GeForce GTX 460: how they stack up
| Graphics cards | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 1,536MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1,280MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 1,024MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1,024MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB | ATI Radeon HD 5970 2,048MB | ATI Radeon HD 5870 1,048MB | ATI Radeon HD 5850 1,024MB | ATI Radeon HD 5830 1,024MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Die size | 3.0bn | 3.0bn | 3.0bn | 1.95bn | 1.95bn | 2.15bn | 2.15bn | 2.15bn | 2.15bn |
| Manufacturing process | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm | TSMC, 40nm |
| General clock | 700MHz | 607MHz | 607MHz | 675MHz | 675MHz | 725MHz | 850MHz | 725MHz | 800MHz |
| Shader clock | 1,401MHz | 1,215MHz | 1,215MHz | 1,350MHz | 1,350MHz | 725MHz | 850MHz | 725MHz | 800MHz |
| Memory clock (effective) | 3,696MHz | 3,348MHz | 3,206MHz | 3,600MHz | 3,600MHz | 4,000MHz | 4,800MHz | 4,000MHz | 4,000MHz |
| Memory interface and size | 384-bit, 1,536MB GDDR5 | 320-bit, 1,280MB GDDR5 | 256-bit, 1,024MB GDDR5 | 256-bit, 1,024MB, GDDR5 | 192-bit, 768MB, GDDR5 | 512-bit (2 x 256-bit), 2,048MB | 256-bit, 1,024MB, GDDR5 | 256-bit, 1,024MB, GDDR5 | 256-bit, 1,024MB, GDDR5 |
| Memory bandwidth | 177.4GB/s | 133.9GB/s | 102.6GB/s |
115.2GB/s |
86.4GB/s |
2 x 128GB/s | 153.6GB/s | 128GB/s | 128GB/s |
| DirectX/ Shader Model | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 | DX11, 5.0 |
| Shaders | 480 | 448 | 352 | 336 | 336 | 3,200 | 1,600 | 1,440 | 1,792 |
| Single-precision GFLOPS (single-issue) | 1,345 | 1,088 | 855 |
907.2 |
907.2 |
4,176 | 2,720 |
2,088 | 2,088 |
| Texturing | 60ppc
bilinear 30ppc FP16 |
56ppc
bilinear 28ppc FP16 |
44ppc
bilinear 22ppc FP16 |
56ppc
bilinear 28ppc FP16 |
56ppc
bilinear 28ppc FP16 |
160ppc
bilinear 80ppc FP16 |
80ppc
bilinear 40ppc FP16 |
72ppc
bilinear 36ppc FP16 |
56ppc
bilinear 18ppc FP16 |
| ROPs | 48 |
40 |
32 |
32 |
24 |
64 | 32 |
32 | 16 |
| GPixels/s throughput | 33.6 |
24.28 |
19.424 |
21.6 |
16.2 |
46.4 |
27.2 | 23.2 | 12.8 |
| GTexel/s bilinear | 42 |
33.99 |
26.71 |
37.8 |
37.8 |
116 |
68 |
52.2 | 44.8 |
| Board power (max) | 250W | 215W | 200W | 160W | 150W | 294W | 188W | 160W | 175W |
| Multi-GPU | Three-way SLI | Three-way SLI | Three-way SLI | Two-way SLI | Two-way SLI | Two-way XFire | Four-way XFire | Four-way XFire | Four-way XFire |
| Board length | 10.5in | 9.5in | 9.5in | 8.25in | 8.25in | 12in | 11in | 9.5in | 11in |
| Connectors (native) | 2x
dual-link DVI Mini-HDMI |
2x
dual-link DVI Mini-HDMI |
2 x dual-link DVI Mini-HDMI | 2 x dual-link DVI Mini-HDMI | 2x
dual-link DVI Mini-DisplayPort |
2x
dual-link DVI Mini-DisplayPort |
2x
dual-link DVI HDMI, DisplayPort, |
2x
dual-link DVI HDMI, DisplayPort, |
2x
dual-link DVI HDMI, DisplayPort, |
| Etail price | £375 ($499) | £280
($349) |
£215
($279) |
£179 ($229) |
£159 ($199) |
£550 ($699) | £325 ($399) | £230 ($289) | £165 ($199) |
Analysis: GeForce GTX 460 1,024MB
As far as NVIDIA GPUs are concerned, the cards to look out for are both versions of the GeForce GTX 460 and the GTX 465 - the next GPU up in the 400-series lineup.
The GeForce GTX 460 1,024MB clocks in 675MHz core, 1,350MHz shader, and 3,600MHz memory. Even factoring in the reduced shader-count against GTX 465 - 336 vs. 352 - the new mid-range card provides more shading power, memory bandwidth and texturing capability. It would be faster than the GTX 465 if based on the GF100 architecture, but we can only conjecture at the performance limitations imposed by cramming in more cores per SM - there's less tessellation-per-core for one. The benchmark section will tell us more.
A leaner architecture translates nicely into a 160W TDP and, tellingly, a PCB that's only 8.25in long. A lower TDP should enable simpler, quieter cooling, too. Display outputs remain the same as the rest of the GeForce GTX 400 clan, but NVIDIA adds bitstreaming support for Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master audio over HDMI to both GTX 460s, matching ATI's nine-month-old line-up. NVIDIA doesn't provide much in the way of detail as to how the VP4 engine has been upgraded to support bitstreaming, however.
The kicker should be the price. The suggested retail price is quoted as $229. A straight conversion into sterling (plus VAT) indicates that it should cost £179 at launch. Greedy retailers will no doubt jack the price up closer to £200, yet it's set to tempt users away from either the Radeon HD 5830 or, maybe, the HD 5850.
Analysis: GeForce GTX 460 768MB
The 768MB version of the card shares the same core, shader and memory frequencies as the 1,024MB model. The snip comes at the back-end of the GPU, architecturally speaking, with final processing compromised by dropping the ROPs from 32 to 24, memory-bus from 256 bits to 192 bits, and bandwidth from 115GB/s to 86.4GB/s. The trio of cuts are all interlinked such that one cannot be reduced without impacting upon the others.
A little less processing juice means the board power can drop by 10W, to 150W. The hamstrung back-end will be most evident as resolution and image-quality settings are dialled up, putting the onus on the ROPs and memory-bus to deliver under constrained conditions.
Priced at $199 and thereby taking direct aim at ATI's Radeon HD 5830, the fight between the two GeForce GTX 460s and the lower echelons of the Radeon 5800-series will be an intriguing one.
