the 47/80s weren't really worth it. I would have liked Cuda and PhysX, and probably would have gotten this if it were released at the same time as the higher end versions.

 

[VirusType2]

An interesting Benchmark is out from the expreview forum about the Nvidia GTX 460, and it look pretty interesting cause the GTX 460 looks faster than the ATI HD 5830, lets recap the specifications of both cards.

A few early benchmarks (460 in purple):

http://www.guruht.com/2010/07/gtx-460-vs-hd-5830-benchmark-test.html

Oh wow, that looks pretty good. This mofo's gonna be sold the **** out.

I want to see some more sites benchmarking this.

 

[Ridge]

I bought my last 2 cards on sale at a local box retailer. Havent paid more than $125 for either. First it was a 9600, and now a 9800GT....

 

[OmegaX]

My 3-4 year old hardware still runs most things on High or medium. I still see no reason to upgrade quite yet.

 

[unozero]

my oced GTX260 is doing fine.
Unless a game like HL3 comes along I don't see the need to upgrade.

 

[Warped]

My 3-4 year old hardware still runs most things on High or medium. I still see no reason to upgrade quite yet.

same here, its cheaper right now to be happy with what I got. But if Uncle Sam gives me an extra $200 I'll be willing to part ways with the dough for a better card

 

[VirusType2]

I got a new 1080p monitor and I can play almost nothing anymore. I'm using an x1900xt, so this would be a sweet upgrade for me. I really don't want to spend much, but this might be a better option than a $100 250 gts (latest version of the 8800 GTX)

 

[Asus]

They disabled some CUDA specific stuff so it uses less watts than if it was a fully functional fermi card with double precision floating point etc (stripped the "CPU" out). It's a gaming card for sure which is good.

But it is a little late for most customers as they already have an ATI 5000 or are waiting for the fall refresh/new cards. Of course if you are buying now then it is a good thing. But the thing is the 5830 isn't the best price for it's performance (was a complaint when it came out). The 5850 performs a lot better or you can get a 5770 for a lot less. The GTX 460 better look good compared to the 5830 or it is a fail.

 

[VirusType2]

They disabled some CUDA specific stuff so it uses less watts than if it was a fully functional fermi card with double precision floating point etc (stripped the "CPU" out). It's a gaming card for sure which is good.

But it is a little late for most customers as they already have an ATI 5000 or are waiting for the fall refresh/new cards. Of course if you are buying now then it is a good thing. But the thing is the 5830 isn't the best price for it's performance (was a complaint when it came out). The 5850 performs a lot better or you can get a 5770 for a lot less. The GTX 460 better look good compared to the 5830 or it is a fail.

There's always new customers. It's not bringing anything new or breaking any new technology, it's a lesser card. However, it is a fairly good card for $225 (1GB) when it can play Metro 2033 at ~33 FPS in DX11 at 1080p. The 5850 is better, but it starts at $300. I am not paying that much for a graphics card (unless it is phenomenal). $200 is the sweet spot for the mainstream, I would guess. $300 is an enthusiast video card price.

BTW, welcome back Asus! I have been eager to hear your thoughts.

 

[Asus]

Oh yeah, there is nothing bad about the card. It's great right now and might be enough pressure for ATI to adjust it's position at $200 which has not happened at any price point yet.
It's just not exciting when looking at the cards position when zoomed out looking at what has been out for a year and what is to come.

 

[VirusType2]

Exactly. I definitely expect the 5830 to drop in price, and the 5850 could see a small drop in price as well. Great news, except that makes it harder for me to decide which card to get.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Remember PC exclusive games?

 

[OmegaX]

Remember PC exclusive games?

Yeah it sucks. The majority of games are console ports held back by console limitations. That's exactly why my 4 year old hardware can still max new games out.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

We get playable benchmarks still, like Crysis--which is now multi-platform. Awesam.

 

[15357]

My GTX260 actually seems to have better specs.

 

[VirusType2]

Yeah, it's similar, that's why the 460 is the same price or only about $20 more, despite just coming out. The 460 is DX11, though.

I'm not sure about better though. Maybe, depending on the application. But yeah, this wouldn't be a good upgrade for you.

 

[Sedako]

I pulled the trigger on the 1gb version, upgrading from a 4890 (is this guy crazy?).

My real motivation is that I wanted a card with dedicated HDMI out along with 2 DVI. I'm currently running an HDMI splitter to split the signal from my PC to my 24" monitor and 46" HDTV. This really screws with the video card's drivers and I have to unplug the splitter each time I want to switch to using the HDTV. I also have to have the monitor turned on for it to work correctly. This solution will make it work how I want, plus I can sell the 4890 and splitter and make my net loss quite low.

It's also quite a decent FPS upgrade, and some have reported that they've gotten the 460's overclocked to 5870 performance levels and beyond. Not sure how PhysX impacts performance on newer cards, but it will be nice to finally have the option.

 

[15357]

Yeah, it's similar, that's why the 460 is the same price or only about $20 more, despite just coming out. The 460 is DX11, though.

I'm not sure about better though. Maybe, depending on the application. But yeah, this wouldn't be a good upgrade for you.

I see. I dislike the numbering of today's hardware - back when all you had to do was just look at the numbers and you knew this was better or not, and etc. CPUs were even better: only thing that mattered was what clock it was set to.

I suppose I should wait a year or so before thinking about replacing my components.

 

[Sedako]

I see. I dislike the numbering of today's hardware - back when all you had to do was just look at the numbers and you knew this was better or not, and etc. CPUs were even better: only thing that mattered was what clock it was set to.

I suppose I should wait a year or so before thinking about replacing my components.

Yeah, the numbering system is confusing unless you research the cards on a regular basis. Consider that ATI will be introducing their 6XXX series at the end of this year. In a couple years, they will have to come up with a different scheme, because they already had a 9XXX series.

 

[VirusType2]

I pulled the trigger on the 1gb version, upgrading from a 4890 (is this guy crazy?).

Cool, so what games have you tried and how does it perform? What resolution do you run, AA, how are the drivers, stability/crashes?

Will be very useful information for me, thanks in advance.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I was strongly considering getting one of these cards however after much reading where many reviews said the card was quiet...that is very much so not the case. On load apparently the various coolers from all the manufacturers are pretty damn loud. Noticeably loud. On another forum I visit a ton of people have send their 460's back because of this problem.

Sound is a big issue for me, and about half the reason I want to upgrade from my noisy 8800GT (single slot card). Also I want something which idles a lot cooler as my GPU is increasing the ambient temperature of my case as I water cool my CPU.

Although the 460 is much more affordable with terrific specs and benchmarks alongside the 5850 and outdoing the 465...it's not quite there yet. I'll be interested to see Gigabytes dual fan cooler reviews when they get here. Otherwise...I'll wait for the next move from nvidia. The 460 has sparked some price adjustments from ATI which could shake up the current market.

 

[Sedako]

Cool, so what games have you tried and how does it perform? What resolution do you run, AA, how are the drivers, stability/crashes?

Will be very useful information for me, thanks in advance.

I'll let you know when I get it. Unfortunately, Tiger Direct just sent me an email saying they had to back-order it. It may be a while.

 

[VirusType2]

Oh that's right. I understood that you didn't have it yet from what you said, I guess I forgot when I had the idea to ask you and came back.

I look forward to hearing back from you about it.

 

[VirusType2]

Unfortunately, Tiger Direct just sent me an email saying they had to back-order it. It may be a while.

I am wondering if you could cancel and pick it up elsewhere.

I am considering waiting to see if they release a GTX 460X2! Two chips on one card. The thought occurred to me today and now I'm highly interested.

Discuss.

 

[Sedako]

I am wondering if you could cancel and pick it up elsewhere.

I am considering waiting to see if they release a GTX 460X2! Two chips on one card. The thought occurred to me today and now I'm highly interested.

Discuss.

Well, I did decide to cancel it. However, I decided to instead go with a PNY GTX 465. I just got it today, and it unlocked to a GTX470 with no issues. Yay for getting a $320 card for $200.

 

[VirusType2]

I'm waiting and waiting for a GTX 460x2 (basically a GTX 490?). I've got my money saved up and it's DAY 1 for me.

I wish I could get a confirmation whether they will make one or not. A lot of people are saying it would be the 470x2, which I think would be the dumbest thing nVidia ever did, unless they make the 460x2 as well.

I just don't like the chip they used in the 465, 470, or 480. I won't buy it. Obviously, it's very powerful but I am obsessed with power efficiency.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I'll be interested to see Gigabytes dual fan cooler reviews when they get here.

ZING! Me from last month being consistent, so the 460 price dropped for the Gigabyte version which got some great reviews. Picked it up in a sale (with no VAT by ordering through a family business eek!) for £150, which is pretty damn good considering.

Been eyeing up the GB version because of the dual fan cooler which is rated as the most quiet version. Anyone else here with 8800GTs can vouch that on load they are anything BUT quiet. Really looking forward to getting it this week, pics to come!

 

[unozero]

theirs even a $290 470 on newegg right Xmas can't come soon enough I guess.

 

[VirusType2]

ZING! Me from last month being consistent, so the 460 price dropped for the Gigabyte version which got some great reviews. Picked it up in a sale (with no VAT by ordering through a family business eek!) for £150, which is pretty damn good considering.

Been eyeing up the GB version because of the dual fan cooler which is rated as the most quiet version. Anyone else here with 8800GTs can vouch that on load they are anything BUT quiet. Really looking forward to getting it this week, pics to come!

Slightly quieter, but not as cool running as the MSI version. I think both version vent mostly into the case. But two fans on medium is always going to be quieter than one fan on high, so I'm not sure...

I have an Antec 900 which is really flowing case, so I think the MSI version (with the open face design/no shroud) might be a better choice for me, meaning I won't have to crank the fan up to max because of the way air moves in my case, it would also help cool the card.

It's a PWM fan on the MSI, which gives it great performance at low (and quiet) fan speeds. (more torque to throw the air around) And I'm not going to modify the voltage, so I won't need to run it at max fan speed.

So, I can't decide if I should get the MSI, the Gigabyte, or wait and see if they bring a GTX 460 1gb (x2) or GTX 460 768MB (x2). (Might be called a GTX 490 or 495).

On the one hand, the 460 1gb should be enough to play any game out there at reasonable frame-rate, and most of the games I'm interested in aren't all that intensive. And like others have said, most games these days are ports of console games, so a 460x2 would be overkill in most games, especially older ones. Also, the GTX460 is only about $230, compared to a 460Gx2, which I'll assume would launch for about $400-$460.

Yet, on the other hand, I've got a 1920x1080 monitor, and it would be nice to play almost any game at max settings. Another factor, in going for the x2 card, would be that it would be a perfect match for my i5-750, and hella cheaper than an ATi Radeon 5970 (which is only about 3% overkill for an i5-750). Also, I only have a single PCIe x16 slot. Last but not least, I won't have to upgrade the video card, as long as I keep this CPU/Motherboard, [if I go with a 460GX2].

Important - does anyone know if the x2 cards (with two GPUs on one card) have micro-stutter, like SLI and Crossfire do?


Grats on that, BTW Glenn. It would be interested in getting your thoughts on this.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Yeah well you obviously researched the 460 a lot, wow. Yeah I came across the issue with the Gigabyte version going to be venting mostly into case due to the cooler design. I proceeded despite that mainly due to the fact that I water cool my CPU and I have a large 120mm exhaust fan + 2 x 90mm fans pulling out air at the bottom and roof of my case recycling the air sitting in the case.

I believe the MSI version (which I did also consider) was marginally faster than the GB version however did turn out to be slightly louder on load (beyond 60% fan). I have a paranoia issue with GPU fans hence me pitching for the quieter dual cooler.

Also the cost of Gigabyte version was a lot less than the MSI, considering I grabbed it during a sale period.

From what I can remember the GB version idles around 27C or slightly more, in comparison to the 8800 series of cards which are notoriously or perhaps infamously hot. For example my 8800GT (which is single slot) idled at 74C new, even now after prolonged maintenance and new thermal compound my 8800GT idles at 78C and hits high 80s / low 90s on full load. Oh and it sounds like a ****ing blender.

I've always looked for the reasonably priced, high performance mid-range cards since the top end cards are just silly money, I think right now the 460 does that for me quietly with impressive temps.

I've heard nothing of a 460x2 in the works, have you any source for having faith in those versions or are you basing it on their logical progression? Based on the temps these things run at, it would seem a reasonable venture. I'd imagine the costs would price me out quite considerably

460 should be with me tomorrow (I think?), shall report back soon!

 

[VirusType2]

Yeah, I spent at least a few hours reading since they were launched. I don't deal with regret very well so I like to make sure I make the right choices. Reading a bit more, it turns out the MSI is louder than reference under load, though it is quieter at idle. So I may go with the Gigabyte after all. EDIT: Although, being the coolest running, you could simply lower the fan speed for the MSI under load - it should still be plenty cool enough.

I think you're going to be very happy with this card overall, compared to the 8800GT

No confirmation about the x2 card, just lots of insider "confirmations" and lots of speculation.

I had both of these cards in my shopping cart a couple of times. I watched the MSI cyclone 1GB sell out more than once while waiting for paychecks, or I may have already bought it. Apparently, MSI had some supply problems getting the 1GB version to retail in full quantity. Now lately, I have been busy with classic games and so my current card is holding up fine. So, I'm thinking I might take a wait and see approach to the GTX 460GX2.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Received and installed! No testing yet with any games but it is currently idling at 32C, in comparison to the 78C for my 8800GT. How is that for a difference? 460 is dual slot but amazingly is actually about an inch shorter than the 8800GT so fits in very comfortably.

Digital camera battery dead and didn't want to wait to unbox so I used my HTC Desire phone camera (5MP is alright!), picture rape ahoy!

 

[VirusType2]

idling at 32C, in comparison to the 78C for my 8800GT.

You've got to be kidding. They really idle that high? When Ravioli said his was 80C with a broken fan, I thought it was about 40C high.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Yeah I think all the 8800 series run hot, the GT slightly more so being single slot cooler. My fan wasn't broken either, believe me I checked...oh and you could hear it at anything past 50% which was a major gripe of mine.

So today I've been playing TF2 & GTAIV, everything maxed out. No issues at all, running perfectly silent at all temps, never exceeding 50C! This makes me VERY HAPPY. /heavy

Current build still hanging in there since 07 + a few upgrades

Q6600 @ 3.0ghz (watercooled)
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 PC2-8500C5
Gigabyte GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5
1TB Samsung spinpoint (2x500gb) 7200rpm
Asus Striker Extreme
Corsair HX620 PSU

 

[VirusType2]

Wow, GTA 4, everything maxed out? What resolution?

 

[bam23]

that thing looks like something you'd put on a car

 

[VirusType2]

Yeah, with those heat pipes looking like side exhaust or inter-cooler pipes.

Also, looks great in the kitchen on the granite counter-top. Unfortunately, it's too cool to be a waffle iron.