Article Index Review: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC 1Gb GDDR5 Specifications and Features Photo Gallery GPU-Z and Everest 3D Mark Vantage Unigine Heaven DX11 Stone Giant DX11 Verdict and Conclusion

Introduction

It's always been a cat and mouse game between AMD/ATI and Nvidia, when it comes to releasing new and better performing graphic cards. For me, AMD/ATI seem to have the R&D edge over Nvidia, being be the first to release cards which supported both DX11 and GDDR5 about a year ago. As for Nvidia, speed has always been their game, producing faster GPU clock speeds and better SLI performance (dual and triple graphic cards solution).

Thats not to say that AMD/ATI Radeon cards are slower then Nvidia's Geforce cards ... in fact, they're pretty much on the same level. Ultimately, for an end-user you're either with the Geforce or Radeon crowd. Personally, I'm with the Radeon crowd. I'm not sure why ... but I've always prefered AMD/ATI Radeon cards, but that's just my preference.

Looking at the specifications, the Geforce GTX 460 may has something which I believe could give Nvidia the edge for many users. Firstly, the Geforce 400 series now support GDDR5 ram, which is normally reservered for higher-end cards. And secondly, the support for DX11, which essential for today's games and to compete with AMD/ATI Radeons. What's more, Nvidia have included all of its graphics technologies into their the Geforce GTX 460. These include CUDA, PhysX and of course SLI mutli-GPU support. There are two vesions of the GTX 460. One uses a 256-bit memory interface supporting 1Gb GDDR5 ram, while the other uses lower 192-bit memory interface supporting upto 768Mb GDDR5 ram.

In this review, we'll be taking a look at Gigabyte's Geforce GTX 460 OC graphics card. It features an overclocked GPU running at 715Mhz (default is 675Mhz), and comes with 1Gb (256-bit) GDDR5 ram at 3600Mhz.

For cooling, Gigabyte have included their own in-house designed GPU cooler, which they call WindForce x2. They claim that this new cooler features a special inclined dual fan design, which effectively minimizes the flow of turbulence between two fans. It can also enhance heat dissipation of hot areas right underneath each fan. Sounds pretty impressive.

To add this, Gigabyte have also included their innovative technologies which includes 2oz Copper PCB, solid Japanese capacitors, ferrite core chokes, LowRDS (on) MOSFETS, as well as Tier 1 memory ... they call this Ultra Durable VGA.

I've got great expectations for this card. I'm hoping to get some good scores during our benchmarks, and I would love to see the GPU temps. If the claims are correct, then we could be seeing a graphics card that could beat any mainstream Radeon from AMD/ATI.

We'll be testing the Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC on our test rig, which consists of the following ... Intel Core i5 - 650 (LGA 1156), Gigabyte P55 USB3, 4Gb Crucial Ballistix Tracer, Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler and a Silverpower 650w power supply. All-in-all, a decently spec'd computer system.

OK, let's not waste any more time and take a closer look at the specifications of the Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC 1Gb GDDR5 ...

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