Gainward GTX460 Golden Sample Review
Conclusion
Published: 24th August 2010 | Source: Gainward | Price: £234.37 |
Conclusion
Well we've waited a while to get our hands once more upon a Gainward card, especially one of their Golden Sample models (and we miss the Nurse that used to be in the adverts), but was it worth the wait?
Unquestionably the answer is yes.
When the GTX460 was first released it was extraordinarily disappointing. Hot, slow and generally everything that is bad about cut-down versions of premium models. Gainward have rectified every single thing that was problematic with the early models.
Performance is great. Even at stock clocks it's faster than a reference GTX465 in all of our tests. The GTX460 reference is so far behind it's not even on the same page. When we bump the clocks up it dominates the graphs to such an extent we kept checking the box to make sure it wasn't a mislabelled GTX470. Really the overclocking abilities of this are fantastic, especially given the poor results previously obtained on Fermi cards.
As Pirelli used to say, performance is nothing without control, and the Gainward has control by the bucket-load. Even after a long F@H run the temperatures were still low and the card still quiet. Grab four of these and a Quad-SLI board and the PPD will be everything you could want and then some.
One of the big benefits that the Golden Sample has over its rivals is that huge 2GB of GDDR5, which means even at the high resolutions and anti-aliasing levels we test at, the card had plenty of memory overhead able to deal.
You'd imagine all of this extra power and performance came at a hefty price. You'd be wrong. The Gainward GTX460 Golden Sample 2GB is available for around £200. So you get power, performance and quiet for a reasonable price.
After the brilliant MSI GTX465 we have the equally brilliant Gainward GTX460GS. Suddenly nVidias much-maligned Fermi range of cards is a serious contender. We can't wait to see the GS treatment given to a GTX480.
An easy winner of our OC3D Silver Award. Welcome back Gainward, you've been missed.
Thanks to Gainward for the GTX460 Golden Sample. Discuss in our forums.
Most Recent Comments
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.
|
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. |
PS Posting a reply on the review page gives a 404 errorr
|
Originally Posted by silenthill
bug situation is shameless ... OV3D OV3D OV3D |
|
Originally Posted by VonBlade
?? |
regards,
Nick.
|
Originally Posted by steve30x
Im sure he meant OC3D. |
|
Originally Posted by AlienALX
Obsessive compulsive disorder cubed? |
|
Originally Posted by nlr
Is this better than the cyclone? and what monitor is it that you're using? regards, Nick. |
the cyclones run about 5-6c cooler
|
Originally Posted by xdan
Waiting for Msi GTX 460 Hawk review... |
|
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. |
Our Offices:
Taipei (Taiwan) Headquarter.
European HQ in Munich Germany.
Sales office in China.
Our Factories:
Shenzen (China).
Wugu Taipei (Taiwan).
CSS Valid
Continue Reading