NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB Video Card

Written by Olin Coles

Monday, 12 July 2010

Table of Contents: Page Index
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB Video Card
Features and Specifications
NVIDIA GF104 GPU Fermi Architecture
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Video Card
GeForce GTX-460 Partner Products
Video Card Testing Methodology
DX10: 3DMark Vantage
DX10: Crysis Warhead
DX10: Far Cry 2
DX10: Resident Evil 5
DX11: Aliens vs Predator
DX11: Battlefield Bad Company 2
DX11: BattleForge
DX11: Metro 2033
DX11: Unigine Heaven 2.1
NVIDIA APEX PhysX Enhancements
NVIDIA 3D-Vision Effects
GeForce GTX460 Temperatures
VGA Power Consumption
GeForce GTX 460 Overclocking
Editor's Opinion: NVIDIA Fermi
GeForce GTX 460 Conclusion

Page 7 of 22

DX10: 3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX10 graphics card performance. FutureMark 3DMark Vantage is the latest addition the 3DMark benchmark series built by FutureMark corporation. Although 3DMark Vantage requires NVIDIA PhysX to be installed for program operation, only the CPU/Physics test relies on this technology.

3DMark Vantage offers benchmark tests focusing on GPU, CPU, and Physics performance. Benchmark Reviews uses the two GPU-specific tests for grading video card performance: Jane Nash and New Calico. These tests isolate graphical performance, and remove processor dependence from the benchmark results.

3DMark Vantage GPU Test: Jane Nash

Of the two GPU tests 3DMark Vantage offers, the Jane Nash performance benchmark is slightly less demanding. In a short video scene the special agent escapes a secret lair by water, nearly losing her shirt in the process. Benchmark Reviews tests this DirectX-10 scene at 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions, and uses Extreme quality settings with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. The 1:2 scale is utilized, and is the highest this test allows. By maximizing the processing levels of this test, the scene creates the highest level of graphical demand possible and sorts the strong from the weak.

Cost Analysis: Jane Nash (1680x1050)

$150 Radeon HD 5770 costs $8.33 per FPS

$200 GeForce GTX 460 costs $8.81 per FPS

$200 Radeon HD 5830 costs $8.78 per FPS

$250 GeForce GTX 465 costs $11.11 per FPS

$290 Radeon HD 5850 costs $10.18 per FPS

$320 GeForce GTX 470 costs $11.15 per FPS

3DMark Vantage GPU Test: New Calico

New Calico is the second GPU test in the 3DMark Vantage test suite. Of the two GPU tests, New Calico is the most demanding. In a short video scene featuring a galactic battleground, there is a massive display of busy objects across the screen. Benchmark Reviews tests this DirectX-10 scene at 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions, and uses Extreme quality settings with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. The 1:2 scale is utilized, and is the highest this test allows. Using the highest graphics processing level available allows our test products to separate themselves and stand out (if possible).

Cost Analysis: New Calico (1680x1050)

$150 Radeon HD 5770 costs $11.11 per FPS

$200 GeForce GTX 460 costs $10.42 per FPS

$200 Radeon HD 5830 costs $11.43 per FPS

$250 GeForce GTX 465 costs $13.23 per FPS

$290 Radeon HD 5850 costs $13.24 per FPS

$320 GeForce GTX 470 costs $13.17 per FPS

Test Summary: According to 3dMark Vantage, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB model trails slightly behind the ATI Radeon HD 5830 in the Jane Nash GPU test, and then leads it by just as much in New Calico tests. Sharing the same price point, it appears that this benchmark demonstrates that they could be sharing the same frame rate performance levels, too. Take 3D-Vision, PhysX, CUDA, and 32x MSAA into consideration, and the favor leans towards NVIDIA.

Graphics Card	GeForce 9800 GTX+	Radeon HD4890	GeForce GTX285	Radeon HD5770	GeForce GTX460	Radeon HD5830	GeForce GTX465	Radeon HD5850	GeForce GTX470
GPU Cores	128	800	240	800	336	1120	352	1440	448
Core Clock (MHz)	740	850	670	850	675	800	608	725	608
Shader Clock (MHz)	1836	N/A	1550	N/A	1350	N/A	1215	N/A	1215
Memory Clock (MHz)	1100	975	1300	1200	900	1000	802	1000	837
Memory Amount	512 MB GDDR3	1024 MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR3	1024MB GDDR5	768MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1280MB GDDR5
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit	512-bit	128-bit	192-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	320-bit

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Comments

# RE: NVIDIA GeForce GTX-460 768MB Video Card — Servando Silva 2010-07-11 21:27

Finally a decent Fermi GPU. Nvidia strikes back after almost 1 year. Thanks for this great Review Olin.

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# First "Gaming" Fermi GPU...? — Bruce Normann 2010-07-12 10:00

I can't help but think that the GF100-based Fermi cards were not really optimized for gaming. Engineers don't just throw a bunch of transistors into a rectangular pan and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. The architecture of the GF100 was designed to excel at something, it just wasn't gaming graphics. What I keep wodering is: what is the size and scope of the market that they WERE optimized for?

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# RE: First "Gaming" Fermi GPU...? — Servando Silva 2010-07-12 12:56

I think they focused a lot on CUDA and features (3D, Surround, PhysX) instead of performance. This GPUs could really be super fast for other applications, just not gaming. This seems to be their first product "really" targeted to gamers.

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# It's only a matter of time — Avro Arrow 2010-07-14 06:30

We need to keep in mind that ATi's HD 5xxx series has already been out almost a year (wow, has it really been that long?) and that nVidia was supposed to have released Fermi almost exactly 1 year ago. It's unknown what exactly ATi is going to release this year but we can be sure that it's most likely going to make the GTX 4xx series look like the FX 5xxx series...lol

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