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The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this. These results are taken with the system built inside the Cooler Master CM 690 II which offers great airflow.
Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test.
Both cards peak under 80c which is a solid figure to achieve. The GTX460 FTW runs between 3c and 7c degrees cooler than the reference HD5870 board, even in its massively overclocked state.
Return to ambient is a feature we have recently added to our reviews … we measure the time it takes for a solution to return to idle temperatures, immediately after full load. The faster the time (less), the better the cooler – for example a Noctua NH D14 cooler will return an Intel processor to idle temperatures much faster than a reference cooler. This is a good indication of how quickly a heatsink can dissipate heat.
The copper heatpipe cooler design helps to ensure the card returns to under 50c in 8 seconds, which is reasonably quick considering the drop from 76c initially. It takes a further 9 seconds to return to the idle state. A total of 17 seconds is not bad especially considering the massive overclocks on the card.
Briliant idea for a review Zardon. that little bugger can fairly fly! fantastic value for money.
very impressive card. I love the looks too, its so simple in design without colours and stickers all over it.
Christ, those 460s are killer. Surprised me how good it is in some of those engines. Is lost planet 2 any good ?
460GTX is the only good card nvidia have released all year. after that shocking 430 earlier this week its nice this was up to redress the results.
Good balanced reviewing. Z
I rarely see eVGA cards for sale in my region. Are they having supply issues?
I love eVGA products, such a shame to see BFG die t his year 🙁 hope this card seels a lot for them, but I cant buy it, even if I wanted. its not listed over here in Canada anywhere.
Well that was a right kick in the nuts for AMD there. stonking performance all round. This card would have dominated, but it seems far too late for me to be a big seller, especially with 6870 and 6850 about to hit the scene 🙁
If nvidia had gotten the 460 to launch in march/april it would be owning the market, sadly after a few months sales, id suspect they are startign to dry up now, with people hanging around for 6850/70. Too many mistakes for nvidia this year.
Oh yeah, the rest of their range sucks too, which isnt helping consumer confidence.
id still prefer the HD5870, but the pricing in the market is all over the place.
Lets have a look.
HD5870, great card but under pressure from 460. so it seems expensive.
HD5850, its getting whipped by 460
HD5830 – dead
HD5770 – big seller, good pricing
HD5670 – again, great media card, good seller
GTX480 – overpriced, too hot and the performance leader, but no one cares, apart from people out to break 3dmark scores.
GTX470 – dead
GTX465 – who cares
GTX460 – too late, but leading the way, making the 470 and 465 mean nothing anymore
GTS450 – crap
GT430 – overpriced and rubbish.
Pricing is all wrong with both sides ! Nvidia have the GTX460 priced too low and the other 450 and 430 too high !
just ordered the superclocked from scan. great price.
the 460 continues to surprise me great cards for their price
Just ordered one of these from Scan for just over £180. Gonna have to make up another PCI-e power cable as my 600w PSU only has one output for GFX. Simple job with a few molex connectors and a PCI-e plug. Will be interesting to see the improvement over my 8800GT 😉