gtx 460 vs. 470 and other questions

[airhendrix13]

Hey all,

Posting for the first time in quite a while. I am considering replacing my 8800gts 640 with either a gtx 460 1gb or gtx 470, but I am having a hard time finding a good source that will compare the overclocking performance for each. I can find info about preOC'd cards, but I want info on how much a stock card can OC. Is there a good review that compares the two cards OC'd from stock?

Also, I currently have a GA-EP45-UD3P mobo, which the PCIE slots run at 8x with SLI. Does that apply to running my 8800gts as a physx card? Will my Corsair 620hx be able to power a 460 or 470 with my 8800gts?

I am hoping that the GTX 470 will drop in price or go on sale so I can pick it up for under $250, otherwise I may just go with the 460.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[toyota]

what res are you going to run at? I would just get the gtx460 as its pretty easy to match the the stock gtx470 with an oc around 825-850. sure the gtx470 can oc too but it is already toasty and power hungry at its stock clocks so expect even more heat and noise. yes your primary pci-e slot will go to 8x if you put another card in your other pci-e. with a single gtx460 having 8x on a 2.0 board should cause no performance loss though. personally I would not even fool with using the 8800gts for a physx card though.

 

[nitromullet]

IMO, compare stock card vs stock card. Any increase in fps from over clocking is gravy.

 

[SpeedyGonzales]

Hey all,

Posting for the first time in quite a while. I am considering replacing my 8800gts 640 with either a gtx 460 1gb or gtx 470, but I am having a hard time finding a good source that will compare the overclocking performance for each. I can find info about preOC'd cards, but I want info on how much a stock card can OC. Is there a good review that compares the two cards OC'd from stock?

Also, I currently have a GA-EP45-UD3P mobo, which the PCIE slots run at 8x with SLI. Does that apply to running my 8800gts as a physx card? Will my Corsair 620hx be able to power a 460 or 470 with my 8800gts?

I am hoping that the GTX 470 will drop in price or go on sale so I can pick it up for under $250, otherwise I may just go with the 460.

Thanks,

Ryan

I upgraded from an ATI 4870/512 Mb to the 470GTX from Palit with the custom PCB/Cooler.

It overclocks to 750 core without overvolting, if I compare my testing results with what is available on the internet, the card performes close to a 480gtx at stock speeds.

Background for my decision for the 470gtx was:

I wanted a significant upgrade to the 4870 (close to double the speed)
The 470gtx performs best at 1680x1050, which is my perferred resolution

At the current price point the 470gtx is a good buy, if you only consider performance. If you take into account heat&noise or a higher resolution, than the 5870 may be a better choice.

drawbacks:

although the Palit has a custom cooler, the fans speed up to 60-70% under full load, which can be annoying, as the rest of my rig is "ultra-silent". My old 4870 was ultra-silent with an accelero cooler (although hot as well).

Summary:

Price/perfomance-wise I believe the 470gtx is a very good buy. As soon as you put heat/noise into the equation, the 460gtx can be superior, depending on your perfomance expectations.

Hope, that helps.

 

[airhendrix13]

Thanks for your help all!

I guess I will see if the 470 comes down in price at all, if not I'll buy the 460. I hope at 1920 x 1200 there is a significant improvement between my 8800gts and whatever I end up getting. I don't really care about physx, I just have a hard time seeing my old card go I guess.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I had an 8800 GTS 640MB. There was a huge jump in performance when I got a GTX260 to replace it, so the GTX460 should be even better. A massive upgrade, to be sure.

 

[rgallant]

-I would wait for the full 104\460's to be released , if you go that way ,even if it just for the fact of nvidia releasing crippled chips -collecting the the good\full ones- then to released another card with all the cores. after so many people have put their good money up and could end up with a EOL card in two months.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for your help all!

I guess I will see if the 470 comes down in price at all, if not I'll buy the 460. I hope at 1920 x 1200 there is a significant improvement between my 8800gts and whatever I end up getting. I don't really care about physx, I just have a hard time seeing my old card go I guess.

I would almost always recommend a $260-270 GTX470 or a 5850 over a $230-240 GTX460. However, in your case, your CPU is just too slow to take advantage of the 470 overclocked to 750mhz + (or even at stock). Therefore, save some $, and get the 460 instead.

I would even recommend getting a used GTX275/ati 4890 for such a slow CPU. I had a Q6600 @ 3.4ghz and at 1920x1200 8AA, Resident Evil 5 would only get 55 fps or so average. Core i7 860 @ 3.9ghz increased them to 80. So keep in mind that in a lot of games a 65nm C2Q @ 2.8ghz is going to be too slow (esp. minimum framerates).

 

[airhendrix13]

I would almost always recommend a $260-270 GTX470 or a 5850 over a $230-240 GTX460. However, in your case, your CPU is just too slow to take advantage of the 470 overclocked to 750mhz + (or even at stock). Therefore, save some $, and get the 460 instead.

I would even recommend getting a used GTX275/ati 4890 for such a slow CPU. I had a Q6600 @ 3.4ghz and at 1920x1200 8AA, Resident Evil 5 would only get 55 fps or so average. Core i7 860 @ 3.9ghz increased them to 80. So keep in mind that in a lot of games a 65nm C2Q @ 2.8ghz is going to be too slow (esp. minimum framerates).

Dang... I didn't realize my CPU was already slow enough that it would bottleneck my GPU. So, if I overclock a 460 to 800mhz or more, would my CPU being holding it back?

Thanks again.

 

[Keysplayr]

Dang... I didn't realize my CPU was already slow enough that it would bottleneck my GPU. So, if I overclock a 460 to 800mhz or more, would my CPU being holding it back?

Thanks again.

If you're CPU bottlenecked, you could o/c that 460 to eleventy billion MHz and see no difference. CPU can only feed it so fast. So, overclocking would be futile. But you know what? Q6600 is still a great CPU. I ran a GTX295 on mine for a while. It may not have utilized the GTX295 fully, but it was still pretty freaking powerful.

 

[RussianSensation]

Depending on the game, Q6600 can be pretty slow:

SC2
http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/page13.html

Far Cry 2
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,3.html

Supreme Commander 2
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,6.html

Splinter Cell Conviction
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,7.html

GTA4
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ark-review-with-13-processors/Reviews/?page=2
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ead-of-Core-2-Quad-in-CPU-benchmarks/Reviews/

Anno1404
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...090T-and-1055T-Six-cores-on-a-budget/Reviews/

Resident Evil 5
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...nom-strong-Update-Lynnfield-results/Practice/

If you overclock it to 3.4ghz, it should be better. I would still say a GTX460 is a great fit for the processor. With some games like Crysis, Metro 2033 and STALKER: CoP, the GPU is still way more important. In those situtations, you can just overclock the 460 if needed.

 

[MyLeftNut]

Not exactly a 470, but take a look at this and just extrapolate the results to get rough 470 results:

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/800329-gtx460-1gb-vs-gtx465-review.html

 

[SpeedyGonzales]

Not exactly a 470, but take a look at this and just extrapolate the results to get rough 470 results:

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/800329-gtx460-1gb-vs-gtx465-review.html

Do not compare the 460gtx to a 465gtx. The 465gtx is an obsolete model from nvidia´s harvesting process. You can not extrapolate 470gtx stock or oc performance from this.

 

[Copenhagen69]

if you want to see how the 460 acts in a lot of games ... this site Here does a good job of running a lot of tests

 

[airhendrix13]

Depending on the game, Q6600 can be pretty slow:

SC2
http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/page13.html

Far Cry 2
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,3.html

Supreme Commander 2
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,6.html

Splinter Cell Conviction
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,7.html

GTA4
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ark-review-with-13-processors/Reviews/?page=2
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ead-of-Core-2-Quad-in-CPU-benchmarks/Reviews/

Anno1404
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...090T-and-1055T-Six-cores-on-a-budget/Reviews/

Resident Evil 5
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...nom-strong-Update-Lynnfield-results/Practice/

If you overclock it to 3.4ghz, it should be better. I would still say a GTX460 is a great fit for the processor. With some games like Crysis, Metro 2033 and STALKER: CoP, the GPU is still way more important. In those situtations, you can just overclock the 460 if needed.

Yeah, I can't seem to get my cpu to go beyond 2.8, although my knowledge of raising voltages to get better oc's is pretty limited. It looks like I will need to get a new motherboard and an i7 if I want any hope of much better performance. It just sucks because I just bought this motherboard not too long ago.

Thanks everyone!

 

[RussianSensation]

Well just get the 460 then and see if you are happy with the performance. It won't be i7 speeds, but it is still a massive upgrade from the 8800GTS 640. You can always wait until 2011 to upgrade your platform. Also there are other great options for your system such as used GTX275, 4870 1GB/4890, GTX260 216. Any of these are still a great improvement in gaming and won't cost much on the used market after your sell the 8800GTS for say $40.

 

[airhendrix13]

What is your opinion about going the Crossfired 4870 route? I hear that allows for very good performance and wouldn't cost too much. Would having 2 8x PCI Express slots cause any issues?

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[badb0y]

Hey Ryan,

Currently the GTX 460 is a best of a card at $200-230. I think it's the best for the buck card out right now and buying it is definately a good idea. The 4870 is a good card and crossfired it should be faster than the GTX 460 but you will lose DX 11(if you care).

Bottom line is GTX 460 is a good card I would get this over 4870s because I simply don't like to deal with dual gpu solutions.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Keep an eye on the Hot Deals forum, Slickdeals and/or Fat Wallet. I got my EVGA GTX 470 for $234 from Tiger Direct several weeks ago.

 

[RussianSensation]

What is your opinion about going the Crossfired 4870 route? I hear that allows for very good performance and wouldn't cost too much. Would having 2 8x PCI Express slots cause any issues?

Thanks,

Ryan

CFed 4870s will be pretty fast in games where CF scales well (about 5870 performance). The problem is your CPU is still going to hold them back, plus the extra noise and heat isn't worth it imo. A single 4870 is a pretty decent upgrade already. If you do decide for 4870s in CF, try to find a used 4870 X2 for a more power efficient/compact package (1 card with dual 4870 GPUs).

Of course there are games that are mostly GPU limited and will benefit even from a GTX480 and your cpu. These will included Crysis, STALKER: CoP, Metro 2033. So generally speaking in games that hammer current GPUs, you won't have to worry about being CPU limited I would probably stick with the GTX460 as your last videocard upgrade on that cpu and then consider a full system overhaul in 1-2 years (unless you can find a sweet deal on a 5850 / GTX470 near 460's price).

 

[airhendrix13]

CFed 4870s will be pretty fast in games where CF scales well (about 5870 performance). The problem is your CPU is still going to hold them back, plus the extra noise and heat isn't worth it imo. A single 4870 is a pretty decent upgrade already. If you do decide for 4870s in CF, try to find a used 4870 X2 for a more power efficient/compact package (1 card with dual 4870 GPUs).

Of course there are games that are mostly GPU limited and will benefit even from a GTX480 and your cpu. These will included Crysis, STALKER: CoP, Metro 2033. So generally speaking in games that hammer current GPUs, you won't have to worry about being CPU limited I would probably stick with the GTX460 as your last videocard upgrade on that cpu and then consider a full system overhaul in 1-2 years (unless you can find a sweet deal on a 5850 / GTX470 near 460's price).

I really appreciate everyones help! I guess the 460 is what I will get unless I can get a 5850 or a 470 for sub $250. I have read that the 5850 performs better with older CPU's than the 460/470.

EDIT: When I say performs better, I mean there is less of a bottleneck.