Gtx 460 reviews thread

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I thought there would be more excitement after reading anandtech's review? Me personally I'm still okay with the fact I paid $330 after rebates for my evga gtx 470 sc last week. The 470 will come down a little I'm sure after seeing how the msrp dropped and the 460 is a little beast. Looks like my 470 still packs a punch and went toe to toe with a 5870 according to anandtech's charts. I'm not sure how the 5870 or 5850 can compete at these price points. For $330 you can get a gtx 470 that trades blows with a 5870 which are going for $400+ and the gtx 460 for $230 while the 5850 goes for around $300. In both cases you can get similar performance from the nvidia cards for almost $100 less plus you get 3d, physx, and nvidia's kick ass drivers. Even at $250 I still don't know if I would get a 5850 over a $230 gtx 460. At $300 the 5850 shouldn't sell one more card. Nvidia just dropped the hammer and I know Ati's big wigs have lost some sleep over this one.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I thought there would be more excitement after reading anandtech's review? Me personally I'm still okay with the fact I paid $330 after rebates for my evga gtx 470 sc last week. The 470 will come down a little I'm sure after seeing how the msrp dropped and the 460 is a little beast. Looks like my 470 still packs a punch and went toe to toe with a 5870 according to anandtech's charts. I'm not sure how the 5870 or 5850 can compete at these price points. For $330 you can get a gtx 470 that trades blows with a 5870 which are going for $400+ and the gtx 460 for $230 while the 5850 goes for around $300. In both cases you can get similar performance from the nvidia cards for almost $100 less plus you get 3d, physx, and nvidia's kick ass drivers. Even at $250 I still don't know if I would get a 5850 over a $230 gtx 460. At $300 the 5850 shouldn't sell one more card. Nvidia just dropped the hammer and I know Ati's big wigs have lost some sleep over this one.

You hit the nail on the head. It's hard to recommend the 5850 which is maybe 5% faster than the 460 1GB, while being $70.00 more. AMD will have to drop the price on the 5850 to about $249.99 to make anyone even consider it.

I can already see many people rushing to get a 460 1GB SLI setup for 440.00 that comes close to a 5870 CrossFire setup which costs $780.00

 

[Borealis7]

exactly.
in Anand's review, the 460 LSI gets ~5970 performance for 440$ but takes more power.

i think this card would be better SLIed than standalone. spend a little extra and get 5850.

 

[pmv]

Good news - we have competition again!

Bad news - I'm now completely confused as to what way to go.


The only thing I'm now sure of is to avoid the Zotac card, as I'm not deaf.

 

[Grooveriding]

It's a given the 5850 and the 5870 should be getting price drops in short order with this release. Looks like NV pulled off another 8800GT here.

What looks rough for ATI here is the SLI performance of two of these cards. On it's own, once ATI drops prices accordingly, the 460 is not much of a threat. I can't see how ATI will contend with the SLI performance of two of these cards though.

460 1GB SLI is nipping right on the heels of 5870 crossfire, for $450 vs $800 for the 5870 setup. Ouch. Not to mention it matches 5970 for $250 less.

This is the first card NV has released that is actually compelling and worth getting for a single card config, but really amplifies how all the Fermi cards are worthwhile in an SLI config.

 

[Imp]

The 460 is the only one that's got my attention. Unfortunately, I got a 5770 already, but wouldn't mind going back to "green". Could pawn it off to someone for $100-ish.

Power consumption is the main concern for me though. I don't give a shit about the cost, but under load, it uses 50-ish W more than the 5850 (IIRC).

 

[exar333]

Impressive card for a good price. The 5850 MSRP should drop back to $250.00 now (what it was at launch!).

 

[Lonyo]

I thought there would be more excitement after reading anandtech's review? Me personally I'm still okay with the fact I paid $330 after rebates for my evga gtx 470 sc last week. The 470 will come down a little I'm sure after seeing how the msrp dropped and the 460 is a little beast. Looks like my 470 still packs a punch and went toe to toe with a 5870 according to anandtech's charts. I'm not sure how the 5870 or 5850 can compete at these price points. For $330 you can get a gtx 470 that trades blows with a 5870 which are going for $400+ and the gtx 460 for $230 while the 5850 goes for around $300. In both cases you can get similar performance from the nvidia cards for almost $100 less plus you get 3d, physx, and nvidia's kick ass drivers. Even at $250 I still don't know if I would get a 5850 over a $230 gtx 460. At $300 the 5850 shouldn't sell one more card. Nvidia just dropped the hammer and I know Ati's big wigs have lost some sleep over this one.

Wooo! NV launched a card that now puts the market about where it should have been 9 or 10 months ago! YAY!
The true excitement might come if a price war ensues and we get nice performance at very nice prices.

 

[Seero]

Just when people think ATI's cards are cheap and the high price was due to supply, here comes the 460. The price for those 5xxx should have dropped long ago when 480 arrives.

Now those who got a 5850 at around 300 bucks will return there cards asap because a) 460 is competitive at round 70% of the price, and b) 5850 is going to drop in price to stay competitive.

Here is the thing, 460 sli is close to 480 or 5970 in terms of performance, but cheaper.

power consumption - idle
260 SLI 172
5970 180
480 190

power consumption with Furmark
5970 465
480 479
260 SLI 512

Price
5970 700
480 500
260 200-230, SLI means 400-460

Anandtech article

I don't think 460 will get a lot cheaper as it is only 200 bucks, so even if Nvidia come up with 485/495 which beats 460SLI, it won't be a bad purchase.

 

[Voo]

Wooo! NV launched a card that now puts the market about where it should have been 9 or 10 months ago! YAY!
The true excitement might come if a price war ensues and we get nice performance at very nice prices.

Yeah the most important thing when buying a card NOW is obviously which cards were available 9 months ago - great logic there..

Based on the AT benchmarks: GTX460 w/ 1gb vs. 5850; 1920x1200 res (imho the target market for those cards)
Crysis: 5.33% (but 3.43% worse minimum frame rates)
Battleforge DX11: 15.65%
HAWX: -10.31%
Left4Dead: 17.93%
BC2: 17.67% (chase) / -7.52% (Waterfall) - mean: 4.32%
Stalker: 14.52%
Dirt2: 0.16%
ME2: 7.20%
Wolfenstein: 12.60%

I.e. the 5850 is on average 7.14% faster than the 460, with other measurements like temperature, power draw and noise being rather equal.
No the card is much better than I'd have anticipated -the 768mb version looks interesting, but I'm not too sure how long that memory will be enough.

It's clear that the 5830 is unfeasible at current price points, but I'm much more interested in what happens to the 5850. 30% more cost for ~7% more performance isn't that great either.

 

[MrK6]

The performance isn’t that great based on the specs, but the thermals and noise levels are quite good for the performance. I hope the make a GTX485 from this, and use the same cooler design too. That blower is simply terrible, as Zotac’s version shows.

My sentiments too, although how much better could it be before they started cannibalizing GF100 sales? I like the size of the card though, very good for some of the smaller HTPC cases. What I would like to see now is a GTX 460 @ 900MHz against a GTX470 @ 800MHz (typical high range overclocks for both cards I feel).

 

[bryanW1995]

The exact opposite in Canada. I'm in Southern Ontario and I can't find any nV cards on the shelves aside from the odd 260. ATi seems to completely dominate retail in my area.

don't know if this is typical, but I would assume that their canadian heritage would carry some weight up there.

I feel sorry for the saps that bought a gtx465.

+1

this card looks like it is what the consumer version of gf100 SHOULD HAVE been. If they build on this for their southern islands fighter in the fall then I think that amd will be hard-pressed to keep up.

 

[tokie]

Not that impressed with the 460, or any of the cards of this generation for that matter. I suppose the blame lies with the lack of new game engines, meaning even my lowly Radeon 4830 can play the games I want to play at 1080p. Maybe 28nm will provide sufficiently quiet/cool operation with a large performance bump, which would entice me to buy.

Count me as sitting this round out.

 

[tviceman]

My sentiments too, although how much better could it be before they started cannibalizing GF100 sales? I like the size of the card though, very good for some of the smaller HTPC cases. What I would like to see now is a GTX 460 @ 900MHz against a GTX470 @ 800MHz (typical high range overclocks for both cards I feel).

Once nvidia can clear stock of existing gtx465's (which need big price drops) and gtx470's, we'll get a fully unlocked GF104 (384 shaders) at higher standard clock speeds than the current 336 shader version, a la gtx475. Hopefully sooner than later.

 

[bryanW1995]

just read hardware canucks review, those guys typically seem to do a good job of being impartial and have quality reviews. gtx 460 got "dam good" and "dam good value" awards, 'nuff said!

 

[DaveSimmons]

Finally, a good Fermi card -- good performance, good heat/noise/power characteristics, and a good price. (Except the Zotac 1 GB with its lousy fan.)

I'd definitely pick a 460 over a 5830 or 5770, and ATI needs to drop the 5850 price fast to make it competitive again.

 

[Hauk]

Imagine this thing getting to market six or more months ago. All that time spent getting GF100 Fermi working. They could have been selling these while working on a flagship. Work on scaling this to flagship level while hammering the middle. Geez.

I commented somehere that the inside Fermi story must an interesting one. Add this puppy to the mix.

(looks at 470's with 11 days left on step-up, scratches head..)

 

[n7]

Finally something from nV from this gen worth buying! Took them long enough.

Great option for the higher mid-range buyers, or those fine w/ SLI, good for high end.

 

[GaiaHunter]

Yeah the most important thing when buying a card NOW is obviously which cards were available 9 months ago - great logic there..

Based on the AT benchmarks: GTX460 w/ 1gb vs. 5850; 1920x1200 res (imho the target market for those cards)
Crysis: 5.33% (but 3.43% worse minimum frame rates)
Battleforge DX11: 15.65%
HAWX: -10.31%
Left4Dead: 17.93%
BC2: 17.67% (chase) / -7.52% (Waterfall) - mean: 4.32%
Stalker: 14.52%
Dirt2: 0.16%
ME2: 7.20%
Wolfenstein: 12.60%

I.e. the 5850 is on average 7.14% faster than the 460, with other measurements like temperature, power draw and noise being rather equal.
No the card is much better than I'd have anticipated -the 768mb version looks interesting, but I'm not too sure how long that memory will be enough.

It's clear that the 5830 is unfeasible at current price points, but I'm much more interested in what happens to the 5850. 30% more cost for ~7% more performance isn't that great either.

But look at 470, 480 and 5870 too.

All these cards are priced rather high to their relative performance compared to the GTX 460.

GTX 460 is about same die size of 58xx. It is clear if AMD feels pressure it will be able to drop the prices to match.

 

[RobertR1]

Finally a good card from NV. Now the ball in in Ati's court. They'd be foolish to not drop the 5850 to $250 and 5830 to $175.

 

[Voo]

But look at 470, 480 and 5870 too.

All these cards are priced rather high to their relative performance compared to the GTX 460.

GTX 460 is about same die size of 58xx. It is clear if AMD feels pressure it will be able to drop the prices to match.

Oh no doubt about the fact that the other cards aren't that great price/performance deals either, but that's typical for the highend cards, but till now I think the 5850 was the upper midrange card and had the best price/performance ratio (only considering single cards, i.e. no 5770 SLI) at 1920x1200, everything below wasn't up to the mark and for everything above you payed lot more for a bit more performance.

It looks like the 460 1gb could take that spot now, but lets see how Ati responds - and since the 1gb version is a paper launch, we can just hope that there will be enough cards at a reasonable price in the next few weeks...

 

[Lonyo]

Yeah the most important thing when buying a card NOW is obviously which cards were available 9 months ago - great logic there..

He asked why there was no excitement.
I'm not saying the cards are badly priced for what they offer, they are nicely priced, and it means the market might be moving in a consumer friendly direction.
But there is nothing to be super excited about when compared to 9 months ago we have barely moved.

Is it important in terms of buying decisions? Not really.
Is it a reason why there isn't loads of excitement? I'd say so.

 

[pmv]

So which looks the better choice @ 1920x1200?

5830
gtx460-768
gtx460-1024
5850

?


Results seem hugely variable depending on the game, they all seem to trade places in different benchmarks.

Over here the 5830 and the 460-768 are about the same price, with the 460-1024 about 25% more expensive and the 5850 another 25% again.

Do any have particularly good performance/price or are they all priced exactly in line with performance?

Or is it better to wait and hope the 460 puts a downward pressure on the AMD cards?

(The gtx465 really does look a pointless card at nearly the cost of the 5850 for less performance than the 460!)

 

[RussianSensation]

Even at $250 I still don't know if I would get a 5850 over a $230 gtx 460.

At $250, 5850 can still be a better buy for several reasons:

1) 5850 can overclock to 5870 speeds which GTX460 can't do on air cooling without massive overvolting.

2) ATI will outperform the NV offering at 2560x1600. 5850 stock vs. GTX460 stock or 5850 @ 5870 speeds vs. GTX460 @ 900mhz. We know that 5870 walks all over the GTX470 at 2560x1600: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-gf-gtx400_17.html#sect0

So a GTX460 OC will stand no chance at this resolution against an overclocked 5850.

3) For $20, you'll get performance of a GTX460 @ 850mhz (so no hassle with overclocking).

GTX460 1GB just showed us how overpriced the current generation of cards have been in the first place (other than 5770). I am confident that ATI is not going to just sit still though. They initially priced 5850 at $259 MSRP. This means they were just collecting a nice profit margin the last 9 months!

 

[Lonyo]

At $250, 5850 can still be a better buy for several reasons:

1) 5850 can overclock to 5870 speeds which GTX460 can't do on air cooling without massive overvolting.

2) ATI will outperform the NV offering at 2560x1600. 5850 stock vs. GTX460 stock or 5850 @ 5870 speeds vs. GTX460 @ 900mhz. We know that 5870 walks all over the GTX470 at 2560x1600: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-gf-gtx400_17.html#sect0

So a GTX460 OC will stand no chance at this resolution against an overclocked 5850. I am confident that ATI is not going to just sit still though. They initially priced 5850 at $269 MSRP. This means they were just collecting a nice profit margin the last 6 months!

3) For $20, you'll get performance of a GTX460 @ 850mhz (so no hassle with overclocking).

GTX460 1GB just showed us how overpriced the current generation of cards have been in the first place (other than 5770).

Who's really going to buy a single one of either card for 2560x1600?
The only resolution really worth comparing them at is 1920x1200 or lower (unless you do Crossfire/SLI).