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Zotac GTX 465 Review: Full-on, affordable Fermi?

Rating: 8.0.

Fermi has left many feeling famished. The launch of the 8800GT in October 2006 put nVidia so far ahead of the competition, that many wondered if ATI could ever come back. Also, let’s not forget one fact. Jen Hsun is a genius. Even the hierarchy at AMD knows this is true. So where are the Fermi cards that make us rush to the cashpoint?  KitGuru Labs has just completed testing on one of the world’s first GTX465 cards. Should you be cracking open your wallet?  Let’s find out.

The longer you wait, the better it has to be. Arrive in a Chinese restaurant and the first thing they hit you with is prawn crackers and tea. In an Italian, you’ll get grissini, olives, bread and a plate with oil and vinegar. Restaurants know that if you leave hungry people sitting for half an hour before the starter arrives, then the chef has to pull a miracle out of his butt with the real food. And no one wants to rely on miracles. KitGuru has been waiting in Mr Huang's restaurant for quite some time. Was it worth the wait?

Following the release of the GTX 480 and 470, nVidia today unveils the latest in the Fermi lineup – the GTX 465.

The GTX 465 is nVidia's first cost conscious Direct X 11 board, featuring 352 CUDA cores, 44 texture units and 32 ROPs. It also features the same high performance distributed tessellation architecture implemented in the more expensive models.

GeForce GTX 465 also uses the same board design/cooling seen on the GTX 470. However, this time, power consumption is improved – thanks in part to the reduced core count. This board has a maximum consumption of 200 watts so, in theory, it will run cooler than its big brothers, the GTX 470 and 480.

Model Geforce GTX 465 Geforce GTX 470 Geforce GTX 480
Graphics Processing Clusters 3 4 4
Streaming Multiprocessors 11 14 15
CUDA Cores 352 448 480
Texture Units 44 56 50
ROP Units 32 40 48
Graphics Clock (Fixed Function Units) 607mhz 607mhz 700mhz
Processor Clock (CUDA Cores) 1215mhz 1215mhz 1401mhz
Memory Clock (Clock Rate/Data Rate) 802mhz/3206mhz 837mhz/3348 mhz 924 mhz/3696mhz
Total Video Memory 1024MB 1280MB 1536MB
Memory Interface 256-bit 320-bit 384-bit
Total Memory Bandwidth 102.6 GB/s 133.9 GB/s 177.4 GB/s
Texture Filtering Rate (Bilinear) 26.7 Gigatexels/sec 34.0 GigaTexels/sec 42.0 GigaTexels/sec
Fabrication process 40nm 40nm 40nm
Connectors 2x Dual Link DVI-I
1x Mini HDMI
2x Dual Link DVI-I
1x Mini HDMI
2x Dual Link DVI-I
1x Mini HDMI
Form Factor Dual Slot Dual Slot Dual Slot
Power Connectors 2x6pin 2x6pin 1x6pin, 1x8pin
Recommended Power Supply 550 watts 550 watts 650 watts
Thermal Design Power 200 watts 215 watts 250 watts
Thermal Threshold 105c 105c 105c

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45 comments

  1. Thats actually a really good card. thanks for the unbiased and impartial results 🙂

  2. its still quite hot for a mid range card but compared to the higher end models its pretty cool. Nice performance.

  3. 5850 is definiately faster overall but it holds onto it pretty well. if you dont like ATI drivers this is a good option.

  4. Interesting results – but the pricing is off. thanks for explaining why though, I will wait for it to drop a little over the next month. my next card!

  5. I was expecting the 465GTX to score a little better, but its clearly outclassed by the 5850. That said, for nvidia fans this is a good option, just seems a little too little , too late.

  6. Funny text in places, gave me a chuckle. 5850 is a better card which this review verifies but the 465 is better than I thought it was going to be.

  7. 260 is too much money for this. 200 quid id be tempted. nothing more.

  8. excuse my english – 255 will be how much euros?

  9. bit disappointed, thought it would be the class leader

  10. drop the price nvidia, get into the real world !

  11. good review, informative. it seems to hold its own again the strong AMD competition, noise seems ok, temps a bit hot, but not like 480. all in all a pretty good card, even if its late to the table.

  12. better than I expected, nice card. drop the price.

  13. I am not really that impressed . it should be beating the 5850, its more expensive, later to market and runs hotter while consuming more power. Why is everyone so positive about this?

  14. I agree with long jumper – why is this being received so positively?

  15. because ATI drivers suck, thats why. people are prepared to pay a little extra for forceware, its well known 🙂

  16. Thats actually quite a good card, nice performer. Temps are still a bit worrying for me to be honest, I don’t have a great case at home.

  17. 5850 is still better and actually cheaper, dont know what nvidia are thinking

  18. Nice nice nice, I like it. I prefer nvidia cards to ATI and this is next on my list. ill do some shopping around to see if I can get a bit of a deal on one.

  19. I was expecting this to be crap, its not bad. still cant believe how hot they get though, thats really poor design methodology from nv

  20. surprised kitguru got a sample after all the ermm interesting nvidia news reportage lately.

    Still have to say, good unbiased review. seems to be a capable board. good job,

  21. Its pretty close to HD5850, which is good enough for me. ill have one 🙂

  22. very nice, thanks

  23. too hot for me, i like my cards cold. will wait on third party cooler to come out. hopefully by then the price has dropped also as they cost a bit much right now. good to see why they cost more though in the conclusion.

  24. not a flop at all. I bet KitGuru are gutted they couldnt slag it off 😉

  25. im impressed with the review, thanks for the coverage so soon.

  26. Overpriced, too hot. no thanks.

  27. This is a total flop. its far too late and offers no performance improvements over 5850, it actually costs more too ! WTF!

  28. wise up NV, almost 90 c under load when overclocked? could double up as a good egg frier. toasty, far too toasty

  29. AMD really have this market still in their pocket. If NV drop the price by £30-50 quid then its a different story, but its still AMDs market.

  30. You AMD fanbois need to shut up. this is a wicked card, the review shows its actually very close in some and WINS IN OTHERS! I wouldnt touch AMD with a 10 foot pole, cause the drivers such azz.

  31. Sam, NVIDIA recently had drivers which bricked cards. I don’t think AMD got to that level.

  32. @Vivian: My guess is that it will be almost the same from $ to £ to €

  33. 300 euros I hear.

  34. Good review – I wouldnt touch ATI cards with a bargepole. last card I had the drivers were absolutely shite

  35. The ATI drivers are really good now, I prefer them for watching movies on my tv for instance, the controls work so much better for vibrance, noise reduction and sharpness.

  36. You probably just forgot to test power usage, but this card almost takes as much juice as the 470.

    I bet NVIDIA is glad you forgot.

  37. I actually didn’t get time to start running power consumption tests however nvidia have rated the card at 200watts against the 470 at 215watts. 480 is 250 watts. Interestingly they say “TDP is a measure of maximum power draw over time in real world applications. It does not represent the maximum power draw in pathological cases such as Furmark.”

  38. @Zardon: How does one achieve the proper FurMark anyway ?

  39. AMD really have this market still in their pocket. If NV drop the price by £30-50 quid then its a different story, but its still AMDs market.

    Thats actually quite a good card, nice performer. Temps are still a bit worrying for me to be honest, I don’t have a great case at home.

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