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The makers of Metro 2033 – 4A Games was founded by people who split off from GSC Game World a year before the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, in particular Oles’ Shiskovtsov and Aleksandr Maksimchuk, the programmers who worked on the development of X-Ray engine used in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine, running on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows. There is some contention regarding whether the engine is based on the pre-release X-Ray engine (as claimed by Sergiy Grygorovych, the founder of GSC Game World, as well as users who have seen the 4A Engine SDK screenshots, citing visual similarities, shared resources, and technical evaluation of the pre-release 4A Engine demo conducted at the request of GSC Game World), or whether the engine is an original development (as claimed by 4A Games and Oles’ Shiskovtsov in particular, who claims it would have been impractical to retrofit the X-ray engine with console support). 4A Engine features Nvidia PhysX support, enhanced AI, and a console SDK for Xbox 360. The PC version includes exclusive features such as DirectX 11 support and has been described as “a love letter to PC gamers” because of the developers’ choice to “make the PC version [especially] phenomenal”.
We tested Metro 2033 at the native 1080p resolution of our Panasonic 600hz Plasma Television. DX11, 16af with AAA. We benchmarked with in-game ‘very high’ settings as well as ‘medium’.
Running Metro at high settings with any of the boards today proves to be a difficult task with minimum frame rates juddering under 20 during intensive sections. We lower settings to normal within the game panels and rerun the benchmarks.
Lowering to normal, really helps performance smooth out throughout the environments. The HD5850 still manages a single frame per second more on average, but scores the same as the AMP! in regards to minimum. The difference between the overclocked GTX460 and the reference board in this case means one is playable, the other isn't.
ah very nice indeed, seems like a good performance indeed.
Cant be bad to the pricing really, only $20 more than the reference 1GB version? like it
Seems like a good deal all round really considering – seems a bit hotter than most.
GTX460 is hard to beat right now, cheaper than HD5850 and close in performance 🙂
Very good card, and the pricing is excellent, was expecting it to be at least 50 bucks more.
I was pleasanty surprised to see the results. but the 460s are really good, I am sure they are selling tons of these now.
I like the colours, which sounds gay, but the orange fan and blackish PCB look well together. Good board, but There are so many video card reviews on tech sites now, they are all much of a bleh to me 🙂 the three screen sapphire one was cool last week.
The 460 deserves to sell well, they are good cards. they are a little power happy now though I see – around 190 watts. thats a lot of juice.
these would be great in SLI.
When are they available ? would be good to know release dates.
I would say this will sell well, considering the pricing on it. thats a hell of an overclock.
Has to be the fastest 460 on the market, without question.
wonder when the 450 is out, that should be good if they use similar technology.
Good review. amazing what you can buy in 2010 compared to 2007, for the same money. I think I paid teh same for my crappy GTS250.
Zardon, this must have been hard to write you are such an ati fanboy 🙂
Cant believe how small these cards are compared to the power they put out.
Well my comment seemed to vanish weirdly, but ill try again. (hate this code system for entering responses btw!).
Good review, but my main worry is with ATI releasing a new line soon this will be quickly outdated.
Good review, enjoyed it. one question. how hot does it get?
SkyDiver there is a page on temperatures near the end, have a look properly and see 🙂
I think the MSI card you reviewed last week looks nicer. this is quite an ugly looking card.
We need new cards im bored of all these already ! ATi get the new series out !
We need new ATI boards. the GTX460 is a great card but its really quite boring, we need new tech 🙂 480/470/465/460 —- snore.
Seems to be a really solid performer especially with such high overclocks. I wonder why they offer lifetime warranty in USA but only years in europe ?
Just wanted to pop on and say nice site, found it today, bookmarked.
Very good card from zotac, the fan looks very like the reference one.
Here is the fastest GTX460 card out there:
http://www.fudzilla.com/reviews/reviews/reviews/tgts-magic-makes-povs-gtx-460-the-fastest-gtx-u460-around
if they got the card down to 200 inc vat it would dominate sales.
the biggest issue i have with zotac is supply. they are always very poor in the regions around me. need to order them in internationally.
Good photos, the card is very attractive looking, not often we see manufacturers making good looking cards. I like the sapphire hd5670 ultimate, something really impressive looking about it.
The last card I bought from zotac died and it took me 2 months to get it replaced. no thanks.
well balanced and quiet by design, seems like a good combination. temps look a bit high to me.