Mesh Elite GTX 465 & GTX 480 systems review

1. Introduction2. The Elite Systems3. Inside Build4. Testing Methodology5. Cinebench R11.5 64bit6. SiSoft Sandra7. KitGuru Photoshop Benchmark8. PCMark Vantage9. Crysis Warhead10. Far Cry 211. Grand Theft Auto 4: EFLC12. Thermal Dynamics and Noise13. Closing Thoughts14. View All Pages

Normally KitGuru would test high-end cards like the GTX480 on a 30” panel which can run the 2560×1600 resolution necessary to give good indications of the overall power.

However, we also accept that 99% of the market may never go above 1920 (regardless of whether you choose 22”, 24”, 26” or 27”options), so it makes sense to test with the screen supplied.

We’d never buy a GTX480 (or Radeon HD 5970 for that matter) to run on less than a 30” screen. In that respect, the 1920 screen seems a little unbalanced. However, MESH is aiming for something different here. If you are a gamer who does not build PCs (and there are millions of you out there), then you might also want to keep the same machine for years – without upgrading it.

If you had to ‘lock the chassis and never open it again’, what card would you choose?  With that in mind, getting a pre-built systems with stonking 3D makes sense. It gives you a longevity. We’re thinking about people who bought one of the original 8800 cards when Vista launched. Even 4 years on, those gamers will still be able to play most games at sensible resolution.

At 1920, the GTX465 is a much more balanced choice. Our opinion here will come out in our conclusion.

Even though these machines are positioned around the £1k mark, we decided to throw the book at them in testing terms using several of the more taxing game engines and running benchmarks with very high eye candy settings to stress the system as much as possible. Limiting 3D to 1920, there really is little point in testing engines such as Valve's Source (used in titles such as Left4Dead2) – as both cards will POWER through it at 16xAA without a problem. We have aimed for a handful of games which hopefully show the differences you can expect if you spent more on the Elite GTX 480.

Mesh Elite GTX 480 (specs listed on first page)
Mesh Elite GTX 465 (specs listed on first page)
Ilyama 22inch 1080p monitor (supplied)

Thermal Diodes
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp

Fraps Professional
Steam Powered Client
PCMark Vantage
Crysis Warhead
Far Cry 2
Grand Theft Auto 4: Episodes From Liberty City
Cinebench R11.5 64bit
KitGuru Photoshop Benchmark V1(4)
Media Playback
SiSoft Sandra Professional

All our results are gathered from five individual runs to analyze and remove any possible result abnormalities. We try to mix and match games between reviews to keep it interesting for regular readers – no one wants to see the same four or five games benchmarked.

Out of interest we ran the built in Windows 7 benchmarking tool to get a basic overview of the performance.

Windows 7 rates the system to the ‘lowest common denomintor' – which in this case is the SSD drive at 6.9 out of a possible 7.9. The Elite GTX 465 system scored 5.9 because it is sold with only a mechanical hard drive, not an SSD.

We always like to see if the system builder has included a plethora of ‘crapware' with their default OS installation.

We are pleased to report that the only app we would have ‘killed at birth’ was the BullGuard trial security software. We find this application extremely intrusive and removed it immediately before running our benchmarks. We would recommend something along the lines of AVG Free which is a low overhead, fast running application. Who knows, it may be popular and easy to use for beginners, but we definitely don't like it.

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