Gainward GTX460 Golden Sample Review

Gainward GTX460 Golden Sample

Published: 24th August 2010 | Source: Gainward | Price: £234.37 | Author: Tom Logan

The Golden Sample

Say it large and say it proud definitely seems to be the way to go with the Gainward GTX460 Golden Sample. Nobody who even glances at the box will be left in any doubt about what it is and what it does. It's nice to see the feature set such as 3D Vision and PhysX shown as wording around the edge, rather than the standard big square logo.

On the back we have everything we'd expect from a graphics card, lots of cool shots of things exploding. They certainly are the rock and roll of hardware. Just like if you go to a music shop the guy demonstrating the electric guitar always plays some mad riff rather than a bit of technically complex jazz, so graphics cards are all about making things go bang in a spectacular way.

One of the common things we talk about is how higher-end hardware always tends to be in black and red. If this is a theme you enjoy then Gainward most certainly have you covered as not only is the fan very red indeed, but the circuit board itself is red, which makes a nice change from the regulation black or green and reminds us of the Radeon 9700 and similar models.

Also on the board you can see the extra 1GB of memory on the reverse. Probably not wise to remove this whilst it's still hot.

At the connection ends of the card it's all fairly standard with twin DVI, a VGA and a HDMI adaptor. Power is provided by two PCI-6pin connectors.

Gainwards GS version differs from the standard cooler by having a higher specification fan in a centrally mounted position. Quite why all reference designs don't place the fan over the GPU is something that constantly amazes. Unlike a lot of non-reference designs the Golden Sample keeps the shroud that exhausts the hot air out the rear of your case, benefiting your whole system.

It's certainly attractive for a card not bristling with heatpipes and shiny copper. Time to see how it handles the heat.

Most Recent Comments

25-08-2010, 03:25:21

tinytomlogan

OC3D are delighted to welcome Gainward back onto the site with our review of the GTX460 Golden Sample.

Continue Reading

25-08-2010, 04:03:56

AlienALX

Nice review Tom

I like it. Bit odd going with a red PCB and fan but I guess green isn't possible

Performs well too. Maybe one day I will get one for my other rig.

25-08-2010, 06:47:04

steve30x

Any chance you could show two of these overclocked in SLI? I want to get two GTX460's soon to replace my GTX280. I am upgrading my motherboard , cpu and ram soon also.

25-08-2010, 06:48:50

tinytomlogan

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve30x

Any chance you could show two of these overclocked in SLI? I want to get two GTX460's soon to replace my GTX280. I am upgrading my motherboard , cpu and ram soon also.

Sadly no. We only have one of these. But there is a 460 SLi review coming in the next few weeks.

25-08-2010, 07:34:42

steve30x

No problem. It will be a few weeks away yet before I do an upgrade anyway. From the reviews I have seen on the GTX460 its slightly slower than my GTX280 which I have overclocked. I am upgrading on a budget , so the motherboard will be sub 200 euro P55 and low priced ram with a cheap I5. I would do better but I dont have much money. I am not worried about the PCI Express bandwidth of 8X x 8X after seeing This review

PS Posting a reply on the review page gives a 404 errorr

25-08-2010, 12:08:10

silenthill

Great review and video, Tom please email me your direct address so that I can send you a insect killer as a personal gift from me (I’m serious), mate thousands of people view you every day the bug situation is shameless and my mates were having a laugh and I was very insulted because OV3D are like my family so please don’t take offence.

25-08-2010, 14:51:00

murphy7801

Thank you so much for doing this review I was thinking about buying this card and another in perhaps 6 months but hasn't really been any decent reviews really help make my mind up!Plus the 1080p showed that its a really nice looking card not that matters just added bonus.

25-08-2010, 15:03:47

VonBlade

Quote:

Originally Posted by silenthill

bug situation is shameless ... OV3D

OV3D

OV3D

26-08-2010, 05:34:43

steve30x

Quote:

Originally Posted by VonBlade

Im sure he meant OC3D.

26-08-2010, 06:31:40

nlr

Is this better than the cyclone? and what monitor is it that you're using?

regards,

Nick.

26-08-2010, 07:39:19

SnW

Nice to see the F@H chart with it

26-08-2010, 07:50:25

AlienALX

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve30x

Im sure he meant OC3D.

Obsessive compulsive disorder cubed?

26-08-2010, 08:18:00

silenthill

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlienALX

Obsessive compulsive disorder cubed?

mate right now I have every type of disorder you can imagine, OV3D or OC3D I'm sure everybody knows what I mean, all I'm trying to say that people are watching us and we should take more care when making a video because appearances are very important if we want to attract more members to our community.

26-08-2010, 13:46:19

AMDFTW

Quote:

Originally Posted by nlr

Is this better than the cyclone? and what monitor is it that you're using?

regards,

Nick.

the cyclone has a better cooler,i have the 1gb of this card and it runs at 30c idle

the cyclones run about 5-6c cooler

26-08-2010, 15:25:26

thestepster

yeah there cooler is fantastic but be warned i just had to rma my one today and im going to get an asus direct cu one thats even better than the msi

28-08-2010, 16:54:20

xdan

Waiting for Msi GTX 460 Hawk review...

28-08-2010, 18:21:32

sunjoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by xdan

Waiting for Msi GTX 460 Hawk review...

yeah me too apparently they are much quieter and can be overclocked alot

04-09-2010, 23:52:33

Notleh

Is Gainward a UK brand? I am not familiar with them and haven't seen them in the US. Newegg lists some Gainward items but they are all out of stock.

05-09-2010, 09:24:28

SnowWhite

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notleh

Is Gainward a UK brand? I am not familiar with them and haven't seen them in the US. Newegg lists some Gainward items but they are all out of stock.

Nope.

Our Offices:

Taipei (Taiwan) Headquarter.

European HQ in Munich Germany.

Sales office in China.

Our Factories:

Shenzen (China).

Wugu Taipei (Taiwan).

21-09-2010, 18:47:39

murphy7801

My second one arrives soon

21-09-2010, 19:24:18

AMDFTW

got rid of mine today due to bad temps and it slowly dieng

Gainward GTX460 Golden Sample Review