Thursday, September 9th 2010
EVGA Intros Pair of GeForce GTX 460 1 GB FTW Graphics Cards
EVGA rolled out its fastest GeForce GTX 460 1 GB graphics cards under the FTW variant. FTW in gamer jargon abbreviates "for the win", and is EVGA's highest factory-overclock variant. Available in reference-design (01G-P3-1377-TR) and EVGA's custom-designed "External Exhaust" (01G-P3-1378-TR) models, the FTW cards use clock speeds of 850 MHz core, 1700 MHz CUDA core, and 1000 (4000 MHz effective) memory, as a tiny design deviation from other models, EVGA included MOSFET heatsinks on these cards that cool the VRM area. The external exhaust model is priced at US $269.99, and the standard-design one at $259.99. Both are available at the EVGA Store.
22 Comments on EVGA Intros Pair of GeForce GTX 460 1 GB FTW Graphics Cards
Nvidia cards have used coolers of this style for a long time, this looks like a carbon copy of a reference GTS250 cooler.
Colorful GeForce GTX 460 iGame
Core Clock: 900 MHz
Memory Clock: 1050 MHz
Cuda Core: 1800 MHz
techpowerup.com/129947/Colorful-Unveils-GeForce-GTX-460-iGame-Graphics-Card.html
Then the second one is:
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 FTW
Core Clock: 850 MHz
Memory Clock: 1000 MHz
Cuda Core: 1700 MHz
Then what comes next?
Though they have pretty similar layout of connectors (except HDMI) but still... Nevermind, something to do... :)
Some notes for anyone interested:
cheers :toast:
that should give a decent spread I think. Yeah it all depends on the temps, if the VRM's arent going over about 80 degrees I wouldn't worry about it, if they are it might well be worth adding something, however small, to help dissipate the heat. that should help keep the whole PCB temperature down a bit.
also another query, does the EE cooler touch the memory chips?
cheers again :toast:
EDIT: there isn't a heatsink there on the stock card, what we mean is pretty much under where the blower fan is on the external exhaust models (EE) there is some room to add some little heatsinks onto the MOSFET's that heat up there, chances are they are the VRM's (voltage regulator module)
You know, I didn't notice if the EE heatsink touched the memory or not, I'll have to check that tonight and get back to you.
But with everything I've seen from the GTX460s, there isn't much point in buying anything beyond the cheapest vanilla version and overclocking it, as they all seem to hit about the same clock speeds. I think the only notable difference is the MSI Hawk version with a custom PCB and more voltage controls, but I don't think that is even worth it.
I really don't see anything here to justify the nearly 50 + dollars in price premium, moreover the fact that I will be spending roughly 300'ish dollars after tax and shipping, I have to pay 10 dollars extra so I don't have hot air exhausted inside my case, is not kool. I could see the price premium, is if it came with a physical control for adjusting voltage without a soft mod.
As I said before this card really just seems rather pointless, while it may be worth the money to buy an overclocked card to a novice, but on the other hand overclocking a vanilla card is on the same level of difficulty as filling your car with gas.
Yes it is a little less of a gample with the GTX460 to get a vanilla version and expect overclocking results similar to the highest pre-overclocked cards. However, it is still a gample.
Yes, there is the $10 more for the EE edition, but it isn't really an issue of actually exhausting the air out the back of the case, as the standard cooler still pushes a good amount of air out the back anyway. The issue to me is more a better looking, more classy designed heatsink. The standard edition is just the stock cooler with stickers on it.
That said I will just agree to disagree, I just don't see the added value here, if it came with a high flow bracket (yes they make a huge difference!) and a back plate, I wouldn't even give this card a second glance I would simply order 4 for my folding rig. However to my knowledge they do not. As always it's surely to be another quality from EVGA!:toast::rockout:
That said, pre game is on and it's time for some FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! . .. . . and beer!:toast::D:rockout:
Also, it turns out my overclock was not 100% stable. When I returned home from work yesterday I found that while furmark was still running, at some point in the 10+ hours it ran the drivers had recovered and the clocks had been reset to defaults. So I had to lower my overclock to 885/1770/1000 and I'm letting furmark run again while I'm at work today to make sure that is stable. I'm thinking Mosfet heatsinks might actually help here, I think I'll order some enzotech ones this weekend.
As for the benchmarks I'm running, I'll be running Vantage, Unigine Heaven, DMC4, Mafia II, Batman:AA, and Just Cause II. All will be run at the absolute maximum settings possible, except for Vantage which will be run at standard Performance presets. All benchmarks will be run at 1280x1024, 1680x1050, and 1920x1080 since I figure those are probably the most relavent resolutions people are using right now(I don't have a 1920x1200 screen or I would use that). The only exception will be DMC4, which doesn't give the option for 1680x1050 for some reasons, so it will only be run at the 1280x1024 and 1920x1080 resolutions.
I'll start a new thread with a mini-review of the card when I get done with all the benchmarks, and I'll include a little more detail about the card and heatsink.
[Mini-Review] eVGA GTX460 1GB EE vs. eVGA GTX470
Sorry it took me so long.:toast: