GeForce GTX465 Temperatures

Benchmark tests are always nice, so long as you care about comparing one product to another. But when you're an overclocker, gamer, or merely a PC hardware enthusiast who likes to tweak things on occasion, there's no substitute for good information. Benchmark Reviews has a very popular guide written on Overclocking Video Cards, which gives detailed instruction on how to tweak a graphics cards for better performance. Of course, not every video card has overclocking head room. Some products run so hot that they can't suffer any higher temperatures than they already do. This is why we measure the operating temperature of the video card products we test.

To begin my testing, I use GPU-Z to measure the temperature at idle as reported by the GPU. Next I use FurMark's "Torture Test" to generate maximum thermal load and record GPU temperatures at high-power 3D mode. The ambient room temperature remained at a stable 20°C throughout testing, while the inner-case temperature hovered around 37°C.

FurMark does two things extremely well: drive the thermal output of any graphics processor higher than applications of video games realistically could, and it does so with consistency every time. Furmark works great for testing the stability of a GPU as the temperature rises to the highest possible output. The temperatures discussed below are absolute maximum values, and not representative of real-world performance.

ASUS GeForce GTX-465 Video Card Temperatures

NVIDIA-supplied product specifications state that the GeForce GTX-465 has a maximum GPU thermal threshold of 105°C. This is identical for the previous-generation GeForce GTX 285, as well as the GeForce GTX-470 and -480 that share the same GF100 graphics processor. In a room with 20°C ambient temperature, the ASUS GeForce GTX-465 produced 45°C at idle and 82°C under load. It wasn't until FurMark has raised the temperatures to an unnaturally high level that the fan began to become audible. Otherwise, operation remained silent during game play.

Comparison: GTX-470 & GTX-480

Housed in a mid-tower computer case with no additional cooling, the retail NVIDIA GeForce GTX-470 video card produced a luke-warm 40°C in idle 2D mode and increased to 88°C in sustained 100% mode using FurMark's torture test.

Zotac GeForce GTX 470 Video Card Temperatures

Compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX-480 retail kit, temperatures are extremely close. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that the GTX 470 should be cooler-running simply because it's a lower model, because the difference in thermal management is clearly obvious from the beginning. The image below illustrates temperatures on the GTX-480 using FurMark to produce load:

ZOTAC GeForce GTX480 Video Card Temperatures

Most new graphics cards from NVIDIA and ATI will expel heated air out through exhaust vents, which does not increase the internal case temperature. Our test system is an open-air chassis that allows the video card to depend on its own cooling solution for proper thermal management. Most gamers and PC hardware enthusiasts who use an aftermarket computer case with intake and exhaust fans will usually create a directional airflow current and lower internal temperatures a few degrees below the measurements we've recorded. To demonstrate this, we've built a system to illustrate the...

Best-Case Scenario

Traditional tower-style computer cases position internal hardware so that heat is expelled out through the back of the unit. This is better than nothing, but there's a fundamental problem: heat rises. Using the transverse mount design on the SilverStone Raven-2 chassis, Benchmark Reviews re-tests the ASUS GeForce GTX-465 video card to determine the 'best-case' scenario.

Sitting idle at the Windows 7 desktop with a 20°C ambient room temperature, the GeForce GTX-465 rested at 42°C, which wasn't much less than a regular computer case. Pushed to abnormally high levels using the FurMark torture test, the GeForce GTX-465 operated at 78°C with a very quiet cooling fan. While the many BIOS revisions leading up to retail availability have obviously made a noticeable difference, the well-designed Raven-2 computer case with additional cooling features has help to make an even bigger difference.

Despite the 40nm process and improved BIOS programming, GF100 still runs warm unless you add internal case cooling to draw in cool air and exhaust heated air. This could impact overclocking projects inside poorly ventilated computer cases. So if you've already got a warm-blooded CPU in your computer system, take look at our Best CPU Cooler Performance series and find a heatsink that will lower your internal temperatures and prolong component lifetime. Lowering the internal case temperature could give you an added edge for GPU overclocking projects, and it will also help overall system stability.

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